[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 146 (Monday, November 7, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2284-E2285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  ON THE INVALUABLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE TEACHING OF WRITING MADE BY 
                               JAMES GRAY

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, November 7, 2005

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of 
James Gray, the founder of a small but enormously successful 
educational program called the National Writing Project. Sadly, Mr. 
Gray died on November 1 in Danville, California after a long illness. 
He was only 78 years old.
  Mr. Gray, a former high school teacher and then a senior lecturer at 
University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Education, 
founded the innovative Bay Area Writing Project in 1974. Acting on his 
belief that successful classroom teachers were an untapped resource for 
providing their peers with professional development, James Gray brought 
together 25 talented Bay Area teachers and charged them with sharing 
their expertise about the teaching of writing.
  The Bay Area Writing Project became the first site that offered a 
professional development model for teachers of writing. Now known as 
the National Writing Project (NWP), the program has grown to 189 
university-based sites located in fifty states, Washington, D.C., 
Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Congress, on a bi-partisan 
basis, has shown its recognition for the value of this program by 
providing Federal appropriations for it for over ten years and I am 
proud to have helped secure these well-spent funds for this purpose.
  Mr. Gray served as Executive Director of the NWP until his retirement 
in 1994 and remained on the NWP Board of Directors until his death.
  James Gray's simple but highly successful model has been responsible 
for transforming classroom practices and improving student writing 
performance at schools in rural, urban, and suburban communities across 
the U.S.
  A May 2001 Academy for Educational Development report notes the 
impact of that vision: ``Teachers described their experience with the 
writing project as nothing short of profound. Beginning with the summer 
institute and continuing throughout their careers with continuity 
programs, teachers noted how their philosophy about teaching and 
learning, their daily practices, and their connection to a network of 
teachers developed through the project.''
  I couldn't agree more with Richard Sterling, the NWP Executive 
Director, when he said that, ``Jim's belief in teachers and their 
knowledge, commitment, and creativity never wavered. We are all the 
beneficiaries of his vision and his tireless work on behalf of the 
National Writing Project.'' I am honored to have known James Gray 
personally and I am grateful for his vision, and I ask my colleagues to 
join me in expressing the gratitude of the U.S.

[[Page E2285]]

Congress for the contributions to education and our society that he 
made during his lifetime.

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