[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24719]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              JAMES GRAY, NATIONAL WRITING PROJECT FOUNDER

  Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I was saddened to learn today that James 
Gray passed away after a long illness on November 1, 2005. Mr. Gray was 
78 years old and lived in Danville, CA. I knew him as the founder of 
the National Writing Project, which today is credited with perfecting 
the training model of teachers teaching teachers how to teach writing.
  For more than 30 years, teachers of all grades and nearly the entire 
spectrum of subject areas have benefitted from the vision and 
dedication of Jim Gray to finding better ways of raising a new 
generation of writers. Thousands of teachers have participated every 
year in workshops, classes and retreats to perfect their skills, and as 
a result, an exponential tens of thousands of students continue taking 
new steps to becoming skillful writers.
  It was his work that gave me the good fortune of meeting him, and my 
becoming a close friend to the Writing Project as the sponsor of 
legislation to make it a Federal program under the U.S. Department of 
Education.
  Across the country, many teachers and students mourn him, but I hope 
they take his serious creativity in teaching and live his legacy of the 
National Writing Project. I extend to his family, and to all who knew 
him, my message of gratitude for his life's work and my deep sympathy.
  I ask unanimous consent that a copy of the obituary of James Gray 
released today by the National Writing Project be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

         National Writing Project Founder James Gray Dead at 78

       James Gray, founder of the National Writing Project, died 
     November 1 in Danville, California, after a long illness.
       Gray, a former high school teacher and then a senior 
     lecturer at the 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, 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, DC, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. 
     Virgin Islands.
       Gray served as Executive Director of the NWP until his 
     retirement in 1994 and remained on the NWP Board of Directors 
     until his death.
       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.
       ``Jim's belief in teachers and their knowledge, commitment, 
     and creativity never wavered,'' said NWP Executive Director 
     Richard Sterling. ``We are all the beneficiaries of his 
     vision and his tireless work on behalf of the National 
     Writing Project.''
       For more information about Jim Gray and the National 
     Writing Project, visit the NWP website at 
     www.writingproject.org.

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