Compared with writing, research on the teaching of reading, the focus of many of the
chapters in this volume, has a much longer and richer history. Moreover, reading instruction and
its outcomes have been accorded preeminence by policymakers, educators, researchers, and the
public, and consequently there has been a large investment by many stakeholders in reading
research and instruction. Likewise, there is great concern about America’s capacity to prepare a
globally competitive workforce for increasingly technically demanding jobs, especially those
which place a premium on math and science knowledge and skills. Thus, calls for action and
funding opportunities in math and science instructional research abound. In this context, it is
little wonder that writing is the most neglected of the three “Rs” (National Commission on
Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges, 2003). According to Juzwik et al. (2005), writing
research historically has been (a) comparably underfunded, (b) mostly descriptive rather than
experimental in nature, and (c) typically conducted in post-secondary education settings.