Philadelphia Writing Project logo featuring organization name in blue and stylistic "W" in red on the left side.

Philadelphia Writing Project

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104

Last updated on May 30, 2026
Grant awarded by
Library of Congress
Region
East
Organization Type
Advocacy Organization
Congressional District(s)
2, 3
Fiscal Year Of First Grant
FY 2018 [10/01/17 - 09/30/18]
Contributing Organization(s)
University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, School District of Philadelphia, Independence National Historical Park, African American Museum in Philadelphia, Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History, National Liberty Museum, Pennsbury Manor, National Writing Project, Boston Writing Project, West Chester Writing Project, Gateway Writing Project, South Mississippi Writing Project
Organization description

The Philadelphia Writing Project (PhilWP) is a practitioner network, connecting K-university educators with teachers, principals, parents, and out-of-school-time leaders to explore literacy, writing, teaching, and learning across grade levels and disciplines. Each year, new teacher-leaders join the PhilWP network and work in classrooms and other education spaces, supporting young people as writers and learners. A site of the National Writing Project located at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, PhilWP has served Philadelphia schools since 1986.

Project description

Teachers in our Philadelphia Writing Project network are engaging in inquiries and creating curriculum resources to support civically engaged argument writing in K-12 classrooms. Our emerging resources draw upon: primary sources from the Library of Congress; argument writing approaches from the National Writing Project’s College, Career, and Community Writers Program; Gholdy Muhammad’s Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy Framework; and the Educating for American Democracy Roadmap.
TPS project focus
  • Teaching Materials
  • Webinars
  • Workshops
Content focus
  • Civics
  • Literacy
Audience
  • Activists
  • Administrators
  • Classroom teachers
  • Community members
  • Curriculum coordinators
  • Homeschoolers
  • Librarians/Media specialists
  • Students
  • Teacher candidates/Student teachers
  • University faculty
Level(s)
  • K-5
  • 6 - 8
  • 9 - 12
Population focus
  • Urban
Organization Contact
Trey Smith
johsmi@sas.upenn.edu
Visit website
TPS Products