Article: Kids r writing 4 fun, but not well.(Update: education news from school, businesses, research and government agencies)

The good news is that students are writing more these days. The bad news is the kind of writing they are doing is less than stellar. Instant messages via the Internet have now replaced the folded note passed secretly around classrooms. But these short, quick messages dashed off via cyberspace may not be helping students writing skills at all, some educators fear.

Students are learning to get their thoughts across quickly via computer writing but teachers say some abbreviated terminology, like "b4" for before and "b/c" for because, is showing up in classroom essays.

Fewer than one in three of the nation's fourth, eighth and 12th graders are proficient in ...

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