Title
Revising FYC Outcomes for a Multimodal, Digitally Composed World: The WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition (Version 3.0)
Publication Date
12-1-2014
Document Type
Article
Abstract
The Executive Board of the Council of Writing Program Administrators first approved the WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition in April 2000. Since then, it has exerted a considerable impact on first-year writing programs throughout the U.S. and beyond, serving as a guide to the establishment of programmatic outcomes in a wide range of secondary and postsecondary institutions (Selfe and Ericsson; Harrington et al.; Behm et al.) In 2008, the Statement was formally amended with a new section, “Composing in Electronic Environments,” intended to speak specifically to recommendations for composing and researching using electronic technology. In December 2011, then-CWPA President Duane Roen charged a Task Force to revisit the Outcomes Statement and determine how it could be updated to reflect changes in the field and current practices in first-year writing. Here we present the latest revision of the Outcomes Statement, approved by the Executive Board of the CWPA in July 2014. In addition, we share our processes of and timeline for revision, examine what has changed from the 2000 version (version 1.0) and the 2008 version (version 2.0), and offer commentary on what this document is and how it can be used.