“I love that the Secret Code’s focus is making writing easier and the overall concepts are easy for all of us to remember.”
The Secret Code of Writing™:
The Secret Code of Writing™, a multimodal writing intervention designed to help learners from elementary school through graduate school master short response and essay writing through color coding, mnemonics, metacognitive strategies, and guided practice. What began as a personal strategy to succeed in graduate school grew into a fully developed program that has helped many learners become more confident and successful writers.
It’s Not Remedial- it is Revolutionary:
The Secret Code of Writing™ is a simple, visual, and self-checking strategy that helps students understand the essential components of a paragraph — the topic sentence, supporting details, and concluding sentence. But it goes beyond the basics. This color-coded method guides learners through the process of responding to complex prompts that require evidence, reasoning, and the integration of ideas from another text or author.
Students learn how to build structured analytical paragraphs that combine their own thinking with textual support — maintaining clarity and organization as they write. The system includes sentence starters, mnemonic aids, and visuals so that learners never get stuck. Every part of the code reinforces understanding and reflection, making it easy for students to check whether they’ve included all essential components.
By mastering the Secret Code of Writing™, students gain confidence in analytical writing and reader response — crafting thoughtful, evidence-based answers that show both comprehension and critical thinking.
Impact:
In a 2023 study conducted in California by Dr. Ashley Smithey, The Secret Code of Writing™ was shown to support meaningful growth in specific writing skills aligned with state standards. After an average of 12 sessions over 5 weeks, students demonstrated improved writing performance, higher Lexile scores, and overwhelmingly positive feedback from students and parents. In a 2023 study conducted in California by Dr. Ashley Smithey, The Secret Code of Writing™ showed positive results in student writing growth, confidence, and Lexile scores after just 12 sessions over 5 weeks.
Click below to download the full study.
“The Secret Code of Writing™ is something I would recommend to all my mom friends. It has been a perfect summer bridge for both my kids.”
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100% of students substantially increased writing skills across domains, as measured by SCOW rubric
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78% of students scored independent or advanced on standards based writing skills across 5 out of 5 domains on the rubric
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89% of students scored independent or advanced on standards based writing skills across 4 out of 5 domains.
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On average, students increase 50 Lexile points after 12 Secret Code Of Writing sessions
“I know that when writing assignments come up in school my child will not be afraid to dive in and try harder since she has tools to pull from.”
The Secret Code of Writing™
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