As Debby Boone and Rocky Balboa raised the hopes of a country in financial and political crisis, U.S. colleges sought to meet the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse student body while also responding to the public outcry for tangible results. Within English departments, especially in publicly funded institutions, writing instruction came under heightened scrutiny as politicians and taxpayers wondered "Why Johnny Can't Write." Scholars and teachers of writing responded as best they could to these pressures, conducting research on writing processes, developing new pedagogies better...