About Quill

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Many young people struggle to express their ideas in writing with precision and clarity. The 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress reports that 76% of students are not proficient with basic writing. It’s a problem for them during the school day, of course, but the consequences are bigger than that. Without comprehensive intervention, those with poor writing skills may struggle in college and in their careers.

Schools need writing instruction that provides the thoughtful, well-sequenced (and sometimes remedial) lessons their students need to build basic writing skills. Teachers also often lack the time to provide the rapid feedback that enables revision—the only way to help students succeed.

Quill, a nonprofit organization, has adapted research-based writing instruction into a free, open source digital platform. All of our content is free to use for students and teachers, although we do have a premium model we sell to schools.

Our activities help students develop their sentence construction and grammar skills and are designed as supplemental writing exercises that students complete over short, 10 to 15 minute sessions at the beginning or end of a class period. Quill offers prompts and exercises and delivers instant feedback to help students write, revise, and revise again until they are able to produce succinct, powerful sentences.

Overview of Quill

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Quill was hatched by Peter Gault and some Brooklyn-based dreamers who, inspired by the possibility of the internet to give everyone a voice, imagined a world in which all people had the writing and critical thinking skills to engage in active, intelligent debate and discourse. The first step was helping young people level up their basic writing skills. In 2014, they launched a proofreading tool to help teachers spot students who needed support, then added activities for practice.

But Quill has always had more far-reaching ambitions than simply teaching grammar. The goal: help all students become strong writers and critical thinkers. Since 2016, Quill has launched increasingly sophisticated tools—combining sentences, using appositives, connecting ideas with conjunctions—to help students clearly express their ideas in writing.

Gault’s work brought him to journalist Peg Tyre, who had spent years investigating a single question: why do so many children from low-income families lag behind their more affluent peers in literacy? Her takeaway: learning to decode words is crucial, but sustained literacy depends on providing students with rich background knowledge and teaching them to write. In a celebrated 2012 article in the Atlantic, The Writing Revolution, she called for schools to provide more comprehensive writing instruction.

Tyre helps run the EGF Accelerator, an incubator for education nonprofits. In 2015, Quill was invited in. Quill’s growth took off, attracting media attention and some of the biggest names in education, literacy, philanthropy, and academia.

What Users Love About the App

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“I just discovered this site. I am using it as a review activity for students. I really like that not only does it help with grammar review, but with typing skills, as well as editing. I am very optimistic that this will help in the transition from grade level- to grade level.”

“I love this program. The whole class instruction is very engaging for students of all abilities. I have also had the opportunity to introduce this software into a co-teaching classroom environment where students range from very advanced to very delayed.”

“Quill has been an exceptionally useful tool in the classroom. They have fully scripted lessons, as well as practice activities. A great way for students to practice grammar skills.”

“I am so happy to have found Quill. This tool is such a time saver. I plan on using this as my primary grammar and writing tool next year to keep track of student progress and skill acquisition.”

“This is a great teaching tool. I love how independent the work is, though my students still ask for help when they need it in class, and several of them have redone assignments to improve their scores.”

What Users Dislike About the App

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“The only thing I would wish quill had was audio support for the lower ELL learners when they are doing their independent practice. I wish it was a little more visually appealing for the K-5 students.”

“I would like for it to be a little bit more user-friendly. I would like all of the categories to be on the same homepage.”

“I would like to be able to add my own words lists in for the storyboard use. I would also like to have various levels for even the lessons that need to be learned. For example, the Their, there, they’re lesson required typing the entire sentence.”

“I’d love a webinar/video training on the whole class activities (I’m still confused as to how those work!). I do wish that teacher lesson would be a bit more accessible.”

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“Students get immediate feedback when they make errors, which is helpful, but the feedback that they get isn’t so great – they are told that they have made a mistake, but not what they should do to fix it next time. Teachers are able to see students’ progress in a snapshot, but not the timing and performance stats that are given on other practice websites.”

Quill.org is a free tool that is designed to help K-12 students develop their writing skills by providing activities and feedback as they progress through a variety of activities. In its current state, the tool is designed to help students begin constructing complex sentences, but in the future the team has plans on expanding that to include thesis and essay writing.

This will give you a quick look at what activities look like from the student side. The goal of Quill Connect is to help students begin combining sentences in ways that are logical and aren’t run-ons, but still represent complex ideas. By the end of Quill’s activity packs, the aim is to have students able to write a 20-30 word complex sentence, combining multiple issues, using commas correctly, and articulating complex ideas through their writing.

There are examples for every grade level, but the sample activity will start you out at the elementary level. I’d also recommend trying out some wrong answers first, so you can get an idea of the type of differentiated feedback that is offered depending on how you answer the question.

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The next place to check out would be quill.org/demo. From here, you can see an example of the type of analytics and reports you can see as a teacher. Quill does offer a premium plan, where you can get your reports aligned to the CCSS, but even at the free level, these reports are incredibly helpful in determining where your students are at in terms of writing and grammar.

Finally, you’ve got the Quill Proofreader and Quill Grammar activities. These activity sets give students a space to practice their proofreading by finding spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors throughout a variety of reading passages. You can also give these a try on the homepage by clicking Try a Sample Activity under either of the sections.

While all of these activities are excellent (particularly given that they’re free), it’s the philosophy behind Quill that I appreciate the most. Quill was founded as a nonprofit with the singular goal of helping struggling writers, particularly in low-income schools, improve their writing abilities. As so much of successful communication depends on writing, I couldn’t agree more with their mission.

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The team is dedicated to Quill’s resources always remaining completely free for teachers and students, and they do offer funding through their various partnerships for low-income schools who are interested in the premier plan. Schools that are interested can send an email to [email protected] to find out more.

Overall, Quill is an excellent resource that makes good use of technology’s ability to provide instant, formative feedback. For a teacher to grade and provide feedback on every student’s sentence writing, a significant amount of time is always needed. Through Quill, teachers can see exactly where their students are struggling, and provide individualized feedback while leaving the more generic formative feedback aspect to Quill.

​Additionally, Quill allows students to explore different possibilities when writing. The examples I tested out allowed for multiple solutions, and then explained those different potential solutions to students afterwards, which was one of my favorite features.

Frequently Asked Questions

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What is Quill?

Quill is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that provides free writing and grammar activities for students. Quill’s tools provide practice with grammar conventions, combining sentences, and proofreading passages. Teachers can assign Quill’s synchronous lessons tool to provide whole-group or small-group instruction. Quill provides a baseline diagnostic assessment teachers can assign to identify students’ current strengths and areas of growth. Once students complete a diagnostic, Quill provides personalized learning plans for addressing each student’s needs.

How does Quill work?

Quill provides 10-15 minute exercises that help students build sentence construction skills. Quill automatically grades the writing and provides feedback and hints to help students improve it. The immediate feedback enables students to quickly build their skills, and it saves teachers dozens of hours spent on grading.

Quill also offers whole-class or small-group collaborative lessons led by the teacher, lasting about 20-30 minutes. Teachers control interactive slides that contain writing prompts, and students respond to each prompt. Each Quill Lesson provides a lesson plan, writing prompts, discussion topics, and follow-up independent practice activities.

Who is using Quill?

As of July 2021, over 87,000 teachers and 4,200,000 students have used Quill. These students complete approximately 30,000 activities each day. From Rhode Island to Russia, and the Bay Area to Great Britain, these students live all over the world.

How much does Quill cost?

All of Quill’s activities are free for educators and students to use with no hidden fees. There is no limit to the number of activities you can assign or the number of students you can invite. We also offer a premium service for in-depth reporting for educators, schools, and districts. You can learn more about Quill Premium here.

Can I donate to Quill?

Yes, as a 501(c)3 charitable organization, you can make a tax deductible donation to us. Please email [email protected] for more information about this.