Writing is an instructional focus for students at A3 for two reasons: first, students will need strong reading and writing skills to succeed in college or in the workplace; second, as artists, A3 students will need to able to promote themselves and their work through their literacy skills. It is our belief, verified by the artists and art educators from around the country, that if an artist cannot represent himself or herself and his or her vision, both are vulnerable to the manipulation of others.

Structurally, the writing course is the cornerstone of the Academy of Arts & Academics curriculum. Every student takes the course with his or her advisory group, and every staff member in the school teaches the course. The A3 faculty will develop the writing curriculum, and faculty has on-going professional development throughout the school year to support their own growth as writers and teachers of writing.

At all grade levels, the curriculum emphasizes three basic genres of writing (expressive, research, analytical) and basic writing skills related to purpose, development and expression in writing. As a whole, the writing curriculum is meant to support the Humanities curriculum by focusing on English Language Arts standards. But the course also provides a structure for writing across the curriculum at A3; the pedagogy and curriculum developed in the writing course (the structure for a five-paragraph theme, for example) are used across the school. Finally, the four-year course is designed to scaffold the skills students will need to develop their final writing portfolio product in their senior year: the arête project, based on standard guidelines, for an artistic work with community relevance.

Readings correlate with the genres the students are practicing (when writing autobiographies, for example, students read autobiographies; when writing poetry, students read poetry). As they move from 9th to 12th grade, students also practice increasingly more sophisticated peer review; address increasingly more complicated grammar and stylistic issues.