Programmes for Students:
Accelerating Learning in Literacy and
Mathematics
Evaluation and
Self-Review Day
March 3, 2014
gaylene.price@canterbury.ac.nz
Accelerating Learning in Literacy…
• Is based on a ‘Theory of Action’…
• A short term intervention (15 weeks) in addition
to students’ current literacy teaching ...
• Uses a process of inquiry …
• Engages whānau …
• Is responsive to student needs …
• Has some external support …
Accelerating Learning in
Literacy (ALL) is…
‘A school inquiry and knowledge building
programme that accelerates progress for a
target group of students, (Year 1)
… and sustains cycles of inquiry for breadth
and coherence.’ (Year 2&3 - a school
curriculum and achievement programme)
Rationale for Programmes for
Students
• There is a national problem that needs solving
• There is often confusion about how to respond to particular
student needs
• There is a propensity not to respond differently
• The system has not developed a mediating layer
to support capability building
National, regional & local student achievement data show
pockets of success
Equity – is it good enough?
90.0%
80.0%
70.0%
Total
77.4%
Māori
Pasifika
73.6%
70.0%
68.2%
62.6%
63.6%
60.0%
59.7%
60.2%
50.0%
40.0%
30.0%
20.0%
10.0%
0.0%
Reading
Maths
Writing
56.8%
Borderfield’s Report (2008)
• Uncertainty about how to respond to the numbers of
students that were not making progress;
• A culture of dependency on “second wave” interventions;
• A lack of capability at the classroom level to assess and
provide intensive, explicit literacy instruction;
• A confusing clutter of mismatched, sometimes
counterproductive interventions.
Recommendation: That the MoE develop a conceptual
framework that strengthens all aspects of literacy support.
ERO Mathematics Report (2013)
There is a propensity not to respond differently
“…business as usual approached prevailed….most
schools were able to identify their learners who
were not achieving…but continued to use the same
strategies, programmes and initiatives they had
tried before. Few had evidence that these actually
accelerated the progress of their priority learners…”
ERO Report – Accelerating the progress of Priority
Learners in Primary Schools (May 2013)
‘A system–wide emphasis on the strategies
teachers can use to accelerated progress is
needed. All teachers have an ethical responsibility
to help those students that need to catch up to
their peers. This is essential if we are to raise the
achievement of NZ students relative to their
international counterparts.’
(p.21)
Therefore…
• the system needs do things
differently.
It needs to focus on all students
and build capability through a
system response that is
contextualised to meet individual
needs.
Questions to consider
• Is the intervention appropriate for the
identified students?
• What is the impact of each of these
interventions and what evidence do we
have that they are successful?
• What next for the students for whom the
intervention wasn’t successful?
Curriculum and Achievement Plan
Curriculum and Achievement Plan
• Many schools already have elements of a CaAP
• A school wide plan showing the NZC (and school curriculum)
• Brings together an assessment plan – but includes responses to
achievement
• Shows outcomes – what schools want students to achieve (graduate
profile)
• Helps schools plan for and be accountable for all supplementary
supports
• Keeps the focus on ‘what works’
• Supports schools to pick up the pace for all students to achieve
nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz (Pages 7-10 ‘Theory of Action’)
National Leader reflections on 2013
Strengths:
• Student achievement
• Student and teacher agency
• Appreciation of regionally based delivery
• High levels of engagement and positivity
• Uptake of the key understandings in the
‘Theory of Action’
• Priority learners
So… What worked for whom?
• close analysis of students capabilities to determine needs
… and then teaching to these
• innovative and exciting contexts and content chosen as
the ‘vehicle’ of learning
• a focus on goal setting by students
• a focus on oral language
• providing opportunities for fluency and mileage
• well planned and structured lessons where careful
scaffolding occurred (and continual modifications)
• quality literature as foundation material
• some schools had considerable success in the
development of a strong home link
Areas for improvement:
• Scripted, shallow, skill-based
programmes that can be bought and
followed
• Acceleration
• Overall teacher judgements
• Teaching as inquiry
• Inquiry teams
• What does ‘in addition’ mean?
Intervention Logic for ALL and ALiM 2014
Enacting the Theory of Action
• Supplementary inquiry team
• Teaching as Inquiry
• BES Principles and Conditions of Learning
• Curriculum and Achievement Plan (CaAP)
• Self-review tool
• A focus on acceleration
Supplementary Inquiry Team
The key role of this team is to ensure there are
adequate conditions for sustaining and embedding
effective practices.
(e.g. one role of this group is to support other classroom
teachers to inquire into the effectiveness of aspects of their
practice and transfer learnings from the supplementary
programme to the classroom.)
ToA Pg.12
Identify the level of support
groups of students will
need to access this learning
focus
Describe what students know
and do (describe the rich
resources students can bring
to the next learning
experiences)
Using “Teaching
as Inquiry”
to trigger
supplementary
supports for
some students
BES Principles and conditions of learning
• How well are we using what we know
works?
• Which levers are we currently using in
our work?
• Which ones do we need to focus
more on or include?
Schools’ inquiry should be focused on
doing something differently, but
pedagogically sound in response to the
PfS inquiry focus.
ALL 1 & ALiM 1 Inquiry
“What is acceleration and how do we achieve it?”
ALL 2&3/ALiM 2 Inquiry
“How do we develop effective intervention practices
that sustain students acceleration and ensure
intervention coherence at a school-wide level?
Our kids are
…part of
a system
that ensures
our
kiwi kids
can fly…
He waka eke noa
Ki te hoe
Reporting requirements
REPORT:
• Inquiry and Refocus report (Developed from 2013)
• Completed over the intervention - forming the basis of
discussion for the ‘Impact and Refocus’ day
(Discuss with Mentor)
• Has a space for school ‘tool’ data
• Has a space for OTJ (and a ‘best fit’ OTJ)
Email to accelerating.literacy@minedu.govt.nz
Include a final OTJ!
DATA COLLECTION:
NZCER will be assisting in the collection of assessment data for
the project.
1.
You will receive an email to confirm information they
have received from the MOE about your school
2.
You will be asked to complete a web form link which
provides NZCER with your school's initial contact and
intervention focus details
Please submit this information before the 14th March 2014.
Contacts for queries: Melanie Dickinson & Sandy Robbins
assessmentservices@nzcer.org.nz
DATA COLLECTION:
NZCER will be collecting ALLdata for :
• Reading (Years 3-8) using STAR and OTJs
• Writing (Years 3-8) using e-asTTle and OTJs
• Junior Literacy (Years 0-2) using Obs survey and OTJs
You need to know if you are ALL Year 1, Year 2, Year 3 ..
Further information about ALL…
• nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/system-of-support
• Literacy on line – system of support
• www.educationcounts.govt.nz
(look under Topics/Public Achievement Information)
• www.educationcounts.govt.nz/topics/BES
Implementing a
system of support
Gazette articles
• July 29, 2013
• August 26, 2013
• November 11, 2013
Rere atu, rere mai
Taku manu e
Rere ki tua, rere ki kō
Kia whetūrangitia e
Fly my bird
In every direction.
Attain
The countless stars.