Sustaining interventions: what
follows from ‘Catching the sun’?
Stuart McNaughton
Keynote address to the 5th International Reading
Recovery Institute, Auckland NZ
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Maui’s nets
 The sun was permanently tamed by
the net of twine, cord and ropes.
– great evidence
 In the current analysis
– great sustainability
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
But educational nets and their
permanence?
‘Sustainability may be the central
challenge of bringing reforms to
scale. Schools that successfully
implement reforms find it difficult to
sustain them in the face of competing
priorities, changing demands and
teacher and administrator turn
over…’ (Coburn 2003, p.6)
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Some conditions (from Coburn)
(1) ‘Externally developed school reforms may
be especially vulnerable to this problem
because implementation typically involves a
short-term influx of resources, professional
development, and other forms of assistance to
facilitate implementation that dissipates over
time as external developers turn their attention
to other sites…
(2) teachers with a deep understanding of the
pedagogical principles of reform are better
able to respond to new demands and
changing contexts in ways that are consistent
with the underlying principles of reform, thus
sustaining and, at times, deepening reform
over time’ (p.6).
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
The evidence is not good for
sustaining reforms in general
 For example the experiences of
Head Start and Follow Through
 Or: Olson (2003) argues reforms
based our science of psychology
have been spectacularly ineffective;
some may even have had negative
effects (eg child centered reforms)
 (Olson’s argument: most reforms
miss the role of school as cultural
organisations)
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Types of sustainability: ( more
contributions from RR?)
 Strong evidence for sustainability:
– with new cohorts of children
– with new cohorts of teachers
– maintaining programme integrity over
time
– across cultural, social, linguistic and
educational contexts
 Interesting issues – balance
problems
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
#5: Developmentally sustained
 What happens after an
intervention?
– near and far development?
 Near transfer for RR managed in 2
ways
– entry level and strategies for engaging
– joint planning to optimise transition
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Our ‘far’ problem
 Subsequent instructional conditions
set channels for development
 When the channels are constructed
for ‘low’ gradients this creates a more
general issue for teaching and
learning
 This is a major challenge for
sustaining early interventions in the
context of cultural and linguistically
diverse schools (decile 1 schools)
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Education Indicators Framework for the Early
Childhood and Schooling Sectors- Ministry of
Education / Alton-Lee (2004)
Educational Research & Development
Families &
Communities
About 4065% of
variance in
outcomes
Outcomes
16- 60% of
variance in
outcomes
Quality
Teaching
Educators, Teacher
Education
& Research
Infrastructure
0 to 20.9% of
variance in
outcomes
Physical Resources
& Organisation
Leadership
&
Governance
Learner
Participation &
Involvement
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
The situation: (Lai et. al. 2003)
Disparities in reading comprehension for
Māori and Pasifika children
– international comparisons (high average, long tail)
– national comparisons (low decile / Maori and
Pasifika students, low achievement)
Clusters of schools are aware
Existing effective instructional programme in
the early years (Phillips et. al. 2004): seen as a
school challenge
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Participants
Seven decile 1 schools, Initiative
Leaders, Woolf Fisher Research
Centre, Ministry of Education
60 teachers and their classrooms
1900 students in years 4-9
– equal proportions of males and females
– four main ethnic groups (Samoan,
Tongan, Māori and Cook Island)
– about half with home language other than
English
– 5 bilingual classes
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
General hypothesis: capability
within an expanded ‘community’
 A research-practice collaboration
 (1) baseline phase:exploring current
teaching and learning patterns (a design
parallel to RR’s ‘roaming’?)
– area-wide analysis of achievement and
classroom data
– individual school analysis of data
– whole staff sessions
– projects to test out teaching ideas
– descriptions (interpreted within design)
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
General profile of reading
comprehension
Percentage of students
35
30
25
20
PAT
15
STAR
10
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Stanine
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
More importantly: patterns on
reading assessments (eg..)
 Recall and inference equally ‘low’
 Relatively ‘high’ on word recognition
 Paragraph comprehension most
difficult: across year levels, groups
(and mainstream / bilingual
classrooms)
 Vocabulary range low
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Specific hypotheses (a):
Decoding less likely to be the
problem
– subtest analyses
– rates of completion on tests
– more anecdotal evidence - running
records
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Specific hypotheses (b)
Teaching and Learning:
 Boost vocabulary
– factual and inferential answers both low; ‘vocabulary range’
low on tests
 Develop checking & use of evidence
– high prediction rates in class: prompting to check occurred 9
times in 16 hours of observations; low Cloze and errors
 Increase instructional density
– rates of interactions per student low; access to texts low
 Incorporate cultural/linguistic resources for
texts but bridge to unfamiliar texts
 With each focus make activities more
explicit
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
‘error’ analysis from Cloze
 ‘All they did (could) afford was a tiny room
in a shoe (cottage/house/shop) in a village
by a river.’
 ‘He grabbed frantically, and felt his head
(hand(s)/finger(s)) closing around the
branch of a tree.’
 ‘Suddenly, round a sharp bend in the head
(road/path/track), he fell again, missed his
self (footing/step) and plunged over the
ugly (cliff/rock) face.’
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Boosting vocabulary
 Retune core activities (and
interactions) such as reading to
 A set to detect and enjoy new words
(both teachers and students)
– eg ‘Word detectives’:
• ‘Pronking’
• Genetically modified organism
 Planning topic / theme-based
vocabulary
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Detecting & checking evidence
 Retune core activities (and
interactions) such as guided reading /
reciprocal teaching
 A set to use text evidence (both
teachers and students)
– for teachers analysis of interact ional
features
 Close reading of assessment as
activities to solve
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Close reading of Cloze test
(paragraph comprehension)
 Instructions
– “The stories below have some blank
spaces, where words have been left
out. Read the stories and write down
the word that you think has been left
out, one for each blank. Try to write one
word in every space, even if you are
not sure what it should be” (STAR,
NZCER 2001)
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Instructional density
 Retune core activities
– eg .. amount of time spent in explicit
instruction prior to or outside of text
reading
 For teachers a set to optimise rates
of quality interaction per student
– eg.. grouping for reading to
 A question of resources
– eg.. electronic texts
– the dictionary problem
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Creating bridges: familiar to
unfamiliar
 Identifying complex thinking in everyday
activities and potential parallels with
classroom activities eg…
– LOL (metalinguistic awareness)
– Hip hop / rap (playing with texts:
polysyllabification)
– Church texts (complex vocabulary; move into
interpretation)
 Note David’s point- yesterdays new text
tomorrow’s prior knowledge
 Avoiding tendency to homogenise culture
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Everyday knowledge eg…
Mareko with Deceptikonz rapping :
‘In the morning I woke up frozen and my arms
are now broken
If u look closer u will notice dat my shoulders
floatin’
(from ‘Stop, drop and roll’ 2003)
His raps might be compared with
Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll ‘Through the
Looking Glass’ )
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:…..
(Oxford University Press, 1971 134 – 136)
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
So...sustainability – some
components (a) teaching
 Teachers and developing expertise
– knowledge and beliefs
– actions / strategies (performance)
– awareness (control and regulation)
 Notice the knowledge here:
– theoretically rich
– professionally rich
– context rich (cultural and linguistic)
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Musical expertise:
Deborah Wai Kapohe, Moana
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Sporting expertise:
Carlos Spencer, Beatrice Faumuina
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
(b) Professional learning
Community (eg. Timperley 2003)
 Shared norms and values
– eg all students can learn / teaching effects
 Focus on student learning
– evidence-based
 Reflective dialogue
 Deprivatising practice
 Collaboration
– use of evidence
– checking practices
 Very like the properties of RR
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Distribution across all
stanines
Percentage of students
30
25
20
STAR beginning of year
STAR end of year
15
10
5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Stanine
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Developmental sustainabilityReading Recovery?
 Beliefs, knowledge, practices of
‘near’ and ‘far’ teachers?
 Specific practices to build on RR
after year 1 and 2?
 The question of teaching and
learning comprehension, especially
for culturally and linguistically diverse
students?
 Our local and global village
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland
Woolf Fisher Research Centre
The University of Auckland