Accelerating Learning in Literacy Fact Sheet
Accelerating Learning in Literacy is a 15-week intervention for year 1-8 students who have had at least
40 weeks of schooling and are below or well below National Standards in reading or writing.
This intervention is a supplementary support to lift student achievement. It is in addition to, and
connected to, students’ classroom programmes.
How does the
intervention
work?
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How are schools
supported?
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Why choose ALL
for your school?
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What are the
expected
outcomes?
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What does the
school need to
have in place to
ensure success?
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The
Supplementary
Inquiry Team
(SIT)
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What is the
intervention logic,
and where does
ALL fit in?
Accelerating Learning in Literacy (ALL) uses the expertise within the school
to undertake a short-term intervention to accelerate the progress of students
below and well below National Standards in reading and/or writing. The
intervention is in addition to effective classroom teaching. Teachers are
supported to inquire into their practice and share their learning.
There are two intakes per year. Schools will be in either intake 1 (terms 1-3)
or intake 2 (terms 2-4).
Ministry funding of 0.1 FTE to support the intervention.
Mentor support for leadership and teachers.
A series of Ministry-funded workshops (more details below).
Workshop organisers will be in contact with schools, so schools need to ensure
they have provided the Ministry with accurate and up-to-date contact
information.
Evidence shows that ALL is an effective model and is making a difference,
with participants showing significant increases in student achievement and
equitable outcomes.
ERO reports show that the intervention builds school leadership capability
to understand the use of data, thereby contributing to school-wide
improvement. ERO Report. Raising Achievement in Primary Schools: ALL and
ALiM (June 2014)
Acceleration for small groups of learners who are achieving below or well
below the expected standard.
A Curriculum and Achievement Plan (CaAP) is developed, which is about
monitoring and responding to student needs, as well as contributing to schoolwide improvements (more detail below).
If the right conditions exist within a school the students, teachers and the
school will benefit from ALL. These conditions include:
 an effective and culturally responsive literacy teacher with good content and
pedagogical knowledge, and the willingness to inquire into doing things
differently
 leadership capability and support for ALL, and a willingness to adapt and
change at an operational and professional level
 school-wide monitoring and assessment through inquiry and knowledge
building processes, underpinned by the concept of ongoing improvement
ERO Report. Raising Achievement in Primary Schools: ALL and ALiM (June
2014) outlines what a ‘strategic and successful’ school looks like.
Schools participating in ALL are expected to establish a Supplementary
Inquiry Team (SIT). The team needs to include someone from school
leadership, and the ALL teacher. The SIT is supported by a mentor. The
responsibilities of the team are to:
 support the ALL teacher to inquire into their teaching strategies and
approaches
 develop systems and processes to monitor students at risk of not achieving
and respond to their needs
 develop systems and processes to mobilise knowledge about good practice
to accelerate student learning
 inquire into the impact of supplementary supports and interventions in the
school
ALL fits within the three-tiered system of teaching support for students:
 Tier 1: effective classroom teaching
 Tier 2: supplementary support (more intensive and explicit than instruction
in Tier 1). ALL sits in tier 2.
 Tier 3: specialist support (most intensive instruction)
The intervention  The right conditions exist within the school (see above: what schools need to
have in place to ensure success)
works best when...
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What will the
intervention
schedule look like
for a school?
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Building schoolwide systems,
capability and
processes
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School reporting
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What happens
after successful
completion of
Year 1 of the
intervention?
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For more
information
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In addition, schools may have participated in literacy, leadership and/or
assessment PLD in the past, and have improved their classroom and leadership
capability
There are two intakes of ALL per year. Schools will be in either intake 1 (terms
1-3) or intake 2 (terms 2-4). Each intake has the same structure:
 Workshop 1: (For the principal and literacy lead). Evaluation and SelfReview. Review of strengths and needs, student achievement data, selection
of teachers and student, overview of expectations and system supports.
 Workshop 2: (For the literacy lead and the ALL teacher). Planning. Planning
the intervention, focusing on identifying key levers for improved literacy
teaching and learning.
 The 15-week intervention itself takes place. The teacher provides
supplementary support for a small group of 6-8 students who are below or
well below the standard in reading or writing. The teacher is supported by
the SIT and mentor to inquire into their practice.
 Workshop 3: (For the principal and ALL teacher). Impact and Refocus.
Review, reflection, reporting and forward planning. Reflecting on the
mentor support that was provided.
Workshop organisers will be in touch with schools to provide registration
information, and to organise travel.
As a result of being involved in ALL, school systems and processes around
interventions are strengthened.
Schools will be required to develop a Curriculum and Achievement Plan. The
development of this plan will:
 increase teacher knowledge of what works across the school for priority
groups of students
 determine which interventions should be offered to meet the needs of
students below expectations
 measure the ongoing success of interventions, retaining those that show
acceleration
 build coherence of all supplementary support responses within the school
curriculum
 support school and teaching cycles of inquiry to transfer and mobilise
knowledge, ensuring effective teaching practices are implemented schoolwide.
Schools will report on the long-term and short-term outcomes of their
supplementary supports to a range of people.
 The Impact and Refocus Report (provides the framework to report to other
schools at ‘Impact Day’ where school leaders and teachers get together to
share the context of the inquiry into accelerating student achievement and
what they have learned).
 The School report to the Ministry (a template is provided for this, and this
can be used as the basis of other reports, e.g. Impact and Refocus report and
report to the BoT).
Reports will detail the accelerated learning that has occurred for students,
and provide an opportunity to evaluate the school’s ability to integrate the
learning from ALL with other strategic decisions to improve outcomes for
students.
There is an opportunity for schools to participate in a second year of ALL.
Certain conditions must in place to be allocated a second or third year,
including demonstrated accelerated progress after the first year, more teachers
directly involved, and an extended CaAP.
There is expected to be a ‘step-up’ in implementation over time, with the
school’s involvement in ALL changing, developing and strengthening. At the
completion of a second year, schools will have the internal capability to maintain
systems inquiry to respond to student needs, and will be in a suitable place to be
able to lead themselves.
ERO Report. Raising Achievement in Primary Schools: ALL and ALiM. June 2014.
Education Gazette Articles: July 2013, March 2015