Programmes for Students: Accelerating Literacy Learning: ALL

Principal evaluation and self review day

Workshop 1March 2014

Presenter – Alison Davis Vision Educationdavis.vision@xtra.co.nz

What is programmes for students 2014?

Accelerating Literacy Learning (ALL) is part of Programmes for Students (PfS). ALL focuses on using the expertise within the school to evaluate the effectiveness of current practices that support accelerated literacy learning and to closely monitor the impact of a 10 -15 week intervention for a small group of students in the first year.

An absence of common expectations for student outcomes at every level in the system;

A culture of dependency on “second wave” interventions;

Uncertainty about how to respond to the numbers of students that were not making progress;

A lack of capability at the classroom level to assess and provide intensive explicit literacy instruction;

A confusing clutter of mismatched, sometimes counterproductive interventions.

Borderfield’s Report (2008)

There is often confusion about how to respond to particular student needs

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)

What is acceleration?Acceleration in this context has three dimensions: Acceleration is the student’s learning progress showing a noticeably faster, upward movement than might otherwise have been expected by the trend of their own past learning.  Accelerated learning is learning at a rate faster than classmates progressing at expected rates in order catch them up; and  Accelerated learning is learning at a rapid rate that brings the student achievement level to that consistent with, or beyond, a set of benchmarks or standards (NZ Curriculum Reading and Writing Standards).

A shift in the trajectory of learning

Weeks at School

Rea

ding

Lev

el

Progress that is expected for all students

A supplementary programme identifies when an intervention takes place e.g.

students below expectation as shown here,

what it would be – based on evidence of impact,

monitoring during and after, plan b for the students who do not

accelerate learning, e.g. the students with “flat’’ progress

Achievement pathway for a particular student

(group of 5 Xs)

 curr

icul

um

leve

ls

 Years at school

National prioritiesProgrammes for Students – ALL sits within the national priorities for

Improved student learning and accelerated improvement for all, and in particular Maori, Pasifika, students with special needs and those achieving below curriculum expectationsCulturally responsive pedagogy centred on the needs of students

Tätaiako: Cultural Competencies for Teachers - teachers’ relationships and engagement with Mäori learners and with their whänau and iwi.

Maori Education plan

Pasifika Education plan

Success for all Inquiry at the head of Professional learning and development, school practice, classroom practice, student agency, family/whanau engagementEmbedding NZC and key competenciesAssessment FOR learning

Programmes for students aims to:Work at the level of the individual studentProvide intensive learning opportunities for students who are not achieving in literacy and numeracy at the expected level (the National Standards for reading, writing and mathematics)Provide additional support over and above regular classroom teachingFocus squarely on the student, Have accelerated success in learning

Three tiers of intervention

Tier 1- effective classroom practice = effective teaching for all

Tier 2 – Short term intensive school based specific interventions - If effective teaching is happening then there will only be a small amount of students who should need this type of support.

Tier 3 – Additional Specialist support from outside of the school - this level of support should only be required for 2 to 5 % of the school population at some schools.

What we know about effective interventions?

Supplementary NOT replacement – dose and density – still focuses on the “instructional core” – the daily discourse of teaching and learningData driven – multiple data sources including student and parent/whanau voiceTargeted inquiry and targeted improvements focusing on literacy and effective teaching that significantly improves student learningEmbedded with culturally responsive beliefs and practicesSuccess is not about teacher “mastery” of new practices – it is about the impact of the new practices on improving student achievement

What are the critical factors in accelerating literacy achievement

● Knowing your learners and deliberately linking instructional content to learner’s prior knowledge – before, during and after instruction

● Student agency

Metacognitively rich instruction and experiences

Integration of formative assessment across the curriculum

● Deliberately instructing to know, select, use and control strategies employed by “skilled” readers and “skilled” writers – in literacy and transferred to meet the demands of all curriculum areas

● Selection of appropriate text, task and teaching approach

● Active engagement of learners – student agency - motivation and engagement

Implementing a system of support

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)

TEACHING INQUIRY

What strategies will help my students

learn this?What do I need to do

differently?

TEACHING AND LEARNING

SUPPLEMENTARY SUPPORT INQUIRYScaffolded learning

(inside and/or outside of the classroom) that

leads to acceleration of

progress so students able to engage with

classroom curriculum

TEACHING AND LEARNING

Rich classroom experiences for all students based on school curriculum

LEARNING INQUIRY

What happened as a result of the teaching?

An evaluation of impact, including whether students are at or above standard and/or progressing as

expected

FOCUSING INQUIRY

What’s important to learn?

(socio-cultural learning, school

curriculum)

Using “Teaching as Inquiry” to trigger

supplementary supports for

some students

Intervention Logic for ALL and ALiM 2014

BES model for systematic improvement

Teacher inquiry at the heart of improved learning outcomes for students

Inquiry :The key question for the focusing inquiry is: What is important (and therefore worth spending time on), given where my students are at?

School self review and professional learning as inquiryHabitual

Inquiry

Cycle

Continual inquiry in to the impact of change. On-gong explicit discussion of the challenges faced.

Teaching as inquiry – ALL

In the teaching inquiry, teachers select teaching strategies that will support their students to achieve desired outcomes. This involves asking questions about how well current strategies are working and whether others might be more successful. The learning inquiry takes place both during and after teaching as teachers monitor their students’ progress towards the identified outcomes and reflect on what this tells them. Teachers use this new information to decide what to do next to ensure continued improvement in student achievement and in their own practice.This focusing inquiry establishes a baseline and a direction. The teacher uses all available information to determine what their students have already learned and what they need to learn next.

What is collaborative inquiry?

Groups of teachers working together to address a shared issue or concernTeachers search their own and their colleagues’ past practice for strategies that may be more effective, and they also look in the research literature to see what has worked in other contexts. They seek evidence that their selected strategies really have worked for other students, and they set up processes for capturing evidence about whether the strategies are working for their own students.Reflection – time to make sense of the experiences we are having and what we are learning

Using data to inform decision makingSchools will select to use data from

Running records, use of wedge graphs

AsTTle Reading

PAT Reading

asTTle writing

Supported by

Strong formative assessment practices

A focus on student agency

Family/whanau involvement and voice

Literacy learning progressions and national standards

ELLP documentation

A key focus of successful intervention includes on-going close monitoring of students by using assessment data as part of inquiry to show improvement and acceleration.

Student agencyHow do our students view their own literacy learning? Do they see themselves as successful readers and/or writers.How do students know they are being supported to achieve?How do students have access to high levels of support?Can students talk about their self-directing strategies for literacy learning? What does the teacher do to help you become a successful reader and/or writer? What would you like your teacher to do to more of, to help you with your reading and writing? What makes a good teacher of reading and writing?Which subjects do you like or dislike – and why

A thought to consider….

“We need to understand that teaching happens outside the head, but learning occurs inside the head- the teacher is the one outside the head!”

What are you committing to?

Leadership commits to…

Attendance at ALL self review, planning and impact workshops by principal and ALL teacher (March and August)Full leadership involvement in the projectOrganisation that facilitates teacher involvementIntense focus on the project that includes at least 10 weeks of daily instruction for target studentsDeveloping school systems that will sustain the new way of operating beyond MOE fundingProvision of any additional teacher release costs not covered by MOEProviding data and a full report to the MOE at the completion of the project.

Ministry commits to…

Payment of get $6140 (GST exclusive) for teacher release time to support attendance at compulsory workshops; planning, monitoring and evaluation and a minimum of 10 weeks of intensive teachingCovering the costs for travel and accommodation for the compulsory workshopsMentoring support through contracted literacy suppliersGuidance if needed and sought by schools.

Mentor support

Schools could expect approximately 4 contacts during the 15 week period of the intervention, including:Email contactPhone conversationsVisits – school and/or clusterSkype Professional readings Cluster meetings

All schools have mentor attached to them – CPL or Vision.

Moving forward – planning for success

Inquiry in to our own school practices and learning needs of our students

What is a successful intervention – rubric 6- Choices of Approaches and interventionsAccelerated learning – Rubric 9 – Accelerated progress for students achieving below curriculum expectations in literacy

Inquiry in to the needs of our studentsWhat criteria will we use for the selection of students for ALL and why will we select these students?

What other information do you need to source?Last years data – previous interventions - student voice – talking to family/whanau

Selecting personnelWho will you choose to lead the intervention – what will you look for in this person and WHY will you choose them? What is YOUR schools’ criteria for selecting this teacher?

Establishing a team and levels of support

Not alone - Who will be in your supplementary inquiry team – support team in your school – RTLit, Literacy leader, RTLB, teachers within your school with Post graduate papers, TESOL

In determining the students who will be the focus of your invention consider

1. What is your data telling you?2. What are you going to/have done with it?3. What triggered the need to instigate a supplementary programme?4. What do you know about the students who are showing no improvement?

What is needed to accelerate their progress?

Who are you students in the following priority groups

1. Students who are ELLs

2. Students below expected curriculum achievement level

3. Maori students

4. Pasifika students

Responses to these questions should identify students for whom multiple sources of data and inquiry illustrate a need for planned and targeted intervention

Selection of a teacher to lead this programmeTeachers who have:The ability to work as part of a supplementary inquiry team within your school in order to sustain and embed effective practices and support other classroom teachers to inquire in to the effectiveness of their own class programmes and transfer learnings from this work• High expectations of students• Strong literacy PCK and CK• Open to learning and confident to try new things• Notice, understand, reflect, respond• Flexibility with a variety of appropriate teaching strategies• Permanent staff member• Approachable and patient• Ability to encourage & connect to whanau, parents & students• Able to inquire in to the effectiveness of their intervention to support

student acceleration

Preparing for Planning….

What are the needs of the students we have selected?What will the intervention include and WHY?How will we closely monitor and review the impact of our intervention?How will we develop student agency?