1. Programmes for Students:
Accelerating Literacy Learning: ALL
Principal evaluation and self review day
Workshop 1
27th May 2014
Presenter –Leytia Leota Vision Education
leytia.leota@xtra.co.nz

2. 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 15 week
intervention for a small group of students in the
first year.

3. 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

4. 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)

5. 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).

6. A shift in the trajectory of learning
ReadingLevel
Weeks at School

7. 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)
curriculumlevels
Years at school

8. National priorities
Programmes 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
expectations
Culturally 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 engagement
Embedding NZC and key competencies
Assessment FOR learning

9. Programmes for students aims
to:
Work at the level of the individual student
Provide 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 teaching
Focus squarely on the student,
Have accelerated success in learning

10. 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 approaches
● Active engagement of learners – student agency - motivation and
engagement

11. What is a successful intervention?

12. What we know about effective interventions?
Supplementary NOT replacement – dose and density – still focuses
on the “instructional core” – the daily discourse of teaching and
learning
Data driven – multiple data sources including student and
parent/whanau voice
Targeted inquiry and targeted improvements focusing on literacy
and effective teaching that significantly improves student learning
Embedded with culturally responsive beliefs and practices
Success is not about teacher “mastery” of new practices – it is
about the impact of the new practices on improving student
achievement

13. 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.

14. 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

15. BES model for systematic improvement

16. Supplementary ‘NOT’ replacement.
Data driven.
Metacognition
Dose and Density.
Student agency.
School led and driven.
Pedagogically sound
Culturally responsive
Innovative – based on sound ideas.
Iterative inquiry
Implementing a system of support
Curriculum and Achievement Map
Key Messages

17. School leadership self review – monitoring long term impact, improving school curriculum and achievement map,
transferring to new contexts, communicating with parents/whānau, BoT, community/iwi/hapū, MoE
Refocus
For students
 What do we
need to do
differently for
the students who
didn’t accelerate
progress?
 What do
classroom
teachers need to
do differently to
support those
who have
accelerated?
For the
supplementary
inquiry team
 What do we
embed and what
do we improve?
 Which teachers
should try an
acceleration
programme
next?
Implementation of
supplementary
programme
Inquiry and
knowledge building
cycles
 Monitors, reviews
and adjusts
practices, and
develops
educationally
powerful
connections with
community
Teaching as inquiry
 Highly effective and
culturally responsive
teaching based on
what works
 Develops
educationally
powerful
relationships with
parents/whānau
Supplementary
Inquiry Design
Iterative
programme design
 Based on what
works
 Includes
monitoring and
evaluation
processes
Selection of
students
 Based on school
and national
targets
 Particular focus
on equity –
Māori, Pasifika,
SEN, and
students from
lower socio-
economic
backgrounds
Evaluation
Organisation
How best do we
resource this for:
 Powerful
connections
with
family/whānau
 Classroom
teaching
 Supplementary
inquiry team
Curriculum &
Achievement
What works in our
school, for whom and
why?
What does the
research say works
faster for whom and
why?
Outcomes
For teachers
 Improved pedagogy
and practice
 Agency
For supplementary
inquiry team
 Improved evaluative
capabilities
 Improved pedagogies
 Improved
educationally
powerful
relationships
For students
Acceleration of progress
Knowledge and skills to
engage with classroom
curriculum
Self-directing learning
strategies
Agency
•Figure 3: Intervention Logic

18. Curriculum and Achievement
What works in our school, for whom
and why?
What does the research say works
faster for whom and why?

19. Organisation
How best do we resource this for:
Powerful connections with
family/whānau?
Classroom teaching?
Supplementary inquiry team?

20. Selection of Students
What are our school and the national literacy
targets?
Is our focus on equity – Māori, Pasifika, SEN, ELL
and students from lower socio-economic
backgrounds?
Iterative programme design
Do we know what works faster?
How do we monitor and evaluate processes?

21. 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

22. Teacher inquiry at the heart of improved
learning outcomes for students
Inquiry Question: What is acceleration and how do we achieve
it?

23. School self review and professional learning as inquiry
H
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Continual inquiry in to the impact of change. On-gong explicit discussion of the challenges faced.

24. Using data to inform decision making
Schools will select to use data from
 Running records, use of wedge graphs
 AsTTle Reading
 PAT Reading
 asTTle writing
 Observation Survey
 STAR
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.

25. Student agency
How 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

26. Selection of a teacher to lead this programme
Teachers 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

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. Leadership commits to…
Attendance at ALL self review, planning and impact workshops by
principal and ALL teacher (May, June, November)
Full leadership involvement in the project
Organisation that facilitates teacher involvement
Intense focus on the project that includes 15 weeks of daily instruction
for target students
Developing school systems that will sustain the new way of operating
beyond MOE funding
Provision of any additional teacher release costs not covered by MOE
Providing data and a full report to the MOE at the completion of the
project.

32. What is collaborative inquiry?
Groups of teachers working together to address a shared issue or
concern
Teachers 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

33. Ministry commits to…
Payment of get $6140 (GST exclusive) for teacher release time to
support attendance at compulsory workshops; planning, monitoring
and evaluation and 15 weeks of intensive teaching
Covering the costs for travel and accommodation for the
compulsory workshops
Mentoring support through contracted literacy suppliers
Guidance if needed and sought by schools.

34. Mentor support
Schools could expect approximately 4 contacts during the 15 week
period of the intervention, including:
Email contact
Phone conversations
Visits – school and/or cluster
Skype
Professional readings
Cluster meetings
All schools have mentor attached to them – CPL or Vision.

35. 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 interventions
Accelerated learning – Rubric 9 – Accelerated progress for students achieving below curriculum
expectations in literacy-Rubric 4-Consultation and Involvement of parents and whanau
Inquiry in to the needs of our students
What 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 personnel
Who 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

36. 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?