1. Edmund Hillary Primary School in South Auckland implemented a literacy program called Quick60 to address low literacy rates, particularly among Māori and Pasifika students. 2. Quick60 is based on research modifying Reading Recovery to make it more effective and accessible. It includes whole-class and small-group instruction. 3. Using Quick60, the school increased the number of students reading at or above national standards from 2% to 100%, demonstrating Quick60's ability to improve literacy for priority learners.

1. 1
A Blueprint for Increasing the Success Rate of
Priority Learners in Primary Schools
Executive Summary
The Government is demanding accountablilty through the introduction of
National Standards. It funds various initiaves to increase the literacy levels of the
lowest performing students who are typically overly represented by Maori and
Pasifika children. Reading Recovery is one of these initiaves but after 30 years of
implementation, the students with the greatest need are still not achieving.
In 2012 The World Literacy Foundation reported the links between illiteracy and
criminal offending, poverty, welfare dependency and poor health. It reported that
illiteracy in New Zealand costs the country $3.166 billion a year.
Edmund Hillary Primary School is a Decile 1 school in South Auckland with a
predominantly Maori and Pasifika population. They have been involved in
government initiatives and found that for the most part they do not work
adequately for their students. For the past five years Edmund Hillary has been
running a programme called Quick60 for students from New Entrants to Year 6.
Before implementing the programme 2% of their students were reading at or above
National Standards. This year, no student will leave the school reading below a
10 -11 year old reading level. This means that even the lowest performers will be able
to function in, and contribute to, society.
Past and ongoing research initiaves show that Quick60 is a powerful, proven, cost
effective opportunity to solve the issue of literacy achievement for those with the
greatest need.
The premise of this proposal is that with adequate funding, schools could streamline
the Edmund Hillary model from five years to three years. By using Quick60 they
could replicate the incredible student success of Edmund Hillary and ensure literacy
achievement for all.

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What Is Quick60?Introduction
The New Zealand Ministry of Education is demanding accountability through the
introduction of National Standards. The Ministry has funded many initiatves to assist schools
meet its goals. While these measures have worked for middle class students, minimal gains
have been made for the lowest achievers. Since the 1980’s the Government has funded
the Reading Recovery programme to catch those student who are failing after one year
at school and return them to average levels of performance within 20 weeks. Even with this
long-term, costly intervention, 25% of students, now called Priority Learners, continue to not
meet National Standards and fail within the system.
The opposition Labour Party has suggested that increasing the implementation of
Reading Recovery to all failing six year olds would provide a solution. While this is an
admirable suggestion, the cost would be prohibitive. In fact, Reading Recovery has not
been fully funded since its implementation in the early 1980’s. Reading Recovery funding
has traditionally been allocated to enable all schools to implement Reading Recovery
regardless of their decile ranking leaving many low decile schools with students needing,
but not receiving, sufficient funding. Historically these students are Maori and Pasifika
particularly those in Decile 1 schools. They have not achieved well academically and
therefore have no pathway to job security and future success in the wider community. The
World Literacy Foundation reported the links between illiteracy, criminal offending, poverty,
welfare dependency and poor health, and all political parties see these as issues that
urgently need addressing to benefit not only those in need but also society as a whole.
The Edmund Hillary Story
Edmund Hillary School is a Decile 1 full primary school in South Auckland. The roll is
predominantly Maori and Pasifika. In 2010 the new Principal reported – The number of
students identified with High Needs enrolling at EH School has reached critical levels.
(High needs classification means the students have either extreme learning needs and /
or extreme behavioural needs and/or there are family circumstances that demonstrate
a high level of need.) The current numbers of High Needs students already in the school,
combined with new High Needs students enrolling, is propelling the school towards
a precarious tipping point. Therefore it is no longer just or fair to expect teachers and
students to cope without a much greater level of planned support.
That year the school implemented a literacy intervention programme called Quick60. A
trained teacher worked with groups of older students reading well below their age level.
The results showed that with the correct instructional material, these students learned
to read and continued to read increasingly more difficult text in the classroom. This
intervention was expanded and continues alongside Quick60 Foundation which is a whole
class programme for Year 1 students designed to prevent failure before it can occur.
At the end of 2014, no child will leave Edmund Hillary reading below a
10 - 11 year reading level. This means that all these students will be able to use
speaking, reading and writing to succeed in the tasks that are necessary
to make informed choices and therefore participate fully in the
everyday life of our society.
Quick60 is a system of prevention and intervention designed so that schools, particularly those
with low decile rankings, can have all their students performing at or above National
Standards. The prevention, called Quick60 Foundation occurs as whole-class literacy
instruction for students entering school. The Quick60 Intervention is small-group literacy
instruction delivered by a teacher or teacher aide for students who are behind their age peers
in Years 2 - 6.
Quick60 was developed from two research projects that modified the Reading Recovery
programme.
Iversen and Tunmer, Phonological Processing Skills and the Reading Recovery Program, Journal
of Educational Psychology 1993, found that by systematically introducing phonological
recoding skills into the Reading Recovery lesson, students exited the programme more quickly
than those who had standard Reading Recovery.
Iversen, Tunmer and Chapman, The Effects of Varying Group Size of the Reading Recovery
Approach to Preventive Early Intervention, Journal of Learning Disabilities 2005, found that
by increasing the instructional time of the Reading Recovery lesson by 10 minutes, Reading
Recovery teachers could double the number of students served without making any sacrifices
in outcomes.
There were three other major findings from the 2005 research.
• Students responded very well to the small group instruction. Cooperation emerged
spontaneously in the group situation, with students helping each other on new tasks.
Where the tasks were familiar, a spirit of competition became apparent with students
trying to do better than their peers. The group dynamics worked especially well for Maori
and Pasifika.
• Paraprofessionals such as teacher aides could administer the programme if the
professional development was embedded in the programme.
• There were no suitable books that contained or reinforced the skills that the teachers
were endeavouring to teach.
Quick60 Intervention was developed to address all the findings of the research programmes.
• A gradient of books was written specifically to teach skills systematically. This ensures that
skills are taught and enables teachers to spend more time teaching and less time searching
for appropriate instructional materials.
• Lesson plans are scripted so that inexperienced teachers and teacher aides can administer
the programme. Expert teaching is paramount to student success. Embedding the
professional development in the programme, allows teachers of all levels of experience to
focus on quality instruction and management.
• Pre and post tests, check sheets and data point sheets were included to enable teachers to
monitor ongoing reading accuracy, literal and inferential comprehension and fluency.
Quick60 Foundation was developed because low decile schools using Quick60 Intervention
for older students had new entrants arriving at school on their fith birthday with limited
vocabularies and world knowledge whether English was their first language or not. The schools
needed something to prevent failure before it occurred. Resources, additional to the reading
resources, were added targetting pre-reading skills, vocabulary asquisiton and writing.

3. 4 5
Quick60 provides students with the skills required for the acquisition and development of
literacy.
Quick60 Foundation
Quick60 Foundation provides a 90 minute block of literacy instruction.
Within this time students engage in oral language experiences, shared and guided
reading and writing activities.
They learn –
• basic science, social studies and maths concepts and vocabulary
• how to compare, contrast and categorise.
• seven phonological awareness skills
• concepts of print
• eight early comprehension strategies
• alphabet letter names and sounds
• letter formation
• high-frequency words
• phonic skills
• how to read and comprehend increasingly difficult text
• how to write simple sentences using the high-frequency words and phonic skills they
learned while reading
• how to write simple passages in a variety of fiction and non-fiction genre.
Quick60 Intervention
Quick60 Intervention provides a 45 minute block of literacy instruction for groups of up
to five students. Within this time, students engage in reading and writing activities.
They learn –
• to read and write high-frequency words fluently
• a new high-frequency word every day
• to read previously seen text fluently
• to monitor their ongoing reading comprehension
• the conventions of spelling including how to hear and record sounds in words and
how to make orthographic analogies - going from known spellings to write unknown
words.
• a new phonic skill daily
• new content vocabulary
• how to bring their world knowledge to a text to help them comprehend its content
• how to use what they already know to help them solve what they don’t know.
One of the most important outcomes of implementing Quick60 is the
increased self esteem of previously failing students and the change that this
brings about in their general behaviour.
What Students Learn With Quick60
What Is Involved in the Implementation of Quick60
Quick60 Foundation
Quick60 Foundation requires –
• A 90 minute daily block of literacy instruction.
• Agreement from the New Entrant/Year 1 teacher. The literacy instruction may differ
from what he/she already does.
• Pre and post testing and on-going monitoring.
• A commitment to follow the daily lesson plans.
• An interactive white board.
• At least one classroom computer.
• Purchasing the required products.
• Access to a photocopier or printer to copy blackline masters.
Quick60 Intervention
Quick60 Intervention requires –
• A 45 minute daily block of literacy instruction.
• The assignment of a teacher to work with groups of up to five students and/or the
assignment of a teacher aide to work with groups of up to three students.
• A designated work place.
• The selection of groups of priority students from Years 2 - 6.
• Pre and post testing and on-going monitoring.
• A commitment to follow the daily lesson plans.
• A white board and easel.
• Purchasing the required products.
• Access to a photocopier or printer to copy blackline masters.
How Quick60 Works
A teacher works with groups of up
to five priority students from Years
2 - 6 for 45 minutes a day
and/or
a teacher aide works with groups of
up to three priority students
The New Entrant/Year 1
teacher works with the
whole class for the 90
minute literacy block
Failure is prevented
Students are returned
to average levels of
performance

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Quick60 improves literacy in many ways.
• It combines oral language, reading and writing.
• It teaches basic skills explicitly and sequentially.
• It uses books that are especially written to include the learning and reinforce skills in a
natural, rather than a contrived way.
• It includes daily writing aligned to reading that consolidates skills in both areas.
• It improves both fluency and comprehension so students are able to read and understand
increasingly difficult text within, and outside of, the prescribed Quick60 books.
• It has revision built in both within and across lessons, with many opportunities to consolidate
learning.
• It has weekly check points to assist teachers make more powerful instructional decisions.
• It includes colour-coded oral reading check sheets that provide teachers with ongoing
evidence to help them personalize instruction within the lesson format.
• It has booklets that connect the school and the home so parents become involved in their
children’s reading and writing activities.
Quick60 Training
Long, expensive training is largely unnecessary for Quick60 because the professional
development is embedded within the lesson plans. However it is recommended that schools
attend a two-day course to familiarise themselves with the Quick60 components and how
they are used.
New Zealand Research Based Evidence
A Quick60 Intervention pilot study was carried out in November 2010. The schools who
chose to take part were a mix of urban and rural, were based in diverse social and
economic areas from Whangarei to Dunedin, and included students from a variety of
ethnic backgrounds. The Quick60 Intervention pilot was delivered by a range of teaching
professionals including principals, associate principals, Reading Recovery teachers, reading/
behaviour specialists, classroom teachers and teacher aides.
The results showed that all students made progress. The average age of the students was 8.4
years, the average number of lessons was 20, and the average gains made were 6.3
instructional reading levels.
In 2011 different clusters of schools started implementing Quick60 Intervention.
Teacher aides implementing Quick60 have all reported that they now
feel empowered. They know what to do to ensure the success for their
students because the learning is in the books and the
professional development is embedded in the daily lesson plans.
How Quick60 Improves Literacy
Figure 1 shows the average and best-results data for three different ethnic groups.
Quick60 Intervention Results
Quick60 Intervention works. Our research involving 96 students aged between 6.5 and 13,
shows that in an average of 20 lessons the hardest to teach struggling readers increased
their reading ability by an average of 6.3 reading levels.
There was a noticeable improvement in behaviour and attendance once students started
the Quick60 Intervention programme, and this continued when they returned to their
classrooms.
Because Quick60 Intervention is a small group (3 - 5 students) programme, it is more cost
effective than a one-on-one intervention and produces similar results. It also means that
more students benefit from extra teaching.
Quick60 Intervention has the essential learning written into the students’ books and
professional development embedded in the lesson plans. If the teacher leaves the school,
all the knowledge remains within the Quick60 programme at the school.
ReadingLevel
Reading Level Entering Quick60
Reading Level Leaving Quick60
Average
Best Result
Average
Best Result
Average
Best Result
0
5
15
10
20
25
30
Average Reading Level Progression
Using Quick60
Average Age
Average Number of Lessons
using Quick60
6.3
8.4
20
Figure 1. Average and Best-Results Data
Students with
English As Their Second Language
Ethnic Minority Students with
English As Their First Language
European Students with English As
Their First Language
A
B
A B C
C

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The value of literacy and the real consequences of not being literate in the wider context
of societal issues cannot be overstated. In 2012 The World Literacy Foundation reported
the link between illiteracy, juvenile offending, prison populations, welfare dependency
and poor health. The report found that 85% of both juvenile offenders and prison inmates
were functionally illiterate, meaning they were unable to perform tasks such as reading
a medicine bottle label or filling out a job application. The Foundation cites education
as the first key step to overcoming obstacles that lock people into the cycle of poverty
and disadvantage. The report put the cost of illiteracy in New Zealand at $3.166 billion.
They estimated that for every single year that the average level of education of the adult
population is raised, there is a corresponding increase of 3.7% in long-term economic
growth and a 6% increase in per capita income.
Quick60 has demonstrated that it works with the lowest performing students in our schools
and has them reading not only at or above National Standards but also at a level where
they are truly functionally literate.
How Implementation of Quick60 Benefits Society
Literate Adults
Ability to obtain
employment
Less dependence
on welfare
Reduction in
personal poverty
Less antisocial behaviour –
more positive self concept
Fewer prison inmates
Increase in
national productivity
Cycle of illiteracy broken
Lower rate of juvenile and
adult criminal offending
Reduction in
health related issues
There are obvious financial benefits to be gained from using Quick60 for the Ministry of
Education and for schools.
• The 2005 research which underpins the Quick60 Intervention shows that by doubling the
number of students, an adaptation of Reading Recovery is twice as cost efficient.
• Increasing group size from one on two to one on five for teachers makes the Q60
Intervention even more cost effective.
• Savings on teacher salaries can be made by using teacher aides working with groups of
three students.
• Because the professional development is built into the lesson plans, there is no need to
pay for further long-term expensive training.
• Implementing Quick60 Foundation leads to fewer students needing Quick60
Intervention, Reading Recovery and /or further long-term support from RTLBs and RTLits.
• Once the books are purchased, the programme stays with the school.
In order to significantly reduce the incidence of literacy failure in Priority Learners,
particularly Maori and Pasifika students, we are suggesting streamlining the Edmund Hillary
model from five years to three years.
Year 1 Implementation of Quick60 Foundation at NE/Year 1
Implementation of Quick60 Intervention for Students in Years 5/6
Year 2 Implementation of Quick60 Foundation at NE/Year 1
Implementation of Quick60 Intervention for Students in Year 4
Implementation of Quick60 Intervention for Students in Year 2 who still require
support after Year 1
Year 3 Implementation of Quick60 Foundation at NE/Year 1
Implementation of Quick60 Intervention for Students in Year 3
Implementation of Quick60 Intervention for Students in Year 2 who still require
support after Year 1
Edmund Hillary has already shared their results and provided demonstration lessons to
schools in the wider Auckland area. We suggest that this continue. We also propose
finding schools that could act as hubs for their areas. Koraunui School in Stokes Valley is
willing to provide that service in the Wellington area. A group of Northland schools working
with the Northland RTLB group who this year were part of a research project for Quick60
Foundation could provide another hub.
The Financial Benefits of Implementing Quick60
The Proposal