Improving literacy achievement in New Zealand

The story to date

Clarifying expectations
Lifting professional capability
Developing community capability

The 1990s
There is growing, general concern that gaps in literacy achievement are apparent at entry to school and that these gaps are widening.

October 1998
The government announces:

• a comprehensive goal for literacy and numeracy;
• a strategy to achieve this goal;
• a contestable Reading, Writing, and Mathematics Proposals (RWMP) pool for (mainly) low-decile schools;
• a public information campaign;
• the appointment of a literacy taskforce to advise the government.

March 1999
The Literacy Taskforce reports and recommends:

• priority on first practice;
• well-prepared teachers supported by strong professional leadership;
• opportunities for quality professional development;
• effective interventions;
• home-school partnerships.

March – April 1999
At regional meetings, the principals of all decile 1 and 2 primary schools are briefed on the Literacy Strategy and the public information campaign.

May 1999
The Feed the Mind public information campaign is launched on TV, radio, and billboards.

June 1999
The RWMP pool is activated for low-decile schools.

August 1999
The Literacy Experts Group reports that the literacy goals can be realised through effective policies and practices, and it advises on some shifts in practice.

February 2000
The School Entry Assessment (SEA) kit for diagnosis of new entrants' understandings is in use in primary schools.

The Literacy Leadership programme is initiated for primary schools.

Research tracking the impact of Feed the Mind shows rising community confidence and capability.

July 2000
The revised NAGs require schools to give priority to literacy and numeracy in the early years of schooling.

During 2001
The report on the Adult Literacy Strategy, More than Words, is published.

Development begins on new assessment tools for literacy in years 5, 6, and 7.

New literacy learning materials are delivered to schools and early childhood services.

Exemplars of student work at curriculum levels 1 to 5 are developed for trial and made available on TKI.

A web page for Literacy and Numeracy is established on TKI, including success stories from schools accessing pool funding.

The 68 resource teachers of reading positions are expanded into 120 RT:Lit positions.

The NEMP survey reports significant gains in reading and speaking at year 4, compared with the survey four years earlier.

Pasifika literary initiatives begin.

Repeated research tracking the impact of Feed the Mind confirms a lift in community confidence and competence in supporting the literacy achievements of young children.

2002 – the continuing story
A plan for Māori-medium literacy is developed for implementation in 2003.

The focus expands to years 7 and 8.

The secondary Literacy Leadership programme begins.

Records show that:

• 2000 primary schools have participated in Literacy Leadership and over 900 in the Enhancement Programme;
• 800 schools have received start-up funding from the RWMP pool.

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