Literacy Professional Development Project 2
Letter sent to schools: To the Principal and Literacy Leader
We would like to invite your school to apply to take part in the Literacy Professional Development Project.
In 2003, as part of the literacy strategy, the Ministry of Education contracted Learning Media, in collaboration with Auckland University, to deliver a whole-school professional development project to schools with students in years 1–6 and/or years 7–8.
The project’s aim is to build on and align with other literacy initiatives in the Literacy Strategy. Schools engaging with the project are given the opportunity to take part in in-depth school-wide professional development in literacy. Teachers, along with the principal and literacy leader, are supported through an evidence-based change process that enhances effective literacy teaching practices and raises student achievement in literacy.
Involvement in the project requires a significant commitment from schools, as they are requested to make it their major professional development focus for two years. This is to ensure that they can maintain a focus on developing the literacy content knowledge and pedagogical skills required to successfully implement and sustain an evidence-based way of working.
Further details of the project are outlined below.
The literacy focus
The project focuses on addressing reading and writing, both of which were identified as major areas of concern in an analysis of national literacy achievement data. Schools are asked to identify either a reading comprehension or a writing focus, recognising that:
- The reciprocity between reading and writing and the interconnectedness between oral, written, and visual language will be addressed in either focus;
-
comprehension strategies cannot be separated from reading processing strategies, and therefore the emphasis needs to be on instruction that ensures students develop both.
Project delivery
The project has three phases, which schools move through at their own pace, with most schools expected to progress through all three phases within two years. The professional development focus provided by the literacy facilitator will vary from phase to phase depending on the needs of each school.
Phase 1: An inquiry into school-wide practices - Building content knowledge and a foundation for sustainable change
In the initial phase, the focus is on building teachers’ and leaders’ literacy content and pedagogical knowledge and supporting the principal and literacy leaders to gain a better understanding of the current literacy capacity of their school. This involves collecting and analysing:
- student achievement data using a range of assessment tools, including STAR and/or asTTle;
- data about literacy leadership and teaching effectiveness through questionnaires, scenarios, and in-class teacher observations.
This information is used to help schools set (or refine) student achievement goals and identify professional learning goals for leaders and teachers.
Phase 2: An inquiry into effective classroom practices - Building knowledge and implementing change through active learning
During phase 2, the focus is on helping teachers to inquire into the effectiveness of their practice by undertaking a classroom-based inquiry where they use student data to inform their teaching decisions and monitor the impact of changed teaching practice on the achievement of selected target students.
This is supported through school-based professional development, including in-class modelling and coaching. In addition, principals and literacy leaders are supported and guided towards:
- making the processes and practices around data part of their repertoire for planning and decision making;
- leading professional learning that extends teachers’ literacy content and pedagogical knowledge and assists their inquiry into the effectiveness of their teaching practice.
Phase 3: On-going inquiry – Evaluating change and embedding a sustainable evidence-based model of improving teaching and learning
In the final phase, the emphasis on classroom practice continues, alongside a focus on gathering and analysing school-wide student achievement data and data about effective literacy practice. This information is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the interventions in meeting the identified goals for:
- raising student achievement;
- leading professional learning;
- extending teachers’ literacy content and pedagogical knowledge.
The emphasis is on embedding sustainable practice to ensure the changed teaching practices and the school-wide processes for monitoring student progress and supporting effective practice become habitual.
Research and evaluation components
The project has a research component designed to provide the project team with ongoing feedback at several levels on the effectiveness of the project.
Funding
Each participating school receives the equivalent of eight teacher release days towards the cost of the attendance of the principal and literacy leader/s at cluster meetings. Schools are expected to contribute two relief days per teacher participating in the project to cover the in-school component of the programme. The relievers are needed, for example, to take classes while literacy and/or syndicate leaders meet with the facilitator, while teachers observe the facilitator modelling practice, and while teachers are observing one another or being coached and given feedback by the facilitator.
For further information, contact Lyn Bareta or Carolyn English Project Directors at
pdlit@learningmedia.co.nz
|
