Case Studies – RWMP

Supporting At-Risk Readers (SARR)

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This is an account from one of the schools, or clusters of schools, that have received funding from the Reading, Writing and Mathematics Proposals Pool (RWMP) to support programmes in reading, writing and mathematics for students years 1 to 6.

The SARR project began in the 1990s. At that time a trust was established in the Waikato area to explore ways of lifting the achievement of students in year 4 and above who were reading at least one year below their chronological age, and so were at risk of long-term failure. Some of these students had been in Reading Recovery programmes, but for various reasons such as illness, poor attendance or changing schools, they had not maintained momentum, and this affected their progress.

The SARR Trust has built on the success of the intervention model it developed and now works in several areas around the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

The issue

In many schools, there were a number of students aged 8–9 years who were failing to make sufficient progress to enable them to catch up with their peers. The programme was designed to offer specialist, intensive, supplementary help to accelerate their progress and equip them to experience continuing success in the classroom.

The planning

The programme had three strands: teacher training, tutoring, and parent support. Some features of the SARR programme drew on the team's experience of other successful interventions such as Reading Recovery. The focus was on individualised, one-to-one work with precise monitoring and an emphasis on acceleration and developing independence. The team took a fresh look at the changing literacy demands on students in their middle school years, and shaped the programme to take account of these, including silent reading of a wide diversity of texts, inference, and depth of understanding.

Each school appointed a "tutor". (The term "tutor" is used to distinguish them from the regular class teacher.) All the tutors were teachers, either already on the staff, or engaged part-time for this initiative. The tutors were trained by tutor-trainers in a year-long programme. Relationships with the classroom teacher were an integral part of the work, so that there was a continuing element of professional development and ongoing discussion of the student's progress.

A separate programme was also established for parents, helping them to understand the nature of the reading process with older children. As the programme grew, training for teacher aides was also developed.

The actions

Schools selected their tutors – experienced, trained teachers who were able to build good relationships with others. Training sessions were based at Reading Recovery centres, as these had appropriate facilities, including an observation room. Tutors attended 17 half-day sessions over a year, and were visited in their schools each term by their tutor trainer, as well as having other contacts and discussions. The training focused on being "good kid watchers" – close observation and precise assessment of student's behaviour during reading and writing – and on developing a range of specialised intervention procedures to respond to individual needs as they arose. Tutors were encouraged to be flexible in their choice of resources and strategies, with the emphasis always on helping students take further steps in interpreting different types of material, and gaining depth of understanding, especially during silent reading. Brainstorming and discussion during writing, too, helped the students develop their writing and express more significant ideas.

Alongside their training, tutors then worked with three students individually at any one time for 30 minutes daily, in reading and writing, with the aim of accelerating their progress so that they were operating at their chronological age, and were able to work independently. The average time of specialist help was around ten weeks, although of course there were wide variations. Tutors maintained very full records, and kept teachers informed about the analysis of text results, teaching objectives and expectations; after discontinuance from the programme, the tutor would monitor the student's progress in the classroom, maintaining close contact with the class teacher.

Parent programmes were established with a different group of tutors, chosen not only for their knowledge, but also for their ease with working with adults. The five sessions aimed to help parents understand what was going on when their children were reading, and to offer ideas for talking about text and modelling good reading themselves. Strategies such as Pause Prompt Praise were referred to, but the focus was on how to explore deeper meanings and responses to their reading.

Teacher aides were also eager to participate. A programme was designed for them offering more specific practical strategies to use in the classroom and reinforce the teacher's approaches.

The results

SARR has been very successful in lifting the achievement of students in the middle years. An essential element in SARR has been building a partnership between teachers and tutors, so that useful strategies become part of the instructional programme, and teacher expectations are raised as they see individual attention making a difference to the children. In some schools, tutors have shared their learning at staff meetings. Sharing ideas about a student's newly developed skills provides a practical focus for professional development.

As the students see real progress and develop autonomy, their self-esteem has improved. While individual results vary, the use of these intensive, highly-developed strategies has led to some dramatic changes in performance – most students gain between 1.5 and 3 years in reading age, while several have gained up to 4 years. The student will continue to use the strategies taught during their tutoring in their ongoing learning in the classroom.

Some of the tutors have become literacy leaders in their schools, and most schools are committed to finding the .3 teacher release time necessary to sustain the programme.

The success of the programme is based on precise observation and best practice, and the results have encouraged the SARR Trust to plan for gradual expansion, enabling the programme to reach out to other schools and older students.

Contacts:

Administrative: SARR Trust, c/o M. Macey, Manager, Box 19, Matangi
Phone/fax 07 829 5833, email macey@clear.net.nz

Professional: May Daly, English Adviser, School Support Services, University of Waikato
Email mayd@waikato.ac.nz

2001

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