Awareness
Raising:
Other
areas of focus included strategies
necessary to move a school’s
culture towards an acceptance of parents
working within school and classroom
environments. This was highlighted
through much discussion at our Project
meetings as well as:
a. |
With
participating school staffs
|
b. |
With
participating school parents
- talks to P&C, School Council,
etc |
c. |
Budgeting
to support requirements essential
for a successful parent/ tutor
program is essential and needs
to be addressed early in the
process
|
|
|
A
note to Principals and Budget Committees:
Don’t
forget to “buy” time to
assist staff in this process. If you
budget release time into the Project
then your school will have a much
greater chance of successfully implementing
a volunteer tutor program!!!
Change takes time and busy people
need quality time to reassess their
roles and to train the volunteers.
If the leaders make this a priority,
then the school community is more
likely to do so too!
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Preparation
of the Kit:
Preparation
for the Project’s Kit was a
major undertaking in that the team:-
A) Appraised much of the most appropriate
teaching/learning materials available
in schools, from special education
units and from commercial sources
and has created a data base of resources
including such information as: -
• |
Description
of program |
• |
Why
it is useful |
• |
How
it can be incorporated with
tutors |
• |
Summary
of purpose |
• |
Age
appropriateness |
• |
Where
you get it and how |
• |
Cost |
B) Created documentation aimed at
giving schools “food for thought”
as to how to go about the task of
setting up a Parent/Tutor Scheme -
including STLD and mainstream needs
- essentially addressing the specific
needs of the “low-progress”
student who is failing in literacy.
C)
Examined the critical issue of the
role of the STLD - documenting ways
to help schools tackle the changing
role of the STLD in a climate where
demand often exceeds supply.
D) Documented case studies in all
four schools:
The
Project Team met on a fortnightly
basis and each school team worked
extremely hard in their respective
schools to make the kit’s suggestions
both practical and well-founded in
research.
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The
extent to which the Project aims and
objectives were met:
The
main objective of the Project was
to bring together a group of volunteer
schools with differing socio-economic,
cultural clientele etc to trial strategies
and programs deemed successful in
the Blakehurst experience. To this
end, the Project achieved its objective.
An interesting outcome was that all
participating schools adapted the
basic model to suit their school’s
unique circumstance and yet all found
similar experiences in most areas
of the study and all schools reported
that student outcomes improved at
a greater than expected rate when
the frequency of tutoring was at least
four additional reading skills lessons
per week.
Were there been any changes to
the aims and objectives?:
During
2001, the trialing at Blakehurst P.S.
was expanded. Additional focus was
placed on the development of independent
reading skills encompassing students
of all abilities in Stage 2 and early
Stage 3. This developed partly as
a result of “discovering”
an extremely interesting new program
from a commercial supplier that leveled
reading materials and allowed for
a “graded” real reading
experience. This program uses a balance
of some of the most highly regarded
and most popular novels available.
This was an opportunity to expand
the Blakehurst model whilst the other
three participating schools “tested”
the Project goals. (Remember that
Blakehurst P.S. had been operating
on the evolving model since 1999 and
was, as a result, in a position to
further modify its reading program
structure).
Tutors
assisted low-progress students working
on the program by listening to sections
of the novel being read aloud, discussing
the novel with the child to improve
comprehension skills, and guiding
the child through self-correcting
strategies to achieve accuracy and
fluency. Low-progress readers began
reading appropriately leveled books
independently (with enthusiasm) for
the first time and so some tutor support
was a useful supporting strategy.
The aim, however, was to encourage
more independent readers so intervention
was used sparingly. One of the real
bonuses of this aspect was that the
low-progress readers were working
on similar activities at the same
time as was the whole class. This
had a positive impact on the confidence
and enthusiasm of these students.
The
inclusion of an expanded number of
students from all ability groups strengthened
the results of the study as well as
added an extra dimension to it. It
extended elements of the Project beyond
a study for low-progress students
to an all-encompassing program for
a whole-school reading program.
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What
research approach was used in the
study?:
The
Project team operated on a trailing
basis. Investigations initially focused
on ascertaining what programs existed
that could support the Project’s
directions. Much of our research was
gathered from a wide variety of expert
sources. These included district reading
consultants throughout NSW, visits
to acknowledged leaders in reading
support i.e. Macquarie University
Special Education Unit, Sutherland
and St George Special Education Centres,
phone conversations with the authors
of potentially useful reading tests
and resources, consultants from commercially
available reading schemes etc.
Our task was to find, then trial materials
for appropriateness, value for money,
ease of administration, readily availability
etc. After initial trialing, our task
was to select resources that were
most likely to succeed in a volunteer
tutor approach and undertake a fuller
trial of these materials.
All schools trialed "Rainbow
Readers" - a program most
appropriate for low-progress readers
and Blakehurst Primary School also
trialed Scholastic’s Lexile
Framework with its potential to
provide accurately levelled reading
materials across all ability groups
participating.
Points
of Interest:
As
the Project had set out to pull together
exemplary resources and practices,
it became an extremely positive experience
for all participants. The “trialing”
approach was a productive exercise.
The project had few pre-conceived
expectations and so in terms of process
became more of a flexible “journey”
when compared to most research approaches.
How
was data collected and analysed?:
• |
Sampling
student work |
• |
Pre
and post project student testing
|
• |
Surveys
of parents, students and volunteers
|
• |
Basic
Skills Test data looked at the
historical patterns for the
four schools and the Year 3/
Year 5 comparisons for Blakehurst
Primary School (for those students
having been on the program since
1999). |
| |
• |
Class-based
assessments were compared and
results between schools were
compared at the end of the Project. |
| |
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What
testing, or use of test data, has
occurred or was planned?:
The
test data as compiled was more to
clarify the usefulness of the selected
materials and confirm usefulness of
the approach being undertaken. In
terms of authentic research, a study
will need to be undertaken over a
two-year period now that the program
has been refined into a final program
format. The Project’s outcomes
remain a “work in progress”.
Results achieved in 2001 and Term
1, 2002 will need to be read with
caution as it was difficult to attribute
results to any one particular factor.
The purpose of the project was simply
to assess the effectiveness of including
voluntary tutors as an integral component
of a school’s reading program.
The results suggest that all other
things being equal, the students’
reading skills progressed at a significantly
improved rate as a result of the comprehensive
program which included volunteer tutors
as one factor.
What
were the ethical considerations?:
• |
Ensuring
that student confidentiality
was maintained |
• |
That all tutor discussion was
kept professional and non-personal
|
• |
Equity
issues needed to be considered
for students and staff (mutual
obligations) |
• |
Equity
existed between participating
schools in regard to the distribution
of resources |
|
All
participants show respect for
individual differences |
What
resources have been found to be most
useful to this project?:
The
resources most useful to the Project
were:
• |
GRT-
ll (Group Reading Test -
2) |
• |
STAR
– Supplementary Test of
Achievement in Reading (NZCER)
|
• |
MULTILIT
Kit (Macquarie University Special
Education Unit, Sydney) |
• |
Rainbow
Readers |
|
• |
Tristars |
• |
Scholastic
Lexile Framework |
• |
Let’s
Read |
What
networks were established and how
did these operate?:
From
a teacher participant’s perspective,
the highlight of the Project was definitely
the networking that developed both
within the Project team and between
the team and Department of Education
& Training consultants, commercial
consultants and other schools. The
Project is already being asked to
host visits from interested schools
just from word of mouth discussions.
One of the most productive networks
established was between the Project
and the St George District Office
team of consultants, particularly
in refining the changing role of the
STLD in schools. (STLD Matrix –
Attachment No 1).
The
awareness-raising period in Term 1,
2001 was a most important time to
share investigations, a great team
building time. It was a very useful
strategy to give sufficient time for
the Project team to become comfortable
with the enormous job at hand. It
helped contain the “overwhelming”
feelings that participants reported
they were feeling early in the Project
because of the enormity of the Project’s
undertaking. Ensuring that we visited
places of interest together and then
“debriefed” immediately
afterwards was another strength of
the awareness-raising period. This
led to a “shared” knowledge
base and progressed the coordinating
team’s cohesiveness and “openness”
to share their school difficulties,
anxieties and concerns about implementing
the Project in their respective schools.
What
professional development occurred?:
This
was another highlight. The Project
team rated the professional growth
provided through their participation
in the Project as THE best in their
experiences. This was as an unsolicited
response on the mid-project participants
review survey in the section entitled
“Other Comments” and was
reiterated when we had our final discussion
session at the conclusion of the Project.
The fact that there has been so much
sharing of experiences between schools
has had a significant impact on strengthening
confidence of the team.
Possible
Future Recommendations:
A:
Do the Project’s findings have
wider applicability for the improvement
of literacy outcomes of students?
For policy? For practice? It is hoped
that the “kit” will give
many other schools a starting point
when wanting to employ volunteers
in their reading programs. To this
end, the Project’s findings
and recommendations have the potential
for considerable use in schools.
B:
Future Research - How could the findings
of your project inform the direction
of future research? A logical piece
of future research would be to undertake
a comparative study comparing results
from students using the model’s
approach and a control group.
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