Literacy Leaders Supporting Middle Leaders in Subject-Specific Literacy Practice

Auckland8 March

Learning IntentionsLiteracy Leaders will:• Develop their awareness of the literacy and

language demands inherent within learning areas at NCEA levels 1-3

• Review their capacity to use data effectively to determine students’ literacy and language strengths and needs at senior levels

• Focus their attention on the literacy and language needs of priority learners: Māori, Pasifika, and learners with special educational needs.

• Review and develop their ability to support middle leaders to respond effectively to the identified literacy and language needs of students.

GOVERNMENT GOAL

85% of 18 year old will have achieved NCEA

Level 2 or equivalent in 2017

90

70

65

60

55

80

75

85

2011

2013

2012

2016

2015

2014

2017

78.9%

85%

85% of 18-year-olds with NCEA Level 2 or equivalent in 2017

What do we need to achieve?

Learner Group 2011(%)

Current Gap (%)

2017Projection

(%)

Remaining Gap(%)

All 18 year olds

74.3 10.7 78.9 6.1 (3,650)

Māori 57.1 27.9 66.2 18.8 (2,420)

Pasifika 65.5 19.5 71.6 13.4 (950)Pākeha 79.3 5.7 84.2 0.8 (320)

Male 70.9 14.1 75.3 9.7 (3,000)

Female 77.9 7.1 82.7 2.3 (650)

Literacy and Language ProgressionShanahan and Shanahan 2008

Subject-Specific Literacy

• Students experience the curriculum through the lens of each subject

• Each learning area has specific ways of processing and communicating knowledge which must be communicated to students

• Developing literacy practices in the context of each subject builds an understanding of how knowledge is constructed and produced (e.g. Reading from different perspectives in History)

• Texts and tasks increase in complexity and become more subject-specific as students move through senior school, requiring ongoing literacy learning.

Moje

The strategies that good readers employ are:• Predicting• Previewing• Questioning• Monitoring• Visualising• SummarisingThese strategies are appropriate in every learning area but they are actualised differently

Working with other Middle Leaders

How we work together in PLDEvidence shows the most effective professional learning

and development….

• is directly focused on raising student achievement

• uses the inquiry process to sustain this focus

• is a collaborative process

• is based around gathering evidence of shifts

• requires the embedding of processes and practices so that they become taken-for-granted features within school

Reading literacy proficiency levels PISACountry/ Group

Mean Ranking

NZ 521 7th

Pakehā 541 2nd

Asian 522 7th

OECD av 493

Māori Slovenia, Slovakia

478 34th=

PacificBelow ChileAbove Mexico

448 44th

Data CollectionSources of Evidence e.g.

• Student achievement data (NCEA results, asTTle, PAT, subject-specific data,...)

• Classroom observations• Interviews with teachers, middle leaders• Student voice • Learning area plans• Student learning pathways • School systems and processes – PLGs,

reporting, community links

Collecting and using student voiceWhat is student voice?• 321 RIQ• Survey• Interview• Focus group• Brainstorm• Exit cards

An example of a focus group

• The school’s NCEA results were much stronger in the internals than in the externals (except in two subjects)

• Some teachers believed the externals were too difficult for many students

• Focus group of Y12 and 13 students with facilitator.

Data Analysis and Use

• How is data used within a learning area?

• Which pieces of data have the most influence over changing teacher practice and student outcomes?

• What does the data tell you about the literacy strengths and needs of the students?

Teaching as Inquiry in the NZC

Teaching as inquiry

• What is important (and therefore worth spending time on) given where the middle leaders are at

• What evidence-based strategies are most likely to help middle leaders achieve this?

• What happened as a result of the support? What are the next steps in my learning? In the learning of the middle leader?