2016 - 2017 Focus
Parameter #1
Shared Beliefs and Understandings Among All Staff
Parameter 1 outlines a set of beliefs and understandings that provide a foundation for literacy work. Literacy leaders in all schools not only share these beliefs, but also "walk the talk" by modelling them. We move, through our literacy work, toward a shared understanding of these core beliefs:
• All students can achieve high standards given the right time and support.
• All teachers can teach to high standards given the right assistance.
• High expectations and early intervention are essential.
• Teachers need to be able to articulate what they do and why they teach the way they do. (Hill and Crévola 1999)
At the school level:
❖ The focus on student achievement is evident and clearly communicated within the school and to the school community in a variety of ways and in languages reflective of community needs.
❖ Student achievement is celebrated in an inclusive way throughout the school.
❖ Qualitative and quantitative data from a variety of sources inform school improvement planning.
❖ The School Improvement Plan identifies ambitious targets against which progress in learning and student achievement are measured.
❖ Professional learning, grounded in evidence-based practice and research, focuses on continuous improvement of teaching and learning.
At the classroom level:
❖ Realistic and ambitious learning goals are set and regularly reviewed with students.
❖ Multiple and varied opportunities are provided for students to demonstrate learning.
❖ Ongoing monitoring and moderation of student work informs instruction to ensure that each student learns, progresses and achieves stated goals.
• All students can achieve high standards given the right time and support.
• All teachers can teach to high standards given the right assistance.
• High expectations and early intervention are essential.
• Teachers need to be able to articulate what they do and why they teach the way they do. (Hill and Crévola 1999)
At the school level:
❖ The focus on student achievement is evident and clearly communicated within the school and to the school community in a variety of ways and in languages reflective of community needs.
❖ Student achievement is celebrated in an inclusive way throughout the school.
❖ Qualitative and quantitative data from a variety of sources inform school improvement planning.
❖ The School Improvement Plan identifies ambitious targets against which progress in learning and student achievement are measured.
❖ Professional learning, grounded in evidence-based practice and research, focuses on continuous improvement of teaching and learning.
At the classroom level:
❖ Realistic and ambitious learning goals are set and regularly reviewed with students.
❖ Multiple and varied opportunities are provided for students to demonstrate learning.
❖ Ongoing monitoring and moderation of student work informs instruction to ensure that each student learns, progresses and achieves stated goals.
Parameter #3
Daily, Sustained, Focused Literacy Instruction
Based on the gradual release of responsibility model of instruction (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983), effective learning follows a progression in which teachers gradually do less of the work and students gradually assume more and more responsibility for their learning to become competent, independent learners. This gradual release may occur over a day, a week, a month, or a year. A common framework for implementing such a progression is "I do, We do, You do it together, You do it alone." This framework will form the basis of our Literacy teaching block and the subject of professional learning over the coming terms for each stage of the model.
Focused instruction is an important part of the overall lesson design. This phase includes establishing a clear lesson purpose or intention, related to an identified problem and needs assessment. Focused instruction is typically done with the whole class and usually lasts 15 minutes or less—long enough to clearly establish purpose and ensure that students have a model from which to work.
The guided instruction phase of a lesson is almost always conducted with small, purposeful groups that have been composed based on formative assessment data. These are not random groups of students meeting with the teacher; the groups consist of students who share a common instructional need that the teacher can address.
The collaborative learning phase is a way for students to consolidate their thinking and understanding. Negotiating with peers, discussing ideas and information, and engaging in inquiry with others gives students the opportunity to use what they have learned during focused and guided instruction.
The ultimate goal of instruction is that students be able to independently apply information, ideas, content, skills, and strategies in unique situations. We want to create learners who are not dependent on others for information and ideas. As such, students need practice completing independent tasks and learning from those tasks.
By modelling the skills, sharing in the making of meaning, guiding students toward independence, and then monitoring independent work, teachers gradually release the responsibility for success to students.
The guided instruction phase of a lesson is almost always conducted with small, purposeful groups that have been composed based on formative assessment data. These are not random groups of students meeting with the teacher; the groups consist of students who share a common instructional need that the teacher can address.
The collaborative learning phase is a way for students to consolidate their thinking and understanding. Negotiating with peers, discussing ideas and information, and engaging in inquiry with others gives students the opportunity to use what they have learned during focused and guided instruction.
The ultimate goal of instruction is that students be able to independently apply information, ideas, content, skills, and strategies in unique situations. We want to create learners who are not dependent on others for information and ideas. As such, students need practice completing independent tasks and learning from those tasks.
By modelling the skills, sharing in the making of meaning, guiding students toward independence, and then monitoring independent work, teachers gradually release the responsibility for success to students.
References
Better Learning Through Structured Teaching: A Framework for the Gradual Release of Responsibility, 2nd Edition
by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey |
First Steps – Linking Assessment, Teaching and Learning, 2nd Edition
by Kevlynn Annandale, Ross Bindon, Kerry Handley, Annette Johnston, Lynn Lockett, Philippa Lynch |
First Steps – Reading Resource Book, 2nd Edition
by Kevlynn Annandale, Ross Bindon, Kerry Handley, Annette Johnston, Lynn Lockett, Philippa Lynch |
Parameter #6
A Case Management Approach to Monitoring Student Progress
A case management approach to monitoring student progress requires literacy leaders (including teachers) in a school to come together as a group to analyse student data and to make decisions on differentiating instruction and selecting resources for use with students. Teachers and administrators use assessment tools to collect:
In the coming terms teachers will be given the opportunity through professional development days and Cluster meetings to develop a common understanding and use of diagnostic and formative assessment tools to support the monitoring process throughout the school year in their classrooms.
The case management approach currently implemented, puts individual faces on the data and ensures consistent review and updating of information on students' progress tri-weekly. As the tracking process is implemented, data will be gathered and displayed in the Staff Lounge in such a way that it becomes the focus of problem-solving dialogue among teachers and other staff involved in each student's case.
Case management encourages all teachers to take collective responsibility for all students and provides a systematic, scheduled forum to discuss and debate internal intervention. It is an internal support mechanism for teachers focused on instruction - a place in which to plan the implementation of alternative or new strategies.
Case management is used to put a spotlight on how all students are progressing. The data collected for case management not only helps plan next steps to meet the needs of each student, but also next steps to meet the professional development needs of the school.
- diagnostic and formative classroom literacy achievement data, e.g. Observation Survey data, running records, interest surveys, daily samples of student work;
- summative school and system-wide literacy achievement data, e.g. PM Benchmark, Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) and;
- summative large scale literacy achievement data, e.g. [NAPLAN Reading and Writing assessments].
In the coming terms teachers will be given the opportunity through professional development days and Cluster meetings to develop a common understanding and use of diagnostic and formative assessment tools to support the monitoring process throughout the school year in their classrooms.
The case management approach currently implemented, puts individual faces on the data and ensures consistent review and updating of information on students' progress tri-weekly. As the tracking process is implemented, data will be gathered and displayed in the Staff Lounge in such a way that it becomes the focus of problem-solving dialogue among teachers and other staff involved in each student's case.
Case management encourages all teachers to take collective responsibility for all students and provides a systematic, scheduled forum to discuss and debate internal intervention. It is an internal support mechanism for teachers focused on instruction - a place in which to plan the implementation of alternative or new strategies.
Case management is used to put a spotlight on how all students are progressing. The data collected for case management not only helps plan next steps to meet the needs of each student, but also next steps to meet the professional development needs of the school.
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Parameter #14
Shared Responsibility and Accountability
Implementation of the 14 Parameters is fragile unless everyone makes a commitment to implement them, through collective capacity-building, to increase all students' achievement and own all the FACES. This means that staff engage in systematic, continuous improvement in the quality of the educational experience of students and participate in the discipline of measuring their success by the metric of students’ academic performance and well-being.
All stakeholders own the urgency for all students' increased achievement. Leaders as lead learners ensure "good first teaching" - quality teaching - in every classroom is a priority.
All stakeholders own the urgency for all students' increased achievement. Leaders as lead learners ensure "good first teaching" - quality teaching - in every classroom is a priority.