Kempsey South Public School
Key features
Early literacy intervention through the extension of the Reading Recovery program.
School context
Kempsey South Public School is located in an industrial area on the southern side of Kempsey. The school supports students from housing estates, caravan accommodation with some private housing. Currently the school has 196 students enrolled from Kindergarten to Year 6. The enrolment of the school is slowly increasing in numbers with an increase in K-2 enrolments. Aboriginal students comprise 59% of the school population, with the current general mobility rate at 50%.
The school has a diverse, skilled and dedicated staff. However the staff realised that they required support to refine and develop innovative strategies and skills to address the classroom challenges encountered on a daily basis.
What was the school aiming to achieve?
In 2002 a large number of students achieved bands one and two in the Basic Skills Test (BST) at Year 3. While the school had a focus on literacy, student welfare and school community partnerships, the staff identified needs which were not being met across the entire school population.
It was hoped that in 2005, when the first of the full Reading Recovery cohort sat for the BST, the students who had participated in the program would demonstrate a significant improvement in their results, when compared with previous cohorts.
The improvement process
Marie Clay’s research in Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals informed the school that Reading Recovery had a positive and sustainable impact on student learning. In the past the school had been frustrated by the limited numbers of students who could be supported by the program.
Initial results in 2003 demonstrated the outcomes when all Year 1 students were placed in the Reading Recovery program. As a result the school continued to allocate one teaching position to Reading Recovery in all subsequent years.
The school determined that it required one teaching position to implement an extended Reading Recovery program. Existing teachers who were already qualified were chosen and included in the ongoing training and support mechanisms that existed for the nominated Reading Recovery teacher. The school allocated 1.5 teaching positions for this program.
What were the results?
Historically the Reading Recovery students tended to score better in the BST than students who had not participated in the Reading Recovery program. Prior to 2003 only eight students in each cohort received Reading Recovery and only 65% of these students remained at the school to sit for the BST.
In 2005 only four students did not receive Reading Recovery support. Three of these students were already at the exit level of Reading Recovery, while one was new to the school. In 2006 14 of the original 24 students who participated in the Reading Recovery program, sat for the BST while the seven new students were proficient readers.
Reading Recovery has catered for 95% of Year 1 students between 2003 and 2006, an increase from 20% in 2002. Initial findings show that over 90% of students qualified for the program. Current data indicate that all students have benefited from the program with reading outcomes being stage appropriate.
The school has determined that 100% of students are reading at a higher level than would previously have been possible.This includes the students who were identified as having significant learning difficulties. As a result the impact of the cycle of learning difficulties has been reduced for these students and the range in reading ages for this cohort has also been reduced. Students are not only reading at a higher level but also have acquired the strategies that are needed to solve and understand the complexities of text.
Students who have participated in the Reading Recovery program since 2003 have been tracked throughout each subsequent year. As the school expected, all students have continued to improve in their reading levels. This has allowed the teachers to concentrate more on the comprehension of reading rather than the structures of reading, as has often been the case for the past Year 2 teachers.
The Support Teacher Learning Assistance (STLA) has also been working closely with classroom teachers and in small groups with the students who have not reached level 15.
One of planned major indicators of success for the PAS program was to be the results of the Year 3 BST test. 2005 was the first year that the BST results could reflect all the intervention strategies for a whole cohort of students. Of the 31 students in the original 2003 cohort 23 students sat for the 2005 BST. Of the 24 students in the original 2004 cohort 14students sat for the 2006 BST.
The results have been extremely positive across the whole range of BST tests. As can be seen from the above graph (Literacy) there has been a significant improvement. In 2005 students scored below (48.2) the state average (50.4). Significantly Aboriginal students scored 47.8 in comparison to the state 46.0.
In 2006 students scored just below (50.6) the state average (50.7). More significantly Aboriginal students scored 50.5 in comparison to the state average of 45.9. This is the first time Aboriginal students at the school have been so close to the state average for all students.
It should also be noted that a flow on effect has been demonstrated for numeracy and writing. Results in these two areas have mirrored the literacy results whereby all Year 3 students were very close to the state average and Aboriginal students were above the state average for all Aboriginal students. These data support the value of this targeted intervention to improve student learning outcomes.
Essential resources
Funding from the PAS program enabled the school to employ an extra Reading Recovery teacher. The program also supports the trained and in training Reading Recovery teachers who are available to work in the program. The school was also able to build sustainability for student progress through the use of STLA and other PSP resources.
Reflections
After careful analysis of the data collected over the four years on the PAS program and the results of the 2005 and 2006 Basic Skills Test, the school has concluded that early intervention to build strong foundations is the direction the school will need to continue.
Future directions
The school will continue the implementation of the highly successful Reading Recovery program by allocating an extra 1.0 teaching position as well as continuing to train interested teachers. Other classroom initiatives will include training in use of scaffolding and quality teaching strategies.
The school will also continue the existing pre school – Kindergarten transition program which requires refining and continual extension. It is expected that by working in this area the receptive language of Kindergarten students will increase. The school believes that this will raise the average entry point of students into the Reading Recovery program, which should enhance their exit point.
Contact: Hugh Rutherford, Principal
