Into the Game

1. Into the Game

2. Two stories • What is Quicksmart and the Wimmera Quicksmart Program through the eyes of DMSC

3. provides an opportunity for students to acquire basic academic skills: An opportunity to Narrow the Gap • the means, • the resources and • professional development opportunities • for instructors (ESO’s) to support the learning of vulnerable students – 10 to 13 year olds who persistently fail in school tasks and activities in basic mathematics and reading. What is Quicksmart?

4. What is Quicksmart II? QuickSmartis a Fourth Phase Intervention Phase One: Teacher teaches Phase Two: Teacher provides differentiated activities to overcome learning obstacles Phase Three: Teacher is supported with an in-class instructor; either another teacher or teacher aide Phase Four: The students are moved from large class instruction to a more deliberate focused program involving one or two students (small class instruction)

5. The Aims of Quicksmart • Improve fluency in basic mathematics and/or reading and comprehension • Support students’ active engagement and participation in class • Provide a sound foundation for further learning • MoveQuickSmartstudents into the “main game” of classroom learning

6. Implementation • Students participate in three 30-minute lessons per week for 30 weeks. Students work in pairs • Extensive materials provided including teaching resources, speedsheets, flashcards, etc • Games feature in most lessons, used as an opportunity for teacher and peer modelling and as practice to developfluency • Technology use, Cognitive Aptitude Assessment System (CAAS) developed by Mike Royer and his team used twice a week to monitor speed and accuracy

7. An instructional Approach • develops automaticity (Quick) and accuracy (Smart) • Note: automaticity is effective and efficient recall • utilises explicit teaching based on understanding, not rote learning, and deliberate practice • utilises personaltime (as well as accuracy) as a dimension of learning • has assessment tasks integrated into each lesson, a non-competitive focus on individual improvement • maximises student on-task time in a structured but flexible lesson format

8. A Basic Lesson 1. Knowledge and Understanding Check (5 minutes). Show your understandings of the Focus Number Facts. 2. Flashcards (5 minutes). How fast and accurate can you be with the Flashcards? 3. Speed Sheet Challenge (5 minutes). Practicing the current set of Focus Number Facts for two minutes. 4. Independent Work Sheets/Strategy Development (5 minutes). Practice the focus number facts on relevant work sheets. 5. Assessment (5 minutes for each QuickSmart student) Do an assessment with CAAS and record your results. 6. Games (5 minutes) Play fun and focused activities like 3-in-a-Row

9. In summary • Quicksmart • increases fluency in reading and numeracy for low-achieving students in Years 5, 6 and 7 • frees working-memory capacity from an excessive focus on routine tasks fostering automaticity in basic tasks • improves students’ information retrieval times • significantly improves students’ numeracy and/or reading scores on standardised or state-wide tests

10. NT Results 2006

11. NT Results 2006 II

12. Quicksmart Students Experience • experience genuine improvement and success that encourages them to expend more effort to improve – they are motivated from within • “Trust their heads” • come to understand and are able to talk about their own learning as the program progresses • establish goals and targets for their learning • begin to feel they can perform “just like the good kids”

13. Quicksmart and the effect! The effect sizes for this project in 2009 were as follows: QuickSmart Students 0.780 (n=137) Comparison Students 0.633 (n=73) Based on the work of Hattie (2009) • Effect sizes below 0.2 are considered poor, with an appropriate range of growth over an academic year for a student cohort established as within the range of 0.2-0.4. • Effect size scores of 0.4 to 0.6 are considered strong • Effect size scores between 0.6 and 0.8 are considered very strong. • Effect size scores above 0.8 represent substantial improvement of the order of approximately three years’ growth.

14. 2009 – 2 Quicksmart Instructors 28 Students 2010 – 6 Quicksmart Instructors - 46 Students (including 6 at DPS) QUICKSMART @ DMSC

15. Year 7 – PAT Maths ResultsQuicksmart Students

16. Year 7 – PAT Maths ResultsControl Students

17. Results of Year 7 QS students End Test

18. Results of Year 8 students End Test

19. The results 2008 - Year 7 Student Opinion Data

20. The Results II 2009 - Year 8Student Opinion Data

21. Results 2010 NAPLAN Year 7 – 2008 9% below benchmark Year 9 – 2010 4% below benchmark BEHAVIOUR 2008 Suspensions 58 whole of school 85% Years 7-9 2010 Suspensions 5 whole of school

22. Has Quicksmart helped you with your work in the classroom • Yes, it helps me because I not really good at Maths and it helps me remember • Yes, I am so much better in Maths and it’s fun • Yes, it has helped heaps • Yes, it helps a lot Think about all the activities you do in your classroom. How does Quicksmart help you? • Times tables • Helps me to add up easier • It helps me with almost all areas in Maths • Quicksmart helps me in Maths so I can do other activities Comments from Students

23. Think about your life outside of school. How does Quicksmart help you? • By adding up things in K-Mart. • Helps me to add up things with out a calculator. • It helps me when I’m on the computer doing Mathletics and adding, subtracting & multiplication • It helps me with my homework Comments from Students II

24. Their Voice

25. The evolution of Quicksmart in the Grampians Region Primary Warracknabeal Dimboola Horsham West Horsham 298 P-12 Colleges Edenhope Goroke Secondary Warracknabeal Dimboola Ararat Horsham Total 11 Schools Literacy in 2010 Primary Warracknabeal Dimboola Horsham West P-12 Colleges Edenhope Goroke Secondary Warracknabeal Dimboola Horsham Total 8 Schools Schools which have started in 2010 Primary Jeparit Natimuk P-12 Colleges Murtoa Kaniva Ballarat Schools 17 have joined Total Schools involved 31

26. Questions