University and School Partnerships: Literacy and Students with Additional Learning Needs

University and School Partnerships: Literacy and Students with Additional Learning Needs Future Directions Conference September 3rd, 2010 David Evans PhD | Associate Professor of Special Education Criss Moore | NSW Department of Education and Training, Sydney Region

Historical Background • Children’s Centre • Need to change • University and School Partnership to … • enhance learning outcomes for pre-service teachers for teaching reading through research and practice. • improve learning outcomes for students experiencing difficulties in learning to read

Historical Background • 1000+ pre-service teachers have worked with a mentor to reflect, organise, and analyse knowledge their professional knowledge • 1000+ children in schools experiencing difficulties in reading provided with 1:1 instruction

Presentation Aims Highlight the benefits of a collaborative, school-based project for pre-service teachers in developing and enhancing their professional knowledge about quality literacy programs for students identified with additional learning needs Reflect on the benefits for students with additional learning needs Highlight the responses from schools and their communities to this collaborative program

What does research tells us? • Reading is an essential skill for success in our society • In NSW 15 to 20% of students are two or more years behind at any one time (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005) • Students who are experiencing difficulties in learning to read in Year 4 will still be experiencing difficulties in Year 9 unless strategic intervention occurs (Juel, 1988) • Research has shown that programs to assist students catch up are unable to achieve this goal; further research required (Vaughn et al., 2010)

The Challenge How do we ensure that all students succeed in learning to read by their fourth year of school - including Indigenous students, those from low socio-economic backgrounds and students who have disabilities (Melbourne Declaration, 2008) To prepare pre-service teachers for teaching reading to students with language related learning difficulties, and those with unspecified reading problems (Commonwealth of Australian, 2005; NSW Government, 2010a, 2010b)

Commonwealth Report 34 Australian teacher educational institutions were surveyed and reported that: • Less than 10% of time in compulsory units is devoted to preparing pre-service teachers to teach reading. • Less than 5% of total instructional time during pre-service teacher preparation is devoted to teaching reading (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005) Further, pre-service teachers report: • they are not well prepared to teach reading • even less prepared to address the needs of diverse learners (Rohl & Greeves, 2005)

Research Recommendations The teaching of reading requires teachers to have expert knowledge and practical skills for working effectively in the classroom (Snow et al., 2005) Research provides recommendations for what to teach and the need for pre-service teachers to learn how to teach reading. Minimal research on “how” is available(Evans et al., 2006)

Research Recommendations Can be achieved through field-based experiences, receiving regular feedback from an expert in the teaching of reading, and the opportunity to reflect (Darling- Hammond & Hammerness, 2005) Partnerships between schools and universities offer ideal opportunities for pre-service teachers to gain a comprehensive experience in research to practice while being mentored by experts (Dawkins et. al. 2009) Problems in finding suitable placements in schools (Top of the class: Report on the inquiry into teacher education, 2007)

Framework for Professional Learning Teaching Reading (Snow et al., 2005) • Declarative knowledge • Able to recall knowledge about the teaching of reading • Situated, can do knowledge • Becoming cognizant of the differing big ideas of reading • Stable procedural knowledge • Aware of how this comes together to formulate procedural knowledge • Expert, adaptive knowledge • Sophisticated level of professional knowledge • Reflective, organised, analysed knowledge • Well versed in research, master teacher, responsible for learning professional development activities in school or department

Reading Components • … big ideas of reading were addressed: • Phonological awareness • Alphabetic principle • Decoding fluency • Vocabulary • Comprehension • Sight words • Text reading … including a modeled reading and explicit instruction … Within a literacy framework …

University and School Partnership Data Collection • Eight teachers who had been involved in the unit of study, volunteered to participate and were interviewed. The semi-structured interviews investigated the conceptual and procedural knowledge beyond pre-service teacher training in their role as classroom teachers. • Completed questionnaires investigating the knowledge and skills used when teaching reading

Results The Teachers: • highlighted the value of linking theory to practice; • valued having a highly skilled mentor to scaffold their in-school experience; • were positive about the course overall; • acknowledged the merging and interaction of the knowledge from this course and what was learned throughout their teacher training; • described their current reading program as balanced and detailed the elements for reading and how they were integrated and inter-dependant on one another; and • talked about interaction between decoding and comprehension strategies.

Results Themes from the interviews: • Value of being able to identify specific needs of students through assessment and designing focused reading programs; • Having knowledge on how language disorder impacts on literacy learning; and • Having the opportunity to discuss with peers and mentors strategies and skills for teaching reading.

School Side of the Partnership Feedback from a partner principal: • Students learning to read • Excitement and Engagement • Examination of current practice through observation and discussion • Whole school change in the teaching of literacy requested by experienced teachers

Take Home Message: The Partnership between the University of Sydney, Sydney Region Learning Assistance Team and DET schools impacts on: how well pre-service teachers are prepared for teaching our students how well students with language disorders and reading difficulties recieve additional assistance parents and community members

University and School Partnerships: Literacy and Students with Additional Learning Needs