Exploring Qualitative Data...

This qualitative evaluation explores the impact of the Manaiakalani Reading Pillars of Practice (MRPP) on reading planning, teacher practice and capability, and student achievement within our school context. Capability, defined as the ability to effectively apply knowledge and skills to achieve desired outcomes. By aligning our planning to the MRPP has helped strengthen teacher capability and enhance reading instruction for our Year 4-8 teachers. In turn this has helped accelerate shift in student achievement in Reading.

To do this I analysed both long term planning and guided reading lesson plans with the time point 1 student achievement data in mind. Learning conversations with teachers allowed us both to explore their perceptions of what was needed to help all our students find success in reading. This process fostered a shared understanding of effective reading instruction within our team and promoted a cohesive approach where our thinking is more aligned. It allowed us to introduce mini PLD sessions that explored and unpacked comprehension strategies and the need for an aligned shared language of instruction in our team meetings. We co-constructed learning intentions, scaffolds and group norms. Using these resources helped us strengthen the questions we asked to ensure we were introducing our students to a wider variety of comprehension skills and providing them with increased opportunities to apply these skills in context both independently and collaboratively through discussion.

The MRPP has provided a clear framework for aligning long-term and short-term planning with evidence-based practices. The use of student achievement data alongside this has facilitated a shift from compliance-based planning to purposeful instruction. This shift has resulted in teachers moving away from simply falling back on the known to actively considering the specific needs of their students and tailoring instruction accordingly. 

                                                               

This process has introduced opportunities for rich professional conversations to take place. Additionally it had provided opportunities for best practices to be shared and both syndicate wide and individual areas that need strengthening to be identified. Using the Manaiakalani Reading Pillars of Practice has provided us with a clear framework for planning and instruction. This has as previously mentioned, reduced ambiguity, strengthening teacher confidence and has helped to put us all on the same page. From a leadership perspective this process has been the stepping stone we needed to engage in rich professional conversations where both successes can be identified, hard messages given and clarity of where to next co-constructed.

Use of a gap analysis has helped us to tailor instruction to meet individual learning needs of the tamariki in our own classes. Embracing change by beginning to multimodal text sets has provided our students with more opportunities to engage with and unpack the texts in front of them. We still are still on a journey but with a stable staff going forward we have the advantage of having already taken the first steps towards change.

The implementation of aligning our planning with the Manaiakalani Reading Pillars of Practice has had a positive impact on teacher capability and student achievement. It has provided us with the common ground needed for professional collaboration, and has highlighted the importance of implementing the data-driven planning decisions around our syndicate wide focus on the comprehension strategies.