Unlocking students’ literacy skills for secondary school success

Unlocking students’ literacy skills for secondary school success

New research has identified how to best support students who enter secondary school without having developed foundational literacy and numeracy skills.

Nationally, close to one in five students starts secondary school three or more years behind their peers, having scored at or below minimum standards for literacy or numeracy. These students are also at greater risk of disengaging from school and not completing Year 12.

Digging deeper into this issue, the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) launched a project, titled: ‘Implementing effective tiered interventions in secondary schools’, which aims to use research to help schools and school systems support students struggling with literacy and numeracy.

To do this, the researchers – together with the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) – conducted a national survey of secondary school staff in 2022, reviewing existing evidence.

They found that more than half of the surveyed schools reported being able to consistently provide support for struggling students in literacy and/or numeracy. However, more than two in five were not confident that the support they offer is effective.

AERO’s researchers identified that a “multi-tiered system of supports” (MTSS) is one framework that has been shown to be particularly effective in lifting students’ engagement and outcomes in literacy and numeracy.  

Como Secondary College in Western Australia has been using an MTSS-style framework for more than a decade to support students who are struggling.

The school’s ‘Intensive Learning Team’ tests all students on entry to understand their skill level. If the student is struggling, the Team then provides them with more support in small group settings.

“The additional classes are part of the school timetable in Years 7, 8 and 9. They are delivered by specialist teachers and are supported by teaching assistants who can help provide additional one-on-one support where needed,” Principal Digby Mercer, the driving force behind the initiative, said.

“These teachers and teaching assistants receive professional development training on supporting struggling students. We use scripted direct instruction programs to ensure that students learn skills quickly, but also to ensure that teacher workloads stay manageable.”

Mercer says the use of assessment data to continually measure student progress is an important enabler of the initiative success.

“Up to a third of our Year 7 students enter the intensive program, and after 2 years, up to 75% are fully engaging in the grade-level secondary curriculum,” she said.

“I can’t overstate how transformative this has been for students. Those students that faced an uphill battle to stay engaged in school have had their learning transformed and with it, their life opportunities."

Dan Carr, AEROs Program Director, said the research shows that MTSS provides an organising framework for schools to effectively make decisions on what supports to offer and to who.

“Some schools have already implemented an MTSS-style framework. For the past decade, Como Secondary School has been delivering targeted support for students who enter the school doors significantly behind their peers,” Carr told The Educator.

“This includes testing students on-entry to identify skill gaps, then providing additional support in small group settings. The additional support classes are part of the school timetable in Years 7, 8 and 9. Specialists teach these classes, supported by trained teaching assistants.”

Carr said these classes use direct instruction programs, developed to ensure that students can pick up skills quickly.

“Up to a third of students take part in the support program and after two years, up to 75% are fully engaging in the at-level secondary curriculum.”

For principals looking for a practical way to implement this approach in their schools, there is good news. 

Carr said the guidance AERO is releasing will give school leaders an overview of MTSS, and show how it can be applied in a secondary school setting.

“Through the course of this year we’ll be releasing further detailed guidance on the specifics of what assessments and interventions are most effective, and on how secondary schools can find time in the school day to deliver additional support,” he said.

“A key finding from the research undertaken is that an explicit approach to teaching is key to supporting students who struggle with literacy and numeracy. Adopting this evidence-based teaching approach can reduce the number of students needing additional support.”