Matipo School is a decile 4 school situated on Te Atatu Peninsula in West Auckland. During the last three years Matipo principal, Wayne Bainbridge and Literacy Leader, Susan Dustin, have worked towards improving the level of reading achievement across the school. The initiative had small beginnings, which have developed into a major professional development and research programme with funding assistance from the Reading, Writing and Mathematics Funding Pool.
At Matipo School the year 2000 brought not only the dawn of a new millennium, but also the start of an exciting adventure into literacy, especially in the area of reading.

The school has been involved with Literacy Leadership programmes, inservice from Team Solutions, an innovative Running Record professional development and are now working on a major research and professional development project in guided reading which involves children, teachers and the community.

The journey had a quiet beginning. It started with syndicate inservice in the Middle and Senior School, using Running Records to inform teaching as well as to determine grouping. Methods of incorporating reading to, with and by children were also considered. Current reading resources were evaluated critically and teachers surveyed about how the resources were used in class. As a result several outdated resources and reading programmes were culled.
For the remaining resources, upgrades and additions were made, so that complete sets were available for teachers to use. A catalogue of reading resources and an interim publication ‘Resource Guidelines’were created by the Literacy Leader to assist teachers to get the best out of the existing resources in the school.

Meanwhile, new reading resources, including guided readers were sourced, priced and added to the budget for gradual purchase during the next few years.

NEMP reports and Literacy Taskforce documents were scrutinized and ideas for future development considered.

With the advent of the Literacy Leadership programme Matipo’s quiet, isolated initiative gained more momentum. In August 2000, Wayne Bainbridge, attended the principal’s introductory inservice day. As a result staff meetings for the next term revolved around literacy (part of the school’s culture is school-wide, longitudinal, research based, inservice provision). All the Literacy Review Tools from the programme were discussed and completed at staff meetings and a summary statement was made. Staff with literacy skills in reading combined to present staff meetings on subjects such as ‘Best Practices in Reading’ and ‘Running Records’. However, this was still scratching the surface, Matipo’s adventure into literacy development was still very much in its infancy.
In Term 2, 2001 Matipo became involved with the Literacy Enhancement Programme. A focus for the school was developed and a programme designed for its implementation. Guided Reading was established as best practice. The focus on increasing literacy achievement by developing children’s reading comprehension through guided reading would be implemented by increasing teacher knowledge and confidence in teaching reading.

Meeting with Margaret Aikman, Matipo’s Literacy Leadership facilitator was a highlight of each term. Through their discussions Margaret and Susan developed each step of the programme and the goals for the term, which were then discussed with Wayne and implemented school-wide. Margaret challenged thinking and established procedures at times and brought Susan and Wayne up to speed with current theory through relevant professional reading and debate. In between visits the school carried out a large amount of data collection, research and analysis whilst providing professional development to the staff.

During the third term a mentoring model of professional development was established. One day a week the school funded the release of the Literacy Leader from the classroom to work one-to-one with teachers as a Literacy Mentor. Each teacher spent 1.5 hours working with Susan developing Running Record skills through modeling and practice. Significant personal feedback was given to provide notes for further reference. Teachers gained confidence and were able to ask their own questions in this non-threatening atmosphere. Towards the end of term a further session was available to develop further skills.

Small pieces of information about the benefits of the school’s literacy development started filtering back. Classrooms where focused guided reading was being experimented with were showing higher than average improvements in reading strategies and skills. There was not enough evidence to be conclusive but enough to indicate that the school was on the right track.

During Term 4 Matipo were fortunate to have the assistance of Margaret Hayes from Team Solutions. Margaret worked with the staff to help establish rich, focused guided reading in all classes. She met with the staff as a whole, syndicates and individual teachers. She modeled guided reading and then observed teaching providing positive guidance for future development. The school videoed her modeled lessons.

Wayne and Susan were so encouraged by the progress the school was making that they decided to apply to the Reading, Writing and Mathematics Proposals Pool for finance to help fund research and an expanded professional development model for a further two years.

Matipo School has made a lot of progress during the first two years of literacy development. Old procedures were refined and new ideas introduced which brought the school in to line with the Literacy Taskforce recommendations. Testing and tracking of children’s reading levels and strategy use have shown that reading achievement levels are rising. Teachers report that they feel more confident in using Running Records to inform teaching. Funding from the Reading, Writing and Mathematics Proposals Pool has seen the school embark on a major two year project to further increase teacher knowledge of rich, focused reading instruction which will ensure the school reaches its ultimate goal to increase reading achievement levels throughout the school.

The model involves the release of the Literacy Leader to work as a mentor with two teachers each term. The teachers work through a six-module programme which covers taking and interpreting running records through to implementing Guided Reading programmes in the classroom context. Four target children in each class are monitored and progress checks are made. Teachers reflect on their own learning as well as that of the target group.

Methods of Guided Reading teaching and Running Record testing are modeled by Susan. Teachers then trial the methods themselves and receive constructive feedback about what they have established and what to try next.

Teachers who have completed the modules are monitored for the next two terms and meet with the Literacy Leader to discuss progress at checkpoint times.

The staff are very enthusiastic and those who have worked through the programme find it benefits their overall teaching practice, even though the focus is on reading.

Matipo School has made a lot of progress during their first two years of literacy development. Old procedures were refined and new ideas introduced which brought the school into line with the Literacy Taskforce recommendations. Testing and tracking of children’s reading levels and strategy use have shown that reading achievement levels are rising. Teachers report that they feel more confident in using Running Records to inform teaching and in using the Guided Reading method. The school’s two-year project to further increase teacher knowledge of rich, focused reading instruction is now underway. The project will ensure the school reaches its ultimate goal to increase reading achievement levels for all children throughout the school.

S. Dustin
September 2002