Abstract
In this chapter I discuss the design of a systemic, evidence-based strategy aimed at improving student literacy and numeracy achievement, particularly for students in remote and very remote locations. The strategy was based on national and international research, and fundamentally designed “from the students out” through sound instructional leadership, effective teaching, and assessment for learning. The challenges of implementing such a strategy in a diverse and dispersed educational system are also discussed. The chapter aims to describe the complexities faced by governments in improving literacy and numeracy outcomes for all children.
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Notes
- 1.
“Cultural competence” is defined here as the ability to understand and respect different world views. As teachers we need to seek to understand Indigenous and other cultural world views of our students so that we can successfully build bridges from what students already know to what we want them to learn; students need to know (and hence be explicitly taught) the world views and expectations inherent in Western schooling and schools.
- 2.
“Turbo-charged” intervention is defined here as intervention required by students identified in their achievement data as not meeting age-cohort expectations against the Literacy and Numeracy Expectations continua.
- 3.
This may require short-term withdrawal from mainstream classrooms from time to time.
- 4.
If schools are able to provide ongoing evidence to their DSP that a particular intervention strategy they are using is working as a result of the school approaches to its use then they should continue in its application, at least in the short term.
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Perso, T. (2013). A Systemic Evidence-Based Strategy to Improve Indigenous Students’ Numeracy and Literacy. In: Jorgensen, R., Sullivan, P., Grootenboer, P. (eds) Pedagogies to Enhance Learning for Indigenous Students. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4021-84-5_2
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