How structured literacy instruction helped close the reading gap at an Aboriginal school
By
Catherine McAloon, Conor Duffy
Summary
Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School in Western Australia has achieved a remarkable turnaround in early literacy. Four years ago, 16 of 18 students in years 5 and 6 were reading at or below year 3 level, with many dropping out in years 8 and 9. Through a structured literacy approach called InitiaLit, explicit phonics instruction, and targeted interventions, the school now has nearly all senior students reading at their year level. The program, supported by the Macquarie School of Education and the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, shows promising results that could be scaled to other Indigenous communities to close the literacy gap.
Source
bskyHow structured literacy instruction helped close the reading gap at an Aboriginal schoolabc.net.auKey quotes
· 5 pulledThey struggled when they got to high school. A lot of our kids have dropped out in year 8 and 9.
We are now closing the gap, which is what we set out to do, and we can see it.
It's not a silver bullet, but it's a really important part of the puzzle.
The kids are proud of themselves. They're confident. They're willing to have a go.
If we can do it here, it can be done anywhere.
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