Proposal



DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT

**Context**
Include: Key characteristics of the school, Nature of student population/community.

__St Rita’s Primary School __  St Rita's is located at Victoria Point, in the South East Region of Brisbane. St Rita's is a coeducational Catholic primary school, offering classes from Prep to Year 7. Most students are Australian born and most parents have reasonable expectations for their children progress. The staff is a mixture of experienced and recently graduated teachers and some staff members are studying at Universities or through BCE offered courses. Distinctive curriculum offerings are Information Communication & Learning Technology (ICLT), LOTE (Japanese), Arts Program, Health & Physical Education Program (including Outdoor and Camp activities) and Instrumental Music Program.

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 * What open ended question/s do you want to answer by doing action research? **
 * What might be the effect on teaching and learning in the early years if we use reading and comprehension data as the basis of future planning?


 * Who is involved and how? **
 * 1 x yr 1 teacher, 1 x yr 2 teacher leading the project
 * 2 x yr 1 teachers, 2 x year 2 teachers part of the project team to implement the project


 * Target Group(s) / year levels? **


 * Small group of Year 1 and Year 2 students


 * Why have you chosen this focus? Is it about teachers’ critical reflection on classroom practice? **
 * Reading data shows that comprehension age of students islower than their chronological age at higher grades in the school.
 * Data from teachers suggests that the major teaching focus is on decoding and accuracy in reading in the early years not developing comprehension skills & strategies
 * Reflection on what reading data is collected and then used to inform teaching and learning practices will give insight into how teachers can improve their use of data to inform teaching direction.


 * What data do you have to justify your focus – qualitative, quantitative, research? **
 * PROBE reading assessments
 * Teacher observation
 * Planning data

**Methodology – how will you make it work?**
· //Follow an action learning sequence to describe what you will do (ie: plan, act, observe, reflect and then plan, act, observe, reflect etc). //

· //Include: a clear staged plan for monitoring and evaluating improvement/progress; // //strategies to be implemented, data and evidence that will be collected to document, analyse and report on improvement. It may include implications for future sustainability. //

__Step 1 : PLAN__ What reading data is collected in the early years? How is it used to inform teaching and learning in the early years?
 * Collect baseline data about current practices**
 * Teacher questionnaires
 * Planning documents
 * 'Literacy Practices Guide - Prep to year 1" checklist
 * Meet as a professional learning group and plan - roles, meeting dates, times, communication, experts who can help us, professional development needs

__Step 2 : ACT__
 * Analyse current reading data that is collected - identify pros and cons
 * Investigate planning cycles that link data --> planning --> practice --> assessment
 * Investigate a range of reading data collection methods (e.g. First Steps, PROBE, other commercial reading assessments)
 * Devise a planning cycle to test
 * Identify data collection method/s to test
 * Professional development - reading & discussions with experts

__Step 4 : OBSERVE (ongoing through implementation)__
 * Teachers complete checklists of effectiveness as they implement
 * Edit and revise planning cycle and data collections methods throughout for constant renewal
 * Meet to reflect as a group on the planning cycle & data collection methods

__Step 5 : REFLECT__
 * Ongoing reflection and revision on teaching planning and practice
 * What worked for us? How can we use what we have learned at a whole school level?
 * What will we put in place to sustain the practices - individually and as a group?

**Project goals and targets** // Include: Key milestones / outcomes intended ////. //
 * Increased teacher awareness of what reading comprehension is and how it can be developed
 * Increased teacher awareness of data collection methods for reading
 * Teachers will follow a planning cycle from evidence they have collected about student reading

**Timeline for the project**
Semseter 2 2010
 * Teacher questionnaires
 * Planning documents
 * 'Literacy Practices Guide - Prep to year 1" checklist
 * Meet as a professional learning group and plan - roles, meeting dates, times, communication, experts who can help us, professional development needs
 * Professional Reading and discussions with experts
 * Analyse current reading data that is collected - identify pros and cons
 * Analyse current reading data that is collected - identify pros and cons
 * Investigate planning cycles that link data --> planning --> practice --> assessment
 * Investigate a range of reading data collection methods (e.g. First Steps, PROBE, other commercial reading assessments)
 * Devise a planning cycle to test
 * Identify data collection method/s to test

Semester 1 2011
 * Teachers complete checklists of effectiveness as they implement
 * Edit and revise planning cycle and data collections methods throughout for constant renewal
 * Meet to reflect as a group on the planning cycle & data collection methods
 * Ongoing reflection and revision on teaching planning and practice
 * What worked for us? How can we use what we have learned at a whole school level?
 * What will we put in place to sustain the practices - individually and as a group?

**Itemised budget for the project**
//Also consider the requirement that you present your project at a seminar day eg: preparation time and teacher release for this event. //
 * Teacher release to meet with expert - 2 teachers x 1 day release = $880
 * First Steps Reading Course - 2 teachers x 2 day release = $1760
 * Project planning for implementation and reflection - 2 teachers x 1 day release = $880
 * Project Presentation and Planning - 2 teachers x 2 days release = $1760