<h2>A new study has found that schools are successfully lifting achievement by creating a coherent focus on literacy teaching.</h2>
<p>The report from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) analyses approaches to literacy in six diverse primary schools that made and sustained positive shifts in achievement over a five-year period.</p>
<p>While the six primary schools in the study each took a different approach, the analysis identified three common elements.</p>
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<p>“We saw effective literacy practice built on a framework that combined three key elements in ways that were unique to each school,” Senior Researcher Jan Eyre said.</p>
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<p>“All of the schools had school-wide and literacy-focused elements in place, but these varied depending on the nature of the school,” Ms Eyre said.</p>
<figure id="attachment_12339" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-12339" style="width: 625px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/publications/exploring-literacy-how-six-schools-lifted-achievement" target="_blank"><img class="size-full wp-image-12339" src="https://www.schoolnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Literacy-framework.jpg" alt="" width="625" height="619" /></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-12339" class="wp-caption-text">Figure: A framework of essential elements for improved literacy achievement. Image Source: NZCER</figcaption></figure>
<p>School-wide elements included a safe and supportive learning environment, a focus on developing and nurturing relationships, and strong leadership with use of achievement data to drive strategic goals.</p>
<p>Literacy-focused elements included a clear strategic focus on an aspect of literacy, whole-school professional learning and development related to that focus, and support for oral language.</p>
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<p>“These elements were always linked by a coherent focus on raising literacy achievement,” Researcher Eliza de Waal said.</p>
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<p>“Each school created that coherent focus by planning and implementing literacy programmes for the whole school, ensuring collaboration across all levels,” Ms de Waal said.</p>
<p>The six schools selected for the study were identified by looking at data on student achievement against the National Standards from 2012 to 2016. The six were chosen to create a spread across deciles, urban/rural situation, size, and ethnicity.</p>
<p><strong><a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/research/publications/exploring-literacy-how-six-schools-lifted-achievement" target="_blank">The report, &#8216;Exploring literacy: How six schools lifted achievement&#8217; is free to download from NZCER’s website.</a></strong></p>

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