Reading Recovery inNew Zealand: The failure of an integrated system for preventing and remediating reading disabilities
A Symposium presented by Professor Bill Tunmer and Professor James Chapman, Massey University, New Zealand,with Discussant Professor John Hattie, University of Melbourne
Friday, 5 September 2014, 2 pm to 5.30 pm, registration from 1.30 pm
At the Treacy Conference Centre,126 The Avenue,Parkville
Cost:Members of LDA: $80 Non-Members of LDA: $100 Students: $50
Abstract: New Zealand has followed a predominantly constructivist approach to literacy education for the past 25 years, together with the implementation of Reading Recovery, a one-on-one intervention program designed to prevent later literacy difficulties. In response to growing concerns in the 1990s about the long tail of literacy underachievement inNew Zealand, the government established a National Literacy Strategy for reducing the large disparity in reading achievement outcomes between good and poor readers, with Reading Recovery playing a central role in this strategy.This Symposium summarises arguments and evidence showing thatNew Zealand's National Literacy Strategy has failed and the role that Reading Recovery has played in contributing to this failure, using data from three sources; the PIRLS studies, Reading Recovery monitoring reports, and international adult literacy surveys.Contemporary theory and research on reading and the analyses of these data sets indicate that major changes are needed in preventing and remediating reading difficulties inNew Zealand, and possibly other countries such asAustralia.
The Symposium is divided into three main parts. The first part of the Symposium looks at the findings of theProgress in International Reading Literacy Studies (PIRLS) in 2001, 2006, and 2011. The second part examines the question as to whether Reading Recovery is an effective intervention for children most at risk of reading failure, and the third part looks at the literacy performances of young adults inNew Zealandin the context of the three-tiered system of literacy education. The final discussion looks at the question ofwhat can be done to overcome the problem, and the implications of theNew Zealandfindings forAustralia.
Speakers
ProfessorWilliam Tunmer- Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology at the Massey University Institute of Education, has over 100 publications including journal articles, book chapters, and books on early literacy development, literacy learning difficulties, and reading intervention. He has served on the editorial boards of numerous academic journals and in 2012 he completed a 5-year term as Associate Editor ofReadingand Writing.He currently serves as scientific adviser to a 5-year (2010-2015), literacy research project atHarvardUniversity.
ProfessorJames Chapman- Professor of Educational Psychology at the Massey University Institute of Education, where he served as Head of the Department of Learning and Teaching, and as Pro Vice-Chancellor (Dean) of the College of Education. He serves or has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of Learning Disabilities, Learning Disability Quarterly, Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, the Asia-Pacific Journal of Development Differences, and the International Journal for Research in Learning Disabilities.
Discussant
Professor John Hattieis the Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute at theUniversityofMelbourne, and is best known for his synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement, as published in his influential 2008 book Visible Learning, which is believed to be the world’s largest evidence-based study into the factors which improve student learning. He has authored or co-authored 12 books and more than 500 papers, and regularly advises governments inNew Zealand,Australiaand theUS. He has recently been appointed as Chairman of theAustralian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership.
Diane Barwood
Coordinator, LDA Consultants Committee
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