Evidence-based literacy instruction closing the gap in disadvantaged and majority Indigenous schools

We know failure to become a competent reader and writer can impede all other educational pursuits and severely limit employment prospects and many other social outcomes.

Unfortunately, too many Australian children are struggling to develop adequate literacy skills.

Social disadvantage and poverty have a well-documented and negative impact on literacy achievement in all English-speaking countries.

In Australia, rural, remote, and very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are among the most disadvantaged groups, and, as a result, education outcomes among young people have persistently lagged behind their metropolitan, non-Indigenous peers.  

In August 2021, MultiLit was invited by the Australian government to provide literacy programs for majority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schools as part of the education measures outlined in the Closing the Gap Implementation Plan.

We subsequently recruited 42 schools in five states and territories keen to embed evidence-based approaches to literacy to improve student achievement.

The MultiLit Closing the Gap initiative provided a structured approach to literacy teaching that included offering instructional programs and resources, professional development for teachers and learning support staff, ongoing educational support, and direct one-on-one tutoring for students.

The ultimate goal of the Initiative is to have all students in participating schools reading at a minimum level that is within the average range for their age and year cohort – effectively, closing the gap on the reading performance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and non-Indigenous students.

The good news is that this work is starting to pay dividends, prompting the federal government to recently announce a 12-month funding extension.

The importance of effective early literacy instruction 

Literacy education is important in the early years, but it must also be effective.

The Science of Reading has informed what effective teaching should look like. Research shows that the best reading instruction will systematically develop the five subskills of literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

This is best applied via a tiered approach that recognises that some children will require more support, either in a small group setting or on an individual basis (known as a Response to Intervention framework or Multi-tiered System of Supports).

In a widely reported speech in 2021, Indigenous lawyer, educator, and activist, Noel Pearson, shared his insights from decades of experience supporting education in remote majority Indigenous schools and communities.

He argued that explicit and evidence-based instruction methods of teaching were non-categorical — meaning that all learners, regardless of background or context, could benefit. Disadvantaged students in particular had the most to gain from these practices, he said.

These methods have proven effective for students in the remote majority Indigenous schools aligned with Dr Pearson’s Good to Great School initiative in Cape York and is starting to pay off for the Closing the Gap schools in spite of a challenging start.

Overcoming early challenges

The Closing the Gap initiative was launched in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic – a time when many schools were dealing with volatility in teacher staffing, school leadership, and student attendance. This meant embedding programs and training staff took much longer than originally anticipated.

The extreme remoteness of some of the participating schools cannot be overstated. Wilcannia Central School, for example, is almost 1000km – a 10-hour plus car ride – from Sydney. While two other schools are situated on small islands – Thursday Island and Bathurst Island.

This impacts many operational components, such as the delivery of programs and resources to the school, the attraction and retention of staff and the ability to undertake site visits.

In addition, the level of entrenched social disadvantage as measured by the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) is for most of the Closing the Gap schools was very high (corresponding to a low ICSEA score).

More than half the partner schools have an ICSEA below 720, representing approximately the bottom 0.5 per cent  of socio-educational advantage.

School attendances at these schools are also typically very low by Australian standards. School attendance is a critical factor in progressing educational outcomes.

Simply put, the less time available for instruction, the lower the opportunity to teach the essential knowledge and skills to allow children to become competent readers.

In the partnership schools, the majority of students have attendance rates below 80 per cent – that is, absent more than one day each week.

Many partner schools are in communities that can be highly itinerant. This impacts not only school attendance but also the consistency of teaching.

In the APY Lands, for example, families often move between communities. A school population can more than double overnight. One benefit of the initiative has been that there is consistency in literacy instruction across the seven participating APY Land schools. Students can move between schools and receive consistent literacy instruction.

Rather than allow these factors to negatively impact the instructional model, MultiLit has sought to adapt instruction for each school community to be responsive to the individual needs of students.

This has seen a greater emphasis on grouping based on current skill level and more flexible approaches to small group work, enabling more positive student engagement and allowing students’ literacy skills to progress even if they commence at the beginning of the foundational literacy continuum.

Another challenge for the school’s delivering the program has been catering for the level of differentiation in each cohort. While student numbers may be low, often less than 10 per class, the equivalent age range for a typical classroom can span many years – three to five, or more.

Regional site visits from MultiLit staff, as well as online check-ins, were an integral part of supporting schools and teachers to work through the plethora of challenges.

Measurable benefits and more

The Closing the Gap initiative is currently being evaluated and reports from partner schools have been positive.

The program has enabled schools to more closely track students’ progress, meaning teachers have been able identify learning gaps earlier and target interventions to address them.

Several schools have noted improvements in the Phonics Screening Check and have observed students who are showing more than 12 months’ growth on standardised tests over the course of a year.

Other impacts can't be measured but they are just as important.

Systematic and explicit teaching of the literacy programs has helped to foster a predictable, consistent routine for students. In turn this has created a safe, trauma-informed learning environment, an essential condition for effective teaching in these communities.

This has a positive impact on student engagement over time and ultimately student attendance and behaviour. Schools have reported fewer instances of disruptive behaviour as students experience learning success.