Creating a High Performance Learning Culture - Impact Case Study

Bastow Institute of Educational Leadership Impact Case Study

Creating a high performance learning culture

Reading and writing their way to success Participants:

Home to 640 students, Park Ridge Primary School had been generating strong student data for literacy for several years. However, in 2015 the school received lower than expected NAPLAN results and identified a drop in the literacy performance of students across all levels.

Acutely aware of the need to address this, Principal David Mann and the leadership team decided to review the school’s current literacy program.

David Mann Principal, Park Ridge Primary School

Anna Christofis

Literacy leader, Park Ridge Primary School

Bastow | Creating a High Performance Learning Culture

equipped to lead change and collaboratively strengthen their approach to literacy teaching and learning.

As a team member and a foundation teacher, literacy leader and library coordinator, Anna Christofis had a vested interest in improving the school’s performance in literacy. Excited about the prospect of sharing her learning with other staff, Anna also saw the course as a way to strengthen her teaching practice and her ability to create a positive learning environment around literacy for students from the moment they start school.

All aboard

‘We felt it was a good time to look at just how we were teaching and how our reading program was being delivered across the school,’ says David.

As principal, David strongly believed that his close involvement in this learning opportunity was vital to its success. He knew that the school couldn’t improve if the structures could not support the changes.

As a strong believer in leading by example, David enrolled himself, a leading teacher and two classroom teachers in the Creating a High Performance Learning Culture course at Bastow.

‘I don’t think this kind of change would work without the principal really taking an active interest in it … I just think it loses credibility,’ says David. ‘We can’t just sit on the outside—things always looks easier from this position.’

The course was ideal for the team in that it offered them the opportunity to carefully investigate and analyse evidence from their own context to better understand their existing approach and how well it aligns and connects with the Victorian curriculum.

Attending the course gave the team valuable time away from school to really focus and work collaboratively, as well as the benefit of tapping into the knowledge and experience of other education professionals from across Victoria.

With this chance to improve their understanding of what constitutes excellence in curriculum and assessment design and explore contemporary research and innovative thinking around literacy, the team felt they would be better

Throughout the course, the team reported back to the other staff, providing updates and sharing what they were learning. Curriculum days were also spent expanding that learning and planning in a collaborative environment.

Throughout the course, the team reported back to the other staff, providing updates and sharing what they were learning.

Curriculum days were also spent expanding that learning and planning in a collaborative environment.

Pictured: Teacher, Elaine McClure

Pictured: Staff at Park Ridge Primary School Bastow | Creating a High Performance Learning Culture

‘ We got great uptake straight away, and it wasn’t long before other teachers were lining up and asking, “Hey, that looks really good, can we be involved as well?” .’

‘It was important that we involved all teachers in the planning,’ explains David. ‘They are the ones working directly with the students, so they really needed to have a clear understanding of what we were trying to do,’ says David.

Best practice in action Although the team started the course with a high level of commitment and a sense of what they wanted to achieve, it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Very quickly the team realised they were unsure of how to actually start the change process and initially struggled with how to prioritise their activities.

‘The challenge was overwhelming at times,’ says Anna.

The facilitator-coach proved to be a guiding light, helping the team to realign when they lost focus or needed a sounding board to unpack ideas.

It was also this facilitator-coach who suggested a visit to an exemplar school. The visit provided a watershed moment for the team, offering them real insight into a successful literacy program in action.

The exemplar school’s experience was particularly relevant as the school had implemented a successful literacy program despite a high percentage of students starting school with literacy and numeracy skills well below the state average.

The team, together with four other teachers from Park Ridge Primary School, had the chance to view all aspects of the program in situ and then select elements they felt could work well for their school.

Immediately upon return from the visit, the school rolled out a series of pilot projects modelled on examples from the exemplar school.

To ensure consistency with the deployment of book boxes, a framework of protocols was put in place to specify what books go in the boxes and how they are maintained.

As principal, David’s role was to both encourage the staff and be the voice of reason. He understood the drivers and exactly what could be achieved through the investment in a strong literacy culture. He was also able to sustain momentum by arranging appropriate funding and resourcing to support key projects.

‘We let the pilot classrooms go for a month before we handed them out to other classes, at which time people were literally begging to have them,’ says David.

Most importantly, David encouraged all the teachers to play a role in shaping the implementation of the literacy improvement program.

‘The whole school had input, rather than just the four people in the team,’ says David. ‘We wanted people on that journey rather than just saying, “Look, we’ve got a plan, and here it is”.’

Keeping books in view The ‘books in view’ concept was one of the first initiatives implemented following the visit to the exemplar school.

Within a week of the visit, book boxes were placed on each table in pilot classrooms across Park Ridge Primary.

The idea is that students always have books and stories in sight and close at hand. David was delighted at the success of this relatively simple idea.

‘We got great uptake straight away, and it wasn’t long before other teachers were lining up and asking, “Hey, that looks really good, can we be involved as well?”.’

‘No teacher was made to actually take this idea on board, but now 18 months down the track, all 29 classes have book boxes embedded into their learning culture.’

Changes were also made to the library – an idea initiated

by Anna to ‘really sell reading and make sure the library is the central focus’. David was supported by the school board to invest in library refurbishments aimed at encouraging students to embrace reading.

These changes included introducing before-school opening hours, new comfortable furniture to replace the outdated tables and chairs, and providing students with ‘book-browsing bins’ for non-fiction titles, rather than all books sitting on shelves. The number of non-fiction loans grew immediately.

‘It’s just really lifted that whole profile of the library,’ says David. ‘Parents walk through the school now and go, “Boy, this school is serious about reading”.’

Close reading Another way the school is encouraging reading is the introduction of ‘reading conferences’ with teachers and students. Twice each term, all students have a one-on-one conference with their teacher to look at their reading goals.

Students provide evidence of how they’re going with their reading and discuss their achievements.

‘The teacher can then sit down and plan the next level of achievement with the student, so it’s really individual instruction,’ explains David.

‘We’re even seeing some teachers making videos of these conferences to show at our curriculum days, which is really powerful in encouraging other staff to have a go.’

For her foundation-level students, Anna has introduced anchor charts—a method she observed on the visit to the exemplar school. Anchor charts make ‘thinking visible’ by recording content, strategies, process, cues and guidelines for students to use as tools as they are reading.

Inspired by the ability of these charts to drive new behaviour and a strong literacy culture, Anna very quickly witnessed her young students beginning to think differently about reading and adopting a new language around literacy.

‘The students have started to ask questions such as: What if? Why? and How? when they are reading, and using phrases such as “We have to make a prediction first”. It’s exciting to see them approach reading in this way,’ says Anna.

Bastow | Creating a High Performance Learning Culture

Anna was keenly aware of the power in embedding these changes at foundation level to achieving a high performance learning culture across the school.

Participation in the Bastow course has also proved to be particularly successful in building the next generation of leaders at the school.

What does literacy look like?

‘I wanted to develop my middle leaders [and] … a number of the teachers who were involved in the program are now either running areas within my school or other curriculum areas, as well as playing a far more active role in leading change across the school,’ says David.

In the first 18 months of their three-year journey, Park Ridge Primary School has successfully identified and addressed weaknesses, as well as created a strong base from which to achieve a high performance learning culture and improve student learning outcomes in literacy.

They are clearly proud of the outcomes they have achieved to date, not least of which is their literacy framework.

They have developed a comprehensive literacy document and resource kit so that all current teaching staff have a consistent definition for literacy and new staff can easily understand the school’s pedagogical expectations.

David recognises the importance of this common understanding and language around literacy.

‘I feel confident you could walk into this school tomorrow, walk up to any of my teachers and say, “Tell me what literacy looks like”, and they would be far more articulate than before—everyone is on the same page.’

The school is united in their journey and as a group they understand that learning and adoption of new practices happen at different rates for both staff and students.

It is now common practice to share and discuss research, new teaching practices and initiatives in an environment where everyone’s opinion is valued and everyone has a clear sense of where the school is headed.

‘I feel confident you could walk into this school tomorrow, walk up to any of my teachers and say, “Tell me what literacy looks like”, and they would be far more articulate than before — everyone is on the same page.’

Pictured: Teachers at Park Ridge Primary School

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