What was your motivation to move away from streaming?

A commitment to ongoing improvement in teaching practices to get better outcomes for all students, particularly Māori.

What was the approach you took to making the shift?

Glendene began using RT3T in March 2024 and quickly saw significant improvements in their students’ reading achievement. Despite the comparatively recent introduction of RT3T, Acting Principal Ann-Maree Molloy was an early follower of Dame Marie Clay and could see RT clearly in her work. Ann-Maree had also come across the Best Evidence Synthesis that Julia Westera had done and then she heard Julia speak at a kāhui ako hui. The school applied for PLD funding and managed to get 100 hours for 2024.

For Ann-Maree it was important to have all the stakeholders including the literacy advisor and the teacher aides involved in the planning and decision-making from the outset. Julia’s RT3T team provided the training and Ann-Maree joined in alongside the staff. That too was important. Currently (2024), Glendene has four classes engaged in RT3T.

“It also fits in well with the local curriculum that teachers have worked hard to develop, and teachers can use pieces of writing for this. Teachers are committed to a local curriculum – about our river and our place in those things, and they've worked hard to develop that over many years. And so, it means they can choose those bits of text – they can take a piece of text from anywhere and use that.”

Ability grouping is not used in the school, and it is experienced in using Kagan’s grouping practices and this avoids teachers defaulting to grouping by behaviour. The school also uses a literacy programme called Stepsweb which was designed with dyslexic students in mind and that sits alongside RT3T.

How long did it take to see results?

Teachers have been observing significant improvements in their students’ reading achievement from very early on. In particular, an increase in risk taking, the trying out of new words and the high quality of language the students are using. They are excited about it.

“It’s like a book that you read but on papers with cool pictures and if you don’t know the words or you don’t know how to say it, you can clarify. And they have to speak clearly so people can hear them. Has it changed me? Lots! Like to speak clearly and not talk over. And making sure that it’s making me nice and making me ignore some people. It’s making me even smarter at RT3T and maths and reading. Do I want to do it again next year? Yes, because it’s very fun and I like to read fun stuff.” (student)