Action Research

St Bernadette’s School 2008-2009

What is the issue?
How can we accurately measure where our children are in terms of the quality of their
writing?
How can we determine the next step for individuals to improve their writing?

What is happening at present?

At present children’s work is assessed and evaluated according to indicators in the
English Curriculum document. The descriptors are quite vague and overlapping.
We need to adopt a clear set of indicators which allow us to accurately place a piece of
writing at a certain stage and identify the next steps to improvement.

Find academic background.

‘Literacy Learning Progressions’ (Draft)
(NZCER) Assessment - Resource Bank.
TKI Exemplars.
Effective Literacy Handbook.
Dancing With the Pen

Decide on action.
The staff of St Bernadette’s collected baseline writing samples. The samples were an
unassisted recount.
The samples were then discussed at staff meetings, and consistency in assessment
were determined.
Each student’s piece of writing was individually assessed by the class teacher. Staff
designed a template for analysing the students work. (see appendix i)
This analysis involved an acknowledgement of the qualities of the writing as well as
identifying gaps in the student’s work and determining the next steps for that
particular student.

Implement action.
The first samples were taken and then assessed against the indicators described in the
draft ‘Literacy Learning Progressions - 2007’

At this stage of the project every pupil has their own individual tracking sheet, (see
appendix ii) which shows progress made in relation to chronological age. In addition
to this a class overview is kept (see appendix iii) which gives a clear record of
progress made by groups of students.
The goal for this project was to have children working at or above their stage in
writing expertise as described in the draft ‘Literacy Learning Progressions - 2007.’
A Milestone Report was presented to the Board of Trustees at the end of 2008 and two
subsequent ones in 2009.

Collect the data.

Since beginning the project we have gathered 6 samples in total from each child. This
has been a major undertaking but very worthwhile. It is satisfying for teachers and
students to analyse the writing and look for indicators and determine the next
development step.

Analysis of data.
Teachers found this experience extremely valuable, albeit a huge undertaking and very
time consuming.
We found that the focus on the individual learner, and in particular their involvement
in their own writing development was an extremely significant factor in the success of
the project.

We found that the focus on the individual learner, and in particular their involvement
in their own writing development was an extremely significant factor in the success of
the project.
The school had aimed for 90% of students working at appropriate levels as described
in the draft document. While we did not reach out aim we were very proud of the
levels reached by the students and of our own part in reaching the levels shown.
We believe that this document (‘Literacy Learning Progressions’) is a worthwhile
accompaniment to our writing assessment tool kit and a copy of this report will be sent
to the Ministry as part of their publication evaluation process as promised in our initial
Statement of Variance document.
Our determination is to develop this programme further in 2009-2010. We will take
particular note of the performance of Year 0 children, not included in the statistics but
included in the sample taking.

We will look also at the performance of the significant number of students who have,
and will continue to perform at levels beyond those suggested in the ‘Learning
Progressions Document.’

We are particularly pleased with the performance of our Maori and Pacific students.
We are constantly aware of improving the statistical performance of these groups and
proud that their results compare very favourably with the school body as a whole.

Publish your findings.

All data gathered has been presented to the board (see template appendix iv). The
information gathered is used to communicate with children and parents/caregivers
about future direction and development. Our determination is to develop this
programme further in 2009-2010. We will take particular note of the performance of
Year 0 children, not included in the statistics but included in the sample taking

Action Research
St Bernadette’s School
Appendix i Analysis template