Executive Summary

This report presents data on students who received support from Resource Teachers: Literacy (RT:Lit) during 2008. A new reporting form designed to improve the quality of data used to report students' literacy gains as a result of the intervention was introduced in Term 4 of 2008. As a result, some of the results for 2008 are not directly comparable with those presented in previous years.

The key findings for 2008 are as follows:

• RT:Lit provided support for 4,258 students considered at risk in literacy achievement in 2008. Just over half (54%) of these students received indirect in-class support while the other 46 percent received direct instruction either on an individual basis (27%), in small groups (16%) or both individually and in small-groups (3%).
• RT:Lit predominantly assisted students with reading literacy, however approximately half (55%) of students who received direct instruction and one-quarter (25%) of students who received indirect support received assistance with written literacy. Less than 10 percent of students received support for oral language. Students who received direct instruction were more likely to receive assistance in multiple areas of literacy than students who received indirect in-class support.
• In 2008, boys outnumbered girls in RT:Lit support by more than two to one. Half (50%) of all students were NZ European, just over one-third (37%) were Māori, 8 percent were Pasifika and 2 percent were Asian. Students who received direct instruction were clustered around the 7 to 8 years age group while students who received indirect support were spread more evenly across the 5 to 12 years age range.
• Overall, two out of three students assisted by RT:Lit during 2008 had completed their programme of support by the end of the year. A further one-fifth of students who received direct instruction and one-quarter of students who received indirect support were to continue RT:Lit support in 2009. A small number of students received incomplete programmes because they were referred on for alternative specialist support, had moved out of the area serviced by the RT:Lit, moved from primary to secondary school or because of attendance issues.
• Assessment data from the old reporting forms used in Terms 1 to 3 (Part B forms) showed evidence of a shift in age-based reading levels as a result of RT:Lit intervention for students who completed regular (direct) tutoring. On entry, 70 percent of these students were reading at levels below 7 years of age. Upon exit however, just 26 percent of these students were still reading at these levels.
• The introduction of the new Part 2 form in Term 4 provided new insights into the impact of RT:Lit in reducing the number of students at risk in literacy achievement. At the end of their period of RT:Lit support for 2008, 88 percent of students who had completed their period of RT:Lit support had made reading gains equivalent to six months or more (66% had made reading gains of at least one year). A more comprehensive analysis of student achievement data will be available from 2009 onwards.