MYRAD PROJECT

The Department of Education has established a Middle Years of Schooling Research and Development (MYRAD) Project in conjunction with the University of Melbourne. This research and development project aims to research strategies that improve the cognitive and affective dimensions of student learning in the middle years of schooling and develop for schools a design model to assist planning in the middle years. The Project involves in-depth research into 62 clusters of secondary schools and up to three of their feeder primary schools.

Phase 1 of the Project has focussed on:

• Standards and expectations - enhancing the transition process between primary and secondary school in a context of relevant system-wide standards

• Monitoring and assessment — including the development of student portfolios
• Classroom teaching strategies — development of a specific middle years pedagogy characterised by cooperative and independent learning, clear and authentic assessment, integration of the curriculum, and the opportunity for students to negotiate some of their learning
• Professional learning teams - involving fewer teachers working with students and enhanced teamwork amongst teachers and students
• School and class organisation - a reconsideration of the structure of the school and timetabling arrangements
• Home/School/Community Links - the development of improved transition arrangements for students.
• Leadership and coordination to achieve middle school reform

SUCCESSFUL INTERVENTIONS: A SECONDARY LITERACY AND NUMERACY INITIATIVE.

This project is supported by DETYA funding and is conducted in partnership between the

Department of Education, Employment and Training (DEET), the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (CECV) and the Association of Independent Schools of Victoria (AISV). It aims to provide improved literacy and numeracy outcomes for all students, particularly those experiencing difficulties. The project consists of a number of sub-projects and activities detailed below.

Completed in October 1998. The Victorian Association of Teachers of English (VATE) conducted a statewide survey seeking data on the way schools sought to improve literacy outcomes for those students they perceived to be having difficulties. The environmental scan and associated research provided the basis for the Secondary Literacy Research Project.

Contracted to the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), this project seeks to provide research based advice to schools and sectors that will assist schools to raise literacy outcomes, particularly for those students whose low literacy levels may lead to failure during secondary schooling.

This project is researching the effectiveness of a wide range of literacy programs, practices and strategies currently in use in a sample of forty-four Victorian secondary schools. These programs’ are evaluated against the following criteria:

• effectiveness and appropriateness for 'at risk' groups of students
• resource effectiveness
• compatibility to the CSF
• capacity to be incorporated into Department structures
• capacity to facilitate full student participation in mainstream classes.

MIDDLE YEARS LITERACY RESEARCH

Contracted to Deakin University, this project seeks to:

• assist secondary English teachers to maximise their effectiveness as teachers of literacy within the English Key Learning Area in the mainstream classroom
• assist other Key Learning Area teachers to clarify their roles and maximise their effectiveness as teachers of the literacy demands of their subjects in the mainstream classroom
• assist primary teachers (Years 5 and 6) to maximise their effectiveness as teachers of literacy in the mainstream classroom
• are transferable between different schools, settings and sectors
• enable national and state goals and targets to be met.

The project builds on the learnings of the Early Years Literacy Program and the work of Redesigning the Middle Years. It utilises the Hill and Crevola Design Elements of a General Model of School Improvement.

The environmental scan was commissioned and carried out by the Mathematical Association of Victoria (MAV) in 1998. The purpose of the scan was to determine:

• the types of intervention programs currently used in Years 5-8 numeracy strategies
• the nature of the intervention programs used in terms of perceived transferability, CSF best practice, resource efficiency and systemic viability
• how schools are currently identifying students at risk of not achieving appropriate numeracy levels
• the perceived need of effective intervention programs
• the costs of various strategies.

The research found very little by way of coordinated and systematic intervention programs for numeracy in the middle years.

Contracted to RMIT University (Bundoora), the aim of this research project is provide advice to the DoE, the CECV and the AISV,which will lead to the development of a coordinated and strategic plan for numeracy improvement.

• The strategy will exemplify the best possible practice in mathematics education and improve numeracy achievement for all students in the middle years in Victorian schools.
• The strategic plan will provide schools with clear teaching and learning directions which will ensure that the national and state goals and targets are met and that individual student numeracy achievement is improved.

The Middle Years Numeracy Research Project: 5-8+ will build upon the work of the Early Numeracy Research Project (ENRP) and the Early Literacy Research Project (ELRP) and utilise the design model developed by Hill and Crevola. The Middle Years Research and Development (MYRAD) project will also inform the research project.

The Board of Studies is currently developing program outlines and support materials for programs in Vocational Learning for Years 9 and 10 students, mapped against CSF outcomes, key competencies and VET recognition arrangements. Methods are also being developed to report achievement of key competencies at Years 9 and 10.