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9 December 2004
Local, national and international education specialists have met at Charles Darwin University this week to develop the research and evaluation plan for the National Accelerated Literacy program and discuss research into literacy teaching.
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L-R: Katherine Henderson, Professor Courtney Cazden, Dr Tess Lea and Associate Professor Brian Gray |
In a workshop hosted by the University’s School of Social and Policy Research, participants included internationally respected Professor Courtney Cazden from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the co-founders of the framework behind the National Accelerated Literacy Program, Associate Professor Brian Gray and Ms Wendy Cowey.
They were joined by Ms Suzanne Mellor from the Australian Council for Educational Research, Ms Katherine Henderson from the NT Department of Education, Employment and Training (DEET), Mr Steven Marshall from the South Australian Department of Education and health evaluation experts.
“The National Accelerated Literacy program is a major project conducted in partnership between Charles Darwin University, NT DEET and participants in other states and territories. The program is designed to address poor literacy standards especially in Indigenous education, Director of the School for Social and Policy Research, Dr Tess Lea, said.
On all key national indicators - including literacy, numeracy, attendance and retention - students in the Northern Territory perform below national standards. In particular, Indigenous students in the NT are still performing well below their non-Indigenous peers despite the shifts in policy and teaching practices and money poured into Indigenous education during the past 30 years.
“The need to raise literacy standards is obvious. Low literacy levels impact on the ability of individuals to engage in the range of life choices that many of us take for granted as well as impacting on health, employment, and social outcomes,” Dr Lea stated.
“This is the reason why we invited some key health evaluation experts, like Paul Torzillo and Garth Alperstein from the University of Sydney to advise on not only the impacts this program has on health indicators but also to provide insights into how health evaluates programs like this, as there is little evidence within the educational domain.”
Dr Lea said the workshop’s outcomes would help inform both the academic and government debate into literacy and education research and evaluation.
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