Runcorn Heights has a team approach to intervention and the Support Teacher: Literacy and Numeracy (STLaN) is part of the team. The Learning Support teacher works to assist students with learning difficulties by using the principles of effective learning and teaching and an inclusive approach to the provision of quality curriculum programs, including differentiation and flexible options.
Runcorn Heights State School uses the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) as framework that helps schools to implement evidence-informed practice through increasingly intensive tiers of instruction, beginning with Tier 1 (whole class, or core) instruction. It supports early identification of students with needs, to provide timely, targeted intervention and monitor progress in response to instruction.
What will this look like in classrooms?
Within a multi-tiered system of supports framework, Tier 1 instruction is intended to provide for the majority of the needs within a classroom. A key characteristic of a MTSS is the use of a universal screener (DIBELS) to identify which students have some level of risk in relation to their reading.
Alongside formative assessment, this data is used to determine which students may need more intensified or supplementary instruction (Tier 2) in addition to Tier 1 instruction.
Programs which operate at this Tier 2 level may include:
- Year 1,2,3 Reading and Writing Intervention using a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) approach, explicitly teaching the relationship between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters). Students learn to blend these phonemes to read and spell words effectively. We utilise decodable readers aligned with students' learning stages to support this phonics instruction.
- Year 3-6 Reading Intervention- For older students needing additional support, age-appropriate materials are used to strengthen reading proficiency. This transition enables them to apply their phonics knowledge in more complex reading contexts and also learn comprehension strategies.
- Prep Phonological Awareness and Phonics Intervention - this is part of an intervention program for developing phonological and phonics skills in Prep students. The screening process allows teachers to identify Prep students with phonological difficulties and then provide targeted intervention to develop these skills.
There may also be some students with significant risk to their reading skills who may require more intensified and individualised small group intervention. This is known as Tier 3 instruction and would normally occur in another setting. It is targeted towards the specific, identified needs of students and the STLaN writes and plans these programs according to the needs of the students.
Referral processes
Students who are not responding to Tier 1 Quality Differentiated Teaching can be referred on for further focussed (Tier 2) or intensive (Tier 3) supports.
Students with learning difficulties are identified as early as possible and are referred to the Student Support Team. Following identification of the student's needs the STLaN works collaboratively with the classroom teacher to:
- Support underachieving students.
- Improve students' learning through differentiation.
- Improve students' educational outcomes.
- Liaise with additional support personnel and external agencies to assist students requiring additional support.
- Monitor the progress of students underachieving in the literacy demands of the curriculum.