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 **Letter to all schools**

 Tena koe

 Yesterday the Minister of Education Anne Tolley announced the Government's plans for a much stronger frontline focus on lifting student achievement.

 While there is much we can be proud of in our education system, too many students aren't achieving even the minimum qualifications they need to be engaged and informed citizens, and to play an active role in our society. Change will happen only if there is a relentless, system wide focus on improvement.

 The Minister outlined three core elements to the focus including:

 Practitioners who have proven skills in lifting student achievement will be appointed to regional Ministry offices to work closely with schools. These people will be drawn from the wider education sector and from within the Ministry.
 *  expert practitioners appointed to work closely with schools
 *  the redesign of teacher professional development
 *  new programmes for students who need additional support.

 The aim of this refocused approach is to ensure all schools have the capability to improve outcomes for all students. Schools require differing levels of support but all schools can expect more direct support from the Ministry to lift student achievement.

 Information obtained from the National Standards and/or Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori about how your students are progressing each year in reading, writing and mathematics will be used to target literacy and numeracy support for students that need it most.

 The expert practitioners will be there to support you as needed, and the $36 million announced in the 2009 Budget is being used to develop and trial a number of programmes and resources for students who need more support.

 This support includes training programmes for specialist literacy teachers to work with small groups of Year 2-8 students. Pilot programmes are being scoped to help students with mathematics. There are clearly identifiable points where students struggle when studying mathematics for example and it prevents them from making sound progress in their learning. Support will be targeted to help students get over those hurdles so they can continue learning.

 We will also be expanding the opportunities for schools to introduce **Reading Together**, a programme which helps parents support their children in reading at home.

 We know that strong leadership, effective teaching and effective partnerships with parents and whānau make the biggest difference for students. Schools have told us they want professional development focused on these areas. We are redesigning our approach to professional development in order to build on the programmes that we know are successful specifically in accelerating student progress.

 Up to now, most of the professional development funded by the Ministry has been provided to schools by universities. In the future, a range of organisations (including universities) can bid to be Ministry-funded professional development providers.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The Ministry will be selecting high-quality providers with proven skills in providing support that accelerates student progress. Schools may receive professional development support from different places and different organisations in the future. We are moving to the redesigned approach to professional development in a phased way to minimise any disruption to the support available for schools.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> Nāku noa, nā

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> **Karen Sewell** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> Secretary for Education

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> * **Professional learning and development** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> **Factsheet: Student Achievement Function** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The introduction of The New Zealand Curriculum, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, and National Standards and Ngā Whanaketanga Rumaki Māori provide opportunities for the Ministry to renew its focus on working with schools to lift student achievement, in particular in literacy and numeracy.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The curriculum provides the framework and sets expectations for achievement, and the standards provide schools with the information to identify those students needing extra support. The Ministry will help schools interpret the information and lift teaching practice to ensure teaching and additional support is targeted and effective.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The new Student Achievement Function will work in existing Ministry regions. It will be a new approach to working with schools, and has been developed using evidence and experience, both internationally and from our existing schooling Improvement programmes.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> Detailed development of how the function will operate is currently underway.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The Ministry alone does not currently have the capacity to carry out this work so over the next three years we will be seeking expertise from the wider sector. Training will be required to build the skills of our staff.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> There will be a small central team which will provide training and manage the activity of those who will be working with schools. Student Achievement Advisors will be appointed to work directly with schools, and will be based in the regions. They will need to be experienced and respected by the education sector with knowledge of change management, data analysis, school operations and a proven ability to lift student achievement.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> Use of data is critical to the success of the new approach and will inform what additional support is needed for students.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The Ministry will work closely with ERO to examine the quality of planning and progress of schools in lifting student achievement. This will result in the Ministry initiating earlier engagement with those schools which don’t have the capability to lift student achievement.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> All the funding for the Student Achievement Function will come from existing baselines.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The new approach will be fully operational by June next year (2011).

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> **Factsheet: Professional learning and development** <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The Ministry of Education is making significant changes to the professional development provided to schools. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> Centrally-funded professional development is being redesigned. This is aimed at improving coordination across the country of consistent and high quality training closely aligned with current goals of lifting student achievement.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The emphasis will be on providing professional development based on the evidence of what works best for accelerating student progress.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The Ministry is prioritising support next year to strengthen school leadership, effective teaching and assessment.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> Research indicates that professional development is a key lever for improving outcomes for student. Even better results can be achieved if it is better coordinated and more widespread.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The redesign of professional development is a component of the new approach to Student Achievement which will see expert advisors working in the regions. The advisors will work closely with schools and ERO to allocate professional development and monitor its success.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> All professional development contracts are being opened up to tender over the next 18 months, including those provided by School Support Services.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Helvetica,Arial;"> The first new contestable contracts will be advertised shortly and will take effect from January next year. The full redesign approach to professional development will be in place by 2012.

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This position paper presents the Ministry of Education’s position on assessment. It outlines our vision for assessment and describes what we believe the assessment landscape should look like if assessment is to be used effectively across all layers of the schooling system. Documenting the vision is important to the process of building integrity, transparency and coherence into the schooling system and developing support for it from all stakeholders. The paper is not a strategy or a policy statement. **Section 1** outlines the New Zealand context. Our education system needs to cater for diverse learners in our diverse socio-cultural society. Our identity, language and culture are essential to build and keep learning relevant and students engaged with learning. The varied learning dispositions and preferences, and differing educational needs mean progress does not look the same for all students. **Section 2** looks at the recent background to our assessment approach in both the English and Māori medium and the key principles and underlying assumptions which underpin the Ministry’s position on assessment. **Sections 3, 4 and 5** describe how effective assessment improves teaching and learning at each level of the system. You can download a PDF copy of the paper below. If you have difficulty accessing PDF files, please send an email to publications@minedu.govt.nz. To order a printed copy of this paper email Down the Back of the Chair orders@thechair.minedu.govt.nz. The publication and delivery are free, please provide a physical address, rather than PO Box, and quote order number 33828 or [|visit the Down the Back of the Chair website]
 * Ministry of Education position paper: Assessment **