Large-scale efforts to improve literacy – What do we know?
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Ben Levin
Read the full paper
Summary
This paper provides a variety of research and examples to describe what we know now and what we need to consider in thinking about future large-scale efforts to improve early literacy. The paper is organized in three parts.
Part One
In this section challenges that apply generally to all types of large-scale changes in education are discussed. Four main challenges emerge from this discussion:
- The educational challenge of changing very large numbers of schools and classrooms on a sustained basis;
- The bureaucratic challenge of improving the connections among different areas of social policy in pursuit of better outcomes for students;
- The learning challenge of organizing complex systems to do this work while continually modifying the approach in light of new evidence and system feedback; and
- The political challenge of galvanizing the effort required to support these other changes.
Part Two
Part two presents the results on an international search to document specific large-scale efforts to improve early literacy for preschool and school-aged children. Overall, there are very few examples of sustained, large-scale change efforts around early literacy, though there are many smaller projects. Examples of large-scale preschool initiatives specifically intended to improve literacy did not emerge from the international search, but a number of examples related to large-scale early literacy strategies for school-aged children did. Descriptions of large-scale literacy initiatives are included from the following countries:
- England
- Australia
- The United States
- Canada (British Columbia and Ontario)
The paper outlines the strategies used and the challenges faced in each case with attention to both design and implementation.
Part Three
The third part of the paper applies the earlier analysis of challenges of large-scale education change (Part One) to Canada. The very considerable challenges to any national action on education in Canada are described, and the paper concludes by stating that any large-scale change effort in education must be informed by careful consideration of the following eight key areas:
- Political commitment
- A comprehensive strategy
- Sustained effort over time
- Goals or targets
- Infrastructure (people and resources) to support effective implementation
- Focus on building capacity
- Generating public and sector support
- Broad as well as targeted measures
What Do You Think?
- Do you agree or disagree strongly with any of the key points presented in this paper?
- Would you add anything to the main points or conclusions to enhance our understanding of large-scale efforts for improving early literacy, especially as they relate to the creation of national strategy?
- What are your thoughts on the conclusions that the paper draws from the available evidence about large-scale efforts to improve early literacy?
- Given Canada’s decentralized structure for education, and the separation between schools and early childhood education, what would be the most important areas for pan-Canadian attention to improve early literacy?
- From your perspective, how can the various interests around early literacy work together more effectively to build public awareness and support for more effective public policy?
- What steps do you feel could be taken to support and engage families more effectively in early literacy development?
- Are there key points presented in the paper that you feel are particularly important for consideration in the development of a national literacy strategy?
Comments
February 10th, 2009 at 9:52 pm, J Newton Says:
- Extremely well written and insightful. Mr. Levin seems to be able to look clearly at all the factors that impact our educational system. Much like a physician, he isn’t blaming the patient for being sick, but he’s realistic about the multitude of human factors that impact the patient and the prospects of recovery.
