S5 E18 - Why an Evidence-Based Literacy Block Might Not Be the Best Goal for Your School

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Chapters

• 1:15 Welcome and Episode Introduction
• 2:10 Why Evidence-Based Blocks Fall Short
• 4:04 Teacher Capacity Over Programs
• 6:22 Focusing on Student Outcomes
• 8:02 Evidence-Informed vs Evidence-Based Instruction
• 10:47 Creating Growth for Every Student

Transcript

Jocelyn: 0:38

Hi there, welcome to the Structured Literacy Podcast recorded here in Tasmania, the lands of the Palawa people. In this episode, I want to explore a topic that might sound a little controversial at first, and that is why an evidence-based literacy block might not be the best goal for your school's improvement journey. I've been thinking about this after giving a conference presentation recently where I challenged some assumptions we make in education. Now, before you worry that I've abandoned my commitment to evidence-informed practice, let me clarify, this isn't about dismissing research evidence at all. It's about reframing our goals to focus on what truly matters. Let's start by unpacking why implementing an evidence-based literacy block might not be the most effective goal for your school improvement journey. Firstly, this goal assumes that there's direct research evidence for every decision we make about instruction. The reality? There isn't.

Jocelyn: 1:45

When we talk about research in education, particularly in literacy, much of it comes from small-scale intervention trials conducted under controlled conditions with small numbers of students. As Jared Cooney Horvath and David Bott point out in their book 10 Things Schools Get Wrong and How We Can Get Them Right, research is abstract, idealised and value-free, whereas real-world practice is highly contextualised, grounded in reality, and it can't be idealised. It's also value-laden. Now what does that mean for us as educators? It means that practices shown to be effective in research settings don't always translate directly into every single classroom without adjustment. We need to view research findings as tools that will require some adaptation to our particular context, not by thinking we know better than the researchers, but by applying the tools thoughtfully as we pursue strong student outcomes. Yes, we have broad general guidance from research about what and how to teach literacy, explicit phonics taught cumulatively, reading and spelling words together, providing ample practice opportunities. Those things are the mainstay of phonics instruction. But we don't have research driven details for every aspect of literacy instruction across every context and student population.

Jocelyn: 3:27

The second issue with focusing solely on an evidence-based literacy block is that it sets us up to expect that programs and sets of resources will solve our instructional problems. They won't. I've seen schools invest thousands of dollars in programs only to be disappointed when students' outcomes don't improve. Now why does this happen? It's because at the heart of strong student outcomes is teacher capacity, not programs.

Jocelyn: 4:02

Programs are written by people who don't know your students. They're designed as general solutions for general populations, but your classroom isn't general. It's specific, with unique children who have unique needs. Please don't misunderstand me. I am not talking about taking a lesson structure and cherry picking bits, or about adding other things in that don't lead to outcomes. We need consistency, 100%, but teachers need to be the ones who understand the students and respond to what they see. What we need, instead of simply following a program blindly, is to build the capacity of our teachers to respond skillfully and thoughtfully to the needs of the students in front of them. This means developing a deep understanding of how children learn to read and write, how to recognise the signs of difficulty and how to know how to adjust instruction accordingly. We're looking at making decisions like, are we ready to move on in the sequence of learning? Have we conducted a check for understanding to make sure that students really have nailed what we've just done? Do we need to go back? Do we need extra repetition? If we need extra repetition, what should we be focusing on? These are the decisions that lead to strong student outcomes, because it's not about just delivering the program and ticking the boxes.

Jocelyn: 5:45

The third problem with focusing on creating an evidence-based literacy block is that it makes the actions of the adults the focus of the improvement journey, when they shouldn't be. With such emphasis on programs, systems and training, it will be easy to think that student data and outcomes are just side considerations rather than the main focus. I believe student outcomes should be the ultimate and most important element. We have to keep our eye on the prize. Otherwise, we can be working incredibly hard, implementing programs with fidelity, ticking all the boxes, but our job isn't done until every child is learning at an appropriate rate. If we're delivering a program exactly as prescribed, but our students aren't learning, what is it we're really doing?

Jocelyn: 6:41

When we say we want an evidence-based literacy block, what we usually mean is that we want research- backed instruction focusing on the right content for the optimal amount of time to ensure strong student learning, and that's a really worthy aim, but achieving the outcomes we desire relies on using professional judgement judgment at the school grade and teacher level. In order to use that judgment, though, we have to have deep knowledge of student needs at various points in the journey, as well as the knowledge and experience to meet those needs ., We we need to be flexible, adaptable and responsive. So what might be a better goal? Well, here's my suggestion. How about this? Every child growing and learning at an appropriate rate. That means we have a clear picture as a team about what appropriate learning should look like. How many graphemes should be consolidated per term? What should we be seeing in writing samples? What should students be able to do at the end of each grade? And I don't mean using fluffy goals like"students students should understand or students have explored. I mean what are they actually able to do independently? This shifts our focus from what the adults are doing to what the children are experiencing. It requires us to look closely at individual student progress, identify barriers to learning and adapt our instruction accordingly. It absolutely acknowledges that while research guides our general approach, the specific implementation must be responsive to the unique context of each classroom and child. Instead of trying to tick all the boxes on an evidence-based literacy block. I think we and our students would be better served by aiming for evidence-informed instruction.

Jocelyn: 8:45

The Australian Institute for Family Studies defines an evidence-informed approach to practice as the integration of research evidence alongside practitioner expertise and the people experiencing the practice. So this definition recognises that knowledge comes from multiple sources, including research, but practitioner expertise from people who have demonstrated they know how to get results is also important. But none of that is more important than the experiences of those being served. In this case, it's the students and their families. So, by bringing together what we have found from research and remembering that our stories do not trump the research, but the research is there to guide us and we need to adhere to it. But we bring that and blend it with our professional expertise as we evaluate the impact on students, that feels really workable. The inclusion of research in evidence-informed decisions is really important because it makes sure we're being rigorous and protects us from bias.

Jocelyn: 9:58

In schools, the end users are students and their families, and their experiences, feedback and outcomes must inform the approach. So we have to be regularly collecting and analysing data on student learning, but also attending to wellbeing and engagement. So what might this look like in practice? What's the reality of some shifts that we could make? So, from "our goal is to implement an evidence-based literacy block with fidelity to our goal is for every student to make at least one year's growth in reading and writing for each school year. There's some things that need to happen.

Jocelyn: 10:38

This doesn't mean that we abandon structure or ignore research evidence. Quite the opposite, and I know I'm repeating myself right now, but it's really important. What I'm talking about is we use research as a foundation for what we do, but we build upon it with our professional expertise. So, as you think about your school's improvement journey, I encourage you to look beyond the goal of just implementing an evidence-based literacy block. Instead, focus on the outcomes you want for students. Use research to inform and guide decision making, but don't be constrained by it, because it cannot attend to every one of our contexts. We draw on our professional expertise and use knowledge of students to create instruction that truly meets their needs. When we see the data grow, when we understand cognitive load theory, information processing and how our brains learn, when we combine this with what the research tells us about literacy, we will see the outcomes we're looking for. But there is no one-step solution. There is no cookie cutter pop it into your school and everything will be ok. plan Plan. Our ultimate goal isn't to implement a perfect literacy block. It's to help every child become a confident, capable reader and writer who really does love learning. This is possible,. we We can make it happen, but none of us can do it on our own. Until next time, happy teaching everyone. Bye.