Please see below for a brief outline of some of our current research projects.
Rural Roads to Reading project
The Rural Roads to Reading (RRtR) project is designed to identify the key intrinsic and extrinsic factors that contribute to reading proficiency among early years’ students (Foundation to Year 2) in Victorian regional and rural schools. To this end, this 3-year longitudinal study will track the oral language and word reading skills of early years’ students as well as track the pedagogical and management practices at each participating school. We have partnered with 22 schools across rural and regional Victoria as part of this project.
Reading Ready project
The Reading Ready Project will examine the feasibility of training PSTs (current from La Trobe University) to deliver an intensive, in-school, reading intervention program to early years’ (Foundation and Year 1) primary school students at risk of reading difficulties.
Momentum Schools and Preservice Teacher Placements Project
The Momentum Schools project is designed to build capacity for staff from participating Victorian schools, to embed an instructional model at the whole-school level that aligns with principles associated with the science of learning. In this project, 14 host schools (who have sustained practices aligned with the science of learning), will support 51 visiting schools (who are in the early stages of implementing practice change in their setting). Key staff from visiting schools will have a series of scheduled visits to their host school, to observe best practice, and learn from the experiences and expertise of their hosts, as part of their base school’s implementation plan.
The Momentum Preservice Teacher Placements Project is exploring the experiences of preservice teachers while on placement (as part of their initial teacher education) in Momentum and non-Momentum schools. The project continues to identify opportunities to enhance our Initial Teacher Education curriculum at La Trobe University to ensure that preservice teachers continually reinforce and build their knowledge of science of learning principles and evidence-based teaching practices in both university classrooms and on placement.
SOLAR Lab and AERO Professional Learning in Schools project
The SOLAR Lab have just established a major research collaboration with the Australian
Education Research Organisation (AERO), with La Trobe staff Distinguished Professor Pamela
Snow, Professor Tanya Serry and Beth Shingles working on the project. Our
collaboration with the Australian Education Research Organisation examines
the impact of providing school-based coaching alongside online professional
learning courses on teaching practice and student outcomes. The study will
focus on examining the overall effectiveness of coaching, as well as
identifying which aspects of coaching are most effective. The evidence-informed
coaching and online professional learning are targeted at Foundation to Year 2
teachers, education support staff and educational leaders and focus on supporting
the implementation of structured and explicit early reading instruction.
The study findings will inform the delivery of resource-intensive professional learning
(specifically coaching) at scale. These findings could be used by teachers and
leaders, professional learning providers and policymakers to make informed
decisions about participating in, organising and funding professional learning
for sustained practice change.
Foundation to Year 2 teachers, support staff and educational leaders across all participating
schools will receive online professional learning (SOLAR Lab online short
courses in structured early reading instruction) and structured literacy
resources, in addition to participating in an online workshop demonstrating
effective use of these resources. Teachers at about half of the participating
schools will also engage in regular coaching through the SOLAR Lab coaching
program. We will measure teachers’ knowledge, confidence and evidence-based
practice regarding structured literacy, as well as literacy outcomes for their
students over the course of the study.
To examine the impact of coaching, we will compare outcomes for participants in coaching
schools with those of participants in schools where coaching was not provided.
We will also explore participants’ experiences of the professional learning and
coaching, with a focus on identifying enablers and barriers to successfully
implementing evidence-based practices for structured and explicit early reading
instruction. AERO and the SOLAR Lab are conducting this study with schools
in Victoria across 2023 and 2024.
Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL) Structured Literacy Project
DOBCEL has created a 10-year Primary Literacy Strategy, which includes a staged implementation plan to support a system wide change in literacy practices across DOBCEL’s primary schools. In this project, researchers from La Trobe University’s SOLAR Lab will be evaluating the impact on student outcomes and stakeholder experiences, across the 30+ schools who have adopted the approach in partnership with DOBCEL’s regional support staff. Participating schools receive access to a shared bank of curriculum and lesson materials that align with an integrated and knowledge-rich literacy, humanities and science curriculum, participate in a phased four-year professional learning schedule, and adopt a range of assessment tools, data management practices and data-informed intervention processes.
Warakirri School, Sydney
This project explores the role of speech-language pathology intervention in strengthening school connection and academic achievement for vulnerable adolescents.
Warakirri College is an independent flexible high school for young people completing Year 10 and Higher School Certificate (HSC) studies, with multiple campus located across Sydney in Blacktown, Campbelltown and Fairfield. Warakirri College is for students aged 15–22 who have disconnected from mainstream education or do not feel comfortable in a traditional school.
The aim of this research project is to identify, implement and evaluate a language-based literacy intervention that will enable vulnerable Year 10 and 11 students to improve their reading and writing, in the context of a modified Response to Intervention framework.
Archdiocese of Canberra-Goulburn CATALYST project
The Catalyst is an evidence-based professional learning program for principals, school leaders, teachers and support staff being implemented system-wide across all schools in the Catholic Education Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn.
Catalyst is informed by the Science of Learning and Science of Reading, and aims to ensure every student in every classroom across the Archdiocese has access to high-quality teachers who deliver engaging and impactful lessons through a consistent research-informed approach to teaching and learning.
Running Records
A Running Record is a popular assessment tool used to document student’s reading. We have investigated views from classroom teachers and reading researchers about the utility of Running Records as an assessment tool. Participants were interviewed individually and results are currently being analysed using thematic analysis.
To date, our data indicates that support for Running Records is mixed with some participants finding the tool useful to gauge their students’ reading performance while others finding Running records does not provide valuable information when assessing students or planning next steps for teaching. At the core, this divide appears to be linked to a theoretical divide held be participants who align with a meaning-based approach to reading instruction or a structured literacy-based approach.
We will be presenting the results in JULY 2023 at the SSSR conference and hope to publish our findings by the end of the year.
Transforming practice survey
A growing number of primary schools across Australia are adopting evidence-based reading and spelling instructional practices aligned with contemporary science of reading knowledge. In this research project we are exploring the processes that such schools have adopted to initiate and propel instructional change and develop actionable protocols that can be shared with other schools.