One in five students is starting high school with the literacy and maths skills of a Year Four student, says the latest government report outlining Australia’s flunking education system.
The Australian Educational Research Organisation (AERO) has put forward a multi-tiered support system to help high school students, who are without foundational literacy and numeracy skills, catch up to their actual grade level.
Its intervention strategies are based on going “back to basics” or explicit teaching methods. This includes phonics and vocabulary building for literacy, and use of visual models, and guided practice for numeracy.
“Without support, these students will struggle to engage in their schooling and are at greater risk of not completing Year 12 and having their lifelong opportunities limited,” authors Zid Mancenido, Dan Carr, and Kate de Bruin said….