The Snow Foundation welcomed the recent report from the expert panel of ACT’s Literacy and Numeracy Panel which the ACT government will implement ‘in practice’. The report makes powerful recommendations to move ACT away from high school autonomy to a system-wide approach across schools. Scarlett Gaffey, a board and team member of The Snow Foundation worked closely with Jen Cross from ACT Alliance for Evidence-Based Education and Jessica Del Rio, Equity Economics in advocating for this change.

The government, with high expectations and a focus on learning, will adopt a centralised and consistent approach to supporting schools and provide resources for curriculum, teaching assessments and professional learning. Importantly, this approach will align with evidence-informed teaching including consistent assessment tools, such as the year 1 Phonics check.

The inquiry’s report reflects the recommendations made in Equity Economics’ report commissioned by the Snow Foundation last year:
– Implementing a high-quality evidence-based curriculum backed in by resources such as decodable readers for beginner readers
– Professional development for principals and teachers
– Appropriate screening, diagnostic and progress monitoring assessments to find struggling readers, including the Year 1 Phonics Check
– A multi-tiered system of support (MTSS) with high-quality whole class instruction, additional small group intervention for around 20% of students and one-on-one intervention for 5% of students.

We have high hopes that the ACT government will properly fund the implementation of the recommendation.