Reading programs – Teaching & Learning Research Initiative

Summer reading to overcome the summer effect

Introduction The school in which this project took place, Papatoetoe Central, was concerned about research evidence that indicated students’ reading achievement dropped after long summer breaks. This drop in achievement, known as “the summer effect”, has been reported in schools in New Zealand and internationally (Alexander, Entwisle, & Olson, 2007; Allington & McGill-Franzen, 2010; McNaughton, Jesson, & Kolose, 2012). Papatoetoe Central, a decile 4 school, is situated in a low income urban area in South Auckland; its student population comprises 9 percent Māori, 14 percent Pasifika, 51 percent Indian, and 18 percent Chinese, with the remainder European New Zealanders and other ethnicities. A high number of students have home languages other

Enhanced teaching and learning of comprehension in Years 5–8: Otara Schools

1. Introduction This study represents a systematic replication of a previous intervention which took place in schools in Mangere from 2003 to 2005. (McNaughton, MacDonald, Maituanai-Toloa, Lai, & Farry, 2006). The contexts and theoretical rationale are the same for the present study as those for the original Mangere study. We have repeated that historical and social context and theoretical framework here. In this first section, however, we briefly summarise the original study and also outline the form and the role of replication in the science represented here. Replication Our previous study In previous quasiexperimental research with a cluster of similar schools in Mangere in South Auckland we have shown that it