Sue Brooks Presentation Feedback

Wednesday 8th September 2016

Sue
Thanks for the effort, research and commitment you put into the presentation
today on AITSL Standard 1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning
needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Your passion for teaching SAER students really shone through as you spoke not
only about evidence based research but also your own personal experience in
Victoria. Your ease and comfort in presenting your information today
demonstrated your interest and knowledge in this field of teaching and is
reflective of your deep passion for students. You spoke well, your presentation
was clear and easy to follow and I found your information to be particularly
interesting and relevant for us at Pearsall as we look toward SAER planning for
2017.
The content covered today Sue touched on the reasons why as a nation we need
to focus on improving outcomes for all students in Literacy (AEDC domains and
trends in underperformance in early years to Primary years). You also discussed
PIKLS test and showed that as a country we do need to be aware of how we are
performing compared to other developed countries not only for our SAER
students but also for our top students in Literacy. You also brought it back to the
WA context, which further allowed the bigger picture of reading and writing to be
examined.
Sue, you also spoke about the importance of feedback and referenced the work
of John Hattie in this area. His research has clearly shown the impact effective
feedback has on students and as a school we have that written into our
individual learning area plans for teachers to follow. Staff and student feedback
is also a focus in the Departments Strategic Plan for WA Public Schools 20162019.
The Matthews effect was an interesting concept to cover and tied your
presentation together as it gave a reminder that unless schools have an effective
early identification screening process in place along with research based tiered
intervention strategies, that gap (Matthews effect) will continue to widen.
I found your list of the top effective intervention/support programs was based on
good research as we have looked at and are continuing to look at introducing a
support program into Pearsall in 2017. Some of the programs you listed were
ones that we have also recognised as effective remediation programs.

Sue, thank you for your presentation today. I think for me it was a good time to
reflect on what SAER intervention will look like here at Pearsall and you brought
many things to the forefront of my thinking today. A job well done.