Whole School and Class Frameworks

Response to Intervention

Response to intervention is a tiered approach to providing instructional support to ensure that all students successfully meet educations goals. It is based upon quality whole class teaching (Tier One) with ongoing assessment of all students. Assessment data is used to promptly identify any students who may not be making expected progress and therefore require additional support. This intervention may be provided within a small group (Tier Two) or more intensively in a one to one setting (Tier Three).

Consequently the focus of the AISNSW when supporting schools to meet the needs of all students, including those with additional needs, is the quality of the whole class (Tier One) teaching. 

AISNSW Student Services consultants demonstrate and promote effective tier one teaching that explicitly and systematically provides successful learning opportunities for all students. They also provide unobtrusive monitoring strategies that identify, in a timely manner, students at risk of falling behind.  The particular learning that has eluded those students becomes the catalyst for prompt remedial intervention.  In addition consultants support schools in identifying effective differentiated instruction matched to student needs.

Explicit Instruction

Educational research continually identifies explicit instruction as a powerful approach to teaching. It is a structured, systematic and effective strategy.

Many teachers are eager to improve the effectiveness of their teaching through utilising the most effective teaching strategies.  AISNSW Student Services consultants share their knowledge about effective teaching strategies across all Key Learning Areas through a range of professional learning events.  They also explicitly support teachers to implement these approaches through demonstrating specific strategies in the teacher's classroom and, subsequently, observe teachers and provide feedback to enhance teacher competencies.

Literacy

Literacy is the ability to be able to read and write proficiently in order to communicate effectively.

The component skills required to be literate include the five critical components of reading in order to gain information as well as spelling and writing to be able to express/ communicate.

AISNSW utilises evidence-based approaches to support teachers in the implementation of explicit instructional approaches to ensure student acquire essential literacy skills. 

Literacy is incorporated in the NSW syllabuses for the Australian curriculum as a general capability alongside other learning across the curriculum areas.

Numeracy

To be numerate is to use mathematics effectively to meet the general demands of life at home, in work, and for participation in community and civic life. Students become numerate as they develop the capacity to recognise and understand the role of mathematics in the world around them and the confidence, willingness and ability to apply mathematics to their lives.

At AISNSW, our evidence-based approaches outline that the number sense concept can inform and significantly enhance the quality of mathematics intervention for all students including those with learning disabilities. Just as phonemic awareness is a prerequisite to learning phonics and becoming a successful reader, developing number sense is a “prerequisite” for succeeding in mathematics.

The number sense concept acts as a lens to reveal reasons for relative successes and failures of past attempts at innovations.

Numeracy is incorporated in the NSW syllabuses for the Australian curriculum as a general capability alongside other learning across the curriculum areas.