Curriculum: Learning, Teaching and Assessment > Literacy and Numeracy > Year 2 Diagnostic Net > Information booklet for state schools >

Intervention

Overview
Intervention timeline
Intervention programs
Monitoring outcomes
Intervention program review
Funding
Common issues

Overview

The booklet Intervention Guidelines: Literacy (Department of Education, Queensland 1995, p. 1) refers to intervention as:

... the specific action taken to assist children who are experiencing difficulties in literacy and/or numeracy in the early years of schooling. In its broadest sense, intervention is an ongoing and integral part of teaching and occurs every time a teacher makes an adjustment to their teaching program to enhance a child's learning.

The responsibility for the ongoing management, planning, implementation and reporting of intervention programs rests with the class teacher. Support for this process is provided by the key teacher, support teacher (learning difficulties) and a range of other support personnel.

Support programs need to be continually monitored and reviewed to ensure that they are meeting their goals and are catering for the changing learning needs of students.

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Intervention timeline

Year 2 Diagnostic Net (funded) intervention commences after students have been identified through the validation and moderation processes. After completion of funded programs and review of student outcomes, some students may be considered for further support by referral through the process used by schools to support students with special needs.

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Intervention programs

A whole-of-school support plan should be developed utilising available resources, personnel and programs to maximise learning outcomes for students. (Refer to flowchart.)

Individual and group intervention programs to support literacy and numeracy development will be implemented with reference to the intervention guidelines. The focus for intervention programs will be based on information from Individual Student Profiles, validation tasks, folios and any further assessment.

Programs and strategies can be developed, implemented and reviewed using support materials including:

Intervention Guidelines: Literacy 1995, trial version, The Year 2 Diagnostic Net, Department of Education, Queensland.
Intervention Strategies: Number 1997, The Year 2 Diagnostic Net, Department of Education, Queensland.
Intervention Strategies: Reading and Writing 1995, draft version, The Year 2 Diagnostic Net, Department of Education, Queensland.

The planning and management of intervention programs must be documented. During the intervention process there may be some students whose progress indicates that they no longer require support. There may also be students for example, those who transfer in from another school who will need to be considered for inclusion in intervention programs.

To assist with the management of the intervention program, a list of students to be included in the program and a summary of the program and timelines could be compiled. This information could be made available to the class teacher, key teacher and all other relevant personnel.

When a child has been identified as requiring additional support, parents should be informed of the nature of the intervention program.

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Monitoring outcomes

The following procedures may be used to monitor students' literacy and numeracy progress during intervention:

anecdotal records from observations relating to attitudes, processes, skills and knowledge;
focused analysis of work samples;
interviews;
consultation with students;
mapping key indicators on Individual Student Profiles;
analysis of oral reading before, during and at the completion of Support-a-Reader or other reading support program;
tutor comments;
self-evaluation.

Student learning outcomes and other relevant data should be used to review the quality and effectiveness of the intervention program.

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Intervention program review

The quality and effectiveness of intervention programs should be reviewed at prescribed intervals. Available sources of data include:

student outcomes;
review of teaching strategies and effectiveness;
student perceptions;
parent perceptions;
appropriateness of resources.

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Funding

Providing programs to support the diverse needs of students is one of the ways in which schools spend their grant funds. Year 2 Diagnostic Net funding is provided to schools to support the provision of intervention programs. Information Sheet 23 provides guidelines for the expenditure of intervention funds.

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Common issues

In accordance with inclusive practices, intervention is an ongoing process which occurs as an integral part of the planning, teaching and assessment cycle.
When planning intervention programs, teachers should consider the number of support personnel that a student sees in a day.

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