Argyll and Bute Building Bridges case studies
PDF file: Argyll and Bute Building Bridges case studiesOban High School and Rockfield Primary School
Oban High School, with a roll of 1100, serves a large area of north Argyll and has 23 associated primaries. A recent HMI inspection highlighted strong links between sectors and good transfer arrangements.
After consultation, it was decided that their focus would be functional writing since staff believed that this was a readily transferable skill. Underpinning the programme was the belief that one learns to write well functionally by doing it!
Teaching started with exemplars, familiarising pupils with attainment targets and success criteria and an awareness of standards required. Having had the importance of genre, tone, purpose and audience stressed to them, the pupils began the process of creating a promotional leaflet. This involved preparatory work with a critical friend, extracting information from texts, peer and self-assessment checklists, final drafts and classroom display.
The evaluative method used was focus and control groups with comparable levels of ability. Overall, a larger percentage of the focus group moved on to the next level in functional writing than those in the control group. Researchers noted a higher level of linguistic sophistication developed by the focus group and the tendency of the control group to reproduce unmediated the original sources. An overall improvement in the standard of talk was also noted.
The authors were enthusiastic about the outcomes, stressing particularly the benefits of the formative assessment strategies used. The positive experiences gained from this project have been shared at staff development days and the process of refining these successful techniques is under way.
Campbeltown Grammar – Drumlemble and Dalintober primary schools
Campbeltown Grammar is a school of 583 pupils serving the South Kintyre area.
The focus of this research would be an investigation of the value of formative assessment in the raising of reading attainment with particular reference to boys’ reading levels and the writer’s craft.
Work took place over a six-week period. During this time reading and writing partners were established and each lesson started with a clear explanation of purpose. The librarian presented ‘The Reading Game’ as an introduction to genre with brainstorming activities focusing on language, tone, setting and characterisation in particular genres. Short written genre pieces followed. Lessons ended with pupil involvement in planning next steps and learning targets displayed on ‘Assessment Walls’. The librarian ensured the quality of library stock and made available ‘Accelerated Reader’ to increase pupil motivation.
Evaluation was by focus and control groups with ‘before and after’ assessment of reading age, pupil questionnaires and informal classroom observation. Outcomes convinced the researchers that pupils had become more confident readers able to respond to texts in a more appropriate fashion. Boys had begun to express thoughts and feelings about texts in a more mature way. Overall, the impression was that pupils had become more independent learners.
While recognising the short-scale nature of the investigation, the researchers believed there to be substantial long-term benefits in expanding this programme and developing individual Personal Reading Plans.