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Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Support (MYLNS) initiative

Information for improvement teachers

By integrating and aligning the Middle Years Literacy and Numeracy Support (MYLNS) initiative with the initiatives and supports already in place in schools, improvement teachers will help individual students and schools to meet their goals to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes.

What does a literacy or numeracy intervention look like?

Improvement teachers form a crucial part of implementing the school’s overall improvement plan by working in collaboration with the leadership team, including curriculum leaders, literacy and numeracy leaders, learning specialists and classroom teachers, to develop a whole-school approach to implement student support.

When considering how support may be provided for prioritised Year 10 students, improvement teachers should keep in mind:

  • the particular learning needs of the prioritised students
  • the evidence with respect to interventions that could be implemented
  • the time allocation to work with students
  • each prioritised student’s timetable and the classes they are enrolled in.

The suite of MYLNS Case StudiesExternal Link can be used by improvement teachers when deciding on an intervention approach.

Sample scenarios

  • A Year 10 Science class is about to begin a unit on Biology. The unit will be reading intensive, so the Science teacher meets with the Literacy Improvement Teacher for support with planning.

    The two teachers work together to design the unit so that before students begin each new reading, they have the opportunity to preview the key vocabulary.

    Prior to reading, the Science teacher and the Literacy Improvement Teacher will highlight and familiarise students with the vocabulary. Students are encouraged to underline the words they are unsure of. The Science teacher uses questioning to focus the student’s attention on the relevant concepts and to enable students to access any prior knowledge of the concept.

    After reading, students use a graphic organiser to summarise the text with their understanding of the vocabulary.

  • A Numeracy Improvement Teacher has worked with the School Improvement Team (including the Numeracy Leader and Learning Specialist) to analyse a wide range of evidence of prioritised students’ learning in numeracy. They realise that several of the students have a gap in their understanding of place value and decimals that is impacting their achievement in Mathematics as well as in Science.

    After meeting with each student to build a relationship and to understand their learning needs, the Numeracy Improvement Teacher learns that the students feel frustrated with this gap in their learning and would like to receive targeted support to address it. The Numeracy Improvement Teacher plans to work with students individually in their class or prior to class for twenty minutes, three times per week, for three weeks. The Numeracy Improvement Teacher monitors each student’s learning each session, and helps the students master this key element of numeracy.

Response to Intervention framework

The Response to Intervention (RTI) framework is helpful for thinking about how to implement the MYLNS initiative. The RTI is a framework of academic support that is often embedded within a school-wide Multi-tiered System of Support, alongside School-wide positive behaviour support (SWPBS). Improvement teachers can use the RTI framework as a way for thinking about their work.

The core assumption behind the model is that in every school, some students will need extra support in order to learn at a high level. The RTI provides a framework for staff to consider how they can best work together to provide that support.

Response to Intervention framework

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Response to Intervention framework

Overview

The Response to Intervention framework is as follows.

Tier 3 (Individual)

Intensive interventions for students needing additional support to access the curriculum. Evidence-based intervention is provided individually or in very small groups by an Improvement Teacher.

Tier 2 (Small group)

Supplemental intervention for some students. Delivered in small groups by an Improvement Teacher.

Students are provided with the support they need to succeed in a general education classroom.

Tier 1 (Whole-school)

Teachers have professional learning opportunities to design whole-class instruction that meets the needs of as many students as possible. With the support of school leaders and instructional leaders (such as Improvement Teachers), teachers gather evidence about which students are responding to Tier 1 instruction and which students need additional support.

Presentation

The framework is presented as a 3-tiered pyramid with Tier 3 at the top, Tier 2 in the middle and Tier 1 at the bottom.

Download Response to Intervention framework

Getting started for improvement teachers

Improvement teachers can use the following suggestions to get started with implementing the MYLNS initiative:

  • talk with the school leader/s to obtain a list of prioritised Year 10 students
  • identify any additional capacity to support additional Year 10 students
  • engage with students’ regular classroom teachers and, if applicable, health and wellbeing professionals to identify individual learning needs of each student
  • begin to build relationships with prioritised students and their parents/carers
  • access the LMS. If you require access to the LMS email mylns@education.vic.gov.au
  • check your @education email daily as that will be the conduit for communication from the MYLNS Implementation team
  • decide who to work with and what channels may be available
  • use the Improvement Cycle to:
    • identify the learning needs of students
    • diagnose the learning needs of students
    • implement literacy or numeracy intervention using differentiated and targeted teaching
    • measure the impact of the literacy and/or numeracy intervention on student learning progress
    • work with school leaders to join the School Improvement Team
    • attend relevant PLC meetings.

Improvement Cycle key questions

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Improvement Cycle key questions

Overview

This flowchart outlines key questions to consider at each stage of the Improvement Cycle.

Evaluate and diagnose
  1. What data is available to identify each student's specific learning needs? For example:
    • student work samples that show progress, for example, writing
    • progress against existing personalised learning plan goals
    • Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 NAPLAN data
    • Digital Assessment Library data
    • standardised assessments such as On Demand results, that monitor growth
    • Victorian curriculum teacher judgements data
    • Tools to Enhance Assessment Literacy for Teachers of English as an Additional Language (TEAL) including the Reading and Vocabulary Assessment for EAL students (RVEAL) results
    • EAL Continuum data
    • Abilities Based Learning and Education Support (ABLES) data
    • student attitudinal data
    • family information
    • wellbeing information
    • notes on executive functions and behavioural triggers
  2. What is the student's current stage of knowledge, skill and understanding?
    If there is no existing data on this then the above sources could be used to find out more.
  3. How does this student interact with others and content?
  4. What is the student's attitude towards intervention and support?
Prioritise and set goals
  1. How do we identify learning pathways for students? Consider using the Literacy Learning Progressions and Numeracy Learning Progressions or assessment rubrics.
  2. How do we identify changes in attitudes and interactions with others?
  3. What learning goals (for example, SMART goals) will we establish with students? Meet with the student and help them to set achievable goals that are linked to the curriculum but are differentiated for their current level.
Develop and plan
  1. What is the plan for each student to achieve their goals? Consider using a personalised learning plan for each student.
  2. How will I know students are learning? The Victorian Curriculum and the Literacy Learning Progressions and Numeracy Learning Progressions can be used as a roadmap.
Implement and monitor
  1. How will I communicate student progress to all of the student's teachers?
    Consider using a data wall.
  2. How will I monitor progress of each student? Consider both formal and informal assessment — and using PLCs or other teacher collaboration spaces to continually moderate student data.

SAMs will also support Improvement Teachers to track and report on the progress and growth of students receiving direct support through the MYLNS initiative.

Presentation

The stages of the cycle and their associated text are presented vertically, with arrows pointing from each stage to the one below it in the cycle.

There is another arrow leading from the last stage in the cycle (Implement and monitor) to the first (Evaluate and diagnose).

Download Improvement Cycle key questions
Guidance chapter providing information for improvement teachers

Reviewed 03 February 2023

Guidance

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