Accelerating progress – Leadership guidance

Commitment to equity and excellence

Leaders maintain an explicit commitment to equity and excellence, and an unrelenting focus on progress and achievement in relation to curriculum expectations across their school. They reject any notions that the children are at fault and instead focus on supporting teachers to work collectively to address learning needs (Bishop, 2023).

Through inclusive learning environments and strong teacher-student relationships, leaders plan to address any risks of underachievement. This is described through goals, targets, and actions in their strategic planning and implementation plans.

Evidence-based teaching for acceleration

Regular conversations informed by quality evidence lie at the heart of planning for accelerating progress. This is to help teachers notice and recognise learning, and then plan teaching responses. 

Leaders help their teachers use reliable information to identify who might need support as they are planning their programmes, what effective support might look like, how to provide it, and check it is making a difference. They connect regularly with whānau as partners in the process.

Timely support sets up learners for success

Maintaining momentum and a sense of purposeful urgency is more effective for learners than waiting for them to fail. The earlier leaders and teachers respond to provide additional support, the more likely learners will succeed.

If teaching responses to help learners are delayed, the gap between actual and expected achievement levels widens over time. This is because early differences in knowledge and skills tend to determine how well learners can take on new learning, and different trajectories tend to emerge over the first few weeks at school (known as ‘the Matthew effect’ (McNaughton, 2020)). 

Pause and reflect

How explicit is your school’s focus on accelerating progress? You might want to explore ERO's School Improvement Framework. This includes an improvement focus on acceleration for those learners at risk of underachievement.

“Inclusive frameworks like Te Tūāpapa o He Pikorua, integrate flexible supports into day-to-day teaching and learning.” (Te Mātaiaho | New Zealand Curriculum, English learning area, p. 22)

Organising flexible supports in your school

The most effective approach that leaders use to organise supports in a school is through a multi-layered response (also known as ‘response to intervention’ (RTI) or ‘multi-tiered system of support’ (MTSS)). 

This is so learners can continue to access the everyday curriculum programmes at their year level, regardless of the types of support provided.  

The defining feature is coherence across all types of support and on preventing loss of progress through structured and inclusive teaching programmes, not just intervention (or remediation) once a learner is struggling.

Key features of multi-layered supports

A multi-layered (or multi-tiered) system of supports is characterised by: 

1. a coordinated system of supports across increasingly intensive layers (or tiers)
2. delivery of high-quality, evidence-based instruction across all layers (or tiers) of intervention, carried out by highly qualified staff
3. early use of assessments to identify students who need additional support, followed by diagnostic assessments [where appropriate and available] for these students to match teaching to the skill gaps identified
4. data-based decision-making to determine the levels of support required
5. use of monitoring tools to track progress, ensuring that targeted teaching is having the intended impact.

Adapted from source: Australian Education Research Organisation (2024).

Te Tūāpapa o He Pikoura in Aotearoa New Zealand

In Aotearoa New Zealand, we use Te Tūāpapa o He Pikorua as a model for multi-layered flexible supports. It is designed to be dynamic and integrated, rather than a linear progression from one layer to the next. This means support can be tailored to the needs of each learner and the context.

Universal teaching: 

• is everyday quality teaching and learning provided to all learners using the teaching sequence and approaches in the curriculum, informed by the science of learning
• is deliberately designed to be culturally responsive and inclusive of diverse needs, with early and ongoing assessment. 

Teachers may accelerate progress by adjusting their whole class programme to be more inclusive and flexible (e.g. using scaffolds, prompts etc.), rather than attempting to provide intensive teaching to high numbers of students. Read more about inclusive design and planning for diversity at Inclusive Education, Planning for diversity.

Targeted support:

• is more intensive, focused support to accelerate progress and help learners continue to engage with the curriculum
• builds on and connects with the curriculum teaching programme, informed by the science of learning 
• is frequent, intensive, and explicit teaching to small groups
• is informed by rigorous assessments against specific criteria, and more regular reporting to parents and whānau that describes the pace of progress.

Tailored support:

• may be more individualised, specialised support for learners with unique and/or complex needs; it will be determined through detailed diagnostic assessment and described in an Individual Education Plan
• builds on and connects with the curriculum teaching programme, informed by the science of learning.

Find out more: Visit Te Tūāpapa o He Pikorua to read more about this support model.

Pause and reflect

How does your school currently organise different supports, and how connected are they to curriculum programmes?

“Leaders ... have a mechanism and strategies for prioritising and closely monitoring urgent action, when required, to support classroom teaching. Where teaching needs to be targeted and intensified to meet specific needs for finite periods, leaders draw on a breadth of available supports, as required.” (Te Mātaiaho | The New Zealand Curriculum, English learning area, page 11) 

Systematic inquiry and planning for progress   

The most effective approach is to inquire systematically and regularly – to identify, monitor, and review at least once a term.   

School leaders play a critical role in designing and implementing a coherent whole-school plan and process that ensures progress and achievement for all learners. This involves:  

• setting goals and targets for progress and achievement with your school and board as part of strategic planning and review, prioritising care and support for those at risk of underachievement  
• fostering a culture that promotes a collective effort to address learners’ needs through regular quality conversations using evidence from assessment  
• drawing on high-quality evidence to plan and monitor how well supports are making a difference for learners’ progress, such as:  
  • standardised assessments for all learners, with adaptions as needed  
  • regular in-class formative assessments or tasks, conversations, and observations  
  • progress monitoring when targeted, more intensive support is provided  
• planning, organising, resourcing, and monitoring high-quality targeted teaching responses as part of your curriculum programmes (this includes drawing on local specialist learning support expertise, which may include your SLA staffing resource, and providing professional learning support for teachers)  
• working collaboratively with whānau and community so that targeted and tailored teaching responses are supported and informed. 

Pause and reflect  

• What are your school’s goals and targets in relation to progress and achievement? How are you specifically attending to those at risk of underachievement in relation to the curriculum?  
• How do leaders engage colleagues in conversations about how the school is going in relation to those goals and targets? 

Why collective effort matters  

Building a school culture that fosters a collective commitment to improvement is essential for accelerating learner progress.   

By promoting a culture of collaboration focused on understanding your collective impact, leaders can support school improvement in ways that positively influence teachers’ collective efficacy beliefs, and thus, promote student achievement.   

“Leaders [promote a culture of collaboration] by creating conversations about what impact and effort mean, the difference between progress and achievement, and the use of reliable evidence. They can also influence collective efficacy by setting expectations for formal, frequent, and productive teacher collaboration, and creating high levels of trust for this collaboration to occur.” (Hattie, 2023, pp. 227-9) 

Alignment of effort through your school  

“There is a 'line of sight' from the board to the student who needs to accelerate their progress. Everyone from the trustees, whānau, leader, teacher, and the student know what they are focusing on and what their role is in making the necessary progress.” (Education Review Office, 2021)  

To provide flexible teaching responses so that learners receive the right support at the right time, leaders guide teachers to work collaboratively to share and analyse information, learn together, and talk about impact. Leaders encourage:  

• high expectations for every student and frame analysis of achievement gaps in positive ways to focus everyone on equity and excellence  
• a commitment to open, trusting, and supportive ways of working together (lead quality learning conversations regularly in your team meetings to inquire into assessment and other information, ask probing questions, identify the teaching strategies most likely to target needs and accelerate progress and to inquire into impact)  
• ongoing professional learning conversations and PLD to ensure the successful implementation of effective teaching strategies (it is important that this professional development is not in isolation, but that teachers are supported to integrate new learning into their daily teaching practices and have access to quality teaching resources). 

The following sources inform this part of the resource:  

• Australian Education Research Organisation (2024). Introduction to a multi-tiered system of supports. 
• Bishop, R. (2023). Leading to the North-East: Ensuring the fidelity of relationship-based learning. NZCER.  
• Education Review Office. (2015). Rasing student achievement through targeted actions. 
• Education Review Office. (2024). Preparing for a differentiated approach to curriculum implementation in the classroom.  
• Education Review Office. (2021). Accelerating student achievement.
• Gillon, G. et al (2024). Accelerating Learning in Oral Language, Reading, Writing, and Mathematics (unpublished). Ministry of Education.  
• Hattie, J. (2023). Visible learning: The sequel: A synthesis of over 2,100 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.  
• Ministry of Education. (2024). The science of learning explained.  
• McNaughton, S (2020). The Literacy Landscape in Aotearoa New Zealand: What we know, what needs fixing and what we should.
• Ministry of Education. (2024). Six insights from the Early Literacy Approach and Literacy and Communication Trial evaluations. 
• Snow, P. (2023). The Snow Report. 

This fictional story is based on real-life examples and research. It illustrates how the leaders strategically plan to support learners to accelerate progress. The leadership practices offer valuable considerations for all schools and settings.

E hara taku toa, i te toa takitahi, he toa takitini | My strength is not as an individual, but as a collective.   

At Summit View School, we are all committed to ensuring all learners make progress and experience success. This is our core purpose. Through regular internal evaluations, we continuously reflect, adjust, and refocus. In our leadership team, we have found it useful to be guided by the Teaching Council’s Educational Leadership Capability Framework (2018) and Robinson (2007), and with our board we have identified four key strategies to accelerate progress.  

1. Setting clear goals and expectations related to progress: This underpins how we work collectively, including our systems and processes.  
2. Using evidence to track, monitor, and understand our journey to our goals: This helps us to understand our impact across the school, in classes, and with targeted groups.  
3. Allocating the right resources across the school: Time, tools, and support are focused flexibly where needed most. This includes supporting teachers through ongoing professional conversations and learning.  
4. Quality teaching: Focusing on what and how we teach, across all teaching programmes, including targeted and tailored teaching. We seek to foster a positive environment, creating an inclusive space for learners, teachers, and whānau. 

Keeping the focus on learner progress  

“It has taken a while, but we have got to a place where we keep ‘the main thing the main thing’ - conversations about progress and how we can adapt what and how we teach are now a natural part of our team meetings. We try to keep building that sense of trust and collaboration with what is happening for our learners at the centre – this is really a community-wide response.” (Principal) 

By deeply understanding our school’s progress and achievement picture, we can accelerate progress for those who need it most. First, we explore our school-wide data together, and then our teaching teams work collaboratively to identify their priority areas. Together we ask guiding questions that help us dig into our school data so that we can:   

• notice, investigate, and prioritise our actions, identifying key learning areas and outcomes  
• reflect on the strengths and needs of our learners and our everyday curriculum  
• design early actions to respond to these needs and reflect on the strategies that worked (for example, if a learner started making accelerated progress, we think about what teaching actions contributed to that and how we can apply those impactful strategies to others) 
• respond to professional learning needs.  

By sticking to our five key leadership strategies – clear goals, the right resources, quality teaching, supporting our teachers, and creating a positive environment – we’re creating the conditions to accelerate progress, staying true to our purpose here at Summit View School. We want to be proactive, so we are not waiting for our learners to fail.   

High expectations and integrating layers of supports  

Our school values have high expectations and inclusion at the heart – it is important for us that all learners can be part of the learning. We have been developing a multi-layered approach for accelerating progress to make sure that access to learning for all is driving our planning. We plan together so that our everyday teaching is as effective and inclusive as it can be – structured literacy has been a focus for us this year.  

We also make sure that the more intensive targeted support is focused on strengthening the skills and knowledge needed for learners to stay engaged with their peers. We don’t want learners out on their own learning something different or separate from the others.  

Bringing everyone together, focusing on what matters  

For our learning conversations to be effective, we make sure the right people are involved. This can include classroom teachers, the SENCO/LSC, team leaders, teacher aides, whānau, sometimes external experts, and, most importantly, the learners themselves. When we all come together, we can share insights, address challenges, and align the best ways to support each learner.  

References  

Robinson, V. (2007). School leadership and student outcomes: Identifying what works and why. 

Teaching Council. (2018). Educational Leadership Capability Framework.

Pause and reflect   

Read the spotlight above and consider the following.   

• To ensure early responses, Summit View School leaders use a deliberate approach to collectively support progress and address underachievement. What is in place at your school, and how might you change or improve this to strengthen your systems and processes?   
• How have they thought about a multi-layered and integrated approach? What strategies or interventions are used at your school at each layer? 

Checklist for leaders | Planning to accelerate progress  

The Checklist for leaders can help leaders and teams to think about their current approaches to planning flexible, targeted supports for learners to accelerate progress.  

See Materials that come with this resource to download the Checklist-for-leaders (.pdf).  

Each section in the checklist corresponds to a tab in this online resource so you can go to the sections here to find out more about aspects that need focus in your school. 

Using the checklist

Discuss each aspect and consider whether they need further review in your school.   

Create the conditions to strategically accelerate progress  

We know our school has created the conditions to accelerate progress when:  

• our school board and leadership set a small number of goals, including a focus on accelerating progress where learners are at risk of underachievement*
• we foster collective commitment to equity and improvement; there is a sense of urgency to support students to accelerate progress*
• leaders and teachers set high expectations for every child’s achievement, using the curriculum to build shared understanding of one year’s progress
• we have a shared understanding of the way accelerating progress is managed flexibly through everyday teaching, targeted and tailored teaching responses (multi-layered) 
• our school board and leadership collaboratively plan, budget and resource strategically to sustain accelerated progress initiatives.  

Use evidence to identify, track, and monitor targeted support  

We know our school is using quality evidence and processes to identify, track, and monitor supports when:  

• we use a systematic, cyclical process of inquiry to regularly identify, plan, and monitor progress at both school and classroom level*  
• we use high quality evidence effectively to understand our school-wide data picture so we can identify priorities for improvement across the school*  
• leaders are supporting teachers to use quality information (combining standardised and diagnostic assessment with formative observation, conversation and in-class assessment) to identify where support is needed to respond, and to monitor progress and impact  
• leaders and teachers can explain the reason for accelerated progress, how to sustain it, and can re-focus on learners who still need support.  

Planning effective teaching approaches to accelerate progress  

We know our school is planning effective teaching to accelerate progress when:  

• leaders and teachers know the cultures, languages, needs, and strengths and interests of their learners so they can build on these to support progress   
• our teachers are designing and adapting everyday teaching programmes and practices to meet diverse learning needs, in response to quality information*  
• our leaders and teaching teams can confidently plan for and implement effective targeted and tailored teaching supports to meet specific learning needs, in response to quality information 
• we are working in partnership with learners, whānau, iwi, learners, teachers and families to set goals, monitor progress and celebrate success*  
• learners know what they have to do to make progress and when they have succeeded.  

Implementing targeted support to accelerate progress  

We know our school is implementing and sustaining targeted supports in our school when:  

• we routinely lead meetings that prioritise progress and achievement; this is linked to our school goals and targets and is integral to our practice  
• we resource PLD and support professional growth cycles, to build capability in assessment, learning design and teaching practices so we can accelerate progress where needed*  
• we organise in-school teams to focus deliberately on accelerating progress so we can provide flexible supports when they are needed 
• we work effectively with our Teacher Aides (where available) to provide targeted support; they are well supported by leadership and have clearly defined roles and responsibilities  
• we work collaboratively to share information and organise support across our school, Kāhui Ako or cluster*
• we work collaboratively with our regional learning support specialists.  

*Aligned to Leadership dimensions in ERO’s School Improvement Framework (2024).

All forms of assessment and information gathering inform the planning needed for all students to succeed in their learning. Leaders use this information to understand the connections between student learning and teaching practice, and to identify areas of support for teachers.   

A range of rich assessment information, including standardised assessment, is used to identify patterns and trends in progress and achievement school-wide, across cohorts, and for individual students.  

Assessment information is analysed (as a team, where applicable), and interpretations and decisions are collectively owned. In smaller schools, the opportunity for leaders to share and discuss with other leaders of small schools may be useful.  

This analysis provides information that identifies students who are meeting expectations and those that require further investigation. The school can then plan effectively, monitor progress, and make adjustments where necessary.   

To read more about commonly used assessment tools, see Assessment tool guidance.

Leaders know and understand the importance of formative teaching. The regular use of formative assessment can substantially improve student achievement (Wiliam, 2011, p. 50). Responsive, formative teaching will pick up some of the misconceptions and gaps in understanding that may be resolved on the spot at classroom level for many learners.   

Teachers use a range of formative strategies to gather evidence of learning that include observations, conversations, self and peer assessment, tasks (such as the tasks in NZCER’s Assessment Resource Bank), and timely feedback.   

Balancing formative practice with more formal check-ins using appropriate standardised assessments provides information that can help to identify students who need more targeted or tailored teaching.   

When making informed decisions about a student’s progress, a teacher considers:  

• their knowledge of the student, including wellbeing and behaviour  
• data on the progress and achievement of the student  
• how the learner is tracking against year-level curriculum content  
• the views and experience of whānau  
• the views of the student  
• advice and guidance from learning support services, such as RTLB and Ministry learning support practitioners.  

Assessment information is used to inform evidence-based conversations about progress and achievement with the whole staff and within teams throughout the school. Effective instructional practices can be identified, as well as areas where teaching and learning needs to be strengthened. Leaders will gain valuable information from the conversations about priority areas for resourcing.   

Leaders support middle and curriculum leaders to embed an evidence-based inquiry approach within their teams. With evidence-based conversations at the heart of this approach, the focus becomes identifying students requiring targeted or tailored support and the best course of action to support them. It is an iterative process that includes smaller cycles of data interrogation inside the broader school-wide cycle. 

Effective Internal Evaluation for Improvement provides some excellent questions to guide conversations around progress and achievement (Education Review Office, 2016). 

Leading conversations about progress and achievement at school and team level builds collective responsibility for the progress and achievement of all learners and the early identification of those requiring support to accelerate progress.   

Within classrooms, your teachers will be continually noticing students who require additional support and acting on the spot to adapt their teaching accordingly; some students will require more intensive support than this.   

At each year level in a phase of the curriculum, teachers ask, "Are there gaps in learning that are going to restrict students' ability to make progress in the next phase of their learning?” Te Mātaiaho | The New Zealand Curriculum, English learning area, p.11)

Students needing additional support need to be identified early and provided with targeted or tailored support to learn and progress at an accelerated pace. Leaders will expect these iterative cycles of inquiry to occur to identify students who require intentional planning for targeted or tailored support and enable ongoing progress and success. Leaders can support the inquiry process by:  

• ensuring a range of high-quality assessment information is used to inform data-inquiry cycles  
• embedding data inquiry cycles, i.e., termly, interim (6-8 weekly), end of unit, daily/weekly  
• dedicating time to collaborative data analysis   
• supporting other school leaders and teachers with coaching through data inquiry processes. 

Leaders work alongside teaching teams to plan and implement the actions needed for acceleration. Regular meetings may be required to build a shared understanding of:  

• the features of accelerated progress and how teaching programmes may need to be redesigned or adjusted to allow for acceleration 
• what one year’s progress looks like in key areas of learning.  

Teachers will need to know and understand the progress of their learners alongside the curriculum progress outcomes, teaching sequences, and teaching practices in each learning area. This knowledge enables them to readily identify when an intensive teaching approach may be needed. The support learners receive (research-based, targeted/tailored instruction) is matched both to their skills and level of need.  

As a leader, providing resourcing for teachers to engage in professional learning to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of curriculum content and progression will support more effective teaching and learning.

Progress monitoring (the tracking and measuring of progress over time using valid and reliable tools and processes) evaluates the impact and effectiveness of what has been implemented.   

Regular progress monitoring helps identify when continued instructional support is needed. This could take the form of an intensified level of support or a tailored support plan. This is discussed further in the section, ‘Implement and sustain targeted supports.’  

The leader ensures the school has effective systems for collecting and storing information to track progress and build a cumulative picture of progress for each student and groups of students. The leader then uses this cumulative information to inform learning-focused conversations with the staff, other professionals, and the school’s board. 

The collection, analysis, and interpretation of assessment information from a range of sources is used for school improvement in relation to your school’s strategic goals and targets for progress and achievement. 

The school-wide assessment information is also used to inform your school board on the effectiveness of programmes designed to accelerate progress, and the associated tracking of goals and targets from the school’s strategic plan.  

School leaders can support their boards to purposefully interrogate assessment information and to deepen their understanding of the patterns and trends of progress and achievement. It can also be used to support the resourcing decisions made by the board. 

Reference  

Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. 

This fictional story is based on real-life examples and research. It illustrates how the leaders strategically plan to support learners to accelerate progress. The leadership practices offer valuable considerations for all schools and settings.

Learning conversations drive accelerated progress  

At Summit View School, we believe the key to accelerating progress lies in our regular, meaningful learning conversations. These discussions focus on student progress, using clear evidence to guide our decisions and actions. We’ve learned that when we keep these conversations active, timely, data-driven, and focused on improvement, we can ensure every learner gets the support they need to thrive.   

Walking the talk  

Our leadership team actively participates in every step of this inquiry process. They’re not just setting the direction; they’re right there alongside teachers, modelling the importance of evidence-based action. This commitment signals to everyone that we’re in this together and that learner success is our top priority. We shape our school-wide inquiry around key questions: 

1. What patterns and trends are emerging in the data? Are these ongoing or surprising?  
2. Are all groups of learners making expected progress (a year’s progress in a year)? Which areas or groups need extra focus?   
3. What does this data tell us about the learners at key transition points/end of phase (e.g., years 1, 3, 6, 8)?   
4. What is working? What can we do to improve? (e.g., through professional development, professional growth cycles, coaching, and so on?) 

Acting fast with early intervention  

Early intervention is essential for success and starts with data-informed conversations. We think of assessment as a bridge between teaching and learning and the curriculum. We use a mix of assessment data – both quantitative (universal and diagnostic tests) and qualitative (observations and knowledge of each student) to identify needs and plan support. By stepping in early, we give learners the best chance to succeed, ensuring quick action and ongoing progress monitoring to maintain momentum.   

Focused planning for progress  

After analysing assessment results at the beginning of the year with the wider team, our leadership team identifies patterns of need in relation to the ‘expected’ levels and ensures everyone is on the same page. This shapes our planning for the year ahead, helping us design learning strategies that match our learners’ needs and ensuring they are resourced appropriately. Teams dig deeper into the data to spot learning gaps, set goals, and plan how to respond (e.g., some supports are teacher-led, while others may involve teacher aides). Teams follow up regularly to track progress and adjust strategies where necessary, which fosters accountability and transparency.   

Harnessing collaboration for focused inquiry  

Twice a month, we dedicate time for teams to analyse data and collaborate on their inquiries. This time fosters reflection and learning across teams, ensuring that our findings shape next steps. In teams, we explore key questions.  

1. Which learners are at risk of underachievement? Are there skill gaps consistent across the entire team/class? What are they? 
2. What instructional strategies have we tried to raise the achievement levels of these learners? Are these having an accelerative effect? What should we maintain, stop, or do differently?  
3. What can we infer from other data and qualitative information such as observations, student work, or family hui?   
4. From the data, what are the specific learning needs of the learners who we think need additional support?  

By staying focused on the evidence, setting clear goals, and using our conversations to continuously adapt our teaching responses, we make sure every learner can experience success at Summit View School. Our ongoing learning conversations help us stay on track and enable our school to make a real difference.  

Pause and reflect 

Read the spotlight above and consider the following.  

• Summit View School uses learning conversations to identify and monitor learners who need accelerated progress support. What is in place at your school to ensure early intervention and how might you change or improve your process?  
• In what ways do learning conversations at Summit View School show a commitment to using evidence to decide who needs targeted support? 

Leaders support and evaluate how well the everyday teaching programmes implement the knowledge and skills, informed by the science of learning, as described in The New Zealand Curriculum.   

Acceleration can be managed through everyday teaching programmes  

The way your school is implementing the curriculum in your teaching programmes is the starting point for all learners to make progress and accelerate their progress. Accelerating progress can be done through adjusting the whole class programme, as well as providing more intensive, targeted teaching for learners.  

Many of the principles of the science of learning research reflected in the curriculum, such as a sense of belonging, building on prior knowledge, managing cognitive load, supporting motivation, and social and emotional wellbeing, are integral to effective inclusive design.   

A comprehensive programme to lead inclusive practice in school can be found on Inclusive Education. It includes guidance on how to use Universal Design for Learning approaches that specifically address principles of the science of learning. 

Leaders build their teachers’ capability and confidence in:   

• the skills, knowledge, and explicit strategies expected in curriculum phases, using the teaching sequence and progress outcomes (it is the teacher’s role to scaffold lessons sufficiently as appropriate at each year level. Leaders support teachers to plan to focus on revisiting, reteaching, or consolidating learning)
• how to use and interpret standardised assessment and other diagnostic information to identify gaps in learning and plan for appropriate next steps  
• how to plan for targeted teaching using small, flexible groups and work with teacher aides and other learning support specialists as available and appropriate 
• how to create a classroom culture focused on collective success for all learners that values different cultural identities, knowledge, belief systems, and experiences (refer to Te Mātaiaho | The New Zealand Curriculum for more information on how the curriculum is informed by the science of learning). 

Pause and reflect 

• How is inclusive learning practice reflected in the teaching approaches across your school? How might you find out and support your teachers to value different cultural identities, knowledge, belief systems, and experiences and design learning for diverse strengths and needs from the outset?  
• Do your teachers know how to use information to identify where support is needed and for whom?  
• Do your teachers know how to plan for and organise flexible groups to enable targeted teaching?  

Find out more  

• Encourage your teachers to use the guides in the Inclusive Education website for more guidance and strategies, including Supporting ākonga Māori.
• Ministry of Education. (2024). The science of learning explained.

“To support students who have not developed the prior knowledge needed to fully engage with the content of the teaching sequence statements for their year, it is important to find ways to accelerate their progress through such approaches as targeted and explicit small-group teaching.” (Te Mātaiaho | The New Zealand Curriculum, English learning area, p. 27).   

Leaders help their teams organise targeted supports effectively. Schools manage targeted teaching in different ways and regardless of approach, monitoring implementation is key.  

The following approaches are likely to be most effective in helping to build learners’ knowledge and skills. 

Knowing when to provide support  

Provide targeted, intensive teaching for students with identified needs or strengths sooner rather than later, regardless of their age and stage.   

For example, recent New Zealand literacy evaluations found that targeted support is more efficient and effective at closing gaps when students are under six years old, and that it can successfully close gaps over a 10-week period starting as early as 10 weeks after students have begun school (Te Mātaiaho | The New Zealand Curriculum, English learning area, p.33).    

If a large number of learners need help to accelerate progress in a class, the teacher may need to adjust the overall teaching programme. Otherwise, flexible group support may be required to target intensive support to consolidate skills and knowledge. 

Selecting the learning focus and organising targeted teaching   

Targeted teaching does not replace the everyday teaching programme provided for the class – learners will be involved in both. The focus will target and consolidate a clearly defined aspect of knowledge or skills required to engage with the everyday classroom programme at the year level.   

Across your teams, learners’ needs will be determined by information from assessments and other information, in relation to the curriculum expectations and teaching sequence for the year level. Support and review how your teachers:  

• identify the learning needs and teaching focus based on assessment data and other information (e.g., diagnostic tests, in-class activities, conversations) 
• identify clear goals and entry and exit criteria that indicate when students will no longer need support in the specific skill or knowledge targeted
• dedicate time: Consider how you can include this support in your hour each a day for reading, writing, and maths
• set up small, flexible, and fluid groups of 3-5 learners within a lesson or series of lessons, based on assessment information in relation to the learning focus (e.g., working as a whole class for demonstration and discussion, in smaller groups to discuss a text or investigate a situation, solve a problem in pairs to explain thinking)  
• take notes during each lesson to notice progress and adapt for the next session (teachers should gather information frequently through formal and informal assessments, checks, questions, and activities to help monitor progress)  
• ensure groups are flexible and targeted in response to information (teachers should avoid static, fixed ability groups, teaching a narrowed or separate curriculum focus, or attending to only a small range of skills).   

Read and watch: How to structure small group lessons, with example videos focusing on literacy on The Education Hub.

How much and how long?

What intensity, frequency and duration of support is needed?  

Leaders will support teachers to understand:  

• the intensity and duration of successful support can vary; however, small group teaching up to 4 or 5 times per week (with 20-30 minute sessions) sustained for a minimum of between 8-11 weeks has been found to be effective for most learners to allow students to internalise and apply new skills   
• keeping a record of attendance will track consistency and help leaders understand the impact of targeted teaching  
• the sessions will focus on 1-3 specific focus areas from the curriculum at a time  
• intensive sessions conducted multiple times a week are more effective than less frequent sessions   
• increasing intensity of teaching and more sustained interventions may be necessary for children with more complex learning needs
• as learners get older, targeted support needs to support the wider curriculum programme and build on their existing knowledge and background (specific skill practice is more effective when nested in the wider purpose and context for learning and tutoring one-to-one can be more useful for older learners than small group teaching). 

Teaching approaches for targeted sessions  

Leaders support teachers to:  

• Use explicit instruction: This involves more teacher-student interaction, including frequent opportunities for learners to engage. Explicit strategies include scaffolding, chunking, modelling, and providing positive and specific feedback, and reflect the science of learning in the New Zealand Curriculum. 
• Create a sense of purpose and achievement: Learners may feel that learning is challenging. Teachers plan for students to experience success in every session, e.g. providing accessible entry points for tasks and activities, setting small achievable steps, and using prompts and questions to help them make connections.  
• Use the same explicit teaching strategies for new learners of English/bilingual learners as those for all learners: Learners will also need a strong oral language foundation to support their language and literacy development. Build on their current knowledge and home/first language, as well as providing specific focus on vocabulary and comprehension to strengthen language use (Gillon et al., 2024). Use the English Language Learning Progressions and ELLP Pathway to plan targeted language support.  

Pause and reflect  

• Share and discuss this information about targeted teaching approaches with your team.   
• How consistently is targeted teaching delivered across your school? How do you know?   

Learners may have unique and/or complex needs that require a range of supports (e.g., to remove barriers to the environment, for health reasons, and so on) so that they can access the class teaching programme and make progress.  

Students with higher levels of need may experience higher rates of progress when they access more intensive tailored support.   

Tailored teaching does not replace classroom or targeted learning – learners are entitled to access the curriculum at their year level with their peers, and effective supports will be designed to reflect and support the programme underway. 

Tailored support is typically:   

• customised for complex or unique needs and supported by trained specialists, such as RTLits, RTLBs, Speech and Language Therapists, in the context of school programmes   
• more frequent, of greater duration (tailored support is provided for 30 minutes a day instead of 20 minutes and sustained for longer than targeted supports, e.g., up to 20 weeks or more, and may need repeated opportunities to consolidate learning) 
• intensive, individualised, or in very small groups.   

Support, particularly when it is one-to-one and is delivered by the classroom teacher, doesn’t have to be in one continuous block of time per 'lesson’. It could be a couple of minutes several times a day, depending on the learning need, (e.g., to reinforce a new grapheme-phoneme correspondence) and the needs of the child (e.g., focusing for long periods of time is difficult). For some, tailored support might be little more than increasing the frequency and length of time of learning sessions.   

Leaders work with teachers and whānau  

The learning needs of all students can be met by class- and school-wide strategies. Students with complex or unique needs may also require a support plan that captures the aspects of their learning that need specific support.   

Leaders and teachers work with whānau and families, alongside learning support specialists, to develop support plans, e.g., an Individual Education Plan (IEP), Collaborative Action Plan (CAP).  

Read more about developing collaborative support plans with the learners, their whānau, and teachers on Inclusive Education.

Decisions to offer tailored teaching  

Tailored teaching will respond to a range of information, such as the following ( a non-exhaustive list):  

• assessment, diagnostic, and screening information that shows a learner is one or more years behind curriculum expectations for their year level
• information from targeted teaching in small, flexible groups that the learner has engaged in already is not leading to sufficient progress to enable them to access the teaching programme at their year level 
• information from whānau and family, from a feeder school, or from community specialists indicate that intensive support is needed to meet needs. 

Specialist support for schools  

Supports for schools include Resource Teachers: Literacy (RTLit), Resource Teachers: Learning and Behaviour (RTLB), Resource Teachers Māori, Resource Teachers: Vision (RTV) and Resource Teachers: Deaf (RTD), and Ministry of Education Learning Support Specialists (including Speech Language Therapists and Learning Support Advisors) and Learning Support Coordinators (LSCo).   

Schools can make requests for support for individual learners as well as support for teachers. For more information, visit Ministry of Education - Learning Support.  

Whānau are central to decision-making. Their knowledge and skills are critical in supporting learners and connecting to cultures, languages, identities, and needs.   

Involving families in students’ learning journeys and offering opportunities for collaboration supports positive relationships with learning and is influential in accelerating progress.     

Leaders can help teachers:

• listen to what whānau know about their child’s interests, strengths, and needs and what works for them  
• involve whānau and caregivers in setting goals and agreeing on next learning steps, including how they can support at home  
• develop a shared language about learning and achievement with students and their caregivers and whānau  
• value learners’ wellbeing and being genuinely interested in them and their whānau.   

Leaders evaluate how well these learning opportunities support caregivers and whānau and are aligned between home and school. Be persistent and keep using what works, change and improve what does not work, and transfer what works to support other students and their whānau.  For more information and guidance, read:

• Partnering with parents, whānau and communities   
• Building genuine learning partnerships with parents 
• Educationally powerful connections with parents and whānau.

This fictional story is based on real-life examples and research. It illustrates how the leaders strategically plan to support learners to accelerate progress. The leadership practices offer valuable considerations for all schools and settings.

At Summit View School, our leadership team is focused on ensuring that teachers are planning effective programmes that accelerate progress. To do this, we ask ourselves:   

1. How do we know that our teachers are planning effective teaching programmes that make an impact and accelerate progress?   
2. How can we support them in their practice? 

Goal setting to improve teacher practice  

Summit View School embraces a structured literacy approach, focusing on strong everyday teaching for all and targeted and tailored teaching strategies to meet the diverse needs of our learners. To ensure that our teaching is continuously improving, each teacher has a professional learning goal within their Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) that focuses on how they are using structured literacy to accelerate progress. Our leaders are active in reviewing teaching and planning so they can be sure that we are implementing our approach consistently.  

Focused observations of teaching practice  

For example, we use accelerating progress through a multi-layered approach as the context to reflect on our two critical questions. We went to observe our teachers in our junior flexible learning space during the literacy hours and noted the following.   

• Flexible classroom teaching – one teacher was leading an engaging, interactive whole class lesson with a focus on building vocabulary and phonics skills. She was teaching the concept of “shelter” through a kiwi bird story. Learners were observed learning the phonetic sound /s/ and identified related words like “sun,” “sand,” and “silly”.   
• Targeted group teaching – a teacher aide was working with a smaller group, and the focus was on a more specific skill: phoneme manipulation. The learners were observed practising changing words like “sand” to “band” by swapping letters.   
• Tailored teaching – another teacher, who is released to provide specialist support, was working with two of our learners with higher needs, using phonics exercises to help them progress towards writing words independently.  

The impact of our approach  

Our observations, plus records of planning, confirmed that each layer of support—quality everyday teaching, targeted, and tailored—was integrated and effectively meeting the learners’ needs. We saw firsthand how these strategies were being applied to support all students. We can also see this flowing through into warm and constructive conversations with whānau and reporting.   

Feedback conversations with the teachers showed that they have clear, structured literacy goals within their Professional Growth Cycle and are actively using assessment data and diagnostic tools to plan and refine their teaching strategies.   

Additionally, through our participation in the regular team learning conversations, we have seen the teachers reflect on successes and challenges. This ongoing collaboration allows them to share insights and continuously improve, ensuring that their practice is always evolving to better support our learners.   

Looking ahead 

We’re confident that we are building a strong foundation for effective teaching and accelerated progress. To ensure our teachers are planning effective teaching programmes that make an impact and accelerate progress, we will continue to:   

• regularly review teaching programmes  
• facilitate learning conversations with each other, our learners, and their whānau, that promote reflection and collaboration, using quality information  
• align our school-wide inquiry with the Professional Growth Cycle.   

Pause and reflect 

Read the spotlight story above and consider:  

• What role does the school leader have in this scenario?   
• As a leader, how do I know that teachers are planning effective teaching programmes that accelerate progress?  
• What might your next steps be so your shared commitment to quality teaching and learning is evident in your processes, programmes, and practices? 

Implementing flexible supports for a multi-layered response across teams requires a collaborative effort with clear roles and responsibilities, and leadership at multiple levels.  

A team will typically meet regularly (e.g., once a month) with a structured agenda to:   

• review school-wide and team-wide assessment information data, considering feedback and concerns from teams/teachers and make data-based decisions (for more information, see the section, ‘Use evidence to make decisions about targeted supports’)
• provide input on professional learning needs to support teachers to implement inclusive teaching and provide targeted, flexible support
• support teams and teachers to provide targeted and tailored support with learners, including:  
  • allocation of teachers and specialists in ways that best support needs, with learners with most complex/unique needs supported by those most qualified to do so.  
  • making decisions about timetabling targeted teaching and locations that will best support learners (e.g., in the class in flexible groups, in a quieter space) in ways that are manageable  
• feed back to the school lead team on the impact of the multi-layered approach across the school  
• support/lead meetings with teachers, whānau, and community-wide specialists to plan support for individual students, including ensuring that specialised support, evaluations, and plans are implemented.  

Schools manage targeted teaching in different ways. Regardless of approach, leaders monitor implementation so there is fidelity across the teaching programme.

The following suggested roles and tasks can be managed to suit your school. In smaller schools, leaders may need to prioritise what can be practically managed and where some roles or tasks will be held by the same person. Here are examples of how it might be allocated.  

Designated member of school lead team (e.g., Principal, Deputy, or Assistant Principal)  

• monitors how consistently teaching programmes are implemented so they are inclusive and culturally responsive. This draws on data analysis for trends and patterns across the school and teams/syndicates  
• provides leadership for implementing multi-layered teaching responses so it is strategic and coherent
• ensures all students needing or receiving targeted and tailored support (‘Tier 2 and 3’) have weekly progress monitoring (whether they have an Individual Education Plan or not). 

Leadership to coordinate multi-layered responses (e.g., senior lead team member, literacy lead, SLA resource for years 0-2, SENCO etc.)  

• provides leadership and coordination for monthly review team meetings 
• provides expertise to the team in relation to multi-layered teaching responses, inclusive learning, inquiry processes, and data analysis   
• identifies patterns and trends in needs across school for learners and teachers  
• maintains a register of learners receiving support  
• released to work more intensively with learners (e.g., as a trained literacy specialist), alongside classes.  

Syndicate/team/department lead  

• provides connection to relevant teams and year levels and attends regular hui  
• provides leadership to implement and monitor effective classroom teaching and assessment in their team, including targeted and flexible group supports  
• supports data analysis and response across teams – and is key in checking how well teaching is implemented.  
• If you have SLA staffing resource to support the literacy needs of students in the first two years of schooling, this staff member could be either be the lead of this work or be a key collaborator as part of a team within your school. 

Classroom teacher(s)  

Class teachers are the most important people to be designing inclusive learning and managing targeted support for learners. They typically:  

• take a ‘case management’ approach and hold knowledge of learners’ strengths, knowledge, skills, background, and needs  
• hold a relationship with the whānau of their learners and communicate with them regularly  
• adapt teaching as required to continue to provide the teaching needed using:  
  • targeted, flexible groups to organise the class   
  • small group instruction, which can occur when students are working independently in the classroom or with a teacher aide (including TAs trained in BSLA Tier 2).  
• share and analyse information on learners, including assessment data 
• ensure next steps are documented and communicated with the student and/or family.  

For more information on effective targeted teaching, see the section, ‘Plan effective teaching approaches to accelerate progress’.  

Working with external support  

When additional support is available in the class, leaders consider how supports align with specific learners’ needs and the teaching programme. For example:  

• provision of specialist support, co-teaching across flexible groups  
• tutor support for one-to-one or very small groups, provided by an external person or specialist  
• the use of technology (teacher input and guidance is needed for all uses of technology for additional support, such as online tutoring programmes).   

Pause and reflect   

• Review the tasks and responsibilities above – how might you organise roles in your school so that the responsibility for targeting and monitoring supports where they are needed is shared?  
• How do you know effective supports are being effectively implemented across the school? 

“[The teacher aide] will work with the student [with support needs] and also others, going around the groups. Not just honing in and focusing on that individual, but supporting that individual as part of the bigger picture.” (Principal, Education Review Office, 2022) 

Teacher aides are valued members of a school staff and have a range of roles and responsibilities to help accelerate progress for identified learners. Leaders and other learning support professionals are responsible for creating conditions for effective teacher aide practice.   

With good support from their school, teacher aides can build upon their positive relationships with learners, as well as their training, collaborative practices, and cultural expertise to further enhance targeted learning programmes.  

Research highlights key areas of teacher aide practice that make a difference for learners – as well as what leaders can do to set teacher aides up for success:   

• working with the wider class, rather than focusing on learners with learning support needs (the teacher can then spend more time with learners who need extra support)  
• delivering structured interventions, e.g., holding brief, focused sessions with individuals and small groups, using evidence-based interventions or programmes   
• collaboratively working with teachers, specialists, and other experts to understand and implement strategies, techniques, and resources.  

For further guidance  

• ERO. (2022). A practical guide for school leaders. Education Review Office.
• ERO. (2022). Supporting Teacher Aides to have the most impact. Education Review Office.
• MOE. Inclusive Education Guide: Supporting effective teacher aide practice. Ministry of Education. 
• MOE. (2023). Story of practice: Read about Abbotsford School’s approach to integration teacher aides in learning teams. Ministry of Education. 

Pause and reflect  

• Review the guidance above and consider how you can give effect to the guidance above in the way your teacher aides support learning. 

Learning support specialists work flexibly across all layers of support, from universal to targeted and tailored. They can provide advice on how to support learners with more complex or unique needs.   

Leaders and teachers do not need to wait for external support to plan teaching responses to accelerate progress.   

How might you work with your local specialist teachers?  

Specialist teachers could include your RTLit, RTLB, Speech Language Therapist, Learning Support Coordinators, or English Language support.  

Leaders will integrate people in collaborative teams, with learners and whānau at the centre. Using an evidence-based inquiry approach can help a team provide solutions that support accelerated progress for identified learners and strengthen the capability and confidence of the adults around them. Specialist teachers can help by:  

• liaising across the different teams in a multi-layered, flexible approach and attending review meetings regularly  
• identifying trends in needs across classes, years, and wider school or cluster, and opportunities to address issues  
• presenting background information on students being supported  
• working collaboratively with teachers to support learners and practice.  

Contact local specialist support  

Leaders can contact local learning support specialists and regional Ministry staff for support based on learners’ needs. Specialists and providers can provide coordinated, cluster-based support, alongside other agencies as required.  

Find out more  

• Inclusive Education guide: Understanding the learning support delivery model 
• Inclusive Education guide: Work together to deliver learning support

Schools and clusters will organise support in different ways to suit their staff, resources, and timetable. You might choose to build a team with specific responsibility for managing the school or cluster approach to providing additional support. The team would review assessment information and support informed decision-making for targeted and tailored teaching.  

• Watch: This video from New South Wales, Australia, describes how different people work as a team across a multi-layered (or multi-tiered) approach, Building an effective MTSS team.
• Read: The spotlight story in this section below.  

You may choose to develop a support team to manage flexible supports:  

• internal supports in school could include: senior teacher or syndicate leader (primary), dean or department head (secondary) SLA staffing resource teacher (years 0-2), SENCO, school literacy leader   
• external supports across a Kāhui Ako or cluster could include: RTLits, RTLBs, Learning Support Coordinator, within- and across- school Leads in a Kāhui Ako.  

You may choose to share information between schools to support learners to make effective transitions so support can be provided in good time.  

The Inclusive Education guide, Understanding collaborative planning for learning, includes advice on working collaboratively across a cluster to bring people and resources together in flexible ways. 

Effective leaders focus capability building through teacher Professional Growth Cycle processes, and key professional learning and development activities. A key focus to improve practice will be on what teachers can do to help learners progress.  

Evidence-based learning conversations across the school will drive decisions about priority areas for capability building of leaders and teachers to accelerate progress. These might include:  

• how well you are able to take a strategic approach that directs goals and resources to priority areas with the biggest influence on achieving equity and excellence (identifying what is needed to give maximum effect to progress and achievement is the result of the evidence-based conversations)  
• how well you and your teams use quality information to evaluate the impact of teaching and learning on underachievement and adapt programmes 
• how well your teachers can use the knowledge and skills needed to adapt teaching and provide flexible, targeted support (as described in section 3, "Plan effective teaching approaches to accelerate progress").  

Ongoing professional learning and development to ensure the successful implementation of effective teaching strategies.   

It is important that professional learning and development to support accelerated progress is not in isolation. Leaders can guide collaborative conversations in their school to support teachers to integrate new learning into their daily teaching practices as they build their collective approach.  

While schools can self-direct much of their own professional learning, leaders may also draw on their local professional networks, their cluster, or Kāhui Ako, to strengthen teachers’ ability to implement approaches with fidelity while also being ready to respond to learners’ strengths and needs in flexible ways.  

Additional external support for in-depth, guided support may also be useful.  

Read more  

• Education Review Office. (2024). Professional Learning Communities in Support of the Curriculum Implementation.

• Your nearest Ministry of Education regional office, including Curriculum Advisors and Leadership Advisors.  
• Learning support: Find out about the learning support funds, schemes and services available to schools and kura, and guidance on accessing it  
• Professional Learning and Development: Find opportunities to strengthen teaching practice and educational leadership to support learners    
• Specialist learning support in regions: To request support from the RTLit or RTLB services, schools can contact their local cluster or contact their regional Ministry team for advice.   
• English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) funding is for schools with students who are learning English as an additional language.  

This fictional story is based on real-life examples and research. It illustrates how the leaders strategically plan to support learners to accelerate progress. The leadership practices offer valuable considerations for all schools and settings.

Our goal at Summit View School is to help every learner make continuous progress. To do this we need a strong collaborative team who have clear processes and ongoing support. Read some of the perspectives about our journey to accelerate progress at Summit View School:   

Maraea, principal: “I think as the leader of learning at Summit View School, I have to communicate our vision for accelerated progress and promote it throughout the school. At its heart, it's my job to create a culture of high expectations and high trust among everyone. Encouraging reflective practice isn’t just for teachers but also for our leadership team. We need to regularly review and adapt our approaches to meet student needs and staff capacity. So, if I truly believe that every student deserves high-quality teaching, it's up to me to lead the design of the systems that make that possible.”   

Ivan, deputy principal: “As a leadership team, a priority for us is to help our team have the necessary time they need to identify what supports are needed for their learners, plan and implement the changes that they think will make an impact, progress monitor, and then reflect together. We know that time is precious, so we have tried to be deliberate and creative to create space for our learning conversations.”   

Cindy, SENCO: "Designing and implementing our multi-layered support system has been a key part of my role. I knew it couldn’t happen overnight—it needed time and ongoing adjustments. Our approach evolved as we responded to the learning gaps after Covid, and now, a few years later, we’re seeing great results. It’s incredibly rewarding to see students who once struggled with literacy make real progress.”  

Lisa, team leader: “I think one of the most important things we do to accelerate progress is track progress. Using diagnostic tools, we gather detailed information that shows us if progress is actually accelerating. This helps the teachers in my team be really intentional with their planning – and know when to stop-start-continue support.”   

Asha, teacher: “Since joining Summit View two years ago, I have learned a lot about using data to guide my planning and teaching. The team learning conversations have been key to helping me meet the needs of my tamariki. Analysing data with more experienced colleagues and brainstorming ideas for responding to learning gaps has been incredibly valuable.  

Talia, teacher: “Often in schools, our least experienced staff work with our learners who have the highest needs, but we wanted to flip that. Lisa and I have been teaching for over 30 years between us, and we have the experience to support learners who really need acceleration. So in our learning conversations, we design our programme so Lisa and I usually work closely with smaller groups and individuals, and Tom works with the larger group.”  

Tom, teacher aide: “For the past two years I have been doing so much professional learning at work – when we started structured literacy, the school made sure I could attend most of the workshops, and I learn from the teachers in our learning space everyday.”   

Aroha, learner (year 2): “I like when I get to work with Tom, in our reading hour. It helps me do my work, and he uses fun games to help us learn, like cards and stuff. My mum thinks it has really helped me in my learning because now I can read and write bigger words and books too!”   

Maraea, principal: “While it is heartening for me to hear the positive reflections about our journey, moving forward I need to ensure that there is consistency and momentum ... I think our school has successfully implemented multi-layered supports to accelerate progress because we’ve had a clear process, and we've embraced a team approach. It hasn’t been just the responsibility of leadership or the support staff team; we’ve involved everyone and worked together to make it happen.”   

Pause and reflect

Read the spotlight above and consider:   

• As a leader, how do I foster a school culture where all staff take responsibility for accelerating learners’ progress?  
• What professional learning opportunities do we need to improve individual teacher knowledge/skills and collective teacher efficacy to support all learners?  
• How effective are our systems, processes, and resources (e.g., time, funding, tools) to ensure that accelerated progress is sustained over time?