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Preface

The overall aim of the Reading Success project described in this book is the systematic and accurate identification of students’ reading profiles within a primary school setting in Australia to better support the reading outcomes of those students who struggle in reading. We embraced an education–speech pathology collaborative practice model (see Archibald, 2017), in line with speech pathology Australia’s clinical guideline for speech pathologists working in literacy (Serry et al., 2016). In this study, we adopted a range of evidence-based frameworks and approaches, including the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), and a response-to-intervention approach (Jimerson, Burns, & van der Heyden, 2015). The study involved a strong partnership between all stakeholders including academic researchers in speech pathology and education and research end-users at the school.

In an attempt to bridge the research-to-practice gap, we present a five-step assessment to intervention process involved in implementing an interdisciplinary and evidence-based approach to the identification of and support for students at risk for or experiencing difficulties in reading in a school setting. We share participants’ perspectives, gathered throughout the study, including the views from leaders, teachers, students, and support staff, such as speech pathologists within the school context. As our aim in this project was not to describe or evaluate current literacy practices, we did not systematically gather information on classroom literacy practices. However, we provide an easily accessible overview of a range of evidence-based and theoretically driven initiatives aimed at enhancing the reading success of primary (or elementary)-aged students in schools. Upon implementing our five-step assessment to intervention framework, schools will be able to (i) identify which students are in need of extra support to facilitate reading success; (ii) create individual speech-to-print profiles for students who show difficulties in reading comprehension; and (iii) initiate targeted support for students with reading difficulties that is firmly based on the assessment results (Munro, 2017).

Throughout the book, there is a clear focus on how the team worked collaboratively across different year levels, which included the decision-making processes used, such as rich dialogue with the leadership team and teachers. As such, it offers valuable insights for educators, speech pathologists, researchers, and pre-service teacher education students interested in promoting reading success within a school setting. We discuss these implications and future directions in more detail in the final chapter of this book.