University of Queensland literacy expert, Dr Carol Christensen, has accepted a personal invitation from Tasmanian Premier Paul Lennon to drive the state’s Literacy Action Plan.
Dr Christensen, from UQ’s School of Education, has been working with schools across Australia to improve literacy standards through her Whole School Literacy programs with dramatic results.
Dr Christensen said there were now more than 60,000 students in schools from Cairns to Hobart using her programs.
“Our goal is to have all students reach their grade level in reading comprehension within three years,” Dr Christensen said.
“When we begin a program, many students are reading well below their grade level. However, our programs are showing that students can develop a very high level of literacy. Students routinely make 4-5 years of improvement in reading in a single year.”
Dr Christensen has also developed Reading LINK Decoding, a reading program specifically for use in classrooms which has been licensed to educational publisher, Knowledge Books and Software by UQ’s commercialisation company, UniQuest.
The Reading LINK Decoding program provides teachers with resources to help students gain basic reading skills. Its sales have been steadily increasing in Australia and the program has attracted interest from educational authorities in Malaysia and the USA.
“For a long time debates about literacy have been clouded by political agendas and educational authorities jumping from one initiative to another,” Dr Christensen said.
“Now the clouds are lifting as the weight of research evidence is clearly showing that students need to systematically acquire skills if they are to succeed and reach higher levels of understanding and using language.”
UniQuest Managing Director, Mr David Henderson, said the invitation from Premier Lennon highlighted the value of supporting researchers with getting their ideas out to wider audiences.
“Interest in Dr Christiansen’s work has gained momentum since we launched the Reading LINK Decoding program into the national and global market. Now more Australian children are going to benefit, and more educationalists outside of this country are recognising Queensland’s leadership in this field of research,” Mr Henderson said.
Dr Christiansen will begin working with the Tasmanian Government on the Literacy Action Plan this year.
Media inquiries: Joe McLean (3365 4037, 0439 898 737).
