Our testimonials
Teacher and educator endorsements and recommendations
All of the literacy programmes and resources I have been involved in creating have been in direct response to the guidance I have had from teachers and school management. It has been by working alongside skilled teachers that I have developed the literacy programmes available on this site. I am indebted to them for their assistance, professionalism and am especially grateful for the kind words of support below.
— Chuck Marriott, B.A., Diploma of Teaching, Post Graduate Diploma in Literacy.
Creator of SevenPlus and FivePlus. Co-author of WordLab. Creative director of AVAILLL
- RTLB Nth Canterbury
- Yolanda Soryl Literacy
- Ashgrove School
- Rangiora New Life School
- Burnside Primary
- West Spreydon School
- Kaiapoi North School
- Ashburton Intermediate
- Pegasus Bay School
- Ohoka School
- University of Canterbury
- Shirley Intermediate
“I have seen these programmes improve literacy outcomes for learners across so many schools, for so many students, up skilling so many teachers and Teacher Aides. These programmes have been robustly paired reviewed, have a strong theoretically foundation, promote inclusion, designed fit for purpose in NZ schools and involve ongoing coaching and support to ensure they are implemented with fidelity.”
Chuck Marriott has been invaluable in his role as Resource Teacher of Literacy across Kaiapoi and Rangiora over the last 17 years. I have worked beside Chuck since the RTLB transformation in 2012 and have always found him to be open to sharing his wealth of knowledge and co-worked a multitude of cases with the RTLB team. Chuck’s ability to identify the barriers to literacy progress, establish the most effective literacy intervention and implement this with fidelity to benefit the student and also up skill the teacher is exceptional.
Through his work in schools, Chuck has clearly established where the gaps are in teaching practice to help accelerate student literacy. Over the years this has has led to the development of FivePlus, SevenPlus, and more recently Wordlab. He has since worked tireless to implement these for the benefit of many students. From my perspective, I have seen these programmes improve literacy outcomes for learners across so many schools, for so many students, up skilling so many teachers and Teacher Aides. These programmes have been robustly paired reviewed, have a strong theoretically foundation, promote inclusion, designed fit for purpose in NZ schools and involve ongoing coaching and support to ensure they are implemented with fidelity. Wearing my parent hat, I can also say that my own daughter has benefitted greatly from the implementation of Wordlab at her school, becoming an incredibly confident speller and this has positively impacted on her overall literacy outcomes.
No matter the occasion, Chuck can tailor professional learning and development to suit any audience. As a RTLB Cluster we have benefitted from him being available to present on a wide variety of topics, including supporting Secondary SENCOs become familiar with alternative assessments for SAC applications, supporting TA’s how to support writing during literacy times and of course supporting teachers and senior leadership to implement Plus Five, Plus Seven, AVAILLL and Wordlab with fidelity in schools.
Finally, there is a wide range of programmes and frameworks that are designed to target children’s literacy needs. Chuck has been a real source of valuable information for me as a Cluster Manager as we get bombarded with the next best literacy innovation. However, if it doesn’t past the Chuck test, as a Cluster we don’t invest. I can highly recommend Chuck to anyone who may wish to tap into his skill and wealth of expertise.
Kelly McGowan, North Canterbury RTLB Cluster Manager
“I can 100% recommend any of his literacy programmes – WordLab, AVAILLL, FivePlus and SevenPlus. They target exactly the skills and understandings required to be a good reader and speller but also are presented in easy to follow and appealing materials that busy teachers can quickly take on board.”
Chuck has a deep understanding of literacy and shares his knowledge in practical and effective ways. I can 100% recommend any of his literacy programmes – WordLab, AVAILLL, FivePlus and SevenPlus. They target exactly the skills and understandings required to be a good reader and speller but also are presented in easy to follow and appealing materials that busy teachers can quickly take on board. His programmes work.
On top of Chuck’s extensive knowledge and skill set, he is just the easiest and most helpful down to earth person and is a pleasure to work with. Chuck is the person I go to for advice and feedback. He is very generous with his support and knows more about effective literacy teaching than anyone else I know. I have learnt so much from him.
Chuck is deeply committed to the best outcomes for children. Any student or teacher would be very fortunate indeed to work with him.
Yolanda Soryl, Trainer, teacher and educator
Yolanda Soryl Literacy
“We have always found Chuck to be consistently professional and approachable. He possesses a wealth of knowledge in the Literacy area. He has a flair for acknowledging current effective practice and building on from there to achieve best practice, while maintaining the flexibility to meet the individual needs of schools.”
We have had the pleasure of working with Chuck for the past 3 and half years since becoming Deputy Principals. Chuck has greatly assisted our identified target students who required literacy support.
Chuck is an incredible builder of teacher capacity. In 2016 he designed, introduced and coached our staff on using the WordLab spelling approach, which is currently taught throughout the school.
In addition to this Chuck has worked within our Junior team to identify some additional strategies and techniques that can be taught in the literacy programme. This has benefited all our students and the lower achieving students in particular.
We have always found Chuck to be consistently professional and approachable. He possesses a wealth of knowledge in the Literacy area. He has a flair for acknowledging current effective practice and building on from there to achieve best practice, while maintaining the flexibility to meet the individual needs of schools.
Sue Monson and Justin Perriam, Deputy Principals
Ashgrove School
“Our team has used the FivePlus programme for the last two years. This has been an alternative to Reading Recovery. Chuck has trained our learning assistants to run this programme. All of the children who have been through this programme have made accelerated progress because of the targeted one to one teaching with an emphasis on word level skills.”
Our team has used the FivePlus programme for the last two years. This has been an alternative to Reading Recovery. Chuck has trained our learning assistants to run this programme. All of the children who have been through this programme have made accelerated progress because of the targeted one to one teaching with an emphasis on word level skills.
Having worked with Chuck for many years now I have appreciated the ongoing professional discussion and support. Chuck has shared many different resources with us and continued to provide support to our school by providing insights into children who have literacy difficulties. He is reflective and quickly builds a strong rapport with both teachers, whānau and tamariki. He has a wealth of skills and ensures that the latest research helps to inform his practice.
Trudy Miles, Senior Teacher
Ashgrove School
“Our highly skilled teacher aides provide solid interventions right across our school and I attribute this to Chuck’s ongoing intervention and mentoring. In terms of dollar value, we believe that the coverage we have been able to provide has been a good use of the allocated R.T.Lit hours and we have been and are grateful for Chuck’s tutoring and mentoring.”
As Chuck was assigned to cover a large geographical area in North Canterbury, we soon could see that working with several children in our school over a limited period of time was not the best use of his expertise and well developed kete of skills and tools. Chuck’s knowledge of literacy pedagogy is extensive, therefore we asked Chuck to forgo tutoring children in favour of mentoring our Learning Support Team. This team comprises our teacher aides who meet literacy needs across our school.
Over many years Chuck has met regularly with our Learning Support Team to discuss the needs of children, optimal approaches and adaptions to approaches when the response rate from children is slow. Chuck has observed our teacher aides as they have worked with children and young people and as a result the teacher aides have a range of effective diagnostic tools, know how to interpret the data and have provided skilled interventions.
It is pleasing to note that while Chuck’s brief was limited to Year 0 to 8 students, our teacher aides support literacy intervention from Years 0 to 13. Our highly skilled teacher aides provide solid interventions right across our school and I attribute this to Chuck’s ongoing intervention and mentoring. In terms of dollar value, we believe that the coverage we have been able to provide has been a good use of the allocated R.T.Lit hours and we have been and are grateful for Chuck’s tutoring and mentoring.
Chuck has trained our teachers with the use of WordLab to help strengthen our students’ spelling knowledge. We waited in anticipation while Chuck and Louise designed the programme and the wait was more than worth it. We have a unified approach across our staff which meets our needs.
Chuck also designed the SevenPlus intervention programme which was used for our middle and senior primary students who struggled to acquire reading skills. Chuck also trained our teacher aides who appreciated the programme for its easy-to-follow approach. The release of Chuck’s FivePlus programme was a welcome addition for children in our junior primary.
Over the years, our Year 7 and 8’s and then our Year 5 and 6’s responded enthusiastically to Chuck’s AVAILLL programme. As with many schools, we have a group of boys each year who are reluctant readers, which often expresses in under-developed reading and writing skills. The AVAILLL programme has these boys, (and others,) reading for an hour a day over a period of days, interacting with text, and has a strong competitive element which captures and sustains the attention of boys.
I have found that Chuck is never far from an email or telephone and he has answered many questions as our advisor. Chuck has advised us as we have compiled Individual Education Plans with parents and teachers ‘around the table’ trying to unlock how best to meet the literacy needs of a child. Chuck has also directed me towards research and asking the ‘hard’ questions when considering which new resources should enhance our reading interventions. Chuck has also worked with our junior primary who are finding an increasing number of children arriving with underdeveloped oral language vocabulary knowledge, directly affecting the children’s ability to read.
Two aspects stand out for me with Chuck:
- His ability to design down-to-earth, low cost programmes which actually make a difference!
- His mentoring ability with teachers and teacher aides – patient, insightful, diplomatic and accurate!
While everyone I know believes Chuck deserves a well-earned retirement, the consensus is that people think Chuck should have retired in Canterbury and set up a consultancy business here. Whoever is privileged to gain Chuck’s services in the lower North Island will be at a definite advantage. As the adage goes, our loss, your definite gain!
Ross Nicholson, S.E.N.Co, Deputy Principal, Head of Primary
Rangoria New Life School
“Chuck has extensive knowledge of literacy acquisition and development and assessment; keeps up to date with new research and has been a fantastic source of support and advice on new resources and new research. I have always found his recommendations very helpful.”
I have worked in classes with teachers and observed them using SevenPlus with great success. I have also recommended AVAILLL and WordLab after observing these programmes achieving literacy gains.
Chuck works one to one and with groups of children to lift their literacy levels. He is intuitive, responsive to needs and always sets high expectations. He relates well to students and adults and listens and responds in a calm and helpful way. Chuck has extensive knowledge of literacy acquisition and development and assessment; keeps up to date with new research and has been a fantastic source of support and advice on new resources and new research. I have always found his recommendations very helpful.
Rosemarie Hensley, Resource Teacher for Literacy
Burnside Primary, Christchurch
“Chuck has been successful with the development of these reading interventions partly because he is a skilled communicator with adults and students. He works well with groups and individuals. He is passionate about improving the literacy skills of students and is able to communicate this passion and he communicates the interest he has in those he works with.”
Chuck has always been interested in determining the issues and challenges that some children face when acquiring literacy. He enjoys reading widely within the research to support his knowledge and understanding of these issues. Chuck is also able to use the empirical observation of children’s practices to support his understanding of literacy acquisition difficulties. He combines these observations with critical analysis and careful assessment practices (such as YARC – York Assessment of Reading Comprehension, The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability) and his knowledge of the research to develop programmes for reading intervention and support. These programmes cater for struggling younger readers as well as the struggling older reader. I have personally used many of the programmes Chuck has developed and can attest to their effectiveness.
FivePlus and SevenPlus are two programmes he has developed. FivePlus provides support for younger students so that they can better understand what is required of them at difficulty on text. It combines repeated reading (for mileage and the automatic recognition of high-frequency words), with the direct teaching of decoding and encoding. It is particularly powerful in the requirement for students to both encode and decode. The eight-week programme provides the repletion and practice needed to support students to accelerate their progress.
The SevenPlus reading intervention works in a similar way for older readers. It is based on teaching the use of syllabification, and building the knowledge of chunks and blends, vowel and consonant digraphs and other common spelling patterns. The building of this knowledge supports the student with strategies to use when they encounter difficulties in the text. It also has a vocabulary-building component. SevenPlus provides targeted teaching, repetition and support for accelerated progress.
Chuck has been successful with the development of these reading interventions partly because he is a skilled communicator with adults and students. He works well with groups and individuals. He is passionate about improving the literacy skills of students and is able to communicate this passion and he communicates the interest he has in those he works with.
The AVAILLL programme is another programme that Chuck has developed in the NZ context and it is a very successful, literacy enhancement programme that can be used in a whole class setting or a smaller group situation. The research results are impressive.
WordLab is a school-wide spelling programme which develops a knowledge of language structure, morphology and etymology that allows students to understand their language and it use.
These programmes provide some insight into the strength of Chuck’s literacy knowledge, his knowledge of how children learn and his ability to put his ideas for supporting literacy acquisition into practice.
I have had the privilege of working alongside Chuck for many years and will miss his generosity, knowledge and friendship.
Rosemary Rankin, Resource Teacher Literacy
West Spreydon School
“We have found that in the 3 terms we trialled FivePlus, 17 children who were ‘Below’ National Standard in reading are now reading ‘At’ National Standard after completing the programme, compared to 6 out 8 children successfully being discontinued from Reading Recovery over 4 terms, the other 2 children being referred out of the programme and needing further specialist intervention.”
Chuck has developed a range of resources himself from which our school has benefited including – Reading SevenPlus and FivePlus, AVAILLL and Spelling – WordLab.
We have been fortunate to trial FivePlus this year with considerable success. We are using FivePlus as an alternative to Reading Recovery. While not designed to replace Reading Recovery it enables the children who miss out on Reading Recovery to have a specialised reading intervention, suitable for children reading at yellow or above and making limited progress. We have found that in the 3 terms we trialed FivePlus, 17 children who were ‘Below’ National Standard in reading are now reading ‘At’ National Standard after completing the programme, compared to 6 out 8 children successfully being discontinued from Reading Recovery over 4 terms, the other 2 children being referred out of the programme and needing further specialist intervention. Because of this success we are now continuing to use 5Plus as part of our specialist interventions in reading. This programme can also be taken by a Teacher Aide making it extremely cost effective.
Dawn Anderson, Assistant Principal, SENCO,
Kaiapoi North School – Te Kura o Ruataniwha
“Chuck has gained immense respect amongst local teachers, school leaders and other colleagues. He is frequently invited to share his knowledge and to lead professional development and parent meetings. He builds an immediate rapport with children, whether working in a one-on-one situation or with broader groups of students. He can work very successfully with children of all ages.”
I have known Chuck for many years, in my capacity as a classroom teacher, as a school literacy leader, a Deputy Principal and more recently as an RTLB. He and I have also worked together to develop literacy resources.
During this period Chuck was Resource Teacher: Literacy for the school I was in and now, as I have taken on the RTLB role, we often collaborate in supporting literacy across local schools.
Chuck has been a guiding light in North Canterbury schools. He has always inspired with his knowledge of current best practice and his drive to make a difference for children. He is intensely interested in knowing how best to support learners of all abilities and ages and has gained huge respect for his work in local schools. He is an avid learner himself and has a wealth of knowledge in the field of literacy learning.
Out of this knowledge springs a deep understanding of how best to assess and evaluate the learning needs struggling learners, and of the most effective ways of supporting these students.
Chuck is always very generous with his time and expertise. His skill in working with teachers to develop their own capacity is outstanding, and is particularly evidenced in his recent work with SevenPlus and FivePlus. Both of these interventions have been developed in response to needs in schools and in his desire to create very easily implemented and effective methods of teaching children the necessary skills. Teachers have responded very positively to the training provided and the ongoing support Chuck provides.
Chuck has a deep interest in spelling and how best to teach this, and together we have developed a comprehensive whole school spelling resource (WordLab) already successfully implemented in many schools across the country.
Chuck has gained immense respect amongst local teachers, school leaders and other colleagues. He is frequently invited to share his knowledge and to lead professional development and parent meetings. He builds an immediate rapport with children, whether working in a one-on-one situation or with broader groups of students. He can work very successfully with children of all ages.
I highly recommend Chuck to anyone who may wish to tap into his expertise. He brings with him a wealth of valuable knowledge and skill.
Louise Douglas, Resource Teacher of Learning and Behaviour
Kaiapoi North School – Te Kura o Ruataniwha
“All [of Chuck’s] programmes provide a structured approach that helps our struggling learner feel success and make progress. The resources that have been created to support students and teachers are comprehensive and a valuable part of the programmes.”
The programmes have been a successful way to implement programmes to support struggling learners. The PD that is given to learning how to use these programmes is comprehensive and valuable. All programmes provide a structured approach that helps our struggling learner feel success and make progress. The resources that have been created to support students and teachers are comprehensive and a valuable part of the programmes.
As an RTLit Chuck has always been approachable and offered valuable advice both in an informal and formal way. He has been able to help identify what are the specific needs of some learners and support and suggest teaching approaches and resources that would be engaging and useful. He has been a key part of building my teaching of literacy effectively over the years.
Felicity Fahey, HinauTeam Leader
Kaiapoi North School – Te Kura o Ruataniwha
“WordLab has been implemented in most schools in my cluster with Chuck providing workshops and on-going guidance to support the schools. Teachers like the simplicity and slickness of the approach, with all the planning and resources provided for them.”
As a group we meet regularly, as we realise we all encounter similar needs/concerns within our respective clusters. Over those years Chuck has used his literacy knowledge and expertise to develop excellent programmes to address these needs that arise within the school setting.
Schools in my area had approached me with concerns about the lack of a systematic whole school approach to teaching spelling. I knew Chuck was developing such a programme as he had presented it to us as a group. This programme has been trialed thoroughly, and the evidence shows the accelerated progress that students make.
WordLab has been implemented in most schools in my cluster with Chuck providing workshops and on-going guidance to support the schools. Teachers like the simplicity and slickness of the approach, with all the planning and resources provided for them. School leaders like that it is a systematic whole school programme that is simple to implement, takes only 20 minutes and students are monitored and data is collected regularly.
The SevenPlus and FivePlus strategies have also been developed by Chuck arising from seeing the need. Chuck has willingly provided workshops in my area for these programmes. They are all practical, hands on workshops that give the teachers and/or teacher aides a thorough understanding of the process. The resources are all provided so that they can instantly go back and implement them in their school. I have done the workshops and used the programmes myself and I can support the schools who implement them.
I have recently used SevenPlus myself with a group of students who struggled with fluency and who would just use initial visuals and then guess at any multisyllabic word. Now that these students have strategies to attack unknown words their cognition is freed up for fluency and comprehension. Two students increased one year level on the Burt Word Reading Test and two have increased two year levels. To see how their confidence has grown is rewarding too.
AVAILLL has been used for some time in our area. One of our service groups had heard about the research and success of the programme and they have provided it to all the schools.
Jo Veale, Resource Teacher: Literacy
Ashburton Intermediate School
“Chuck has introduced so many amazing literacy initiatives to our school. Examples of these are Wordlab, FivePlus and SevenPlus. He has explained how these programmes work, and worked with teacher aides to ensure they can confidently put the programmes in place. Chuck always comes back to observe the teacher aides and teachers in action working with the programmes.”
In both of these positions I have been the SENCO and Deputy Principal.
The staff across the schools that Chuck has been working in have had the most incredible support, knowledge and experience from Chuck and his departure will leave a very big gap and very big shoes to fill.
Chuck has a real ability to quickly and efficiently assess and address literacy difficulties with children. His vast knowledge and experience make quick work of finding out what children are finding challenging and then putting in strategies to accelerate progress.
Chuck is fantastic with children, both in the one on one situation and also with groups. He quickly puts children at ease, which can be a challenging task for someone the children are not familiar with. The children are always happy to work with Chuck and he has a knack of getting them to put in their best effort.
Chuck has introduced so many amazing literacy initiatives to our school. Examples of these are Wordlab, FivePlus and SevenPlus. He has explained how these programmes work, and worked with teacher aides to ensure they can confidently put the programmes in place. Chuck always comes back to observe the teacher aides and teachers in action working with the programmes. This is fabulous support to ensure the programmes are correctly delivered and also that the staff feel fully supported. Wordlab has been very positively received by our school and the fact that we choose to maintain it and grow it as our whole school spelling programme is testament to it’s efficacy and ease of use for teachers.
We have been very grateful for Chuck’s work in our school and his availability, energy and complete commitment to improving literacy outcomes for children. He is an incredible resource.
Belinda Buchanan, Deputy Principal
Pegasus Bay School
“Chuck has also been instrumental in introducing the AVAILLL programme, running professional development sessions to explain the programme and supporting schools to access appropriate resources. Our students loved using AVAILLL and teachers commented that one of the benefits was that students were reading for sustained periods without even realising they were doing so.”
He demonstrates the ability to assess and address literacy difficulties in both young children and older students who are struggling in literacy.
He has introduced teachers in our school to the FivePlus Programme that has been designed to accelerate the literacy skills of younger students, aged 5 – 7 years. Chuck is happy to explain the specific resources required to run the programme and to demonstrate the programme in practice. All students who have been through the programme have made accelerated progress. Teachers and teacher aides who have implemented this programme have felt very supported by Chuck in the initial stages of its introduction.
We have had similar success with the SevenPlus Programme that targets older readers. Again, Chuck was on hand to demonstrate the programme in action, providing video clips and one to one support to demonstrate key elements of the programme.
Chuck has also been instrumental in introducing the AVAILLL programme, running professional development sessions to explain the programme and supporting schools to access appropriate resources. Our students loved using AVAILLL and teachers commented that one of the benefits was that students were reading for sustained periods without even realising they were doing so.
As well as the time and effort Chuck puts into developing these resources for students, Chuck is also happy to work one to one with individuals or groups of students who are struggling or need literacy support.
As a literacy specialist, Chuck has also designed the Wordlab Spelling programme for schools. It is a comprehensive programme that provides sequential learning for students across the school along with the opportunity for extension activities for very capable spellers. Introducing this programme has given structure to our classroom spelling programmes and specific spelling skills are taught on a daily basis.
Chuck is familiar with a range of assessment tools and he can quickly analyse student performance and results to recommend the most appropriate form of intervention to support our learners.
Jude Edwards, Deputy Principal
Ohoka School
“Chuck’s vast knowledge and experience working with children with literacy needs led him to devise, implement and develop the SevenPlus, FivePlus and Availl reading programmes. SevenPlus is an intervention programme to support older readers whilst FivePlus is a programme designed to accelerate the literacy skills of younger readers. Both programmes have been very successful at our school with significant gains in reading achievement and attitude.”
During his time based at Kaiapoi North School he has worked with individual children and groups, identifying literacy needs, and designing and implementing programmes of work, in order to address literacy difficulties. He has worked with the learners himself or with their teachers.
Chuck’s vast knowledge and experience working with children with literacy needs led him to devise, implement and develop the SevenPlus, FivePlus and Availl reading programmes. SevenPlus is an intervention programme to support older readers whilst FivePlus is a programme designed to accelerate the literacy skills of younger readers. Both programmes have been very successful at our school with significant gains in reading achievement and attitude. Chuck has worked with teachers and teacher aides to implement both programmes, providing support and guidance when needed.
Chuck’s warm relationship with staff and excellent communication skills has enabled him to work with individual teachers and larger groups, providing professional development. He has introduced our school and others in the cluster to Wordlab. This spelling programme is rigorous and has been gratefully adopted by schools as an effective means of improving spelling across the school.
Chuck is committed to improving outcomes for children with literacy acquisition difficulties and ensuring teachers have the tools and skills to conquer these difficulties. His tremendous knowledge and wisdom will be greatly missed from North Canterbury.
Melanie Poynter, Team Leader Junior School
Ohoka School
“Chuck is one of the key advocates in New Zealand for low progress literacy learners and hopefully will continue in this role for many years to come. His energy, determination and willingness to dedicate hours of personal time to his work are outstanding.”
The position as a Resource Teacher of Literacy, north of Christchurch allowed him to closely observe the students he was working with and implement different teaching methods to address emerging needs. In 2001, the Ministry of Education announced an initiative for all RT: Lits to undertake a two year graduate/postgraduate qualification in literacy education. As one of the three developers and teachers for this programme, I was able to work closely with Chuck and soon became aware of his advanced theoretical understandings of literacy learning and desire to experiment with literacy procedures that could assist those who are struggling. At the end of the two year programme Chuck achieved the highest possible grade but sought further knowledge by voluntarily undertaking a Masters course on dyslexia taught by world expert Professor John Everatt at the University of Canterbury. Once again he achieved a high grade for the course and impressed John Everatt with his academic ability and dedication to furthering his knowledge of possible causes for reading and writing difficulties.
A focus at word-level information lead to his development of a programme entitled WordLab and the implementation of it in a range of schools and classes in his cluster. Quantitative research on the efficacy of it occurred during 2016 with researchers at the University of Canterbury responsible for the analysis the results. Chuck’s interest and emphasis on developing knowledge of the structure of words including phonological, morphological and orthographical features is currently perceived by many to be lacking in literacy programmes in our schools (see Christchurch Press article, 11 December, 2017) and in many ways he has foreshadowed much of the current rhetoric on this topic. Recently, his development of the SevenPlus and FivePlus programmes are also producing very promising results.
Another exciting and time consuming programme that Chuck has been involved in over the last decade is the further development of the Audio Visual Achievement in Literacy, Language and Learning (AVAILLL) programme following the death of its original creator US academic Dr Alice Killackey. Using subtitles from Hollywood movies in classroom literacy programmes has created much engagement and progress in reading for students all over New Zealand and in some parts of Australia. As one of the two key researchers on the effectiveness of this programme, particularly for students in low decile schools, I was amazed at the dedication, time and energy that Chuck gave to the further development this programme over a number of years for students in Years 5 to 10. This programme remains popular in schools throughout the country.
To conclude, my work with Chuck has extended over more than two decades. During that time I have witnessed his continued determination and passion for researching and developing programmes that could assist students with literacy difficulties. His liaison with teachers across many schools both in his cluster and nationwide has been exemplary and his work has included many professional development sessions throughout New Zealand and beyond. His presentations are always well prepared and varied, with humour skilfully integrated to ensure engagement by the audience. In all contexts I have witnessed Chuck’s attention to detail and willingness to listen to colleagues across a range of different roles in the primary sector.
Chuck is one of the key advocates in New Zealand for low progress literacy learners and hopefully will continue in this role for many years to come. His energy, determination and willingness to dedicate hours of personal time to his work are outstanding. I look forward to hearing about his latest initiatives and successes in future.
Faye Parkhill, Senior Lecturer, School of Teacher Education
University of Canterbury College of Education
“One such approach that Chuck has introduced is the SevenPlus approach. This has proved highly successful for many of my priority learners, their class mates and their teachers… Data gathered from the schools that I have been working with on this approach show significant benefits to learners, with improvements in reading ages of up to two years in a term.”
Chuck is passionate about making a difference for priority learners and is keen to share with at our Regional RTLit group meetings He is constantly developing and or implementing approaches based on current research that target the needs of our priority learners.
One such approach that Chuck has introduced is the SevenPlus approach. This has proved highly successful for many of my priority learners, their class mates and their teachers. It is an approach that teachers are able to use as a component of or in addition to their guided reading sessions. Data gathered from the schools that I have been working with on this approach show significant benefits to learners, with improvements in reading ages of up to two years in a term.
Pene J Balk-Jarvis, Resource Teacher: Literacy
Shirley Intermediate
Our products are used and endorsed by schools throughout New Zealand