Kiwi publisher in running for international award

MEDIA RELEASE
Date: 14 May 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Kiwi publisher in running for international award

A pioneering Wellington publisher has been shortlisted for a major industry award in the United States.

South Pacific Press has been announced as a finalist in the American-based Association of Educational Publishers’ Distinguished Achievement Award, for its mixed-media reading comprehension resource, Comprehension Strategies Instruction (CSI).

Chief Executive, Neale Pitches, says CSI helps teachers to improve students’ literacy, specifically comprehension, vocabulary and fluency, through digital texts that can be used on interactive whiteboards and/or data projectors in classrooms.

“We’re helping teachers to break down the comprehension barriers that so many children are facing today. CSI has taken literacy learning into the digital world using technology that teachers find easy to use and engages their students,” Mr Pitches says.

Using a software platform developed by Palmerston North-based Unlimited Realities, Mr Pitches says CSI has brought the traditional world of literacy education into the 21st century.

“The technology and interactivity engages students while they’re learning comprehension strategies. It also improves their vocabulary, fluency and oral language skills. Teachers are already reporting remarkable results, and all of a sudden comprehension isn’t so daunting to teach or to learn,” Mr Pitches says.

The research-based resource uses a three-step ‘Rich Learning Model’ which features whole-group, cooperative and independent learning, using texts from English, science, social studies and maths subject areas.

CSI was piloted at several schools in New Zealand last year. Miramar South School in Wellington found that Year 8 students’ skills in literacy and comprehension rose markedly using CSI, with Māori students in particular showing strong gains in literacy and comprehension skills.

At the beginning of the year, 75% of the class’s Māori students were in the lower half of the Ministry of Education’s Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning (AsTTle) test. At the end of the year, 100% were graded in the top half.

“My students made a staggering leap in their reading ability,” says Miramar South School Deputy Principal/Literacy Leader, Kyran Smith. “In six years of teaching this age level I’ve never worked with a resource that’s contributed so much.”

CSI is currently sold in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Mr Pitches says talks are well underway with several other countries to distribute the resource.

The Distinguished Achievement Awards winners will be announced at the National Press Club, Washington DC, on 12 June 2009.

ENDS

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