Journey

2007
Project title: Manaiakalani 'The Hook from Heaven'
Shared Outcome Statement

1. To conduct a 4 year curriculum development project to raise student achievement outcomes and improve student engagement by linking key learnings from Schooling Improvement with developing practices from the national e-Learning Action Plan.
2. To see teachers develop more effective practice using the direct instruction and micro- teaching pedagogy of Schooling Improvement followed by student practice using the media and technologies of e-Learning.
3. To measurably raise student achievement outcomes in Speaking & Listening, Reading & Writing and to measurably raise student engagement. To carry out robust and effective research and evaluation in collaboration with the Tamaki Achievement Pathway Schooling Improvement Initiative.
4. To empower our students with an evidence based belief that their personal voice is valuable, powerful and can be heard around the planet from right here in this decile 1A community and that success need not be defined by the ability to leave.
5. Engage students in the use of technologies that allow them to practice, produce, present and publish in something other than the media of historic failure.
6. To continue to develop effective school practice through further growth, participation and collaboration in the professional learning community comprised by this cluster of schools and through collaboration with other clusters.
7. To build capacity in the Tamaki Community by involving parents/whanau/aiga in the learning process.

Fast-forward Nine Years.......

2015

The following extracts are taken directly from the Woolf Fisher Research Institute's Manaiakalani Evaluation Programme report for 2012-14:

"The challenge for Manaiakalani over the last three years has been one of scalability. While small-scale studies have been able to document what is possible, and this was the case in Manaiakalani, transferring these possibilities into effects in larger rollouts has proved challenging internationally. A number of studies do suggest that digital environments might provide the opportunity for improved learning when linked explicitly to a learning model or framework (Underwood, 2009). In the case of Manaiakalani, the learning cycle (“Learn, Create, Share”) has been employed to build the community of learners and thinkers, thereby moderating the potential limitations of variability when taking innovations to scale."

"In addition to increased test scores, however, it is widely acknowledged that digital initiatives provide opportunities for the development of a wider set of skills, pertinent to operating effectively in a digital world. These include independent learning skills, such as student organisation, study skills and study habits (Warschauer, 2006), problem solving abilities (Lowther, Ross, & Morrison, 2003), critical literacy, information literacy, and argumentation skills in writing (Spektor-Levy & Granot-Gilat, 2012). In this report, while traditional skills have been the focus of assessments, analyses of classroom observations have allowed some insight into the development of digital skills more widely."

"Conclusion
The combined measures demonstrate that large achievement gains have been made in writing over the years 2012-2014 in Manaiakalani. These three years have seen a sustained and specific focus on writing as an area of development, through analysis of practice and Professional Learning Group activities related to these findings..."

To read more of the research, see the Research & Evaluation page.

In Our Story...