New Zealand Ministry of Education Citations

Home–school partnerships take many different forms, depending on the context and their purpose. Some successful initiatives to promote student learning include:
» Reading Together

Funding will support the positive results we’ve already seen from Reading Together in participating schools, through expanding the availability of family-based literacy programmes to all decile 1-3 schools.

The Government wants to see a significant lift in student achievement through focused programmes like Reading Together.

Performance Measure:
» Provider groups, families and whānau are satisfied with training and assistance provided.

Actual Performance:
Feedback from Pouwhakataki programmes is as follows:
» Reading Together: 99% better informed, 99% confident and better equipped to help their child’s reading.

A large-scale, grass-roots education campaign to raise literacy and education achievement levels in Manurewa is being launched this morning by Associate Education Minister Dr Pita Sharples. ...  "Home has a powerful influence on what a child learns inside and outside of school. A special feature of this programme is the role parents take on with guidance on how to help their children at home. When productive partnerships between Maori learners, their whānau and expert educators are made, everyone enjoys better outcomes," he said.  "These programmes have both teachers and whānau in mind. It is important to support teachers to improve their literacy teaching practices, but families, whānau and communities must not be overlooked," said Dr Sharples.

Case study: Reading Together
John Good, Te Puna o Te Mātauranga, is thrilled with the buzz in Manurewa around the Reading Together programme. He commented "We’ve never had such networking between teachers, schools, librarians, iwi and communities."
...
Reading Together was included in the Manurewa Literacy Project (launched in August 2009). The Project is a large-scale campaign to raise literacy and education achievement in the area. John looks forward to seeing the programme help to realise the potential of the young learners of Manurewa. "Reading Together has enjoyed powerful results for over 25 years. Now children, parents, whānau and schools of Manurewa have the opportunity to share in that success."

Case study: The Manurewa Literacy Project
A joint parent/whānau and teacher intervention using Reading Together ...
The principals and teachers who have trained as facilitators say that it's been an eye-opening experience. Many have never engaged with whānau at this level before, and they've been very positive about the experience. ...
By the fourth workshop, parents and whānau reported they had found time for reading at home and the relationships with their children had improved. [p 3]

Recently Mangere Bridge School has expanded parental involvement by using the Reading Together programme developed by Jeanne Biddulph, which is available nationally. The programme is effective and concise - in four ... sessions, parents and their children meet with a trained teacher who shows them good ways to support the child in reading. Previous evaluations show children have made long-term gains in reading. “It works really well,” says Judy [Hanna, Principal, Mangere Bridge School, Auckland].

A group of parents and teachers were engrossed in books and activities, learning from each other and enjoying themselves in the library... The parents were finding ways to help their children read and, in the process, having a positive experience of what school offered their families. The workshop was part of Reading Together, a high-impact programme that equips parents with strategies to support children's reading.