The most recent NEMP Report (Crooks, Smith & Flockton, 2009) indicates little or no improvement statistically in reading achievement, despite extensive funding of professional development during the last four years in many schools.

This discussion is grounded in a research study, funded by the Cognition Education Research Trust, which examined school practice in teaching reading in Years 7 and 8. It briefly reports the findings, discusses the nature and causes of the dip, and offers an emerging theorisation of factors that lead to successful reading development.

There is a growing body of research evidence internationally (Brozo, Shiel & Topping, 2007; Farstrup, 2005; Hattie, 2007) to support the proposition that reading progress drops off as students move through the schooling system and that reading is often not effectively taught at the 9- to 13-year-old age level. For example, recent research in New Zealand (Hattie, 2007; McNaughton, Amituanai-Toloa & Lei, 2007) indicates that thereappears to be a tapering off or plateauing of progress in reading for a significant number of students in low socio-economic schools, despite successful interventions at an earlier level.

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