The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) has created the first longitudinally linked dataset of Australian students’ National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) participation and results.

In Australia, a substantial proportion of students start secondary school with literacy and numeracy skills that are 3 or more years below those of their peers (ACARA, 2021).

This summary presents the key findings from 2 reports on better supporting students who enter secondary school with gaps in their foundational literacy and numeracy skills. The reports highlights findings from:

Targeting sentence-level instruction is critical in order to develop foundational skills in writing. Sentence combining is an instructional technique used to improve sentence quality, complexity, and variety.

This publication summarises available evidence on writing and writing instruction. While the literature on writing instruction is modest compared with reading, and the quality of the research is variable, there are a number of findings and recommendations that can be drawn.

Examples of practice demonstrate effective practice in different education settings. You can use them to think about how to apply the practice in your own context.