Evaluation of the project
The project evaluation Erebus reportDownload or read Erebus Report in Adobe PDF format. (328 kb)
summarised comments from teachers about the impact of the approach, as follows:- Increased engagement for all students involved in the pilot, including Aboriginal students.
- Many students found the learning experience intensive but rewarding work.
- Students generally appreciated the very structured approach to both teaching and learning and soon locked into the sequence of steps involved, thereby building confidence in their own capability as they repeated particular steps.
- Students were prepared to attack new reading situations with increased confidence and less hesitancy.
- While the approach may have been designed initially for slower students, teachers witnessed a general improvement level in all students irrespective of reading ability and literary experience.
- The approach can be readily adapted to more senior students in terms of appropriate selection of text and designing the critical response required of them, rather than a personal response in order to take them out of their comfortable learning zone.
- Evidence of improved student attendance over the period of the pilot, particularly with those students whose attendance had previously inhibited patterns of learning. In some classes attendance had elevated from seven students attending from fourteen (50%) to twelve from fourteen students (86%) attending on a regular basis.
- A work ethic became evident among those students that had never previously been able to engage for anything more than very short periods.