Overview: The QuickSmart Literacy intervention program focuses on the automaticity of word recognition, fluency in reading connected texts, and development of vocabulary. The primary aim of QuickSmart is for the students to develop automaticity. QuickSmart lessons emphasise the development of conceptual understanding. Conceptual understanding is ensured by explicitly teaching strategies that emphasise the key concepts underpinning the academic skills being taught.
QuickSmart was awarded highest ratings in the field of Education on research Engagement and Impact by the Australian Research Council (ARC) in its national assessment of research contribution to the broader community and the economy.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A QUICKSMART LITERACY INFORMATION FLYER
Literacy Program Description
QuickSmart Literacy intervention sessions are structured to include a number of short and focused activities aimed at improving a student’s speed of word recognition, reading fluency, and comprehension skills. Once the program is established, at least one lesson a week focuses on reading comprehension.
The program is grounded in automaticity theory; the principle that students must achieve automatic recall of basic skills to free up working memory for higher-order tasks like comprehension and critical thinking. This approach is supported by cognitive load research showing that struggling readers often exhaust their mental resources on basic decoding, leaving insufficient capacity for understanding text meaning.
QuickSmart Literacy students develop automaticity in basic literacy skills, enabling them to engage more effectively with grade-level content and complex texts. The program’s focus on foundational skills creates a platform for improved academic performance across the curriculum. The program provides schools with a research-validated approach to literacy intervention that delivers measurable results through systematic, intensive instruction.
Literacy Lesson Structure
QuickSmart Literacy consists of three 30-minute lessons weekly for 30 weeks (SiMERR strongly recommends at least 90 lessons in total). Students work in pairs with the same instructor, ideally matched by similar reading obstacles. An experienced teacher or trained teacher aide delivers the program under trained teacher supervision.
Instruction is organised into 3-4 week units (9-12 lessons) centring on sets of approximately thirty focus words. Word sets range from high-usage 3-4 letter words to more complex sets, linked to curriculum areas, quality literary texts, or student-interest themes. Focus words are incorporated into relevant connected text passages.
Each lesson includes:
- Timed flashcard activities using focus words from target text
- Vocabulary activities
- Repeated readings of target text to improve fluency
- Scaffolded comprehension strategies
- Reading games consolidating word recognition and meaning
- Regular testing using QuickSmart Basic Skills Assessor (QBSA) tasks*
*QBSA assessment and instruction tasks include:
- Simple and middle word recognition
- Simple and middle close sentence comprehension
- Non-word reading tasks (particularly challenging for students with learning disabilities)
What is included in the purchase?
Professional Development
- The QuickSmart Literacy program includes 6 days (3×2-day workshops) of Basic Skills Professional Development training for up to five staff members in the first year of the program
Physical Resources
- 1 x QuickSmart kit containing flash cards for the texts in the Resource & Organisation Folder
- 1 x Resource & Organisation Folder containing master copies of student texts, instructors’ copies, word study sheets, word lists, word meaning sheets and comprehension sheets for four different text levels (Essential Words, Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3)
- 1 x Sample student folder
- 2 x User Guides
- Strategy cards for word study and comprehension exercises
- 1 x Stopwatch
- 1 x USB microphone
- Set of counters in four different colours
- Set of Literacy Games (dominoes, word meaning games & bingo)
Three-Year Digital Resources and Assessment Tool Access Licence
- 3-year QBSA application licence
- 3-year access to the Literacy digital Program Resources in the QuickSmart Portal, which includes extra resources and digital copies of all of the above paper resources
- Access to additional online text resources
- An annual “end-of-program” school report based on data provided to SiMERR for analysis
Ongoing program, administration and IT phone and email support
What is not included: printed resources of the additional texts available online, however all additional materials can be printed from the digital Program Resources section of the QS Portal.