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Shortly after being weaned off the respirator, 43 infants with severe chronic bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) were transferred from an intensive-care nursery at a teaching hospital to an affiliated children's rehabilitation hospital in a program that included special staff instruction. Morbidity, measured by rate of transfer back to the acute-care hospital, was lower than in a comparison group of 15 infants treated for severe BPD during the previous two years. Average length of stay was significantly shortened and an average of $60,000 per patient was saved. Using a rehabilitation hospital as a step-down unit shifts the emphasis from acute needs to chronic and developmental needs and from intensive monitoring and nursing care to care given at home by parents with nursing assistance.

The shift from additive to multiplicative thinking is challenging for students. A professional learning program was developed that focused on an identified area of need by teachers, namely multiplicative thinking. Program content focused on concepts underpinning multiplicative thinking, pedagogical approaches, challenging tasks, and application to classroom practice. It was delivered via six 90-min modules in 13 participating schools across terms 2–4, as part of regular after school professional learning. Whilst all staff participated, the research focus was year 3–4 teachers. Students’ historical data were collected across four years (2016–2019) to determine mean growth over time, in participating and non-participating schools. National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) and Mathematics Assessment Interview (MAI) data were used to determine the impact of the learning, as both assessments are administered annually. Analysis of year 4 students’ longitudinal data showed greater mean growth in student learning over a 2-year period in schools involved in the learning and additional in-class coaching support, than students in non-participating schools. Our findings showed that targeted school-based professional learning, with in-class support from a knowledgeable other, leads to teachers’ improved understanding of multiplicative thinking and subsequent pedagogical content knowledge to support student learning.

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