Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results lead to interest in adoption of a phonics check

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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results lead to interest in adoption of a phonics check

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http://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia ... ?ocid=News
The federal education minister wants parents to dream bigger for their children.

After three dismal reports on the academic performance of Australian students, Simon Birmingham believes the important role of parental influence on a child's ambitions must be recognised.

"Parents are the first educators ... and the expectations and ambitions they set, the level of engagement in areas like early reading is absolutely critical to the success of children," he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

"Just reading to your kids for 15 to 20 minutes a day when they're young can equate to 500 hours of reading experience they've had by the time they start school, which gives them a greater vocabulary."

The release on Tuesday of the final 2016 NAPLAN results rounds out a trio of recent report cards on Australian students and the grade is not great...
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results round out poor grades

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Here is a piece in the Herald Sun, Australia, with reference to Simon Birmingham's promotion of phonics and the proposed phonics check:


http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victor ... 590d77d52f
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Re: Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results round out poor grades

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This piece in ABC news includes video footage of Simon Birmingham being questioned about the phonics check and whether funding will be available once children are identified as weaker readers:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-18/e ... -1/8954752
Year 1 students could soon have to do a new reading and maths test
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results round out poor grades

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Here is a short radio interview with Simon Birmingham about the phonics check:


http://www.abc.net.au/radio/adelaide/pr ... st/8956796

By the way, re the teacher's comment at the end about the time it takes to do the check: The better a child has been taught phonics, the less time it takes to undertake a phonics check!

A child well-taught will whizz through the check!
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results lead to interest in adoption of a phonics check

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

Teacher-blogger, Greg Ashman, raises awareness about some factual errors and misunderstanding on the part of columnist, Misty Adoniou, with regard to research findings and the phonics check advocated for use in Australia:

https://gregashman.wordpress.com/2017/0 ... ics-check/
Fact-checking Misty Adoniou on the phonics check

September 20, 2017

Misty Adoniou is a regular columnist for The Conversation in Australia. She is an odd choice for this role because she is more of a campaigner than an impartial communicator of academic findings. And she was in full campaign mode this week as she railed against the proposed phonics check for Year 1 students.
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Re: Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results lead to interest in adoption of a phonics check

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Here is a summary of the panel reporting on the proposed Year 1 literacy and numeracy checks in Teacher Magazine:

https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/arti ... acy-checks
Year 1 literacy and numeracy checks

19 September 2017
Jo Earp
A government advisory panel has recommended the introduction of teacher-administered national literacy and numeracy checks in Year 1 as a way of identifying students who need additional support.

The checks, described as ‘light touch’ assessments, would measure key foundation skills and knowledge and would be aligned to the Australian Curriculum. The focus would be on phonics in literacy and number sense and position/location in numeracy.


In its report to Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham, the advisory panel says while the existing UK Phonics Screening Check could be adapted for use in Australian schools, a new tool should be developed for the numeracy assessment. The proposed timeline for a national rollout is Term 3, 2018 for literacy and Term 3, 2019 for numeracy.
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Re: Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results lead to interest in adoption of a phonics check

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Alison Clarke writes about the proposed phonics check via her Spelfabet site:


https://www.spelfabet.com.au/2017/09/ne ... more-25299
New phonics test will help teachers see who’s guessing, not decoding

Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham has announced that once they’ve been at school for 18 months, he’d like all children to do a short, class-teacher-administered phonics test.

Loud protests, of course. Not another mandatory test, etc. But I agree with his advisors that this short, simple test will be a good thing. I’m optimistic that once it draws teachers’ attention to not-currently-obvious gaps in their students’ reading knowledge, they’ll move to fill them.
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Re: Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results lead to interest in adoption of a phonics check

Post by Debbie_Hepplewhite »

This is a radio interview well worth listening to for those of you who are following the debate in Australia about the possible adoption of a Year 1 phonics screening check:

http://radio.abc.net.au/programitem/pgo ... ?play=true
What impact do tests have on the literacy of students? on Life Matters

with Amanda Smith on RN

Wednesday 27th September
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Debbie_Hepplewhite
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Re: Simon Birmingham, Aus: NAPLAN results lead to interest in adoption of a phonics check

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The AUSPELD letter to Ministers in support of the phonics check:

http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=3&t=944
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