England: Y3 phonics check resit dropped by government
Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2017 10:28 am
The link below goes to a TES (Times Educational Supplement) piece - 'breaking news' - of the Department for Education dropping the idea of a Year 3 re-take of the Year One Phonics Screening Check following a pilot in 300 primary schools.
If you want any evidence of how incredibly lacking in knowledge and understanding so many members of our teaching profession demonstrate regarding the nature of reading and the scientific findings underpinning reading instruction, then skim through the many 'readers' comments' section.
The vast majority of the responses are shocking and utterly dismaying.
Within one day, there were over 200 comments - that vast majority gleeful and scornful about the abandonment of the check for Year 3 children who have previously failed to reach the benchmark of 32 out of 40 words read or decoded correctly or plausibly.
https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/br ... ds-dropped
If you want any evidence of how incredibly lacking in knowledge and understanding so many members of our teaching profession demonstrate regarding the nature of reading and the scientific findings underpinning reading instruction, then skim through the many 'readers' comments' section.
The vast majority of the responses are shocking and utterly dismaying.
Within one day, there were over 200 comments - that vast majority gleeful and scornful about the abandonment of the check for Year 3 children who have previously failed to reach the benchmark of 32 out of 40 words read or decoded correctly or plausibly.
https://www.tes.com/news/school-news/br ... ds-dropped
Phonics resits plan for seven and eight-year-olds dropped
Adi Bloom
2nd February 2017
The Department for Education says that it will not proceed any further with the idea of Year 3 pupils retaking phonics tests, after a trial found that nearly half failed for a third time
The government has abandoned the idea of Year 3 pupils retaking phonics screening tests.
As TES reported earlier today, a Department for Education pilot project, published today, revealed that almost half of seven and eight-year-olds who had twice failed the phonics check did not meet the standard on the second retake.
And more than a third of teachers said that repeating the test again at the end of Year 3 – two years after it was first taken – had no positive impact on their teaching of phonics.
'It doesn't deliver for pupils'
Now the DfE has confirmed that it will be dropping plans to allow for a second retake of the test. A spokesperson told TES: “[The pilot] was a small-scale piece of work looking at the impact of phonics check retakes in Year 3. On balance, we have decided not to proceed with it any further. They are not going to go ahead.”
The NAHT heads' union has welcomed this decision. Russell Hobby, general secretary, said: “The government has seen what many professionals have been saying: retaking phonics screening adds to workload and does not deliver for pupils.
“The government is often attracted to retakes and resits, when, in fact, a different approach to teaching is needed.”