Although this is about England's statutory annual Year One Phonics Screening Check, I think it is nevertheless a global issue as English is taught in many countries around the world, and because IFERI is promoting the check for global use. The check materials are made available for 'free' after its official use in England:
Phonics check needs rethink after data shows ‘something dodgy’
Freddie Whittaker
Oct 7, 2016
http://schoolsweek.co.uk/phonics-check- ... ent-103244
The government’s phonics screening check needs an “urgent rethink” after new figures show “something dodgy” with scores, a policy expert has warned.
Figures published last week show 81 per cent of year 1 pupils met the “expected standard” in phonics checks this year, up from 77 per cent in 2015.
But the reliability of results has been questioned after mark distribution data showed a steep rise around the pass mark of 32 (see graph).
Data for key stage 1 teacher assessments, also published last week, shows fewer pupils reached the expected standard in writing last year, with 74 per cent of pupils at the expected level for reading.
Anne Heavey, education policy adviser at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “Sadly the phonics and key stage 1 results this year demonstrate one thing and one thing alone – something dodgy is going on with these assessments and they require an urgent rethink.”
England's Year One Phonics Screening Check is an enormously invaluable resource for raising awareness of teaching effectiveness in beginning reading instruction. I left a 'reader's comment' in response to this article:
There is another perspective for viewing the results of the Year One Phonics Screening Check in a much more positive and professional light than a picture of hard-edged ‘accountability’.
It is that the results can inform teachers of the relative effectiveness of their phonics teaching which gives them a steer in whether they need to look more closely at how they are teaching phonics.
Any teacher should surely want to know if all his or her phonics provision, which includes the children’s phonics practice, is as effective as other teachers in like circumstances who perhaps might be doing something significantly ‘different’ with their phonics provision.
Even if the borderline marks are looking somewhat suspicious, nevertheless, the national mark of 81% is indicating that there are still 19% of children who may not be getting the right kind of phonics provision or even enough practice. There are over a thousand schools where nearly all the children are reaching or exceeding the 32 out of 40 benchmark and this number of schools is growing year on year.
Another issue that no-one seems to touch upon is that is it absolutely right than any government promoting, even funding, practices, programmes and decodable reading books tries to understand what difference this makes in our schools for teaching beginning reading. In other words, it is not only the teachers who are accountable but the people in authority who promote specific content and methods.
The greatest ‘diagnostic’ benefit to be gained from the advent of the Year One Phonics Screening Check is the look it provides us all in a responsible professional capacity. Foundational literacy is SO important, that it is a shame the check is not put forward in more positive terms.
The check is only a ‘snapshot’ of children’s technical decoding ability but it is simple and straightforward and invaluable for moving the country forwards in its CPD. In fact, the International Foundation for Effective Reading Instruction is promoting the use of the free check on a global basis wherever English is taught for reading and writing because the whole word would arguably benefit from a greater understanding of phonics teaching and teaching effectiveness.
Do read the whole article (not long) and note that I'm cross-referencing this thread with the long-established thread of the Year One Phonics Screening Check (including where you can access the free check materials):
Update page for the Year One Phonics Screening Check - IFERI recommends global use of the phonics check
http://www.iferi.org/iferi_forum/viewto ... ?f=2&t=525
