Phonics test

[BingBong36]

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me about the phonics test in Y1?

My son has some alien words to practice if we have time.

The school haven't told us what it is for.

Can anyone tell me the process and how important this test is? Thank you

Thanks

Teen tell your DD that a cation is actually a thing in itself:

definition

pointy Thanks. She and I do actually do know what it is, it's just I'm so used to seeing it as an ending to a word it kind of automatically comes out wrong.

OP - sorry for derailing somewhat.

My dd didn't even know that she's 'did' this test. Each child simply went through a few sheets with the KS1 lead, who they all knew, and that was that.

It's one of the tests that I'm really glad that they have as a statutory requirement as it's evidence-based. I think it's 8 out of 10 children who learn to read by being taught synthetic phonics. If she had been one of the 2 out of 10, I'm glad that this would have been formally identified in Y1 so that she could have additional input.

A friend of mine's dd got to Y4 before a private ed psych assessment suggested that she wasn't 'not very bright' as her school had suggested, but hadn't been taught to decode effectively, so her difficulties were a result of her working memory for sight words having run out.

I figured you would know, teen - I'm guessing your DD isn't phonic taking test age (if she is, she's a genius!)

Sadly my DD is not a genius. She is taking a test soon - GCSEs rather than phonics! (but she would quite possibly struggle with the alien side of the phonics test).

Ah, GCSE science.

My DD is in Yr9 and I don't think she knows what a cation is yet. She's shit hot on phonics though...

We used phonics regularly in A Level economics, sometimes the teacher had us all read it out together as if we were six.

It's also how you tell the difference between a tube driver and a scientist (ask them to pronounce "unionised")

emwithme

emwithme

I'm sure there was a post on TES once from an Alevel history teacher who'd been giving her students reading as preperation and wider reading but was struggling to understand why they only had a limited grasp of what they were reading. Turned out when she looked into it that they couldn't decode much of the new vocabulary so they were having to read round it which was seriously hampering their ability to understand the texts they were reading.

When they do the phonics test are they allowed to sound out the word aloud, or do they only get the mark if they can do this internally and just say the word?

My Year 2 child scored zero on this test last year, but has come on leaps and bounds this year. However, lots of words he still has to sound out aloud before blending and reading them. If he is allowed to do this I am sure this year he will pass, though I'm not sure he would if this is not allowed. His brother is in Year 1 and, apart from key words like can, not, has etc is still sounding most things out aloud, so again I think he will only pass if this is allowed.

They can sound out the words in fact they would be encouraged to do this prior to the check. The check is to assess his accurately they an decode unfamiliar words using current phonic knowledge

How accurately !!!

Thank you for your very quick replies! That's good then, if sounding out aloud is permitted my two have a good chance of passing this test this year.

Christinarosetti it's 8 out of 10 children will read well with mixed methods. With synthetic phonics, the figure is far higher, around 95% or more I believe. Hence the recent emphasis on phonics- mixed methods fail 1 in 5 children, phonics works for many more.

Those figures sound about right in my experience MrsK. I would be worried if after two years of teaching only 80% passed. I would expect it to be between 95% and 100%. Obviously you'd need to account for children entering during year 1 with few reading skills or an unusually large number of children with a high level of SEN.

Christinarosetti it's 8 out of 10 children will read well with mixed methods.

I've seen it more like: 50% of children will learn to read & spell, 25% will learn to read but not spell, 25% won't learn to read or to spell.

Bear in mind, of course, that peoples' concepts of what constitutes 'good' reading will vary wildly and that the 'levels' previously used for National Curriculum Tests (SATs) were a bit suspect. I have encountered a great many children with a 'L4' for reading who I would not say were 'good' readers in that they had poor word ID skills and read inaccurately. But then, the SATs 'Reading' test was about comprehension not about phonic knowledge and skills.

It is sad to find some parents worrying about the Phonics Check. This is not a high stakes test in which pass or fail will have lifelong repercussions! From the child's point of view it is just a diagnostic test to see if they need extra help in mastering phonic knowledge & skills. From the school's point of view it is more sinister as their results will be compared with the national average, and with schools with similar demographics to theirs, and the assumption will be made that a school with poor results is failing in its phonics teaching.

If parents are getting the idea that sounding out may not be 'allowed' in the check it seemsd as though the school might either be doing a poor job at communicating with parents, or, may be not really understanding how phonics 'works'...

The test is only a "test" in the sense that newborn weigh-ins and hearing tests are "tests."

They are not going to use these tests to scold children or parents or as a basis for putting children into "sets." They are trying to spot if there are any kids who are just guessing and memorizing books but aren't able to actually sound words out.

Sometimes very bright children are able to bluff their way through for a year or two, looking like they are reading. Then it all comes unstuck when the books get too long and hard for them to guess/memorize their way through. It's better if this kind of problem is sussed out sooner rather than later, so that the children can be given some special help to put things right.

The tests are very carefully designed so as not to stress children. The children have it explained to them that the made-up words are the names of the odd alien creatures who are portrayed in a drawing.

It does not harm children to look at a made-up word--if it did then we would all be traumatized by reading Roald Dahl and Jabberwocky.

By the way--the data is back from the phonics check, and it shows that the tests are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. See this post here:

teachingbattleground.wordpress.com/2015/04/02/the-arguments-against-the-phonics-screening-check-have-been-discredited/

Ah, that's good to know.

I've loved watching my two children learn to ready so easily using phonics, and knowing that they have the skills in place to decode words that they come across for years to come.