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West Dunbartonshire's literacy scheme
Clackmannanshire's synthetic phonics scheme
(TES Scotland, 24 March 2006)
See also Ten out of 10 for literacy (TES, 23 November 2007), at
The country's second most disadvantaged authority in 2006 claimed
a world first by virtually eradicating pupil illiteracy, nine
years after its early intervention programmes began. Almost
all West Dunbartonshire school-leavers will be up to expected
national reading levels in 2007, turning around a position
in 2001 where almost one in three (28%) of pupils entering
secondary school was functionally illiterate.
In 2001, 292 Primary 7 pupils left with reading ages
below nine years six months, the accepted level for coping
with the secondary curriculum. In August 2005, only 80 children
(6%) moved into secondary with a reading age below that, underlining
the success of the authority's strategy on raising achievement
and ending illiteracy.
The council believed it was on target to ensure that all pupils
can read to national standards by 2007, although there may
be some who will face particular difficulties. Only a handful
of pupils returned very low scores in tests.
A report by Tommy MacKay, one of Scotland's most prominent
educational psychologists, described how the authority has
tackled disadvantage and illiteracy among large sections of
its pupil population.
Since its 10-strand intervention programme began in 1997,
reading levels have risen year on year. Around 4,000 children
are rigorously tested every year and evaluation shows that
children entering P3 have an average reading age almost six
months higher than previous expectations. Much of the success
is down to Jolly Phonics, a predecessor of the synthetic phonics
programme developed in Clackmannanshire and used successfully
elsewhere in Scotland (see below).
West Dunbartonshire also believes it has sustained progress
further up the primary and into secondary and has introduced
special initiatives for any pupils who continue to fail. Intensive
daily, one-to-one work with P6 and P7 pupils who are behind
with their reading has led to rapid progress within six months.
The authority first used the Toe by Toe programme with 104
children in 2002-03 to raise average reading ages from eight
years to nine years two months among the group who were behind
their peers. One in three did not have a reading problem within
six months. Work continues into secondary.
Backing up the claims, Dr MacKay reveals that in 1997 the
mean score for P1 pupils in combined early literacy skills
was 27. In 2005, it was 74. On another measure in 1997, P2
pupils had an average score of 24 words in reading against
40 words in 2005. Similarly, only 5% of P2 pupils in 1997
had a very high score in word reading against 45% last year.
Dr MacKay notes a rise from 12% to 43% in the proportion of
pre-school pupils attaining a perfect or almost perfect score
for concepts of print; a rise from 28% to 90% in P1 pupils
able to recognise 20 or more letter sounds; and a rise from
31% to 67% in P2 pupils scoring 30 or more on the word reading
test.
Literacy levels have risen in pre-school, and in P1 and P2
in all schools. The numbers experiencing reading failure have
been dramatically reduced.
Dr MacKay said eradicating illiteracy seemed an almost impossible
undertaking in 1997. "However, not to do so was unthinkable
as poor literacy affects health, wealth and happiness. It
closes employment markets, impoverishes the economy and lowers
quality of life. For those in the poorest areas, it multiplies
any disadvantages they already have in life. The council therefore
decided on zero tolerance of illiteracy."
See also:
MacKay, T. (2006). The West Dunbartonshire Literacy Initiative: The Design, Implementation and Evaluation of an Intervention Strategy to Raise Achievement and Eradicate Illiteracy. Phase I Research Report. Dumbarton: West Dunbartonshire Council.
See also:
The effects of synthetic phonics teaching on reading and spelling attainment - outlines the seven-year progress of primary school children taught synthetic phonics in Clackmannanshire (February 2005)
In 1998, Rhona Johnston and Joyce Watson of St Andrews University researched eight primary schools in Clackmannanshire in a study of 300 Primary 1 children (ages 4/5) in which they examined the effectiveness of a synthetic phonics teaching programme compared with a typical analytic phonics programme. At the end of the 16 weeks, the reading and spelling of the children on the synthetic phonics programme were around seven months above both their chronological age and the children on the analytic phonics programme.
The emphasis was on teaching the whole class rather than dividing into smaller groups. The children learn rhymes to help them to remember spelling rules. New curriculum programmes had to be devised to keep up with the children as they moved up through the school. From 2002 all 19 Clackmannanshire primary schools are using this method. However, the Scottish Executive decided not to roll the scheme out nationwide. A spokesperson told the Guardian in June 2005: "We do not have a statutory curriculum in Scotland, so we do not prescribe to local authorities how they have to teach a particular subject. Synthetic phonics is used quite widely across Scottish schools as it is clearly very successful, but whether it is adopted is at the discretion of teachers and local authorities."
In their report the researchers describe the progress of the children from Primary 1 through to the end of Primary 5 (ages 8/9), to see whether these gains are maintained in subsequent years and to compare the attainment of boys and girls.
The researchers found the beneficial effects of the synthetic programme to be long lasting: for word reading, the gains increased from a seven-month advantage in Primary 1 to a 26-month advantage in Primary 5. The likely reason for this, they say, is that in learning to recognise and blend sounds early on, children are given a procedure that they can apply for themselves whenever they meet an unfamiliar word.
An entirely unexpected result on the synthetic programme was that in word reading in Primary 3, boys were eight months ahead of girls. In the following two years, they were seven months ahead. Spelling and reading comprehension did not differ significantly between boys and girls, although both were well above their chronological age. In reading comprehension, boys on the synthetic programme were also almost ten months ahead of boys on the analytic programme.
The researchers acknowledged that although the methods used in their study gave long-lasting benefits for boys, it is not clear whether all synthetic phonics programmes will be so effective.
To read this report in full or to download a pdf version, visit www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2003/03/16513/18923
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