This year, the phonetics screening test can be taken anytime during the week beginning June 16. If a child is absent during that week, they can take the check anytime until Friday, June 27.

What is the passing mark for the 2014 phonetic detection check?

Previously, we all knew that to “pass” the test, children had to score 32 out of 40. For the 2014 verification, we will not know the passing grade until after the phonics screening test has been administered. The threshold mark for the phonetic selection verification will not be included with the verification materials. Instead, the threshold mark will be available on the DfE website on Monday, June 30. The reason for this change appears to be that very few children scored 31 in previous years and there was an increase in the number of children who scored 32.

In a recent course I was discussing this increase in the number of children scoring 32 points with other Year 1 teachers. One commented ‘Well, if they can score 31, they can score 32 very well!’ If the difference between a child who passes or fails the verification is a small error, why shouldn’t the child be given the opportunity to read a word again to pass the verification?

Another teacher commented that the children “get it” or not. He said his children scored between 20 and 32, with very few in the middle.

We speculate on where the approval mark would be. Most of the teachers considered that the grade would be higher by approximately 2 points, but some thought it would be lower.

At the end of the day we don’t know and this makes us all nervous. The stakes are high because the results will appear in RAISE online, OFSTED will use it as an indication of the school’s success in teaching early reading, and some teachers will have a percentage goal of children passing the check as part of their assessment. preparations?

I think there will be a more careful monitoring this year of the school’s scores and to ensure that the results reflect working without the help of the children. Ten percent of the schools in each local authority will be visited to see if they are following the security arrangements and administering the test correctly. Mismanagement of the test may lead to the invalidation of results for some or all of the children.

How am I preparing for the phonemic screening test?

I continue to use my pseudo word cards as part of my practice for the test. I have focused on the different ways of representing a sound. On Friday we look at / o / aw / and / au /. Each of the children had 3 sound cards with those digraphs written on them. I looked at all the / o / aw / and / au / cards on the pseudo word cards from phases 3, 4 and 5. I held up each word in turn, the children looked for which of the digraphs / o / they could see and held up their card corresponding sound. Then they read the word. It worked because one of the things kids forget to do when they read the alien words on the test is look up the digraphs.

Regardless, I’ll keep my fingers crossed for this year’s Phonic Screening Check! Good luck with yours.