It takes v. little time to produce programme specific tests - Dick has done them for some SP programmes and, of course, programme makers could construct them and RRF or government could recommend a psychometric specialist, working with an all- around SP specialist, like you, Jenny, and Elizabeth N. ...

E. I've had very similar experiences recently and it's been quite a sobering time especially when it's from friends in the Ed. business who are very supportive of what I've been doing. It's incredibly hard to get the balance and the tone right. Most children can learn without phonics if the school i...

Delightful film! Another nail in the coffin for the 'phonics-is-deadly' critics.

Thank you, Peter. And Happy New Year to you and your family in Japan. We've seen the spectacular fireworks from New Zealand and Hong Kong and the quite amazing display from Sydney Harbour.

But, of course, we're very backward here and still clinging on to that strange year - 2010!

The majority of people can read the mass of scientific evidence re global warming and then read the findings of that small percentage of scientists who deny this evidence and then come to a conclusion. Without a scientific background it will come down to judgment, rather than scientific knowledge fo...

Thanks, too. A lot of good meaty stuff. Some areas of disagreement but these are few given the overall merit of his conclusions. There was one part of the following statement that I grappled with : Students who can’t read can’t learn math, science, civics, and history, either. They can’t think logic...

There is much to be said for using reading books immediately where they are compatible with SP decoding-synthesizing and where choice of sound/grapheme is made carefully and introduced meticulously. But book bands have given a reading book start a bad name - a great shame. I cannot believe that Soun...

Derrie - there is absolutely no problem using 'reading' books if these have been scrupulouslyand intelligently constructed - as many RRFers can testify.

This looks well worth a read. I've only had time to read the first part but this sentence was particularly arresting: in 1976, Bill Yule concluded: “The era of applying the label 'dyslexic' is rapidly drawing to a close. The label has served its function in drawing attention to children who have gre...

I know that very reasonably, Jenny, you don't like emotive words like 'dodgy' unless there is 'evidence' that one can provide root and branch evidence. But I work on observation, reading of hundreds of comments on fora, newspaper articles, papers, video evidence, and the words of Marie Clay herself ...

Yes - it is strange that such a strong advocate of spending millions on Reading Recovery - should be in charge of this investigation. Oh dear ...

There will doubtless be an avalanche of informational misuse via test ‘analysis’ (a classic example being the Reading Recovery use of the BAS tests which showed how RR magicked years and years of progress out of the rabbit’s hat ). Surely the BAS test provides useful information only when implemente...

Derry N.Ireland has selective schools. Eire does not have grammar schools. Martin McGuinness, when he was Ed. Secretary in N.Ireland was talking about abandoning the grammar school system -Jim would know what the state of affairs is now - Whatever system it's the bottom 20%+ who are affected by whol...

Debbie says: Does this reflect the dominance of Reading Recovery and a more multi-cueing approach do you think? It may be deeper than that. Look at the decimation of libraries, replacement of reading with computer games etc.etc. the fact that teachers teaching these children were educated themselves...

Thanks Susan. Old Andrews' blog isn't given enough exposure here. Have a look, also, at
http://teachingbattleground.wordpress.c ... nal-needs/

and the responses.