Matthew Walker, Marian Sainsbury and Jack Worth
This final report from the Evaluation of the Phonics Screening Check (PSC) is based on large-scale surveys of Year One teachers and literacy coordinators; case study visits to schools; and an analysis of results from the National Pupil Database from 2012 to 2015.
The research team undertook an analysis of national results on the PSC, together with results for the same pupils one year earlier and one year later. There was no evidence that improvements in pupils’ literacy performance could clearly be attributed to the introduction of the PSC. However, the research team also concluded that no conclusive statement could be made because of the methodological limitations of the study.
They did find that phonics attainment, as measured by the proportion of pupils reaching the expected standard, improved over three years and that there was some evidence that this may have been a result of the introduction of the check.
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