Birmingham Council - IDL Literacy Pilot

Introduction

After receiving an email from International Dyslexia Learning Solutions (IDL) offering free training, a member of staff attended a session which resulted in IDL delivering a training session to all the teachers with in Birmingham’s Pupil and School Support service on the 20th March 2018. The service liaised with IDL in order to offer an opportunity to Birmingham schools to pilot the IDL programme for a period of ten weeks with a focus on reading and spelling difficulties for Special Educational Needs pupils.

20 schools across Birmingham took part in the IDL pilot study during April to July 2018.

Implementation

Schools were required to make the following commitments in order to take part in the pilot:

  • Must commit to training and regular timetabled usage of IDL
  • Minimum of 10 pupils to take part
  • Had to attend ½ day training session
  • Pupils would use IDL for a minimum 4 x 15 minute sessions per week, for a total of one hour per week.
  • Schools needed to use the Birmingham Language and Literacy Toolkit to track progress to provide pre and post assessment information.
  • Computer and headphones were required with internet access.

All schools attended training on the 17th April 2018. Initial tracking data was submitted on the 23rd April 2018 and final tracking data on the 16th July 2018. Pupils had a maximum time of 10 weeks with access to the programme.

Schools were asked to track pupils using the following threads of Birmingham’s Language and Literacy Toolkit, focusing on the spelling element of the descriptors:

  • Reading - Phonics Skills
  • Writing - Spelling
  • Reading – Understanding (Tracking this was optional)

Of the sixteen schools which completed the pilot successfully thirteen were primary and three were secondary. A further four schools took part but no data was available at the time of writing this report.

General Information regarding the Pilot Cohort

Data regarding progress was collected for all the pupils who took part in the pilot, however, information regarding the groups represented by the study was not provided by all settings. See Appendix One for detailed data regarding the specific groups represented in the Pilot Study.

A total of 160 pupils were tracked using the Birmingham Language and Literacy toolkit. 81.3%% were of primary age and 18.7% were secondary.

Gender – Data was provided for 147 pupils, of these 32% were girls and 68% boys.

Year Groups – 14% of pupils in the pilot were in Years 1 and 2 (KS1), 67% in Years 3 – 6 (KS2). 15% in Years 7 - 9 (KS3) and 4% in Years 10 & 11 (KS4).

SEN Code of Practice – Information was obtained regarding the level of support identified for the pupils on the SEN Code of Practice. Some pupils who participated in the pilot were not identified as SEN. This information was provided for 150 (93.7%) of the pupils in the pilot. Of this 150, 76% were identified as SEN support and 6.6% as having an Education Health Care Plan. To note, 17.4% were not identified as having SEN needs.

Pupil Premium – Data regarding eligibility for Pupil Premium was provided for 149 (93.1%) of pupils in the pilot. Of these 49.6% were eligible this additional funding.

Ethnic Groups – Data regarding ethnic groups was provided for 139 (86.8%) of pupils in the pilot. Of this 139, 47.5% were White British/English, 11% were Other Pakistani, 5.3% were White and Black Caribbean and 5.2% were Gypsy/Roma with the remaining 31% spread across another 25 categories. (For full details see Appendix One)

English as an Additional Language (EAL) – Information around identification of EAL was provided for 36 pupils.

Assessment

Schools were asked to track pupils using the Birmingham Language and Literacy Toolkit.

2 bands progress over a year is considered to maintain the current gap between them and their peers.

3 bands progress over a year is considered to be ‘accelerated’ progress and begin to close the gap between them and their peers.

As the pilot took place over the equivalent of 10 weeks then any progress identified on the threads was considered as accelerated (closing the gap) progress.

Results

The results of the pilot were collated in a number of ways:

  • The number of bands progress made by all pupils in the pilot
  • The number of bands progress made by girls
  • The number of bands progress made by boys
  • The number of bands progress made by pupils identified as SEN support
  • The number of bands progress made by pupils identified as having an EHCP
  • The number of bands progress made by pupils identified as not SEN
  • The number of bands progress made by pupils identified as AOPK
  • The number of bands progress made by pupils identified as WBRI/WENG
  • The number of bands progress made by pupils identified as MWBC
  • The number of bands progress made by pupils identified as WROM
  • The number of band progress made by pupils identified as in receipt of Pupil Premium funding
  • The number of bands progress made by pupils identified as EAL

* Tables detailing the results outlined above can be found in Appendix Two

Results were also analysed in order to compare the progress made by pupils based on their starting points on the Language and Literacy Toolkit threads:-

  • Phonics
  • Understanding (optional)
  • Spelling

* Detailed results can be found in the tables in Appendix Three

Summary and Analysis of the Results

Table to compare the accelerated progress made by different groups
Group % of the group making accelerated progress within the Phonics thread % of the group making accelerated progress within the Understanding thread % of the group making accelerated progress within the spelling thread
Total Pilot (160) 64% 74% 57%
SEN Support 64% 73% 59%
Not SEN 62% 90% 58%
Boys 61% 70% 56%
Girls 71% 77% 65%
WBRI 57% 52% 48%
AOPK 71% 100% 57%
MWBC 86% 80% 86%
WROM 43% 100% 71%
Pupil Premium 59% 73% 53%
EAL 61% 93% 61%

Top 3 groups that made accelerated progress

Lowest 3 groups that made the least accelerated progress

The results of the pilot saw high numbers of pupils making accelerated progress particularly in the phonics thread. There were some differences between the results of different groups but it would appear that the program worked for all. Some differences to note are:-

  • Pupils whose ethnicity was recorded as Gypsy/Roma showed lower levels of progress in the phonics thread.
  • Pupils identified as being in receipt of Pupil Premium generally did not show the same levels of progress as other groups across all of the threads.
  • Girls, along with pupils identified as White and Black Caribbean and Other Pakistani showed greater levels of progress in the phonics and spelling thread.
  • Pupils identified as Gypsy/Roma, other Pakistani and EAL showed greater levels of progress in the understanding thread.

Analysis of progress made against starting points

Progress was analysed in relation to Language and Literacy Toolkit starting points to identify whether this impacted on the amount of progress made. (See Appendix Three)

Phonic Thread

For the pupils who were assessed pre-intervention as bands 1- 4, 6 - 10, 12, 13 and

15, 65% made accelerated (1 band or more).Those on entry bands 1 and 15, 100% of pupils made accelerated progress.

Pupils who started at bands 5, 11 and 14 were not as successful, with a lower range of accelerated progress being made. It should be noted that there were smaller numbers of pupils recorded at these bands so this data is not as reliable. (See Appendix Three for details of around specific bands).

Understanding Thread

The results on the understanding thread were very good as a whole with 76% of pupils making accelerated (1 band or more) progress. Within this a further 32% of pupils made between 2 – 7 bands of progress within the intervention period.

100% of pupils whose starting points were bands 5, 7 and 13 made accelerated progress, with 75-85% of pupils making accelerated progress whose starting points were bands 8 and Band 9.

Those pupils whose starting point was band 7 appeared to do particularly well with 3 pupils making 1 band progress but also 5 pupils making between 2 – 7 bands accelerated progress.

Spelling Thread

The results for the spelling thread were also good, with 58% of pupils making accelerated progress in entry bands 2 – 11 ranging from 100% at band 2, to 50% at bands 4 and 10. The only entry band which had below 50% of pupils not making accelerated progress was band 11. Pupils starting with bands 7, 8 and 9 had 24 pupils making between 2 – 7 bands accelerated progress.

Conclusion

The trial of the use of IDL by schools in Birmingham has been a positive one. Given that pupils had a maximum of 10 weeks using the programme the number of pupils who made accelerated progress was high particularly when tracked against the phonic thread. Although the percentage of pupils is higher for making accelerated progress for understanding, this was an optional assessment and the percentages are based on fewer pupils meaning the results are not comparable. The results suggest that this program works well for the majority of pupils who are currently working on targets from Birmingham’s Language and Literacy Toolkit. It also appears that the program has had better results for pupils who are female or have a recorded ethnicity of other Pakistani, Mixed white Caribbean or Gypsy/Roma. Those who are identified as SEN make similar progress to those who are not. Assessment analysis also indicated that the programme had a greater impact on the progress of phonic skills related to reading compared to those with a focus on spelling.

Appendix One

Data regarding groups Represented in the Pilot Study

Gender Number of pupils identified % of total pilot % of those where information was provided
Girls 48 30% 32%
Boys 99 64% 68%
Data not provided* 13 6%

Year Groups

Year Group Number of Pupils % of the pilot
1 7 4%
2 16 10%
3 27 17%
4 28 18%
5 37 23%
6 15 9%
7 8 5%
8 9 6%
9 6 4%
10 7 4%

SEN Code of Practice

SEN Code of Practice Number of pupils identified % of total pilot % of those where information was provided
EHCP 10 6% 6.6%
SEN Support 114 71.5% 76%
Not on Code 26 16.5% 17.4%
Data not provided* 10 6%

Free School Meals/Pupil Premium

Identified as Free School Meals Number of pupils % of the pilot % of those where information was provided
Yes 74 46.3% 49.6%
No 75 46.8% 50.4%
Data not provided* 11 6.9%

Ethnic Groups Represented

Ethnicity Codes Number of pupils identified % of the pilot identified % of those where information was provided
ABAN
Bangladeshi
2 1.2% 1.5%
AIND
Indian
1 0.6% 0.75%
AKPA
Kashmiri Pakisani
2 1.2% 1.5%
AMPK
Mirpuri Pakistani
5 3.1% 3.75%
AOPK 14 8.75% 10.5%
Other Pakistani
AOTH
Any other Asian background
2 1.2% 1.5%
BAOF
Other Black African
3 1.9% 2.2%
BCRB
Black Caribbean
4 2.5% 3%
BOTH
Any other Black Background
1 0.6% 0.75%
BSUD
Black – Sudanese
1 0.6% 0.75%
COCH
Other Chinese
1 0.6% 0.75%
MOTH
Any other Mixed Background
1 0.6% 0.75%
MWAS
White and Asian
2 1.2% 1.5%
MWBA
White and Black African
4 2.5% 3%
MWBC
White and Black Caribbean
7 4.4% 5.3%
NOBT
Information not Obtained
5 3.1% 3.75%
OAFG
Afghan
1 0.6% 0.75%
OOTH
Any other Ethnic group
1 0.6% 0.75%
REFU
Refused
1 0.6% 0.75%
WBRI
White British
10 6.25% 7.5%
WEEU
White Eastern European
3 1.9% 2.2%
WENG
White English
53 33.1% 40%
WIRI
White Irish
1 0.6% 0.75%
WOTH
Any other white
6 3.75% 4.5%
Background
WROM
Gypsy/Roma
7 4.4% 5.2%
Data not provided* 21 13.1%
EAL Census Code Number of pupils identified
A 3
B 9
C 19
D 4
E 1
Total identified as EAL* 36
% of pilot identified as EAL of information provided 23%

Appendix Two – Tables of Results

Key to Colour
Red No Progress
Blue Unable to show progress
Green Accelerated (closing the gap progress)
Table to show the number of bands progress made by pupils in the pilot
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding (optional)
*70 results not provided
Thread Spelling
-2 1 0 0
-1 1 0 0
0 54 22 33
1 41 37 48
2 26 14 18
3 23 7 13
4 6 4 3
5 2 1 3
6 3 1 2
7 0 1 2
Total 157 87 157
% Making Accelerated progress 101/157 = 64.3% 65/87 = 74% 89/157 = 56.7%
Table to Show Progress made by Girls
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding
*14 results not provided
Thread Spelling
0 13 8 17
1 14 18 17
2 9 6 5
3 7 2 7
4 5 0 0
5 0 0 1
6 0 0 1
Total 48 34 48
% Making Accelerated progress 34/48 = 70.8% 26/34 = 76.5% 31/48 = 64.6%
Table to Show Progress made by Boys
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding
*46 results not provided
Thread Spelling
-2 1 0 0
-1 1 0 0
0 39 14 44
1 25 19 29
2 13 8 12
3 15 5 6
4 1 4 3
5 2 1 2
6 2 1 1
7 0 1 2
Total 99 46 99
% Making Accelerated progress 60/99 = 60.6% 32/46 = 69.5% 55/99 = 55.6%
Table to Show Progress made by Pupils Identified as SEN Support
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding
*38 pupils results not provided
Thread Spelling
-2 1 0 0
-1 0 0 0
0 39 20 46
1 31 32 34
2 16 9 13
3 17 6 10
4 3 3 3
5 2 1 2
6 2 1 1
7 0 1 2
Total 111 73 111
% Making Accelerated progress 71/111 = 64% 53/73 = 73% 65/111 = 59%
Table to Show Progress made by Pupils Identified as having an Education Health Care Plan
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding
*38 pupils results not provided
Thread Spelling
0 4 1 5
1 3 1 4
2 3 2 1
Total 10 4 10
% Making Accelerated progress 6/10 = 60% 3/4 = 75% 5/10 = 50%
Table to Show Progress made by Pupils Identified as not on the Code of Practice
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding Thread Spelling
-1 1 0 0
0 9 1 11
1 5 4 7
2 3 3 3
3 5 1 3
4 3 1 0
5 0 0 1
6 0 0 1
Total 26 10 26
% Making Accelerated progress 16/26 = 62% 9/10 = 90% 15/26 = 58%
Table to Show Progress made by Pupils Identified as Other Pakistani (AOPK)>
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding Thread Spelling
0 4 0 6
1 4 4 6
2 3 4 2
3 3 0 1
Total 14 8 14
% Making Accelerated progress 10/14 = 71% 8/8 = 100% 8/14 = 57%
Table to Show Progress made by Pupils Identified as White British/English (WBRI/WENG)
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding Thread Spelling
-2 1 0 0
-1 0 0 0
0 25 24 32
1 20 16 21
2 4 6 4
3 6 4 3
4 5 0 0
5 0 0 0
6 0 0 1
Total 61 50 61
% Making Accelerated progress 35/61 = 57% 26/50 = 52% 29/61 = 48%
Table to Show Progress made by Pupils Identified as White and Black Caribbean (MWBC)
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding Thread Spelling
0 1 1 1
1 2 3 4
2 3 0 1
3 1 0 1
4 0 1 0
Total 7 5 7
% Making Accelerated Progress 6/7 = 86% 4/5 = 80% 6/7 = 86%
Table to Show Progress made by Pupils Identified as Gypsy/Roma (WROM)
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding Thread Spelling
0 4 0 2
1 0 2 2
2 1 0 3
3 2 1 0
Total 7 3 7
% Making Accelerated progress 3/7 = 43% 3/3 = 100% 5/7 = 71%
Table to show the number of bands progress made pupils identified as Pupil Premium
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding Thread Spelling
0 30 13 34
1 21 21 21
2 12 6 8
3 5 4 4
4 1 2 2
5 2 1 2
6 2 1 0
7 0 0 2
Total* 73 48 73
% Making Accelerated progress 43/73 = 59% 35/48 = 73% 39/73= 53%
Table to show the number of bands progress made pupils identified as EAL
Number of Pupils
Number of Bands Progress on Birmingham Toolkit Thread Phonics Thread Understanding Thread Spelling
-1 1 0 0
0 13 1 14
1 10 8 13
2 6 5 7
3 5 1 2
4 1 0 0
Total 36 15 36
% Making Accelerated progress 22/36 = 61% 14/15 = 93% 22/36 = 61%

Appendix Three – Tables to compare progress made on the Language and Literacy Toolkit based on starting point

Phonics Thread
Pre Intervention Assessment Band Numbers of pupils and the progress made % of pupils who made accelerated progress (1 band or more)
1 2 bands progress = 3 pupils 100%
2 Unable to show progress = 3 pupils
1 band progress = 2 pupils
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
3/6 = 50%
3 Unable to show progress = 2 pupils 1 band progress = 1 pupil
2 bands progress = 2 pupils
4 bands progress = 2 pupils
5/7 = 71%
4 Unable to show progress = 6 pupils 1 band progress – 2 pupils
2 bands progress = 3 pupils
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
6/12 = 50%
5 Unable to show progress = 6 pupils
1 bands progress = 3 pupils
2 bands progress = 2 pupils
5/11 = 45%
6 Unable to show progress = 7 pupils 1 bands progress = 4 pupils
2 bands progress = 5 pupils
3 bands progress = 2 pupils
11/18 = 61%
7 Unable to show progress = 3 pupils 1 band progress = 8 pupils
2 bands progress = 1 pupil
3 bands progress = 8 pupils
4 bands progress = 2 pupils
5 bands of progress = 1 pupil
20/23= 87%
8 Unable to show progress = 6 pupils 1 band progress = 3 pupils
2 bands progress = 3 pupils
3 bands progress = 3 pupils
4 bands progress = 1 pupil
6 bands progress = 1 pupil
11/17= 65%
9 Unable to show progress = 6 pupils
1 band progress = 5 pupils
2 bands progress = 3 pupils
3 bands progress = 2 pupils
4 bands progress = 1 pupil
5 bands progress = 1 pupil
6 bands progress = 2 pupils
14/20 = 70%
10 Unable to show progress = 3 pupils 1 band progress = 6 pupils
2 bands progress = 2 pupils
3 bands progress = 2 pupils
10/13 = 77%
11 Unable to show progress = 5 pupil
1 band progress = 1 pupil
3 bands progress = 2 pupils
3/8 = 38%
12 Unable to show progress = 1 pupil
1 band progress = 1 pupil
2 bands progress = 1 pupil
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
3/4 = 75%
13 Unable to show progress = 3 pupils
1 bands progress = 4 pupils
2 bands progress = 1 pupil
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
6/9 = 67%
14 Unable to show progress = 2 pupils 0%
15 1 band progress = 1 pupil 100%
16 1 pupil assessed at this level – top of band, no further tracked progress can be made.
Understanding (Optional)
Pre Intervention Assessment Band Numbers of pupils and the progress made % of pupils who made accelerated progress (1 band or more)
1 No pupils entered at this band
2 Unable to show progress = 1 pupil
1 bands progress = 1 pupil
4 bands progress = 1 pupil
2/3 = 67%
3 No pupils entered at this band
4 No pupils entered at this band
5 2 bands progress = 2 pupil
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
3/3 = 100%
6 No pupils entered at this band
7 1 bands progress = 3 pupils
2 bands progress = 1 pupil
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
5 bands progress = 1 pupil
6 bands progress = 1 pupil
7 bands progress = 1 pupil
100%
8 Unable to show progress = 2 pupils
1 bands progress = 8 pupils
3 bands progress = 2 pupils
10/12 = 83%
9 Unable to show progress = 6 pupils
1 bands progress = 11 pupils
2 bands progress = 6 pupils
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
4 bands progress = 2 pupils
20/26 = 77%
10 Unable to show progress = 4 pupils
1 bands progress = 4 pupils
2 bands progress = 2 pupils
6/10 = 60%
11 Unable to show progress = 4 pupils
1 bands progress = 5 pupils
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
4 bands progress = 1 pupil
7/11= 64%
12 Unable to show progress = 5 pupils
1 bands progress = 5 pupils
2 bands progress = 2 pupils
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
8/13= 62%
13 2 bands progress = 1 pupil 100%
14 No pupils entered at this band
15 No pupils entered at this band
16 No pupils entered at this band
(Top of band, no further tracked progress can be made).
Spelling Thread
Pre Intervention Assessment Band Numbers of pupils and the progress made % of pupils who made accelerated progress (1 band or more)
1 No pupils entered at this band
2 1 bands progress = 3 pupils
3 bands progress = 1 pupil
100%
3 Unable to show progress = 4 pupils
1 bands progress = 6 pupils
2 bands progress = 4 pupils
10/14 = 71%
4 Unable to show progress = 9 pupils
1 bands progress = 6 pupils
2 bands progress = 3 pupils
9/18 = 50%
5 Unable to show progress = 12 pupils
1 bands progress = 10 pupils
2 bands progress = 1 pupils
3 bands progress = 4 pupil
15/27= 56%
6 Unable to show progress = 6 pupils
1 bands progress = 4 pupils
2 bands progress = 2 pupils
6 bands progress = 1 pupil
7/13 = 54%
7 Unable to show progress = 10 pupils 1 bands progress = 5 pupils
2 bands progress = 3 pupils
3 bands progress = 3 pupils
4 bands progress = 2 pupils
5 bands progress = 1 pupil
14/24=58%
8 Unable to show progress = 11 pupils
1 bands progress = 10 pupils
2 bands progress = 2 pupils
3 bands progress = 4 pupils
4 bands progress = 1 pupil
5 bands progress = 1 pupil
6 bands progress = 1 pupil
19/30= 63%
9 Unable to show progress = 6 pupils
1 bands progress = 2 pupils
2 bands progress = 3 pupils

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