Birmingham Council - IDL Literacy Pilot Introduction

A ten week pilot study in Birmingham involved 160 pupils across 20 schools.

64% of pupils made accelerated progress in phonics, 74% in understanding and 57% in spelling.

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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 17^th April 2018. Initial tracking data was submitted on the 23^rd April 2018 and final tracking data on the 16^th 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

Assessment

Results

Summary and Analysis of the Results

Analysis of progress made against starting points

Phonic Thread

Understanding Thread

Spelling Thread

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

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.

Of the sixteen schools which completed the pilot successfully thirteen were primary and three were secondary.

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