[senco-forum] access arrangements

If those students qualified for extra time readers etc - and the tests were
done within the time scale that allows for this to be an additional
arrangement - then those students have a right to have this assistance.

To be frank - I wonder how those students are surviving in a classroom and
just what strategies they are using to get by in class.

Do your reading testing records back up the findings of the class teachers -
because this is where I would start.

I have found the reading ages of GCSE exam papers variable.  The second you
add "technical language" - all those multisyllabic long words - there is
probably going to be a problem.

I also found that my "on the edge" readers were not nearly as good as soon
as you added in the stress of the GCSE exams,

And are they the kind of readers who can read the words - but all their
brain is taken up with decoding - and the meaning flies out of the window.

My students who needed readers in year 9 - still needed them for GCSE - they
used to come to a stop at about 10.5 - where you get the reading improvement
by regular reading - and mostly by reading to yourself - and of course -
they have been so bad at reading - for so long - that this is the last
activity that most students would do for themselves.

You must also look at their speed of reading - and their other processing
skills associated with successfully coping with an examination paper.

If you find that your testing verifies what staff are saying - then I take
my hat off to you - because you are getting better reading results than I
ever managed to get from my poorest students.

However, I suspect that they may be receiving a considerable amount of help
from their peers - or relying on the oral instruction and what they have
assimilated by listening in class - or that they are those kind of workers
who hang about and wait to see what the person next to them is dong before
they put pen to paper - and if this is how they are working - they are going
to be snookered when it comes to demonstrating their real ability at GCSE.

As a parent - I would be livid if they did not receive the help to which
they were entitled in such an important area of their academic careers -
just how dodgy will it be if these students do not get grades which match
their predicted grades.

And I do think that SEN staff need to be proactive in this area - and that
you have to train children to ask for the help they need straight away - and
refusing a reader is a strategy than many children use to prevent other
students calling them a dimbo etc.

What do your SEN staff say when they support these children in the
classroom?

You need to negotiate some time for some testing.

And examination officers need to look at their budgets - and cost in the
support that is needed too.

Regards

Ruth

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of Elizabeth
Haffenden
Sent: 15 May 2007 08:49
To: senco forum
Subject: [senco-forum] access arrangements

I have some students who qualify for a reader when tested at the end of Year
9, but by the time they sit their GCSEs many of their teachers feel that
they no longer need a reader and are coping adequately with exams. 

Does anybody know what is my situation.  At the moment I offer a reader to
those who qualify for this access arrangement and if they do not want to
take it up I leave the decision to them.  However, if their teachers feel
that in Year 11 in the classroom they are coping adequately without a reader
can I, as the person responsible for access arrangements, withdraw this from
them on the grounds that they are coping adequately in the classroom, in
Year 10 exams and Mocks without a reader. My understanding is that the
access arrangement should reflect the normal provision for the student in
these situations.   

Does anyone have any experience of this.  I need to be standing on firm
ground with regard to this.  Many of our parents are quite vociferous.