The benefit of a bedtime story

Study finds that being read to and taught the alphabet means a promising start for children.

From the Guardian

Children who are read to daily are likely to do better when they start school and be better behaved, according to a government study.
Researchers at the Institute of Education found a correlation between mothers who believe it is important to teach their toddler the alphabet and to count and read to them regularly and the child's achievement at the age of five.
The government-commissioned study looked at the foundation stage profile - teachers' assessment of a child's achievement after one year at school - and evaluated the cognitive abilities of just over 8,000 five-year-olds.
They also assessed each child's behaviour using a questionnaire.
The study focused on which factors are associated with achievement at the age of five, and took into account parental variables such as how much time is spent with the child reading, teaching the alphabet and counting.
It concluded: "Reading to the child every day and having a mother who thinks it is important to stimulate young children are positively associated with all cognitive outcomes and negatively with problem behaviour."
Children who were read to daily did better in the naming vocabulary cognitive test, which involved the children being shown a picture and asked to identify the object.
They also performed better in the foundation stage profiles and had higher behaviour scores.
Youngsters whose mothers thought it was important to talk to them and teach them the alphabet also did better than their peers in tests where children were shown a picture of an object and asked to identify a similar object among a number of other pictures, and when asked to reproduce patterns using coloured blocks.
These children also had better foundation stage profiles, whereas children who watch three or more hours of TV a day, on average, achieved lower scores on the tests.
The findings echo the results of research by the universities of Bristol and Columbia, in the US, that found poor parenting meant children were ill-prepared for school.
Analysis by Prof Jane Waldfogel at Columbia and Bristol's Dr Elizabeth Washbrook of British and American children's ability test scores showed that the poorer their families, the less well prepared they were for school. In the US, half the differences were because of poor parenting and home environment, the study found.
It suggested that early years programmes such as Head Start in the US, which Sure Start in the UK is based upon, could help close the ability gap.

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Tests scrapped for 14-year-olds

There will be no Sats tests for 14-year-olds next year, announces Ed Balls
National tests for 14-year-old school pupils in England are to be scrapped, following this summer's Sats marking "shambles".
Children's Secretary Ed Balls said an expert group would develop a system of assessment by teachers.
But the tests taken by 11-year-olds, and used for the primary school "league tables", will remain.
A new system of report cards showing schools' academic attainment and pupil well-being is also to be introduced.
Mr Balls said that the decision to stop Sats tests for 14-year-olds was "not a u-turn" - and that the wider principle of the need for testing and accountability remained.
"But if you ask 'are we abolishing half of the national tests?', the answer is 'yes'," said Mr Balls.

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Sats Test

From BBC Website

The Sats tests could end next year, Schools Secretary Ed Balls has hinted.
They may be replaced by assessments tailored to the ability of each child, he told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show.
The national tests are taken by about one million children aged seven, 11 and 14 across England each May, but this year's marking was a "fiasco", he said.
A five-year contract with ETS Europe was scrapped after it failed to get papers marked in time, and the next contract will be for one year only.
"The current system is not set in stone," said Mr Balls.
"We are looking currently at a way in which we could assess progress child by child with individual level tests where the tests would be chosen in a way which was right for the child, rather than everybody doing the same test on the same day.
"For 2009, we are going to do the same kind of tests as in previous years before the problems with ETS, but for the long term I am really keen to get this right, to listen."

New pupils have to stay until 17

From the BBC Website

Children starting secondary schools in England this week will be the first to be legally required to stay in education until they are 17.
The rise in the age at which pupils can end their studies is just one of several changes taking effect in English schools this term.
New diplomas for subjects such as engineering and construction are also being phased in.
Head teachers say too many initiatives are being introduced at once.
The increase in the education leaving age is the first such change since 1972, when it was raised from 15 to 16.
There are also major changes to the curriculum for 11 to 14-year-olds and to GCSEs and A-levels. The latter will have a new A* grade to help distinguish the very best exam candidates.
But the head of the Association of School and College Leaders, has warned that too much change is happening all at once.
The rise in the leaving age is part of a previously announced government policy to have pupils continue in some form of education or training education to the age of 18. This will take effect for school leavers from 2015.