Thank you for clarifying your position, Jenny. It makes sense.

First I should say that these messages and Jenny’s careful study of Clark’s book, are very important. We must keep challenging misleading reports on research evidence. However, speaking personally, I am uncomfortable with the notion that research evidence is the only valid basis for deciding on the ...

It has been announced that the new reception baseline assessment in England is to be developed by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER). A baseline assessment for four and fiver year olds is controversial. See more details at https://www.nfer.ac.uk/pdf/baseline-assessment.pdf I am ...

I was looking for something else and came across the previous message from a year ago. I am sorry I did not respond to it at the time.

"An Alternative to Book Bands for Beginner Readers" can be found here:

http://rrf.org.uk/2017/03/28/an-alterna ... r-readers/

Here is a link to the chapter Jenny commented on, so anyone who is interested can read it without buying the book and think for themselves about what Jenny wrote: Does Phonics Deserve the Credit for Improvement in PIRLS? Stephen Krashen, In Margaret Clark (Ed) Teaching Initial Literacy http://www.sd...

http://universallearningsolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Jolly-Phonics-in-Cameroon.pdf A pilot of the Jolly Phonics programme in the teaching of reading and writing of English in Cameroon Conclusions: Through this evaluation it has been determined that the synthetic phonics approach of teach...

Report from the Stornoway Gazette:

http://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/news/ ... -1-4609048

About Michael Rosen’s statistics. I didn’t note exactly what he said at the conference, so I have copied from his blog at http://michaelrosenblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/17-of-children-good-at-phonics-but-not.html Here are some raw stats about the present year 3 children in state schools in England: ...

On 23rd November (2017) I went to the conference, “Michael Rosen’s Reading Revolution” at Goldsmith’s University. I forgot to check the numbers of people attending, but I guess it was in the low hundreds. Francis Gilbert introduced each speaker and we were told he was the driving force behind the co...

Thank you for that explanation, Jenny.

I agree about the importance of sustained reading for all the reasons Geraldine mentioned. And I agree that those who promote synthetic phonics for teaching basic reading and writing skills should make it clear that it is a foundation after which other aspects of reading follow, for example sustaine...

I visited a school with a large staff where they have had training in a good synthetic phonics programme. Only one person there, who is responsible for phonics, already understood what was involved. That person is newer and younger than most of the staff. They have numerous books to practise reading...

It's wonderful to know what Jim has done and to see it recognised. He is an inspiration to us all!

There are undoubtedly good readers who don't much like reading, but I have never met a poor reader who loves reading.

Here's another quote from (http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/news/7856_children_s_reading_enjoyment_levels_reach_record_high, 1st June 2017)): Children’s reading enjoyment levels reach record high New research we have published today reveals that three-quarters (78%) of primary school children enjoy r...