1. PLP-R Conference 7 May 2005

2. In the dark all education systems, all schools, all classrooms look similar…. But with some good data …. Important differences become apparent

3. Territory-System Assessment (P3 E) 75% able to proceed with confidence to the next stage 25% have not ‘failed’ : need support Point in time Teachers will engage more with the expected professionally defined competencies Key Stage 2; empirical evidence shows those behind at KS1 will fall further behind unless we narrow the gap early

4. Program for International Reading Literacy Survey (PIRLS) Dr SK Tse and colleagues, HKU Study of bilingual literacy of P4 students Findings 2001 – 2004 Improved literacy in Chinese, but individual differences are growing For biliteracy our top students are good at both C and E and by international standards are excellent Girls do better than boys Parents give importance of learning to Chinese more than they do for English. We may have the impression otherwise Reading habit and self concept in C is as high as other countries, but not so for E

5. How teachers teach language If we agree that reading is supported when children are encouraged to -identify main ideas -explain/support their understanding -compare what they have read with their own experience -compare what they have read with other things they have read -make predictions -make generalizations and draw inferences -describe the style/structure of the text Then…

6. Dr Tse has found we still have very mixed effort in classrooms The strategies are less developed in English than in Chinese classrooms.

7. Data It is misused, it is misrepresented. But this does not mean we abandon. We have to have protocols We put data in context/use it judiciously We use it to drive for improvement Without data, I am just another person with an opinion.