The ERIK referral process - a transition period

In February 2009, in response to feedback from schools and in consultation between the CEOM and Mr Hugh McCusker (one of the original researchers of ERIK), the ERIK assessment process was modified. An outcome of the changes is that ERIK can now be implemented, without schools having to go through the Referral Process.

After feedback from many schools already implementing ERIK, it was discovered that schools did not want to be delayed in beginning the ERIK program by having to wait for School Advisers to come out and finish the testing, before they could allocate the student/s to a pathway and begin the teaching. Therefore, changes needed to be made to the assessment process/testing procedures, so that schools don’t have to be delayed.

Changes to the assessment process are as follows:

1. No Referral Form is required for a student to participate in the ERIK intervention, IF the school is conducting all the necessary assessments.

** However, the integrity of this intervention and the data collection processes must be maintained.

2. The school would need to purchase a copy of the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability - 3rd Edition (1991) from ACER for approx. $100, not including the test forms. (Test forms are $1.95 per form.)

3. The school must administer the Neale, to determine whether or not the student/s is eligible to be included in the ERIK intervention (i.e. Yrs 1 & 2 students performing below the 25th%ile in either reading accuracy or comprehension on the Neale).

4. Schools must administer all the core tests (Tasks 1, 2, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20 and 21). Administration of the core tests (Tasks 1 & 2, 9-14, 16, 18-21) takes approximately 40 minutes in total, per student.

5. Schools must administer the review sessions and use the review session results to identify students not improving (‘at risk’ students).

6. After monitoring all the students’ progress via the review sessions, the school may choose to
refer the ‘at risk’ student/s who continue to show no progress, after a sustained period of time in the teaching pathway.

For these ‘at risk’ students you may need to re-administer the Neale:

·  For Yr 1 & 2 students: you may re-administer the Neale after review sessions 20 and 39. (Keeping in mind that all students have the Neale re-administered at session 60 as part of the post-testing.) You will then have a trajectory for measuring growth or lack of growth. * Do not continue up to session 60 if ERIK is not having the expected results. After re-administering the Neale and depending on the results, you may choose to put in a full Referral Form to the CEOM for an Academic Assessment (or Speech / Psych, whichever assessment/support you believe is required).

·  For Years 3 – 6 students: Many students in years 3-6 (especially in the Phon & Orth pathways) do not begin ERIK at session 1. The review sessions are used to gauge where the student should begin the session. Therefore, IF the student’s review sessions show a lack of improvement, you may need to re-administer the Neale after 15 lessons then again after another 15 lessons, after first analysing the review session data. You will then have a trajectory for measuring growth or lack of growth. * Do not continue up to session 60 if ERIK is not having the expected results. After re-administering the Neale and depending on the results, you may choose to put in a full Referral Form to the CEOM for an Academic Assessment (or Speech / Psych, whichever assessment/support you believe is required).

I would like to suggest that we proceed slowly and with caution, in this transition period, as we work out the best way to proceed and to prevent confusion with the new process.

Suggested process regarding the Referral Process

1.  All new schools to the ERIK program will continue to put in ERIK referrals, via the Referral Form

The reason behind this being, that even though schools no longer require a School Adviser to come out and administer Tasks 3, 4, 5, 6, 22 and 23 (the PPVT, CELF and K-BIT) many schools still require assistance with the administration and scoring of the Neale and help to decipher the results on the grid, to determine which pathway the students need to go into (Phon, Orth or Comp). We know how tricky this process can be, so we are envisaging that some schools will require ongoing support with the Neale and pathway allocation for a period of time, while some schools will feel confident to ‘go solo’ sooner.

Some schools may request to watch a School Adviser administer the Neale, on the first occasion, before they feel confident to take over administration at the school. Other schools may ask the School Adviser to come and give a ‘lesson’ on how to administer the Neale.

2.  All existing ERIK schools – schools with existing referrals and future referrals that may continue to come into the CEO, until schools are aware of and comfortable with the new process.

These schools fall into two categories:

1.  New schools (and existing schools that don’t have the Neale) will require School Advisers to conduct the Neale and support with analysis of results to help place the students in the right pathway (Phon, Orth, Comp). Neale to be purchased by school as soon as possible. School to take over administration of Neale as soon as they are ready.

2.  Existing schools that have the Neale and are confident to administer it. These schools would be contacted by the School Adviser, via the phone, to inform you of the change in the process and ask if you are happy to administer the Neale and progress on with all the other core tests, as per attached grid.

Please note There is a small change to the grid, I have taken the highlighting off the CELF, PPVT, K-BIT (as these are no longer core test items) and after discussion with Hugh, added task 12 - Verbal Analogies, as a core test item, because it is the only task that gives us data on receptive language (now that PPVT and CELF have gone).

Remember the latest versions of all grids… are available at: http://online.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/LiteracyResearch/pub/ERIKIndex.htm

Regards Brenda