Identifying the challenge

After our last PLG I have been thinking about the challenge of my students learning and wondering how I can frame this in a way that not only looks at reading but also student wellbeing and confidence in reading. I have a few conversations with colleagues and how I can collect data to show this progress throughout the year and also what do I actually need to collect data wise to for my overall inquiry. The key things that I have come to want to get out of my inquiry is:

• Raise reading achievement of my learners who are reading just below their actual age
• Assess student wellbeing and what I can do to ensure that all learners feel engaged, happy and heard. 
• Help learners increase their confidence in reading and sharing what they have learnt from reading. 
  
  

I have selected this as my challenge of student learning because I think that reading is a key part in all curriculum areas. In order to access other subjects and excel all students need a solid reading foundation to understand and think critically. The pattern I have seen by looking at the reading age data for the last few years show that there are a large number of year 5 students who enter year 6 reading below there they need to be. In year 5 they are considered to be just below where they need to be however the gap then continues to grow the further up the school the students get. So my key question is how can we bridge that gap? What can I do to help my learners achieve a reading age of 10 or above before they enter year 6?

Looking at my class data I have a number of students who are reading at 8-8.5 years (levels 23-25 PM). This is my target group of learners for this year. You can see the data outlined below. 

Student ID	Level Achieved	Reading Age	Actual Age March
Student A	Level 22	8 Years	8y 10m
Student B	Level 23	8.5 Years	9y 3m
Student C	Level 23	8.5 Years	9y 7m
Student D	Level 23	8.5 Years	9y 8m
Student E	Level 24	8.5 Years	9y 4m
Student F	Level 24	8.5 Years	9y 3m
Student G	Level 24	8.5 Years	9y 2m
Student H	Level 24	8.5 Years	8y 10m
Student I	Level 24	8.5 Years	9y 6m
Student J	Level 24	8.5 Years	9y 6m
Student K	Level 24	8.5 Years	9y 7m
Student L	Level 24	8.5 Years	9y 3m

Why this group?

The reason I want to focus on this group is because they are currently reading just below their chronological age and seem to stay at these levels moving into year 6 which therefore places them below where they need to be reading as a year 6. From previously teaching the year 6 students I have seen that there then tends to be a large number of students arriving to year 6 either still at the same levels or one or two higher which is still below the age that they need to be. I am also keen to look at the data for my students who are reading at 9 and 9.5 years and seeing if what changes I make for this target group can also impact my this other group as well.