STUDENT PLACEMENT

To get the most out of the program, it is important to select an appropriate starting level in the Reading Doctor® Synthetic Phonics Sequence for students based on their current reading ability.

The sequence is divided into three parts depending on the difficulty of the content taught. You can allow the program to start at the beginning of the sequence or you can manually specify which part of the sequence students will start with. The three parts of the sequence and the skills taught within them may be summarised as follows: 

Part I - Basic Code

• recognition of single letter graphemes (e.g. 'a, t, z')

• blending, decoding and spelling of CVC, CCVC and CVCC words (e.g. 'pot, slip, list')

• recognition of most common sight words (e.g. 'you, said, of')

Part II - Intermediate Code includes all skills taught in Part I as well as

• decoding split digraphs (e.g. 'cape, rope, pine')

• recognition of more common longer letter patterns (containing 2 or more letters, e.g. 'sh, ir, ck')

• decoding of words containing more common longer letter patterns (e.g. shop, bird, lock')

• recognition next most common sight words (e.g. 'want, your, other')

Part III - Advanced Code includes all skills taught in Part I and Part II as well as

• recognition of less common longer letter patterns (containing 2 or more letters, e.g. 'kn, eigh, ore')

• decoding of words containing less common longer letter patterns (e.g. 'knife, eighteen, shore')

• recognition next most common sight words (e.g. 'woman, great, group') 

We recommend that students in Reception/Foundation or Year 1 who are new to the program begin at the default starting level, which is the beginning of Part I - Basic Code. Older students or advanced readers may benefit from having their starting level adjusted based on information about their decoding skills. The sections below describe how to change a student's starting level in the sequence as well as how to determine an appropriate starting level for a student.

Changing a student's starting level in the Reading Doctor Sequence

To change the starting level in the automated phonics sequence for single or multiple students:

1. Log in to the dashboard at dashboard.readingdoctor.com 

2. Click on the ‘Student Details’ button:

3.  Select the student or students whose sequence position you would like to change:

4. Click the ‘Assign Sequence Activity’ dropdown, then select the new position in the sequence:

Determining a student's starting level when you already have data about a student's decoding skills

If you already have data on a student's reading ability, it is suggested that you adjust their starting position in the sequence according to this flowchart: 

Determining starting level based on a student's results in the Year 1 Phonics Check

The Year 1 Phonics Check is an assessment of phonics skills commonly used in Australia to determine a student's progress in decoding ability at the end of Year 1 at school. It is designed to help teachers identify students who may need extra help in developing their phonics skills. The test consists of 40 words and nonwords that a student reads aloud to a teacher, who scores their decoding attempts. Note that Reading Doctor has been included in the South Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment's document, 'Analysing and responding to the results of the Phonics Check'.

You can use a student's score from the Year 1 Phonics Check to determine their starting level in Reading Doctor® Online. To determine the student's starting level in Reading Doctor® Online, please choose the option corresponding to their score in the Phonics Check:

Determining starting level based on the Reading Doctor® Decoding Test (RD-DTA)

We have created a free placement test for students which can help you to determine an appropriate starting position as well as monitor student progress. The placement test is called the RD-DTA (Reading Doctor® Decoding Test - Form A). It assesses a student's ability to decode using nonwords and provides suggested starting levels for Reading Doctor® Online based on their results.

The test takes about 5 minutes to administer to a student and will indicate which part of the Reading Doctor® Online sequence (Part I, II or III) the student should be placed in. We have a pronunciation guide that can also be printed to help the person administrating the test. If the test suggests:

Part I - Basic Code  

Begin at this activity: Single Letter Graphemes: s,a,t,p,i,n,e. This is the beginning of the sequence. The program will begin teaching the student single letter grapheme knowledge as well as CVC, CCVC and CVCC blending & decoding.

Part II - Intermediate Code 

Begin at this activity: Split Digraph Decoding 1. The program will assume that the student can successfully read CVC, CCVC and CVCC words. Next, it will teach the student to read words containing the more common 2+ letter graphemes, such as 'ch, th, ee, ai, er etc) 

or

Part III - Advanced Code  

Begin at this activity: Longer Graphemes 2: kn,ph,wr,soft c,soft g,ge,dge,gn. The program will assume that the student can successfully read CVC, CCVC and CVCC words as well as words containing the most common 2+ letter graphemes. Next, it will teach the student to read words containing less common 2+ letter graphemes, such as 'ph, eigh, ew, oar' etc. 

Accessing the RD-DTA (Reading Doctor® Decoding Test - Form A)

You can access the test stimuli here (via Google Slides):

Google Slides can be accessed from a computer, phone or tablet so it should be easy to administer the test to a student without printing stimuli materials.

You can click on 'Scoresheet Link' on the first slide to access the test scoresheet.

The stimuli, scoresheet, pronunciation guide and instruction may also be downloaded in PDF format here:

Determining starting level based on grade

It is preferable to determine student starting level based on data about their reading ability rather than by making assumptions about reading skills based on grade. Students with suspected reading difficulties should not be placed based on their grade level as they should have their skills assessed prior to beginning with the program (so that the difficulty level is not set to an unrealistic level). More advanced students will also benefit from being placed based on their reading ability rather than their grade level.

The following guidelines may be useful if you do not yet have information about a student's reading ability and would like to get them started with Reading Doctor® Online based on their year of schooling. 

Preschool / Year 1

Start the student at the beginning of Part I: Basic Code (beginning of the sequence). The program will begin teaching the student single letter grapheme knowledge as well as CVC, CCVC and CVCC blending & decoding. This is the default starting position in the sequence.

Year 2 / Year 3

Start the student at the beginning of Part II: Intermediate Code. The program will assume that the student can successfully read CVC, CCVC and CVCC words. Next, it will teach the student to read words containing the more common 2+ letter graphemes, such as 'ch, th, ee, ai, er etc).