Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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19. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to reform the literacy and numeracy strategy; his views on the gap that exists in literacy and in numeracy between advantaged and disadvantaged schools; his plans for new standardised testing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18282/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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My Department will complete an Interim Review of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy by September 2016. The review was scheduled to begin in 2016 but was brought forward to 2015 as many of the targets set in the Strategy have already been achieved. For example:

- The 2020 target to reduce by at least 5% the cohort of primary children performing at the lowest levels of English Reading has already been achieved. In second class primary the percentage of pupils performing at the lowest reading level fell by 13%, while In sixth class the reduction was 10%;

- Similar improvements were recorded in percentage increases for pupils performing at the highest reading levels;

- Similar results were also recorded for primary pupils' performance in mathematics:

- At post-primary level one target was to increase by at least 5% the cohort of 15-year olds performing at the highest levels in international reading, literacy and numeracy tests by 2020. This target has been achieved for mathematics and exceeded for overall reading literacy. Progress has also been made towards the 2020 targets for pupils performing at the lowest levels.

The interim review will contain actions to embed the success of the first five years and prioritise our efforts in key areas. It will involve a partnership approach between schools, parents, national and local agencies, from early years through to further education and training. Supports for students in DEIS schools will require particular consideration, while improving supports for adults, to increase their awareness and involvement in their children's learning, will be important.

One of the challenges remaining, however, is reducing the gap in literacy and numeracy outcomes for disadvantaged (DEIS) schools, compared to non-DEIS schools.

International research argues that schools with high concentrations of disadvantaged students do not perform at the same level academically as schools with a more advantaged intake. Social gaps in achievement reflect the broader societal processes influencing educational inequality. One of the objectives of the New Action Plan for Educational Inclusion, which I have committed to publish by the end of this year, is to reduce this gap, in the context of reducing inequalities by individual background. The plan will also be key in tackling literary and numeracy problems experienced by pupils in disadvantaged communities. I recently announced my initial proposals for the new plan, which I expect will include a series of pilot schemes to introduce measures which have been shown to work well in improving results for disadvantaged children. I also expect it to include measures in the areas of school leadership, literacy teaching methodologies, and ways in which supports to schools can be better integrated. The Programme for a Partnership Government commits to establishing a new Schools Excellence Fund under which applications to tackle educational disadvantage will be prioritised.

Standardised tests were included as part of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy so that schools could track and report the progress of pupils to parents and plan the next steps in children's learning. They are also used by schools to improve their practice in school self-evaluation and aggregated data is reported to my Department for monitoring purposes. I envisage that schools will continue to use and report data from the tests in these ways. Primary schools have implemented the use of standardised tests in reading and mathematics consistently, and have reported this information to parents and, in aggregate form, to the Department. They have also used it improve their teaching and learning practices through school self-evaluation. One issue emerging from the Review is the need for schools to have available to them new sets of tests that are consistent with the revised primary languages curriculum and that take account of the improvements in standards that have been achieved. There is also evidence from other sources, that teachers require greater support in interpreting the data to best effect. These will be priorities for my Department.