OUCEA researchers published an article in the British Educational Research Journal on the importance of early phonics improvements for predicting later reading comprehension. The article builds upon the centre’s work for PIRLS 2016 and investigates how student performance on the year 1 phonics screening check in England predicts their performance in the key stage 1 reading assessment the following year, as well as in the PIRLS reading comprehension test four years later. The article explores the benefits of early interventions and further checks of phonics skills on improving later reading comprehension outcomes, particularly for students who fail to meet the ‘expected standard’ in the initial phonics screening check. The full article can be read here.