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Quickscan Screening at Strode’s College, Egham

Executive summary

Quickscan does its job in that it is a quick and reliable method of baseline screening. It is user friendly for students and efficient for the college. It enables the Additional Learning Support Team to identify groups of students, make appropriate support arrangements for individuals in each group, commence processes which can lead to special access arrangements in examinations and reports for the Disabled Student’s Allowance. Quickscan contributes positively towards the college’s aim for students to enjoy smooth transitions into college and to life beyond and also to improving their experiences of their journeys through learning at the college.

Strode’s College uses the Quickscan programme for baseline screening of all students who enrol. Approximately six hundred students are enrolled and screened over a three day period at the start of each academic year.

Additional Learning Support (ALS) team members welcome and “sign in” each student as they arrive for screening. The process is explained briefly at this stage – in particular, students are requested to make certain that they print two copies of their report.

On completion of Quickscan each student receives a copy of the Additional Learning Support Handbook for students and an information sheet giving a more detailed explanation of screening. They also spend some time with an ALS team member when:

Each student writes their name on one copy of their report which is kept by ALS. The student keeps the other copy which is briefly explained to them.

At this point, ALS is able to sort reports into broad categories:

No indication that any further support will be required. These reports are filed alphabetically if required for future reference.
Identified by Quickscan for possible additional support with learning or study skills or development of confidence in learning. These students are encouraged to contact ALS if they encounter any difficulties with their course of study which require more support than their teachers or the college’s ILP system offers.
Possible need for support with maths skills – names of these students are forwarded to the subject leader and the maths team members
Students identified with possible ESOL difficulties are referred directly to the college’s ESOL service for further assessments.

The “remainder” group consists of three sub-groups of students all of whom are recalled for further assessments before teaching commences:

Those identified by Quickscan with possible dyslexia or dyspraxia
Those students who disclosed a learning difficulty at their interviews (details of these students are passed automatically to ALS by the college’s registry.)
Those who take longer than the college’s average range to complete Quickscan (in excess of 14 minutes.)

After completing Quickscan the “remainder” also receive an invitation to attend for further screening showing dates, times and details, an explanation from a member of the ALS team of why they are being recalled, encouragement to attend (what’s “in” it for them), these students also address a standard letter of explanation to their parents/guardians. (This is sent under separate cover.)

Students who are recalled are assessed in groups of 20 over two days before teaching commences.

Assessments used:

WRAT –E (reading comprehension and non verbal reasoning)
Rate of writing (PATOSS)
WRAT – 3 (now WRAT -4) spelling

All of which can be used as evidence for special access arrangements in examinations if necessary.

All students assessed in this way receive a summary report of their scores. This report also contains a brief summary of their Quickscan findings. Parent/guardians also receive a copy of this summary report – once again this is posted under separate cover.

All students in this group are invited to meet with a member of the ALS team to discuss their reports and decide upon any further action which may be indicated. (This could be one to one support; classroom support or general support from strategies built into schemes of work and the college’s ILP system.) Specific concerns are those students whose reading and nvr scores from WRAT-E show a statistically significant or very large discrepancy or those with a particularly slow rate of writing (the recent PATOSS norms for year 13 are used although they do not extend to post 16.)

Information about students in this “remainder” group is made available to Personal Tutors and subject teachers.

One to one assessment with the Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing (CTOPP), the Wide Range Intelligence Test (WRIT) and WRAT-4 single word reading is made available for students requiring a report for the Disabled Student’s Allowance. All the scores from the further assessments are computerised and copies can be printed for inclusion in these reports.

Identifying students who have taken longer than the college’s average range to complete Quickscan has proved useful for identifying a number of high achieving students with “hidden” specific learning difficulties. Quickscan screening itself has also identified quite a number of students with similar profiles.

The ALS team acknowledges than no system is infallible. Colleagues are actively encouraged to refer students to ALS if usual subject based support processes and the college’s ILP system proves insufficient. As all students’ initial screening report from Quickscan are filed, it is usually possible to use this as a starting point for discussion with any student referred to ALS in this way.

Molly Rickwood 25th October 2007
Additional Learning Support Manager, Strode’s College, Egham.
QTS; BA; Adv.Dip.Ed.(SEN); MA(Ed); OCR Certificate SpLD; Hornsby Diploma (Dyslexia) AMBDA