Supporting students who are struggling

Identify a student who is struggling 

Within Sparx Reader you can monitor your class's Hand-in Page to see how students are getting on with their homework each week. This page has a few helpful insights which will help you identify if a student is struggling: 

• The total amount of Sparx Reader Points (SRP) earned will let you know if a student has not completed their homework task that week. 
• The student's accuracy lets you see how many checks they are passing on the first attempt. 
• You can also see how well the students completed their previous homeworks, allowing you to identify if this is the first week they have not yet completed or if a pattern is forming.
• The activity timeline will allow you to see a detailed view of their homework, including how they're performing on each question check. Consistent failing of checks will result in earning less SRP and homework taking longer. You can find out more about using this page here

How can I help those students who are struggling? 

Remind your students to read carefully 

If a student reads carefully, the checks should be easy for them to pass. If the student is rushing or skim-reading, they will likely fail their checks, get a low accuracy score and their homework will likely take longer than expected. It is helpful to make sure students understand that reading carefully and taking their time is the most efficient way to earn points.  You can make use of the Student demo feature (found under More on the left-hand side of your site) to show students what the reading looks like and demonstrate careful reading. It can also help to get a student who is struggling to come and read with ou so that you can witness their reading behaviour.  

Encourage students to rate their books 

If a student is not enjoying their book or finding it too difficult, they can use the 'rate this book' page that appears after question checks.

By inputting 'much too difficult', the student will be offered to swap the book for an easier title. 

Enable the accessibility settings 

It may help to change some of the settings to make the reading more accessible to the students. You can find more information on what settings you can change and how in our article: What accessibility settings does Sparx Reader have?

Swap the book for a student

If you want the student to stop reading a particular book, you can swap the book on their behalf at any time. Go to the reading history for the student, select the book, and then use the Swap or remove book button. You can then choose to swap the book, and provide a reason, which in this case might be due to it being too hard. 

Change the student's reading level 

If you think the student's reading level is too high or you find that the student really is struggling, you can manually lower their level which will give them lower-level books. Please note that if you lower the student's level it will remain at this level until you make further changes. We sometimes find that this happens if a student gets help from a parent, which causes Sparx Reader to think the student is stronger than they really are.

Find instructions on how to do this in our article: Changing a student's Sparx Reading Level.

Change students to half-length or optional-only homework 

If a student is experiencing difficulties at home, is poorly, or has a special education need that means completing reading each week could be difficult or stressful for them, you might want to make their homework half-length or optional for a while. Making this change removes their compulsory homework but students still have access to the platform to read.

See more information on how to do this in our article: Changing a student to half-length or optional only homework

Make sure specific students receive any additional help that may be necessary 

Ensure that you have completed diagnostic testing for these pupils and that they are receiving bespoke intervention for decoding, language comprehension, vocabulary acquisition and fluency if needed. They should complete these interventions alongside their weekly Sparx Reader homework.

Completing past homework

Homework is still available for students to complete after the hand-in. Once they've had 6 homeworks set after an incomplete homework that one will no longer be able to be worked on so will remain incomplete. 

When students are catching up on old homework, any reading they do will contribute to their active homework, before contributing to older incomplete homeworks.