The check measures their ability to use synthetic phonics—an approach ... such as the difference in results between children from richer and poorer backgrounds—by the end of primary school.

Children from low-income backgrounds have less access to books ... that the most effective way to teach literacy is through phonics, which helps kids decode words by understanding the sounds ...

The strategies align with decades of research that shows that in addition to broadening their vocabulary, "children need to understand phonics, or the relationship between letters and the sounds ...