Final answer:
Any student who is less than proficient in reading and spelling should have their phonological skills tested. This is crucial due to the global learning crisis and the variability in proficiency standards, which affect literacy acquisition.
Step-by-step explanation:
Any student who is less than proficient in reading and spelling, no matter what age, should have his or her phonological skills tested with a screener that includes advanced phoneme manipulations and that accounts for the automaticity of student response. It's important to assess these skills early on because, as research indicates, there is a global 'learning crisis' where students may be enrolled in school but still fail to acquire basic literacy skills. This crisis is evident in the high percentage of second-grade students in some countries who cannot read a single word of a short text. Moreover, the discrepancy in standards across different states means that proficiency levels can vary widely, which may lead to students acing state tests but failing federal exams that are more rigorous. Therefore, a phonological screener is a valuable tool for identifying students who may need additional support, such as those with dyslexia, which is the most common learning disability.