An evaluation has found that a new intervention supported by SHINE is helping disadvantaged children across the North West improve their reading skills.
Children on free school meals who participated in the Are You Really Reading? programme exceeded the expected standard in their Reading SATs, achieving even better results the longer they took part.
The findings come from an interim report into the initiative by ImpactEd Evaluation which analysed data from 21 schools and 762 pupils.
SAT scores are standardised to ensure fairness, with a score of 100 representing the expected standard. Disadvantaged children who used the Are You Really Reading? programme scored, on average, 3 to 4.7 points above the expected standard. The longer they participated in the programme, the higher their average score.
Students using the programme achieved the following Standardised SAT scores in Reading:
After 1 year of intervention: |
103.05 |
After 2 years of intervention: |
103.56 |
After 3 years of intervention: |
104.71 |
Are You Really Reading? comprises five teaching strategies, or “strands”, including one that utilises hashtags to summarise text and another that employs emojis to identify and express characters’ emotions. The five strands, developed by staff at the Merseyside-based Three Saints Trust, are designed to engage children in the texts they are reading and ensure they fully understand them.
The evaluation collected qualitative data from teachers which indicated that the programme had been able to engage more reluctant readers and had increased pupils’ reading for pleasure
Students said they liked using hashtags and emojis to help them understand what they were reading.
To date, SHINE’s funding has enabled Are You Really Reading? to be rolled out across approximately 50 North West primary and secondary schools, reaching more than 100,000 children.
Katherine Harrigan, from Up Holland High School, Orrell, said she was “blown away” by how Year 8 and 9 pupils could apply skills learned from using the strands to other subjects. “I can see the impact the strands have had on data,” she said. “But have been equally impressed by the student’s ability to transfer their skills without prompting.”
Another secondary school teacher said it was clear which children had used the programme at primary when they moved into Year 7.
“Traditionally, the autumn term in Year 7 has been spent creating foundations for pupils to analyse texts and generate an opinion that is justified,” they said. “Pupils who have been on this project are much more willing to do this and are accurate with their opinions – the foundations are already there, and we can teach the KS3 curriculum. They show great secondary readiness for reading.”
Evaluators also asked pupils what they thought of the programme.
One student said: “I like using hashtags because it helps me to summarise a paragraph into a short phrase. It helps me to gather information and understand what’s happening in the text.”
Another commented: “I like using the emojis to think about how the characters are feeling. It also helps me to think about why they’re feeling like that and I can look more closely at the text to find out why.”
Moving forward, the Three Saints Trust aims to reach more schools located within six clusters around the North West.
Work is also underway on developing a website for Are You Really Reading?, which will help the project to become sustainable.