The Impact of Using Literacy Gold Where Pupils are Behind in Reading
In 2020, 402 pupils from 49 schools played Literacy Gold’s reading programs - Engaging Eyes, Reading Unlocked, and Fluency Builder – alongside their school's reading curriculum, as a personalised intervention, to enable the monitoring of progress. Pupils were all identified by their SENCo as having a reading age of at least 12 months behind their chronological age.
After three months of using Literacy Gold, children showed an average improvement of 12 months in their reading age.
Implementation
Literacy Gold is an online reading intervention that provides personalised instruction. It improves phonics, phonological awareness, and convergence.
SENCos were asked to identify pupils who were significantly behind in reading. Pupils were eligible to participate in the trial if their reading age was at least 12 months behind their chronological age. Pupils who participated in the trial were either in Key Stage 1 or Stage 2.
Throughout the trial period, pupils engaged with the programs independently, requiring minimal supervision from teaching staff. Teachers were instructed to ensure that pupils participated in the programs for at least 25 minutes each day.
Prior to starting the trial, pupils were tested using the Salford Sentence Reading Test. The test was then given upon completion of the trial.
Results
Pupils who participated in the trial made accelerated progress – an average of 12 months – over a period of 12 weeks.
This demonstrates that through receiving personalised instruction, based on the pupils’ individual needs, pupils were able to progress at an appropriate pace and proceed swiftly onto new learning.
Through spaced repetition, the pupils were consistently revisiting prior learning, enabling them to retain information that had been taught previously. Pupils worked through the lessons with minimal instruction from teaching staff, therefore progress was not influenced by the adult’s knowledge and understanding of phonics or reading strategies.
Pupils’ progress is evident in the results from the Salford Reading Test completed by each pupil upon completion of the trial.
| 2020 Trial | ||
| Avg Reading Improvement | 12 Months | |
| Length of Intervention | 3 Months | |
| Research Design | One group pre-test/post-test study | |
| Age Range | KS1, KS2 (6 - 11 year olds) | |
| Inclusion Criteria | Pupils were all identified by their SENCO as having a reading age of at least 12 months behind their chronological age | |
| Result | On average pupils’ reading accuracy improved by 12 months over the 3-month period. The Ratio Gain shows Remarkable Impact |
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| No. of Pupils | 402 pupils from 49 schools | |
| Test Used | New Salford Reading Test | |