ISBN: 978-0-9537736-6-4 (available electronically, or to order as hard copy from: education.centralregistry@west-dunbarton.gov.uk)
Summary: This is the second and final research report on this 10-year study which had the objectives of raising literacy achievement for all children and eradicating illiteracy from the population. The report summarises the results of the entire study, providing a synopsis of the earlier report together with the data for the completion of the two studies that were ongoing when the first report was published (the main study and the individual support study). For those who wish to see the complete methodology of the study, as well as the detailed results of the three studies completed previously (the synthetic phonics study, the attitudes study and the declaration study), the source of reference continues to be the first phase report, listed separately under MacKay (2006). The final report shows the data confirming the effective eradication of illiteracy from the population of school leavers in West Dunbartonshire, which had been at a level of over 20% at the start of the study.
ISBN: 0-906938-12-0 (available to order from: education.centralregistry@west-dunbarton.gov.uk)
Objectives: This is the first of two reports and covers the first six years of the study. The aim of this study was to design and evaluate a multiple-component intervention to raise general literacy levels and to address underachievement and illiteracy in areas of socio-economic disadvantage, taking full account of educational change processes in the context of real world research.
Method: A main study and four supporting studies were conducted. The main study involved the design and implementation through six years of a multiple-component intervention in 58 nurseries and primaries, using a cross-lagged design in which pre-intervention population cohorts served as controls for subsequent intervention cohorts of the same age. Children in the early stages (N = 3,000+ annually) were individually assessed on a baseline assessment designed for the study, while older pupils (N = 3,000+ annually) took group tests. The synthetic phonics study used a quasi-experimental design to compare two phonics programmes in 18 schools. The attitudes study was a long-term follow up of 24 children from an earlier randomised control trial. The declaration study designed, implemented and evaluated a novel strategy in 12 nurseries and primaries (N = 565), using a quasi-experimental design. The individual support study was a quasi-experimental study in secondary school (N = 24), followed by extension into 35 primaries.
Results: In the main study, comparison of cohorts showed year-on-year gains on all tests and across all age groups, with indications of sustained post-intervention gains in later years. In each of the four supporting studies gains were found for the experimentals, pointing to benefits in the use of synthetic versus traditional phonics, in changing attitudes to reading, in making declarations of future reading achievement and in the use of intensive individual support.
Conclusions: The interventions reported in this study have resulted in raised achievement, have addressed illiteracy in areas of socio-economic disadvantage and have developed a foundation for planning intergenerational change in attainment levels.
ISBN: 0-906938-12-0 (Available to order from:
Sandra.Hamilton@west-dunbarton.gov.uk)
Objectives:
This study aimed to enhance young children's literacy skills
by getting them to make bold declarations regarding their
future levels of reading achievement.
Method: This was a quasi-experimental
study in which 6 experimental schools (4 primary, 2 nursery)
were matched with 6 controls on the basis of socio-economic
status and existing levels of literacy achievement. A total
of 565 pupils participated in the 6 experimental schools,
and in addition a systematic sample of 60 pupils from experimental
and controls schools was assessed individually for reading
and pre-reading skills and for attitudes to reading. Staff
were trained in a novel intervention in which children made
a minimum of three declarations each day that their reading
levels would be enhanced.
Results: Experimentals achieved
significantly higher scores on a literacy baseline assessment
than controls after a 9 week intervention. For the nursery
group gains were made on three tests: nursery rhymes, rhyme
production and lower case letter sounds. For the primary
group, gains were made on 5 tests: nursery rhymes, lower
case letter sounds, letter names, non-word reading and word
reading. The experimentals also showed significant shifts
towards more positive attitudes and expectations regarding
reading. These findings were supported by structured feedback
from both teachers and participating children.
Conclusions: Literacy levels
in young children can be enhanced through making bold declarations
regarding future reading achievement. The relationship of
this novel strategy to mainstream psychological theory is
explored.
ISBN: 0-906938-12-0 (Available to order from:
Sandra.Hamilton@west-dunbarton.gov.uk)
Objectives:
This study was conducted as part of a major, population-wide
intervention aimed at eradicating illiteracy throughout
schools in an entire council area. It used individual support
strategies to address the difficulties of failing readers.
Method: The study was carried
out in two phases. First, a quasi-experimental study was
conducted in one secondary school with 24 pupils referred
for learning support because of low reading levels. Of these
pupils, 12 experimentals were enrolled in an intensive individual
support programme using Toe By Toe, while 12 matched controls
were assigned to the normal learning support programme.
In the second phase, 104 pupils from 32 primary schools
received the programme. Brief training (one half day) was
provided to 120 teachers and volunteers.
Results: The 12 experimental
pupils in the secondary study showed mean reading age gains
of 2y 0m (from 8y 2m to 10y 2m) following the three-month
Toe By Toe intervention, and with a 12-month interval between
tests, while the controls gained only four months (from
8y 5m to 8y 9m) during the same period). The average pre-test
reading age of the 104 children in the primary schools study
was 8y 0m, this being about three years behind their chronological
age. After a period of just under six months their post-test
reading age had risen to 9y 2m, giving an average gain score
of 1y 2m.
Conclusions: Individual support
from teachers or from trained volunteers using Toe By Toe
can effectively address the difficulties of failing readers
and can provide an economic alternative to methods such
as Reading Recovery.
It has been acknowledged that children from
poverty begin school missing many prerequisites for school
success. The 1963 US initiative, Head Start, is the major
federal program aimed at providing children in poverty the
experiences necessary to start school on an equal footing
with their same-age peers. This article uses data from the
Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS) to examine the
reading and math assessment scores of Head Start children
as compared to their same-age peers at kindergarten entry.
The data suggests that while Head Start children score higher
than their same-age peers when compared to non-Head Start
children from the same socio-economic status, there is still
a gap between Head Start children and their peers in schools
with higher social economic standing. The article brings
an interdisciplinary focus to the issue of how 'peer' is
defined for disadvantaged children when examining achievement
gaps and relative program effectiveness.
Abstract reproduced with permission of Sage
Publications Ltd: www.sagepub.co.uk.
This study investigated the effectiveness
and efficiency of the Reading Recovery early intervention.
At-risk 1st-grade students were randomly assigned to receive
the intervention during the 1st or 2nd half of the school
year. High-average and low-average students from the same
classrooms provided additional comparisons. Thirty-seven
teachers from across the United States used a Web-based
system to register participants (n = 148), received random
assignment of the at-risk students from this system, and
submitted complete data sets. Performance levels were measured
at 3 points across the year on M. M. Clay's (1993a) observation
survey tasks, 2 standardized reading measures, and 2 phonemic
awareness measures. The intervention group showed significantly
higher performance compared with the random control group
and no differences compared with average groups. Further
analyses explored the efficiency of Reading Recovery to
identify children for early intervention service and subsequent
long-term literacy support.
Abstract reproduced with permission of ScienceDirect:
www.sciencedirect.com
During the summer vacation children who are
economically disadvantaged experience declines in reading
achievement, while middle-and high-income children improve.
Previous research has demonstrated that the most widely
implemented intervention - sending economically disadvantaged
students to summer school - has not led to increases in
reading achievement. In this longitudinal randomised trial,
a randomly assigned group of exiting First-Grade children
who were economically disadvantaged was enrolled in a seven-week
summer reading day camp. The intervention students' reading
achievement was then compared to control group participants
at four time points. Results showed noteworthy differences
for intervention students in reading comprehension.
Abstract reproduced with permission of Blackwell
Publishing: www.blackwellpublishing.co.uk
Evidence suggest that phonic interventions
delivered by trained researchers improve early reading and
spelling. This study sought to explore whether school Learning
Support Assistants (LSAs) can also improve performance using
these methods. Four groups (each of n = 27) of the poorest
reading 6-year-old children in nine schools were screened
and selected for this study. LSAs were briefly trained to
administer phonic programmes as small group interventions
for nine weeks. Rhyme- and phoneme-based programmes were
also contrasted with controls receiving the National Literacy
Strategy. At post-test, all intervention group children
were better decoders, and had better phonological awareness
and letter-sound knowledge than controls. The phoneme-based
group had better letter-sound knowledge than the other intervention
groups. It is concluded that trained Learning Support Assistants
can deliver effective early preventive programmes for literacy
difficulties.
Abstract reproduced with permission of the
Taylor and Francis Group: www.tandf.co.uk
Current understandings about literacy have
moved away from the belief that literacy is simply a process
that individuals do in their heads. These understandings
do not negate the importance of the individual aspects of
literacy learning, but they emphasize understandings of
literacy as a social practice. In many cases, responses
to early literacy intervention seem to be grounded in theories
that appear out of step with current literacy research and
consequent evidence that literacy is socially and culturally
constructed. One such response is the Reading Recovery programme
based on Clay's theory of literacy acquisition. Clay (1992)
describes the programme as a second chance to learn. However,
others have suggested that programmes like Reading Recovery
may in fact work toward the marginalization of particular
groups, thereby helping to maintain the status quo along
class, gender and ethnic lines. This article allows two
professionals to bring their insider's knowledge of Reading
Recovery to an analysis of the construction of the programme.
The article interweaves this analysis with the personal
narratives of the researchers as they negotiated with borders
between different understandings and beliefs about literacy
and literacy pedagogy.
Abstract reproduced with permission of Sage
Publications Ltd: www.sagepub.co.uk.
The Boots Books for Babies project
was a partnership between the Boots Company, Nottingham
City Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and Nottinghamshire
Health Visitors. The project's stated aims were to deliver
book packs to the parents or carers of babies attending
hearing checks at local health centres, via the health visitor,
usually at around nine months old, in order to increase
awareness among parents and carers of the importance of
sharing books with babies, and to increase the registration
of babies with local libraries and use of the library service.
Over the period of the roll-out of the project (1998-2000),
in libraries associated with the project, the total number
of babies under 2 years old registering as library members
rose by 54%. Baby registrations for a comparison group of
7 libraries showed an increase in baby registrations in
a similar period of 6%, concentrated in the first 4 months
of the year. Over the last 9 months of the year, the number
of baby registrations in non-project libraries was lower
than in 1998. Health visitors, other health care workers
and library staff were very supportive of the project's
goals and willingly gave extra time to support the project.
Many respondents spontaneously shared the view that the
project's work should be continued and sustained, and it
has since attracted supplementary funding to continue this
work.
Abstract reproduced with permission of Sage
Publications Ltd: www.sagepub.co.uk
This paper explores classroom interventions
using a particular form of multimedia ICT, and looks to
study pupil learning gains which accrue from its use. Work
within the Literacy Hour in eight schools was detailed in
order to evaluate the effectiveness of this communication
system and the research data include pre- and post-test
assessments, along with interviews with classroom teachers
and pupils. The children are presented with a series of
journalistic tasks and classroom activities which they resolve
through the use of a compact and coordinated information
system. The outcomes demonstrate that children can become
self-directive and very active, exploratory, learners in
a very short period of time. They quickly enjoy the freedom
and control which the system permits, and through which
they can be shown to enhance particular literacy skills.
The lessons to be learned here relate to the management
and organisation of classroom teaching in the face of systems
which promote rapid devolution of learning to the learner.
In this study the authors examine issues related
to selecting and evaluating early intervention programs
for first graders at serious risk for failing in reading
acquisition. The program evaluated is Early Steps, an intervention
with one-to-one tutoring and with particular emphasis on
story reading, writing and phonological skills. Four neighbourhood
schools were selected to participate in the study - two
experimental and two control schools. The 49 children came
from lower-to middle-class Caucasian families with similar
socioeconomic backgrounds. The design of the study includes
pre, post and retention assessment of an experimental and
control group. Various tests were used to assess spelling
performance, word recognition, nonword reading and reading
comprehension. The results at the end of Grade 1 and the
beginning of Grade 2 indicate that the experimental group
performed statistically significantly better than the control
group on a ll variables assessed. In particular, the children
with the lowest pretest levels, the very high-risk children,
benefit most from the intervention. Their improvement approaches
the average performance level after an intervention period
of 8 months. We presume that the substantial progress among
high-risk children reflects the importance of a balanced
approach to beginning reading and the power of the Early
Steps program to increase the phonological and word study
skills among those children most at the risk in this domain.
Abstract reproduced with permission of the
International Reading Association.
This study investigates the claims of scientific
objectivity that support recent changes in policies toward
early literacy instruction in the states of Texas and California.
According to recent reading initiatives in both states,
conclusive findings in literacy research, particularly in
the area of phonemic/phonological awareness (PPA), now mandate
state policies of explicit, systematic instruction in phonics
and the use of phonetically regular texts in early grades.
A framework suggested by Habermas's (1987) Theory of Communicative
Action was sued to assess the validity of this claim, through
the analysis of 10 major studies of PPA, 2 seminal reviews
of early literacy research, and 2 policy documents. Close
analysis of these texts generally supported the objective
claims for PPA research but challenged the poor performance
of minority and low-socioeconomic status (SES) populations
on tests of PPA on the grounds that differences in the norms
of those populations' phonological systems may bias test
results. Additionally, objectively referenced claims made
in two major research reviews that the poor performance
of nonmainstream students on tests of PPA and reading achievement
are linked to the social or genetic inferiority of the students'
families and communities appeared to be grounded in untested
and unacknowledged normative assumptions about the home
lives and genetic backgrounds of children who struggle to
learn to read. A concluding analysis of the two states'
curricular policy statements found them to be highly selective
in their use of research evidence and, from Habermasian
perspective, more strategic than communicative in their
orientation and intent.
Abstract reproduced with permission of the
International Reading Association.
The reported studies were conducted over 2
years to examine the effectiveness of an early literacy
intervention project for inner-city children in grades 1-4.
Children who were either nonreaders or were one or more
years below grade level in reading received small-group
literacy instruction from preservice teachers after school
for 10 weeks each semester until they achieved grade-level
reading. Parents were involved by attending literacy events
and reading with their child at home. Children enrolled
in the project made more progress after one semester than
a group of untutored children. Children who began a semester
reading at primer or first-grade levels made more progress
than children reading at lower or higher levels. The factors
that predicted reading growth were: the number of rime patterns
taught, story grammar instruction, the number of words the
child read at home and parent involvement in recreational
reading. The results and implications are discussed in relation
to other early intervention projects.
Abstract reproduced with permission of the
International Reading Association.
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