What works and what fails? Evidence from seven popular literacy ‘catch-up’ schemes for the transition to secondary school in England

Abstract

There are concerns that too many young people, from disadvantaged backgrounds, are moving into secondary education in the UK, and elsewhere, without the necessary literacy skills to make progress with the wider secondary school curriculum. A large number of interventions have been proposed to reduce this poverty gradient. This paper summarises the evidence from randomised controlled trials of seven popular interventions, giving a different comparative perspective to individual reports, and permitting more detail than a wider review. Of these, it shows that Switch-on Reading (Reading Recovery) and Accelerated Reader, for example, are currently the most promising. And that summer schools and the use of generic literacy software are the least successful and may even harm pupil progress. The way in which the evidence is assessed in this paper suggests a way forward for practitioners and policy-makers navigating the evidence in their areas of interest. There is also evidence that practitioners should be able to conduct robust evaluations of their own with only minimal support, which could lead to a revolution in school improvement. The combined results suggest that 'soft' evaluations may be worse than just a waste of time and money, and that theoretical explanations might appear satisfying to readers but are largely unnecessary when assessing 'what works' in education.

Princesses are bigger than elephants: Effect size as a category error in evidence‐based education

“…It is rare for researchers to directly compare individual studies by effect size to draw out policy advice. However, Gorard et al (2017) compared seven literacy interventions. 9 While some had tests in common, some had populations which might be considered similar and some had similar comparison treatments, no pair of studies shared all of the three components needed to allow a valid comparison.…”

Reading when the sun does not shine: The effect of reading on children’s academic performance

“…Empirical research has used either longitudinal data with dynamic or fixed effects models, or field experiments to identify the causal effect of reading on academic performance. Results from this research suggest that reading has a positive effect on reading and math performance (Gorard et al, 2017;Jaeger & Breen, 2016;Schneider & Pfost, 2013;Shany & Biemiller, 1995). Meanwhile, as the experimental literature has focused mainly on assisted reading programs in school (see e.g.…”

Can programmes like Philosophy for Children help schools to look beyond academic attainment?

“…A further reasonable quality study found subsequently also found gains in terms of CAT scores (Fair et al 2015). And the results of the largest ever P4C trial, recently conducted in the UK, were promising in terms of Key Stage 2 maths and reading attainment, and slightly less so for CAT scores (Gorard et al 2017a(Gorard et al , 2017b.…”

“…Children not only demand fair and just treatment from others but they also need to experience a variety of models where fairness and justice are served. This includes school scenarios such as equal opportunities to speak (Corden 2000), teachers' appropriate respect for all children (Gorard and Smith 2010), appropriate feedback and encouragement (Burnett 2002), rewards for a wider set of skills and performance (Harlen 2006), freedom to choose tasks and times (Gorard 2011) and required emotional support (Protheroe 2007). Pro-social behaviour is only encouraged when children see it in adults, and learn to trust adults in schools on the basis of their fair treatment and just values.…”

“…The use of vignettes in this study, providing stories with multiple responses that overcome the social demands of a scale with a clearly desirable end point, has been promising. The vignettes were first used by and reported in Gorard and Smith (2010), and have now been completed by over 50,000 pupils in 10 countries around the world. We have developed further vignettes on democracy, trust in others, and religious diversity, as part of this project.…”