Compared to the treatment of consonant segments, the treatment of vowels is infrequently described in the literature on children's speech difficulties. Vowel difficulties occur less frequently than those with consonants but may have significant impact on intelligibility. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of vowel targeted intervention (VTI)…

REACH is a targeted reading support programme designed to improve reading accuracy and comprehension in pupils with reading difficulties in Years 7 and 8. It is based on research by the Centre for Reading and Language at York and is delivered by specially trained teaching assistants (TAs). This evaluation tested two REACH interventions, one based…

Primary school enrolment in low-income countries has increased in recent years. The quality of education is, however, still a cause for concern. Better measurement of early reading progress has been suggested as a means of improving education quality. Benchmarks based on the number of 'words per minute' (WPM) students are able to read correctly…

The Word and World Reading programme aimed to improve the reading comprehension and wider literacy skills of children aged 7-9 from low income families. The programme focused on improving the vocabulary and background knowledge (sometimes labelled "core knowledge") of pupils, through the use of specially designed "knowledge…

Objectives: Increased recognition of the need for health education in schools has seen advances in health literacy in recent years. Most of these have focussed on physical health, whereas education about mental health is generally lacking and focussed on tackling stigma rather than promoting good mental health. This study evaluated a pilot…

Quest is a whole-year group approach to teaching English in Key Stage 3. Pupils are grouped according to their current level of reading comprehension, typically with smaller classes for the lowest attaining groups. Key components of the programme include: an emphasis on collaborative (or 'co-operative') learning; a requirement that participating…

Switch-on Reading is an intensive 10-week literacy intervention. It is delivered on a one to one basis by staff, most commonly teaching assistants, who have been trained in the approach. The purpose of Switch-on is to achieve functional literacy for as many pupils as possible, and so to close the reading achievement gap for vulnerable children…

Teachers of reading in secondary schools know how important it is for low-attaining readers to read whole narratives but time to do this in a crowded curriculum is limited and progress is more easily measured through reading smaller parts of texts. This paper reports on a longitudinal critical action research project in which three English…

"Talk of the Town" is a community led approach to supporting the speech, language and communication (SLC) skills of children and young people, aged 0-19, living in areas of social disadvantage. It is delivered by the Communication Trust. This evaluation reports on a randomised controlled trial undertaken with 2696 pupils in 64 primary…

The project, "Oxford Improving Numeracy and Literacy Programme," was delivered by Oxford University Department of Education. This evaluation tested two different initiatives with Year 2 children: "Mathematics and Reasoning" and "Literacy and Morphemes." The "Mathematics and Reasoning" programme aimed to…

Some methods of determining grade boundaries within examinations, such as awarding, paired comparisons, and rank ordering, entail expert judgements of script quality. We aimed to identify the features of examinees' scripts that most influence judgements in the three methods. For contrasting examinations in biology and English, a Latin square…

Tutoring with Alphie is a computer-assisted programme that aims to improve the literacy skills of struggling readers. The programme combines elements of collaborative (or 'cooperative') learning, computer-assisted instruction and small group support. Participating pupils are grouped in pairs and follow a series of activities that seek to improve…

Background: Oral language skills in the preschool and early school years are critical to educational success and provide the foundations for the later development of reading comprehension. Methods: In a randomized controlled trial, 180 children from 15 UK nursery schools ("n" = 12 from each setting; M[subscript age] = 4;0) were randomly…

Concern over worldwide literacy rates prompted the United Nations to establish the UN Literacy Decade (2003-2012) with one area of focus being to provide support to schools to develop effective literacy programs (UNESCO, 2005). This study addressed the area of providing support to schools to develop effective literacy programs by exploring the…

A substantial proportion of children underachieve in reading (Brooks & Tough, 2006; Doubek & Cooper, 2007; Tymms & Merrill, 2007). This paper builds on the existing evidence base for the link between reading and rhythm, presenting findings of an investigation into a rhythm-based music intervention. Following participation in the…