Academies within a MAT share how Reading Plus improved reading ages for their students
Alys Finch, Director of Education at Great Academies Education Trust (GAET), shares how our online reading development programme, DreamBox Reading Plus, improved reading ages, engagement and fluency levels across the primaries and secondaries within the trust:
- Copley Academy (Copley)
- Great Academy Ashton (GAA)
- Middleton Technology School (MTS)
- Silver Springs Primary Academy (SSPA)
The decision to implement Reading Plus was a trust-wide decision based on what they had heard and seen of Reading Plus’s impact. After a successful free pilot with impressive results, the Trust fully implemented the programme, ensuring each school’s approach was bespoke to their pupils’ needs and feasibility.
“Reading Plus is a highly impactful, well-crafted approach which has significantly improved reading at all levels of the provision in our Trust: Reading Plus is both a tool for improvement and an anchor for evaluating the strategic development of literacy at child, school and whole Trust levels.”
Improved reading results
We’ve just renewed our subscription with Reading Plus: the impact, value for money and utility of Reading Plus is demonstrable in the gains it has enabled our schools and children to make. Reading Plus is a key to the gateway of learning for our pupils and our staff.
Copley
Annual reports we receive from Daisy Education, providers of Reading Plus, alongside my own reports, have demonstrated pleasing progress. This is triangulated with our NGRT data and shows measurable impact within the whole reading offer within the Academy.
SSPA
Reading Plus is identified in the School Improvement Priority as a key strategy for improving reading - both in terms of general ability and within the context of Year 6 SATs.
In 2023, our year group that only just started to pilot Reading Plus was significantly below the national average, with:
- Around 56% EXS.
- Around 20% GD.
Our 2024 outcomes, after a year of Reading Plus, improved with:
- 76% EXS (above the national average).
- 24% GD.
Improved comprehension and reading ages
GAA
With Reading Plus, our students are improving faster than their chronological age. This positive correlation between the progress made on Reading Plus and NGRT shows the validity of the data against the norm-referenced data set. This progress includes:
- 19-month average improvement in reading age over a 10-month period.
- +4 average gain in Standard Age Score (SAS) across Key Stage 3 on NGRT.
MTS
Our pupils engage well with Reading Plus and have seen impressive results. After 9 months of use:
- Year 7 gained 2.1 years of progress.
- Year 8 gained 1.1 years of progress.
- Year 9 gained 1 year of progress.
Copley
Our results show:
Improving fluency
GAA
In our diagnostic and proximal assessments, fluency and passage comprehension were the core issues for the majority of our readers.
Now that we have implemented the programme, we track fluency as words per minute and triangulate this data with NGRT and WRAT testing to check for validity. Results show that our students have gained:
- 52 words per minute - showing 'good' progress on fluency and high rates of improvement against the norm-referenced data from Hasbrouck, J. & Tindal, G. (2017). An update to compiled ORF norms (Technical Report No. 1702).
Progress for struggling readers to GD
GAA
Too many of our students were reading below the national average, so we were keen to implement a package we could use across a whole year group/key stage that would adapt to different-ability readers.
Reading Plus also ensures that our most able readers are not left behind and can continue to develop their reading skills. We had previously used [another popular reading programme] but had seen little progress.
SSPA
The assessment tools with Reading Plus make it quick and easy for staff to identify children who need additional, different, or less intervention.
Piloting Reading Plus
With Reading Plus, schools have the opportunity to trial the programme for free to test its impact before you decide to purchase.
Copley
We trialled [another popular reading programme] during Covid remote learning; however, Reading Plus was a more fluently packaged version of this programme.
We piloted Reading Plus with a cohort of Year 9, and the data showed demonstrable and significant gains. This led to a trust-wide purchase of the package.
MTS
During the pilot, our pupils engaged positively with the programme and made progress. Reading Plus stood out from other programmes with its Netflix-style selection of online texts that match both reading age and actual age - which helped with pupil engagement.
Comprehensive reporting, resources and support for teachers
The data Reading Plus provides has been fundamental to the refinement of our Trust Literacy Strategy, how we approach our raising attainment strategy, and our understanding of what the nuanced barriers to learning might be for groups of pupils.
The data has also informed how we connect our schools across the Trust, enabling us to be more acute in our sharing of expertise and practice at intra- and inter-school levels.
Copley
The Data Manager and Literacy Lead had really useful training from Daisy to monitor and report on impact. The Literacy Lead also completes an impact report each term to share with the Principal and with staff to inform succeeding actions.
The in-built reporting functions within the programme and Question Level Analysis reports provided by Daisy that measure pupils against the reading domains are very accessible and limit impact on teacher workload.
SSPA
The high-quality bank of resources, CPD opportunities, lesson materials and assessment tools provided by the programme and Daisy not only ensure quality provision for all children but also support staff workload.
“The team at Daisy Education are highly responsive and knowledgeable, and it’s clear that their values, which are ultimately about enabling the best for pupils, aligned with our Trust.”
Increased reading engagement
Across the Trust, the impact of Reading Plus on pupils’ reading progress, engagement and (crucially for us) enjoyment has been significant and sustained over time.
GAA
We’re pleased with the quality of the reading material on Reading Plus – the fact that students can select their own text based on their individual interests is a big benefit.
Copley
Students are rewarded using the academy rewards system and celebrated through assemblies where the programme-produced certificates are handed out and the half-term leaderboard winners are congratulated.
Support for disadvantaged readers
Reading is a barrier for our most disadvantaged pupils in terms of access to and success in their learning - not to mention the role of literacy in developing curricular, cultural and social capital for them to lead their own futures.
Copley
Progress data for the year for our disadvantaged demographics are:
Reading Plus at GAET
Copley
At Copley Academy, all students in KS3 have an hour Reading Plus lesson per week within English curriculum time as the benefits are significant to warrant this. Students also do at least 30 minutes for homework each week.
GAA
Reading Plus is used as a curriculum delivery rather than an intervention. All students in Years 7, 8 and 9 have an hour a week dedicated to independent reading on the programme.
MTS
All of Year 7 access Reading Plus once a week in a literacy lesson.
Students in Years 8 and 9 with a reading age 2+ years below their actual age also access Reading Plus in class or as an extracurricular lesson.
Discover how Reading Plus can impact your academy or MAT!
Book an online meeting with one of our Reading Development Consultants to explore the advantages of Reading Plus for your students.
Call:
0191 389 6078 (option 1)
Email:
info@daisyeducationuk.com
