Success for one-to-one reading programme

Struggling readers who get support through the Reading Recovery programme do much better than children on other catch-up programmes, say researchers.

Under the programme, children at the end of their first year at primary school who are struggling to learn to read get a daily one-to-one tutoring session with a specially trained teacher for up to 20 weeks.

According to a study in 42 London schools, children in Reading Recovery programmes had caught up with their classmates within a year, whereas other children who started off at the same reading level were 15 months behind.

In the year after the intervention, the Reading Recovery children continued to make better progress. By the end of the second year – a year after the intervention - they were equal or ahead of their classmates in their reading ability, and still a year ahead of struggling readers who had not been in the Reading Recovery programme in Year One.

Find out more at the Reading Recovery web site

More parents reading to children

More parents now say they are reading with their children and helping them with homework.

In a survey, nearly four out of five parents (79%) said they read with their children, compared to 70% in 2004.

More than half said they always or mostly help their children with their homework. Four out of five also said they worked with them on school projects, made things with them, and played sport with them.

The survey, paid for by the government, showed that parents prefer informal face to face contact as a way of keeping in touch with their child’s school.

Most parents were very positive about the information provided by schools. Half said they felt very involved in their child’s education – and parents with children with special educational needs were more likely to feel this.

But SEN parents were less likely than others to feel they had a say in how their school was run, and more thought there was too much jargon in schools.

Parental involvement in children’s education