The National Literacy Trust was commissioned to evaluate the impact of the Bookmark Reading programme on children’s reading skills and engagement during the 2019/20 academic year.
In addition to this evaluation report, a full impact report of the programme for 2019/20 is available on the Bookmark Reading website.
About Bookmark Reading
Bookmark Reading supports children’s reading in primary schools by offering a six week programme involving two 30 minute face-to-face sessions each week with a child who needs extra support with their reading.
By training volunteers to read with children in their local schools, the programme offers support for children in Years 1, 2 and 3 who are at risk of not meeting the expected standard for reading and also helps them to develop a love of reading. The programme is flexible for both schools and volunteers and sessions are easily scheduled through a digital platform.
About the evaluation
The evaluation was set-up to collect information on pupils’ reading skill as well as their reading enjoyment, behaviours and confidence before and after taking part in the Bookmark Reading programme. The same information was also collected from classmates who didn’t take part in the programme to provide comparative data. The evaluation was also designed to explore volunteers’ and teachers’ perceptions of the impact on participating pupils, as well as their own experience of the programme.
This evaluation sought to collect data from teachers, volunteers and children in the 2019/20 academic year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020 and the resulting school closures, it became impossible to administer the post-programme surveys and tests with pupils. Therefore, the evaluation was adjusted to focus solely on the perceptions of impact from teachers and volunteers, which were collected through surveys and interviews.
This report offers insight into the impact of the programme in the absence of pupil data.