The Changing the Story Reading Programme is a new programme for pupils in Key Stage 1 created in partnership with Hachette UK. The programme brings together Hodder Education’s Rising Stars Reading Planet scheme, additional Hachette children’s reading-for-pleasure books, and the National Literacy Trust’s expertise and trusted reputation to support the schools and pupils in most need.
This report presents the evaluation findings from the first year of the programme, by using data collected from both pupils and teachers.
Some key findings include:
Pupils’ improvement in reading ability:
- Data from New Progress in Reading Assessment (New PiRA) tests indicated significant improvements in pupils’ reading ability over the course of the programme. The findings show that before taking part, on average, children’s standardised score was 87.95. After taking part in the programme, this had increased to 97.90. Similarly, children's reading age on average improved by 11 months across a nine-month period.
- The percentage of children whose reading skills were below the national average decreased from 43.8% at the start of the programme to 16.3% at the end. At the same time, the percentage of children reading at the average level increased from 55.0% to 72.5% and the percentage of children reading above the national average increased almost 10- fold, from 1.3% to 11.3%
Pupils’ reading enjoyment and self-perception of skills:
- Attitudinal data from pupils shows positive changes in their reading enjoyment and self-perception of reading skills as a result of taking part in the programme. For example, the percentage of pupils who said they enjoyed reading very much increased from 1 in 4 (23.1%) before taking part to 1 in 3 (35.9%) after taking part. Similarly, the number of children who rated themselves as very good readers more than doubled over the course of the programme, from 17.9% before to 51.3% at the end.
Benefits for the school:
- Data from teachers also show a positive impact of the programme on the wider school ethos. For example, 4 in 5 (78.3%; n = 18) teachers agreed that their school has put more emphasis on developing higher-order reading skills since taking part and 2 in 3 (65.2%; n = 15) agreed that they have been able to make links between Changing the Story resources and their wider curriculum.