Changing the Story Reading Programme was developed by the National Literacy Trust in partnership with Hachette UK. The programme combines teacher training, resources, books and one-to-one reading sessions to provide targeted support to the schools and pupils in most need.
Data from Progress in Reading Assessment (PiRA) tests across three years indicate significant improvements in pupils’ reading ability after taking part in the Changing the Story Reading Programme:
- Pupils’ standardised scores increased over the course of the programme, from 86.6 in the autumn term to 95.0 in the summer term.
- In addition, fewer children were below average in their reading after taking part, decreasing from half (50.7%) before taking part to 1 in 4 (27.0%) after.
Another key aspect of the programme was to improve children’s reading enjoyment:
- 43.4% of pupils increased their reading enjoyment as a result of the programme.
- In particular, the number of children who enjoyed reading ‘very much’ increased from 25.5% to 39.0% following the programme.
The programme also aimed to support the schools’ reading-for-pleasure culture:
- 3 in 4 (75.9%) teachers agreed that the Reading Planet online library enhanced guided or whole-class reading, indicating the benefit of the programme in supporting whole-school reading culture.
- 7 in 10 (70.4%) teachers agreed that the programme enabled them to put more emphasis on developing higher-order reading skills.