This report outlines findings about the impact of access to an ebooks platform on pupils’ reading motivation and skills over the academic year 2014/15.
The project found that being given the opportunity to read ebooks had a positive impact on children’s reading attitudes, particularly for boys and those who began the project as less engaged readers.
The study found that over the course of the project, which lasted for an average of 4.2 months, boys’ reading levels increased by an average of 8.4 months, compared to 7.2 months’ progress made by girls. Furthermore, the percentage of boys that felt reading was difficult almost halved from 28.0% to 15.9%, suggesting that confidence in their own reading ability increased as a result of the project. In addition, the percentage that felt reading was cool rose from 34.4% to 66.5%.
Findings are based on attitudinal data for 468 pupils and attainment data for 800 pupils.