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What is Fluency Focus?

Fluency Focus is a sequenced programme of 20, 1‑hour, whole-class reading lessons for Year 5 pupils, delivered once a week in place of an existing reading lesson. The programme aims to improve pupils’ reading fluency and consequently their comprehension of challenging texts.

Who is leading this project?

The programme was developed and will be delivered by London South Research School at Charles Dickens (part of the Research Schools Network).

What will this project look like in your setting?

For schools allocated to the intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. , participating Year 5 teachers and SLT champions will attend one full-day, face-to-face training session at the start of the autumn term. This will be followed by a coaching call, a midpoint webinar, and a final end-of-programme webinar.

Teachers will receive training and full lesson resources to support their delivery of 20 carefully sequenced reading lessons. Each lesson follows a clear and consistent structure in which key fluency strategies are explicitly taught, modelled, and practised by pupils. Lessons will be delivered once per week in place of an existing reading lesson.

Intervention schools will be charged £300 towards the programme costs. Schools allocated to the control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. will continue with business as usual and will receive £500 for completing all evaluation activities.

As this is a research evaluation, both intervention and control schools will be asked to complete some evaluation requirements during the project. This may include supporting the evaluators to carry out pupil assessments, and engaging in surveys and/​or interviews. Exact evaluation requirements will be set out in the information materials if you express an interest in this project.

Who can take part?

• State-funded primary schools in London, the South East, East Midlands, East of England and West Midlands
• Schools not currently using, or planning to introduce, a structured reading fluency programme
• Schools that are not signed up to take part in EEF trials of PALS-UK or Power of Reading
• Schools not participating in EEF Evidence Into Action partnerships in Dudley, Enfield, Havering or Worcestershire

There is robust evidence to support reading fluency as a lever for improving reading comprehension and overall literacy outcomes. The EEF guidance report, Improving Literacy in Key Stage 2, recommends supporting pupils to develop fluent reading so that cognitive resources can be redirected from word recognition towards comprehending the text.

Fluency Focus aims to address the challenge that poor fluency for some pupils in Key Stage 2 results in weaker comprehension, with the associated attainment gap continuing to widen as pupils move into Key Stage 3. The programme offers training in a fluency-based approach, which may help teachers better support disadvantaged learners to access texts that may otherwise be challenging due to unfamiliar vocabulary and complex content.

The pilot evaluation of Fluency Focus programme found evidence of improved teacher understanding and use of fluency strategies and fluency assessment alongside teacher-perceived improvements in pupils’ ability to use fluency strategies independently, read fluently, and read aloud with greater confidence.

This project will be evaluated by Verian through a randomised controlled trialAn RCT is used evaluate an educational programme by assigning settings to one of two groups: the intervention group, who receive the programme or the control group, who continue with business as usual. This ensures that any differences in outcomes can be confidently attributed to the programme, providing a robust estimate of the impact and contributing to the evidence for what works in improving educational outcomes.. The evaluation will assess the impact of Fluency Focus on Year 5 pupils’ reading attainment and reading fluency. Alongside the impact evaluation, an implementation and process evaluationAn IPE is used to understand how and why an intervention has (or has not) been successful. Data is analysed to explore programme quality, reach, adaptation and differentiation, as well as setting fidelity and responsiveness to the trial design. will be conducted to explore how schools deliver the programme, and their perceptions of Fluency Focus.

Schools have a 50% chance of being allocated to the intervention groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the intervention group will receive the programme being tested. (receiving the Fluency Focus programme). Schools allocated to the control groupAs part of a Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT), settings will be randomised into either the intervention or control group. Settings in the control group continue with their usual practices and help provide a comparison to measure the intervention’s impact. They are usually offered a monetary compensation as thanks for their contribution. will continue with business as usual.