Education Endowment Foundation:Switch-on Reading (re-grant)

Switch-on Reading (re-grant)

Nottinghamshire County Council
Implementation costThe cost estimates in the Toolkits are based on the average cost of delivering the intervention.
Evidence strengthThis rating provides an overall estimate of the robustness of the evidence, to help support professional decision-making in schools.
Impact (months)The impact measure shows the number of additional months of progress made, on average, by children and young people who received the intervention, compared to similar children and young people who did not.
0
months
Project info

Independent Evaluator

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NatCen
An intensive one-to-one, daily, 10-week literacy intervention.
Schools: 184 Grant: £670,000
Duration: 9 month(s) Type of Trial: Effectiveness level evidence
Completed July 2016

The project

Switch-on Reading is an intensive 10-week literacy intervention. It is delivered on a one to one basis by staff, most commonly teaching assistants, who have been trained in the approach. The purpose of Switch-on is to achieve functional literacy for as many pupils as possible, and so to close the reading achievement gap for vulnerable children working below age-expected levels. It is inspired by the well-established intervention Reading Recovery, which is teacher led and delivered over a 12 – 20 week period.

Outcome/​Group
ImpactThe size of the difference between pupils in this trial and other pupils
SecurityHow confident are we in this result?
Switch-on vs. control
0
Months' progress
Effect size 0
Switch-on vs. control FSM
0
Months' progress
(Effect size 0.03)
N/A

EEF Summary

The first EEF Switch-on Reading trial found that pupils receiving the intervention made around 3 months’ additional progress in reading outcomes in Year 7, compared to other pupils. EEF funded a second trial to test whether Switch-on Reading (and Switch on Reading and Writing) would have an impact using the type of delivery model needed to make it available to a large number of schools. In particular, the training for TAs was delivered by a team of trainers, rather than the original developers. In this ​‘effectiveness’ trial, participating children in Switch-on schools made no additional progress in reading compared to similarly struggling children in ​‘business as usual’ control schools.

The difference in the two results could be because the delivery approach was changed, or because the trials were done with pupils of different ages. Alternatively, the difference could be due to changes in the evaluation process. For example, the amount of other literacy provision available to pupils in the comparison group appears to have been higher in the second trial.

Because of the positive result from the first trial, EEF is discussing with the Switch-on team whether it is possible to develop and test a model that is deliverable in a large number of schools while retaining more of the key elements of the original intervention. Schools considering using Switch-on now should aim to make the conditions as similar as possible to those in that first trial. Involvement from the original developers could be beneficial.

Were the schools in the trial similar to my school?

There were 184 schools in the trial, all from Nottinghamshire. 32% of the pupils involved in the trial were eligible for free school meals, and 73% of the pupils in the trial had special educational needs.

Could I implement this in my school?

Switch-on Reading is delivered by Switch-on, which currently sits within Nottinghamshire County Council. To deliver the intervention, teachers must attend a Switch-on training session.

How much will it cost?

The cost of the approach is estimated at £127 per pupil. This estimate includes resources, initial training and on-going monitoring and support. Estimates are based on a school delivering the intervention to 24 pupils and training four teaching assistants. This does not include the salary costs of the teaching assistants.

Evaluation Conclusions

  1. Participating children in schools delivering either version of Switch-on made no additional progress in reading compared to similarly struggling children in ​‘business as usual’ control schools. The 4 padlock security rating means that we have high confidence that there was no difference, and that this was due to Switch-on and not affected by other factors.
  2. A similar result was observed for children eligible for Free School Meals.
  3. The secondary analysis suggests that Switch-on might have affected children who did not actually receive the intervention by changing the make-up of their class or the capacity of their TAs. These findings are tentative, but emphasise the importance of considering potential impacts on all children when using targeted interventions.
  4. Overall, participating staff were positive about the intervention and accompanying training. Perceived outcomes for pupils included increased confidence, motivation and interest in reading, and improved reading and writing skills. Skills of participating TAs were also felt to have improved.
  5. Some schools reported modifications to the prescribed content, duration and format of Switch-on sessions. Closer monitoring by the developers could help to ensure greater fidelity in future. It was also reported that some class teachers had limited awareness of Switch-on. Clarifying the role of Switch-on as part of a broader, teacher-led literacy strategy could improve implementation.

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