CEI has found that a pilot program aiming to improve children’s skills in reading aloud has evidence of promising outcomes, feasibility for implementation, and readiness for scale-up to an efficacy trial
Our team evaluated the Fluency Focus program, in collaboration with Professor Helen Breadmore from the University of Birmingham School of Education, for Education Endowment Foundation.
“Oral reading fluency – the ability to read aloud smoothly and accurately, with intonation and expression – is closely linked with comprehension, a hallmark of skilled reading,” says Dr Paula Verdugo, CEI Advisor.
“However, surveys show that only about half of UK primary school teachers are asking pupils to regularly read aloud or explicitly teaching fluency in their classrooms.”
Fluency Focus was developed to fill this gap. The program provides a carefully sequenced structure of 20 weekly one-hour sessions, including ready-to-use lesson plans and comprehensive classroom resources.
“The aim is to boost reading skills at Year 5, a critical period for literacy development,” Paula explains. “At the age of nine or ten, pupils must acquire the reading and comprehension skills needed for secondary school, where they’ll be working with more complex and diverse texts across subject areas.”
Across 39 classrooms and more than 1,000 pupils, the evaluation found Fluency Focus is a feasible and acceptable program, which was implemented as intended in almost all the 20 schools involved.
“Teachers reported that most pupils engaged well with the program, although minor adaptation is needed for those with the highest and lowest reading abilities,” says Paula.
“We also found evidence of promising results: the program improved teachers’ understanding and ability to effectively use fluency strategies and assessments. And teachers noted improvements in pupils’ ability to independently apply fluency strategies, to read fluently, and to read aloud more confidently.”
Most schools involved in the trial have since developed plans to apply the Fluency Focus program (or its elements) to other staff and academic years.
“Fluency Focus could be scaled up to a full efficacy trial, with some relatively minor adaptations to its teacher training and pupil assessment activities,” says Dr Katie Young, CEI Associate Director.
In addition, two unanticipated positive outcomes were highlighted by the evaluation.
“The benefit of wide exposure to new and different texts – fiction, non-fiction, poetry and speeches – was noted by school staff and pupils,” Katie explains. “And the paired reading strategy in Fluency Focus helped pupils better work with peers and give constructive feedback.”
A further frequently cited outcome was a perceived improvement in pupils’ writing, particularly the correct use of punctuation and editing skills.
More about the evaluation
A mixed-methods approach was used to evaluate Fluency Focus for feasibility of implementation, evidence of promise, and readiness for trial. Twenty schools, 39 Year 5 classes, and 1,082 pupils took part, with the program delivered and evaluated between February 2023 and July 2024.
Evaluation activities included: interviews with the Fluency Focus delivery team and with school staff and pupils, staff surveys (teachers and school leadership), review of administrative program data, and quantitative analysis of teacher-administered pupil fluency assessments. Qualitative data analysed included observations of training, support and lesson delivery, focus groups with the delivery team, interviews with school staff, and pupil group discussions.
More about Fluency Focus
Fluency Focus is a 20-week, whole-class program, which aims to improve Year 5 pupils’ skills in oral reading and reading comprehension.
The program supports adoption of seven evidence-informed reading fluency strategies (in order):
- Identifying and learning unfamiliar vocabulary in the text
- Teacher-modelled fluent reading of the text
- Text marking and phrased reading (breaking the text down into phrases or units of meaning)
- Echo reading (pupils together echo their teacher’s fluent reading)
- Paired repeated reading (pupils read aloud to each other and give feedback on performance)
- Reading for performance (individual pupils read aloud to the class)
- Comprehension questions (for verbal and written responses)
Teachers receive initial training at an in-person training day, along with three webinars, two coaching sessions, and resources to deliver a carefully sequenced program of weekly one-hour lessons in place of existing Year 5 reading lessons.
Access the Fluency Focus evaluation report HERE
The Fluency Focus Pilot Report was authored by CEI’s Dr Paula Verdugo, Dr Katherine Young and Jane Lewis, with Professor Helen Breadmore from the School of Education, University of Birmingham. The evaluation was commissioned by Education Endowment Foundation.