Digital

Closing the Reading Gap

through Literacy Support

Beth Khalil explores some of the digital options to measure and

improve reading in UK schools.

ince Covid, when students were away Lexonik Advanced is the next stage up from LEAP

S from classrooms or directed learning for a

considerable amount of time, schools have
been making use of catchup funding which is
and is delivered in groups of four students for one
hour a week in a concentrated six-week period.
This programme is very fast paced and engaging,
awarded to help students raise their reading ages with the students having to stay focused to keep
and attainment grades. This is so the achievement up. These activities focus on how words are built
gap does not widen further between Pupil with prefixes, suffixes and syllables using longer,
Premium (PP) and Special Educational Needs more complex vocabulary alongside definitions
(SEN) students and the rest of their peers in and spellings. In my experience, students we have
secondary schools across the UK. Literacy seems to delivered this to in our academy have raised their
be one of the main focuses of OFSTED inspections reading ages substantially and you can see the
currently, and there are many literacy programmes progress from the very first session which helps the
both online and offline which claim to advance students immediately grow in confidence.
reading ages in a relatively short space of time.

Lexia – Powerups (online)

L
Le
Lexia uses online interactive word, spelling and
grammar activities to help students navigate a
gr
variety of texts on the screen. They have to work
va
fast in some units to try and beat the time it takes
fa
to finish a task and the student works their way
through the programme until they master the
th
different units. This is very different to the Lexonik
di
interventions as the students are in front of a
in
screen with headphones, so the tutor very rarely
sc
interacts with the group unless they are struggling
in
to complete a unit. When this happens, there are
many skill building activities which can be printed
m
off and used in a small group setting if needed or
given as extended work to be completed at home.
giv

Lexonik
ik – Leap andd
Advance (offline)
Lexonik is an award-winning company based in
the Northeast of England which aims to improve
the literacy levels of students through small group
interventions delivered by trained staff in schools
across the UK. Because it is staff led, the students
are engaged with the tutor throughout the sessions.
Lexonik LEAP is aimed at those students who
struggle in classrooms and have low literacy skills
or have English as an additional language (EAL).
Beth Khalil is the LRC The structured programme uses basic phonics,
Manager/Literacy building on the sounds and spellings of words and
Coordinator Northern is delivered to small groups of four to six students
Education Trust Thorp daily. The students learn about graphemes,
Academy. She has been a digraphs, the part time vowel, prefixes, and
librarian for 30 years and vocabulary, which teaches them how to look at a
her passion is encouraging word and understand how it is put together so they
young people to discover a can sound the word out and spell it correctly.
lifelong love of reading.

36 VOLUME 71 NUMBER 3 AUTUMN 2023

 Digital

Accelerated Reader
ader (offline
reading with online quizzes)
Accelerated Reader is a literacy programme
which many schools are familiar with, and it
can be delivered in small intervention groups or
with whole key stages or classes. It aims to pair
pleasure reading with recall, understanding and
retrieval of the book read. This tests the fluency and
comprehension of each individual reader. The main
aim is for readers to start at a certain book level
achieved through a ‘Star Reading test’ and then for
them to work their way through the different levels
as they quiz, being exposed to more ambitious
vocabulary as they read and move up the levels
with more difficult texts. Some schools find it works
incredibly well, while some schools find it intensive
and expensive.

Reading Plus – (Reading

Solutions – Online)
Reading Plus is a unique online reading platform
which is tailored to a student’s ability following an
initial baseline test at the start of the programme.
This puts the students on a certain level for their
ability, and as they read through the hundreds
of texts they can unlock new texts, level up,
achieve combos and raise their word count to
gain certificates. The text helps the reader by depending on staffing or how many students need
highlighting a word at a time on the screen which literacy support. Some schools have found better
keeps the students focused on the screen and it results through whole year group intervention
tracks their reading speed as they go. We have seen and others find small group activities work more
a lot of progress from many of our KS3 students efficiently. Well trained staff, who know and
and they can stay on the programme as long as is understand the needs of the students in front of
needed to advance their reading age. them will get the best out of almost any programme
they deliver.
Obviously all schools are different, so some
interventions will work better than others

VOLUME 71 NUMBER 3 AUTUMN 2023 37

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prohibited without permission.