Scholastic Reading Hub | Teaching Reading | Comprehension | Striving Readers

Striving Readers

What is it?

Interventions for striving readers are designed to help narrow the gap between pupil’s actual- and reading-age.

There are many and varied interventions that can be employed to help increase pupil’s reading ability and interest, however it is important that the underlying reasons for this are identified.

It could be that your pupil is an ‘imbalanced reader’ – so can decode, but not read fluently or comprehend, for example.
If there is a specific learning difficulty then advice should be sought from the school SENDCO or other experts.

For pupils age 5-7, Reading Recovery is highly effective.

Additional phonic instruction can be given, but is most effective with younger readers.

High interest, low ability (hi-lo) readers that take into account a higher chronological age, but text at a lower reading age level.

Published programmes that can be used in guided reading sessions.

What does the research show?

Reading Recovery: 17 out of 20 pupils who complete a Reading Recovery course caught up with their classmates within 20 weeks of daily teaching. (International Literacy Centre, IOE, Overcoming illiteracy with Reading Recovery, 2014)

On average, reading comprehension approaches improve learning by an additional five months’ progress over the course of a school year. These approaches appear to be particularly effective for older readers (aged 8 or above) who are not making expected progress. (Education Endowment Foundation Teaching & Learning Toolkit, accessed April 2017)

Phonics approaches have been consistently found to be effective in supporting younger readers to master the basics of reading, with an average impact of an additional four months’ progress. Research suggests that phonics is particularly beneficial for younger learners (4-7 year olds) as they begin to read. (Education Endowment Foundation Teaching & Learning Toolkit, accessed April 2017)

How Scholastic can help

Understanding and resourcing reading in your school can be confusing. We’re here to help with reliable, trusted advice on the best resources for KS1 and KS2. Request a chat with our Educational Sales Consultants by emailing us or take a look here.

Catch Up Your Code

Catch Up Your Code identifies and addresses gaps in knowledge of the alphabetic code of English.

This knowledge is critical for efficient decoding and spelling. Any gaps impact negatively on reading comprehension and quality of writing.

Catch Up Your Code starts with a short assessment to identify gaps in code knowledge, then provides a series of fast, effective 10-minute lessons to close the gaps.

Marie Clay

Marie Clay is the most trusted guidance for teachers managing early literacy including Reading Recovery.

For three decades Marie M. Clay has been acknowledged as a world leader in research on literacy learning. This collection provides essential support for early literacy intervention, including vital professional development for training and specialist teachers, as well as trustworthy resources to aid with the delivery of the PM reading programme and more – all to help put reading at the heart of your school.