TextNow Transition Programme: Evaluation report and executive summary

The TextNow Transition Programme aimed to improve the reading comprehension skills of pupils at the transition from primary to secondary school by encouraging engagement in, and enjoyment of, reading. The programme was delivered by Unitas, a national charity that helps young people access, participate, and progress in mainstream education and training. Participating students received 20-minute one to one sessions with a volunteer coach each weekday for five weeks at the end of primary school and for a further 10 weeks at the start of secondary school. Children were expected to read independently for a further 20 minutes per day, and were rewarded for attendance with credits that could be used to buy books online. The trial examined the impact of the programme on 501 pupils in 96 schools across England who had been identified as unlikely to achieve Level 4a or above by the end of Key Stage 2. Pupils who were not likely to gain at least Level 2 were not included in the trial. The study was funded by the Education Endowment Foundation as one of 24 projects in a themed round on literacy catch-up at the primary-secondary transition. Projects funded within this round aimed to identify effective ways to support pupils not achieving Level 4 in English at the end of Key Stage 2. The project was one of four funded with a particular focus on reading for pleasure.