A Vision for Literacy Why has WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE Hit the Headlines?

1. A Vision for LiteracyWhy has WEST DUNBARTONSHIRE Hit the Headlines? ‘Something quite remarkable… able to revolutionise an education system’(Gordon Brown) Tommy MacKay Psychology Consultancy Services

2. PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A SHORTENED VERSION OF THE PRESENTATION – ALL OF THE TEXT IS HERE BUT THE VISUAL SLIDES HAVE BEEN REDUCED TO MAKE THE FILE OF MANAGEABLE SIZE

3. Why is literacy so important? 1 It’s central to everything in the school curriculum, so without it you can’t achieve educationally 2 Without educational achievement your life opportunities for employment and most other things are very limited 3 It’s of central importance nationally – illiteracy leads to a weaker economy, to higher crime and to a less stable society.

4. The national position in Scotland • Virtually no education authority in Scotland knows at any stage how many of its children are heading for functional illiteracy • Virtually no education authority in Scotland has any method in place for preventing illiteracy

5. Eradicating illiteracy: never before achieved anywhere in the world • ‘Each year in the UK over 100,000 young people leave school functionally illiterate’ (OECD, 2000; The Basic Skills Agency, 2001) • Most of these young people are in areas of socio-economic disadvantage • West Dunbartonshire is the 2nd most disadvantaged Council area in Scotland and one of the most disadvantaged in the UK

6. Effects of socio-economic disadvantage (MacKay, 1995c) • ‘The impact of socio-economic disadvantage is experienced literally from the cradle to the grave. It is associated with significantly higher infant mortality rates and significantly lower longevity. • The entire span of life in between is marked by poorer health on virtually every measurable indicator and by a higher incidence of physical and mental disabilities’

7. SummaryIf you are poor you are more likely: • to die in infancy or childhood • to have lower life expectancy • to have congenital abnormalities • to be disabled • to have worse sequelae of serious illnesses • to have serious head injuries in childhood • to be burned to death • to be knocked down and killed MacKay (1995c)

8. ‘The Maryhill factor’

9. Poverty and educational achievement (GCSE results)MacKay (1999d)

10. Literacy – why children differ (and what doesn’t happen in poor homes)(Adams, 1990) ‘Since he was six weeks old, we have spent 30 to 45 minutes reading to him each day. By the time he reaches first grade at age six and a quarter, that will amount to 1,000 to 1,700 hours of storybook reading – one to one, with his face in the books. He will also have spent more than 1,000 hours watching “Sesame Street”. And he will have spent at least as many hours fooling around with magnetic letters on the refrigerator, writing, participating in reading/writing/language activities in pre-school, playing word and “spelling” games in the car, on the computer, with us, with his sister, with his friends, and by himself’

11. West Dunbartonshire’s socio-economic profile

12. Where it all began… • The purpose of this paper is to offer a proposal for achieving something that has not been done before, but which I believe to be fully achievable… • Unless the council is willing to risk a commitment to achieving the impossible it is limited to only ever achieving the ordinary and the possible… There can be nothing to lose (paper to West Dunbartonshire, 1996)

13. Largest literacy study in the world • 33,465 individual tests • 30,098 group tests • Total research sample: 63,563

14. Longest literacy study in the world • Commitment from Council to run project for 10 years until research complete • Commenced: August 1997 Completed: June 2007

15. Most ambitious literacy study in the world • ‘a vision for transforming reading standards for all children’ • ‘a total commitment to achieving extraordinary results’ • ‘something that has never been done in the world before’ • ‘the vision will be regarded as impossible... because no one has ever done it before’ • to eradicate illiteracy in 10 years

17. …back to before the beginning

18. The Edinbarnet Playground Project (Briggs, MacKay & Miller, 1995) Raising children’s self-esteem and changing their attitudes to their own behaviour and to respecting others

19. The results… • school transformed • still transformed 2 years later • ‘Before this I used to believe that nothing could be done…now for the first time I see that these children can really change’ (Shona Carmichael, Head Teacher)

20. The Edinbarnet Reading Project (MacKay, 1995, 1999) A 10-week groupwork programme to change children’s attitudes to their reading

22. The Edinbarnet Early Reading Project ‘Literacy, social disadvantage and early intervention: enhancing reading achievement in primary school’ (MacKay & Watson, 1999) A multiple-strategy intervention – 90 children in two matched primaries, 1 experimental, 1 control

23. Basic principles of West Dunbartonshire project 1 To raise achievement and reduce the numbers failing in reading through the early intervention programme 2 To support those continuing to fail through intensive individual tuition

24. Building a research base • The main study • cross-lagged cohort study, 35 primaries, 23 nurseries • The synthetic phonics study • quasi-experimental study, 18 primaries • The attitudes study • randomised control trial (follow up), N=24, 1 primary • The declaration study • quasi-experimental study, 6 nurseries, 6 primaries • The individual support study • quasi-experimental study, 1 secondary + gains score study 35 primaries

25. THE MAIN STUDY

26. Phonological awareness Pre-5 1997 Mean 14 2007 Mean 28 Effect size: 1.61

27. Combined early literacy skills P1 1997 Mean 27 2007 Mean 74 Effect size: 2.26

28. Word Reading P2 1997 Mean 24 words 2007 Mean 40 words Effect size: 1.15

29. Word Reading P2 - Very high scores 1997 5% 2007 47%

30. Have we transformed reading achievement?Where would the ‘average’ 1997 child score in 2007? P2 Word Reading Bottom 10% Pre-5 Rhyme Production Bottom 9% P1 Letter Sounds Bottom 1%

31. THE SYNTHETIC PHONICS STUDY Primary 1 classes in 9 experimental, 9 control schools

32. P1 Baseline Assessments Synthetic phonics v controls Non-word Reading Test

33. The effect of synthetic phonics 4 years later

34. THE ATTITUDES STUDY What happen if you change children’s attitudes to reading?

35. The attitudes study: 5-year follow up (N=22) 11y1m 10y5m 10y3m Reading Age (Years) 9y2m

36. THE DECLARATION STUDY

37. We want to do something that’s never been done before • To raise children’s reading levels by doing nothing different from what we were already doing, except… • …getting them to declare that they will do it

38. The power of declaration

39. Declaration study: attitude change

40. Declaration: its attractiveness as an intervention • simple to the point of naivety • fits the curriculum - no need to change • anybody can do it • children enjoy it • teachers enjoy it

41. What the children remembered • I like books, books are fun • We’ll all be great wee readers when we go to school • I can read by myself - I’m going to be a good reader • Reading is great - let’s celebrate • Books and school - are cool • I will read my work very well • I will do my sums very well today • ‘Yes - I’m getting better: we’re doing more than we normally would’

42. THE INDIVIDUAL SUPPORT STUDY

43. ‘…a decade and we can end illiteracy’ - Headline from Times Educational Supplement, 2007

44. Word Reading P2 - High and low scores 1997 Low 11% High 32% 2007 Low 0.5% High 78%

45. Toe-by-Toe study (secondary)N=24 (12 matched pairs) Reading Age (Years) Experimentals gained 2 years with a 3 month intervention

46. The intensive individual support programme • 104 children from 32 schools (mainly Primary 7) • All had difficulties with their reading • Intensive help 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week • In less than 6 months the average gain in reading age was 1 year 2 months • By the time of the 2nd test, one-third of the children did not have a ‘reading problem’

47. Why we believed we’d succeed

48. Achieving the impossible: the eradication of illiteracy • At the start of the project in 1997 hundreds of our children (over 20%) were leaving secondary school ‘functionally illiterate’ • The number on our ‘concern list’ on 1 June 2007 was 3.

49. Content variables‘The 10 strands’ • phonological awareness and the alphabet • a strong and structured phonics emphasis • extra classroom help in early years • fostering a ‘literacy environment’ in school and community • raising teacher awareness through assessment • increased time spent on key aspects of reading • early identification of children who are failing • lessons from research on interactive learning • home support for encouraging literacy • changing attitudes, values and expectations

50. The context variables(MacKay, 2001, 2006; Greig, Taylor & MacKay, 2007) VISION PROFILE COMMITMENT OWNERSHIP DECLARATION