Project Aims:

• To instil in students a desire to read.
• To increase students' reading skills so that they may have greater access to the whole curriculum.
• To introduce students to the basics of collaborative learning, teamwork and problem solving.

Introduction to the Course:

• At the start of every school year, students are introduced to the basics of collaborative learning, teamwork and problem solving using the Getting Along Together programme.
• These lessons are used for the first two weeks.
• In these lessons routines and protocols are introduced and established to support work throughout the year.
• Teachers will use the Getting Along Together manual, which outlines lesson objectives and activities.
• Students use Getting Along Together Student books.
  
• Books are selected from the list according to the level being worked at by the class.
• There is no specific timescale for completion of each book - however it is essential to judge the correct pace of activities.
• A variety of fiction and non-fiction texts are chosen.
• Homework is normally set once a week - this could be sentence level work or learning of spellings, for example.
• Teachers use the Treasure Hunt teacher's guide.
• The Writing element is omitted.

Initial evaluation of the project - July 2005

• The course started with an introduction to collaborative learning. This was taught over a period of two weeks and was remarkably successful.
• All teachers remarked on the positive benefits of this approach.
• Students were better behaved and achieved more.
• An LEA Advisor, observed a lesson and noted many positive features, which he fed back to the following Year 7 SAG meeting.

Lesson Observations

A number of lesson observations were carried out during the year, by a variety of observers. These included visitors from the LEA, Edison, Success for All and the Educational Psychology Service as well as school staff. Observers consistently noted the following:

• The structured approach to learning.
• The collaborative approach leading to greater motivation, better behaviour and greater achievement.
• The ability of students to work independently of the teacher - in one case, a cover teacher was delighted to find that students in effect ran the lesson, using the procedures and protocols which they were used to.
• The genuine interest in reading displayed by the students.
• The commitment of the staff in making the lessons a success.

Conclusion

It is clearly very pleasing to see that the vast majority of students have made significant progress in both reading and spelling. It is not possible to work out how much of this is directly attributed to the Year 7 Reading Project, as every subject area (not just English) has a focus on improving literacy. However, the high profile and time given to reading must have had a positive effect on student achievement.

It is good to see how well boys have progressed, particularly in spelling where their performance is comparable with that of the girls. It will be necessary to continue to encourage the reading development of the boys, as their progress lags slightly behind that of the girls.

• The Year 7 Reading Project has played a major role in helping students to improve their reading and spelling skills.
• It has enabled teachers of subjects other than English to focus on reading and so improve practice in their own subject areas.
• Collaborative learning has been effective in raising standards of work and behaviour.
  
• The skill of active listening was being transferred to other lessons and was being endorsed by other staff members.
• The SFA skills are seen to be valuable by the students and staff.
• It would be highly beneficial if other subject areas were aware of SFA concepts and where possible incorporated it into their classroom organisation.

Report from Educational Psychology Service, Essex