Raising Early Achievement in Literacy
Raising early achievement in literacy (REAL) aims to improve children's early literacy by teaching parents effective strategies for supporting their children’s learning.
The programme is a long-duration (five group sessions and 10 home visits over 12 or 18 months) literacy programme designed for families with children aged between three-and-a-half and five years living in disadvantaged communities.
REAL is delivered by teachers who have been trained in the delivery of the REAL programme. REAL has five main components: home visits by programme teachers; provision of literacy resources (particularly books); centre-based group activities; special events (eg group library visits); and postal communication between the teacher and child.
The programme is based on the ORIM concepts (Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction and Models of literacy). Operating within this framework, the programme aims to support parents’ contribution to their children’s literacy learning through: i) providing opportunities to learn; ii) recognising and valuing early achievements; iii) interacting in learning situations; and iv) modelling literacy behaviours.
EIF Programme Assessment
Child outcomes
This programme can affect outcomes for children in Active and healthy, physical and mental wellbeing.
According to the best available evidence for this programme's impact, it can achieve the following positive outcomes for children:
Enhancing school achievement & employment
Improved literacy
based on study 1
- Statement: 3.4-point improvement on the Sheffield Early Literacy Development Profile
- Score: 16
- Timeframe: Immediately after the intervention
Improved letter recognition
based on study 1
- Statement: 4.7-point improvement on the Clay Letter Recognition Test
- Score: 12
- Timeframe: Immediately after the intervention
This programme also has evidence of supporting positive outcomes for couples, parents or families that may be relevant to a commissioning decision. Please see About the evidence for more detail.
Who is it for?
The best available evidence for this programme relates to the following age-groups:
Preschool
How is it delivered?
The best available evidence for this programme relates to implementation through these delivery models:
- Home visiting
Where is it delivered?
The best available evidence for this programme relates to its implementation in these settings:
- Home
- Children's centre or early-years setting
How is it targeted?
The best available evidence for this programme relates to its implementation as:
- Targeted selective
Where has it been implemented?
- United Kingdom
Ireland provision
Ireland evaluation
About the programme
What happens during the delivery?
How is it delivered?
- REAL is delivered to groups of approximately eight families in five group sessions (of approximately 45 minutes’ duration). In addition, 10 home visits are offered on an individual basis to each family. The programme is delivered by a teacher with QCF-6 qualifications and 64 hours of programme training.
What happens during the intervention?
- The programme is delivered over 12 or 18 months and is designed for families with children aged between three-and-a-half and five years living in disadvantaged communities.
- REAL has six main components: home visits by programme teachers; provision of literacy resources (particularly books); centre-based group activities; special events (eg group library visits); postal communication between the teacher and child; and appropriate adult education opportunities for parents.
- The programme is based on the ORIM concepts: Opportunities, Recognition, Interaction and Models of literacy.
- Operating within this framework, the programme aims to support parents’ contribution to their children’s literacy learning through: i) providing opportunities to learn; ii) recognising and valuing early achievements; iii) interacting in learning situations; and iv) modelling literacy behaviours.
What are the implementation requirements?
Who can deliver it?
- The programme is delivered by a teacher with NFQ 7/8 qualifications and 64 hours of programme training.
What are the training requirements?
- Practitioners have 64 hours of programme training. Booster training is not required.
How are the practitioners supervised?
- In the evaluated REAL project, supervision was provided by two programme developer supervisors with NFQ 7/8 qualifications.
What are the systems for maintaining fidelity?
- Training manual
- Other online material
- Video or DVD training
- Face-to-face training
Is there a licensing requirement?
There is no licence required to run this programme.
How does it work? (Theory of Change)
How does it work?
- REAL assumes that children’s early literacy skills can be improved through effective parental strategies for supporting children’s learning.
- REAL provides parents of pre-school children with strategies, ways of thinking about their roles, and resources to enable them to support their child’s development of literacy skills.
- In the short term, children’s literacy skills improve.
- In the long term, the programme is designed to improve children’s literacy achievement in school.
Intended outcomes
Contact details
Professor Cathy Nutbrown
University of Sheffield
c.e.nutbrown@sheffield.ac.uk
About the evidence
Raising Early Achievement in Literacy’s (REAL) most rigorous evidence comes from an RCT which was conducted in the UK.
This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.
A programme receives the same rating as its most robust study, which in this case is the Nutbrown et al. (2005) study, and so the programme receives a Level 3 rating overall.
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Study 1
| Citation: | Nutbrown et al (2005) |
| Design: | RCT |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Sample: | 176 families |
| Timing: | Post-test |
| Child outcomes: |
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| Other outcomes: | |
| Study rating: | 3 |
Nutbrown, C., Hannon, P., & Morgan, A. (2005). Early literacy work with families. London: SAGE Publications
Study design and sample
The first study is a rigorously conducted RCT.
This study involved random assignment of children to a REAL treatment group and a business-as-usual group.
This study was conducted in the UK, with a sample of 176 parents and their children randomly selected from the waiting lists of 11 schools within disadvantaged communities in Sheffield.
Measures
Child literacy was measured using the Sheffield Early Literacy Development Profile (direct assessment) and the School Literacy Attainment KS1 Literacy Assessments (direct assessment). Child letter recognition was measured using the Clay test (direct assessment). Child vocabulary was measured using the British Picture Vocabulary Scale – Revised (direct assessment).
Findings
This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.
This includes:
- Improved literacy
- Improved letter recognition