An Evaluation of Teaching Assistant-Based Small Group Support for Literacy

ISRCTN	ISRCTN18254678
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN18254678
Secondary identifying numbers	N/A

Submission date: 27/11/2014
Registration date: 20/01/2015
Last edited: 18/07/2018

Recruitment status: No longer recruiting
Overall study status: Completed
Condition category: Other

Prospectively registered

Protocol

Statistical analysis plan

Results

Individual participant data

Plain English Summary

Background and study aims
Many children do not leave primary school with the expected level of literacy. This has an impact on subsequent educational performance and is also linked to poor labour market outcomes. While much is known about the characteristics of struggling readers, there is much less known about practical programmes capable of helping educators prevent or remediate early reading deficits. In this study, we intend to analyse the effects of two methods (treatments) of small group tuition for literacy for Year 1 students in English schools. In particular, the study is designed to answer the following questions:
1. Do the treatments have an impact on reading outcomes within one academic year?
2. What treatment is more effective?
3. Do the treatments produce different results across students with different characteristics?
4. Is there any evidence of effects on the group of non-treated students?
5. Do any effects persist one year later?

Who can participate?
Coventry University will attempt to recruit 60 schools in Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, Worcester and Solihull. In particular, an effort will be made to encourage schools with disadvantaged students to participate during the recruitment stage. Coventry University is running the recruitment event.

What does the study involve?
Schools will be paired according to different characteristics, like the percentage of disadvantaged students. Within each pair of schools, one school will be randomly assigned to the treatment group and the other school will be part of the control group. Schools in the treatment group will receive the treatment in Year 1. Control schools will receive the treatment in Year 2.
Students in treatment schools will be randomly assigned to one of 3 groups:
1. Support from small group teaching assistance for literacy using a computer programme
2. Support from small group teaching assistance for literacy using other methods
3. No additional support other than the normal (‘business as usual’ control group)
Baseline reading tests will be organised by Coventry University at the beginning of the academic year, and compared with the results of additional reading tests by the end of Year 1.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
There are no risks of participating for either the schools or the students.
The benefits of participating for schools is in terms of the training that their teaching assistants will undertake, either in Year 1 or 2. The benefits of participating for students are the hypothesised positive effects of using teaching assistants for small group tuition for literacy outcomes.
The benefits of the study are also for teachers and schools, since the results will provide guidance on how best to use both teacher and school resources to improve the attainment of pupils.

Where is the study run from?
The development and implementation of the intervention will be led by Dr Janet Vousden and Professor Clare Wood, Coventry University (recruitment of schools, administering baseline tests, training teacher assistants, administer assessments by the end of Year 1, etc.).
The recruitment will be in 60 schools in Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, Worcester and Solihull (UK).
The impact evaluation will be led by Professor Sandra McNally, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics.
The process evaluation will be led by Dr. Heather Rolfe, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR). The purpose of the process evaluation is to assess the fidelity of the intervention and to help explain the impact of small group tuition as measured by the study.

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
October 2013 to July 2017.
The preparation and recruitment of schools will be done between January and July 2014. Baseline tests will be organised in all participating schools in September 2014. Randomisation will be conducted after the baseline tests have been administered, in October 2014. For schools that take part in the study, those allocated to the treatment group will receive the treatments in academic year 2014-2015, those allocated to the control group will receive the treatments in academic year 2015-2016.

Who is funding the study?
The Education Endowment Foundation, an independent charity originally funded by a grant from the Department for Education, dedicated to raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils in primary and secondary schools in England.

Who is the main contact?
Professor Sandra McNally
Director of the Education and Skills Programme at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics

Study website

Contact information

Prof Sandra McNally
Scientific

Centre for Economic Performance
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London
WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Study information

Study design	Pair matching cluster randomisation across schools into treatment and control groups. Student level randomisation across the 3 conditions in the treated schools.
Primary study design	Interventional
Secondary study design	Randomised cross over trial
Study setting(s)	School
Study type	Other
Participant information sheet	Not available in web format, please use the contact details to request a patient information sheet
Scientific title	An Evaluation of Teaching Assistant-Based Small Group Support for Literacy: a cluster randomised trial
Study hypothesis	The main hypothesis we would like to test whether small group tuition using teacher assistants for students in Year 1 (of the English National Curriculum) improves the literacy of students in treated groups. Additionally, we would like to test which of two treatments is better: 1. Support from small group teaching assistance for literacy using a computer programme; 2. Support from small group teaching assistance for literacy using other methods.
Ethics approval(s)	The recruitment of schools and implementation of the treatments has been approved by the Coventry University Ethics Committee (ethics.uni@coventry.ac.uk), 16/12/2013, Reference number P19172.
Condition	Small group teaching assistance for literacy
Intervention	Students in treatment schools will be randomly assigned to one of 3 groups: 1. Support from small group teaching assistance for literacy using a computer programme; 2. Support from small group teaching assistance for literacy using other methods 3. No additional support other than the normal (“business as usual" control group)
Intervention type	Other
Primary outcome measure	General reading ability, as measured by progress on the PIRA assessment
Secondary outcome measures	1. Word reading (Diagnostic Test of Word Reading Performance) 2. Receptive vocabulary (the British Picture Vocabulary Scales 3) 3. Phonological and letter sounds skills (using selected subtests from the Primary Inventory of Phonological Awareness). 4. Additional secondary outcomes will be KS1 reading and writing one year later
Overall study start date	25/10/2013
Overall study end date	01/07/2016

Eligibility

Participant type(s)	Other
Age group	Child
Sex	Both
Target number of participants	The plan is to recruit 60 schools: 30 for the treatment group and 30 for the control group. All Year 1 students within year groups are participants. Within treatment schools, Year 1 students are divided equally into three groups: (1) teaching assistance with ICT; (2) teaching assistance without ICT; (3) business as usual. The exact number of pupils depends on school size.
Participant inclusion criteria	Coventry University will attempt to recruit 60 primary schools in Birmingham, Coventry, Warwickshire, Worcester and Solihull All students in Year 1 in participating schools are part of the study group (except where parents have signed the opt-out consent form)
Participant exclusion criteria	Students whose parents sign opt-out consent forms
Recruitment start date	01/01/2014
Recruitment end date	31/07/2014

Locations

Countries of recruitment

England
United Kingdom

Study participating centres

Coventry University

Priory Street
Coventry
CV1 5FB
United Kingdom

Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics

2nd floor
32 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London
WC2A 3PH
United Kingdom

National Institute of Social and Economic Research

2 Dean Trench Street
London
SW1P 3HE
United Kingdom

Sponsor information

Education Endowment Foundation
Charity

9th Floor Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
London
SW1P 4QP
United Kingdom

Website	http://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/
"ROR"	https://ror.org/03bhd6288

Funders

Funder type

Charity

Education Endowment Foundation
Private sector organisation / Trusts, charities, foundations (both public and private)

Alternative name(s): EducEndowFoundn, Education Endowment Foundation | London, EEF
Location: United Kingdom

Results and Publications

Intention to publish date
Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share	No
IPD sharing plan summary	Stored in repository
Publication and dissemination plan	The results will be written up for a the Education Endowment Fund (EEF) report by around December 2015, which will be published on the EEF website (after going through the referee process). We will subsequently look to publish our work in academic papers. The report to EEF will include results based on short-term outcomes only (and not one year after the intervention).
IPD sharing plan	Data was securely sent to the funder of the trial (the Education Endowment Foundation: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/), via the fft education datalab (https://ffteducationdatalab.org.uk/). All the data used to produce the findings in the report for the Education Endowment Foundation was sent, together with the code that produced the results. This includes individual data regarding the baseline and endline reading tests, as well as data collected by the implementation team and data coming from the National Pupil Database. The data includes an individual anonymous identifier (the Pupil Matching Reference number used by the National Pupil Database). With regards to consent, parents were asked to opt-out if they did not wish their child to participate in the trial.

Study outputs

Output type	Details	Date created	Date added	Peer reviewed?	Patient-facing?
Funder report results	results			No	No

Editorial Notes

18/07/2018: IPD sharing statement added.
11/07/2018: Publication reference added.