Outcome evaluation of the Kirklees Paired Reading Project.

The impact of services to help schools to guide and support parents (and
peer tutors) in the use of the Paired Reading technique for improving
children's reading was evaluated. Compared to all studies
previously reported in the literature taken together, the Kirklees
research yielded more than double the volume of pre-post norm referenced
outcome data, double the amount of control or comparison group data and
triple the amount of follow-up data. Additionally, in Kirklees
baseline data were compared with pre-post data to give a time series
comparison. Although outcomes on reading tests were slightly less
favourable than those selectively reported in the previous literature,
the research suggested that an adequate level of effectiveness was
possible in a large field study incorporating many schools in one Local
Education Authority, representing a significant test of the
generalisability and replicability of the technique. The Kirklees study
also examined the influence of a number of organisational, demographic
and within-subject factors as they related to outcomes. In addition a
very large volume of subjective feedback from teacher, parent and child
participants was collected in a systematic way, and proved extremely
positive. The research also examined the inter-relationship of the
various outcome measures deployed with a view to assessing their
relative reliability and validity for this purpose. As very few
process data were gathered it was not possible to demonstrate what
proportion of participants actually utilised the Paired Reading
technique in the way they were trained. It is thus difficult to partial
out to what extent the positive outcomes are due to the impact of the
technique and/or the service delivery support package. However, the
technique and service delivery package combined are suggested by the data
to be associated with improvements in children's reading skill and
attitude to reading. The study provides a number of pointers to the probable success of the Paired Reading approach but conclusive evidence on
this must await the findings of properly controlled studies.