Fluency Focus: Pilot Report

Fluency Focus is a 20-week, whole-class programme, which aims to improve the oral reading fluency and reading comprehension of Year 5 pupils (nine to ten-year-olds). Teachers receive initial training at an in-person training day, along with three webinars and two coaching sessions, and resources to deliver a carefully sequenced programme of weekly one-hour lessons in place of existing reading lessons.

Developed by Charles Dickens Research School (CDRS), an Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Research School based in South London, the programme responds to a recent guidance report by the EEF on Key Stage 2 literacy and evidence review on literacy (Bilton and Duff, 2021; Breadmore et al., 2019), bringing together seven evidence informed reading fluency strategies:

1. Identifying unfamiliar vocabulary.
2. Modelled fluent reading.
3. Text marking and phrased reading.
4. Echo reading.
5. Paired repeated reading.
6. Reading for performance.
7. Comprehension questions.

The strategies are introduced over the course of the first seven lessons through modelling and explicit teaching, after which pupils practice applying the strategies across a range of texts. Each lesson plan includes a stimulus text, with the 20-week course offering a diverse range of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Teachers are supported throughout by coaching conversations with CDRS staff, a dedicated programme website, and a Fluency Focus champion selected from their school’s senior leadership team (SLT).

This pilot used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate the feasibility of implementation, evidence of promise, and readiness for trial of the Fluency Focus programme. Twenty schools, 39 Year 5 classes, and 1,082 pupils took part. Evaluation activities included qualitative research with the delivery team, school staff and pupils, staff surveys (teachers and SLT champions), review of administrative programme data, and quantitative analysis of teacher-administered pupil fluency assessments. Qualitative data analysed included observations of training, support, and lesson delivery, focus groups with the delivery team, interviews with school staff, and pupil group discussions. Delivery and evaluation took place between February 2023 and July 2024.