Computer-assisted reading intervention in a secondary school: an evaluation study

There is widespread concern over literacy standards in UI( schools and grow ing evidence that problems become increasingly intractable as children grow older. Computer-based reading instruction may provide a 'fresh start' that helps a child to rediscover the path to literacy. Recent controlled studie s demonstrated that infant and junior school children could be given very c ost-effective support using RITA, a computer-based literacy support system that assists, rather than replaces, the teacher in providing support tailor ed to each child's profile of reading attainments. The present study evalua ted the effectiveness of RITA in secondary school with 8 children (mean age 11.7 years) who were initially very seriously disadvantaged in terms of li teracy skills (mean reading age 7.3 years). The RITA intervention over a 10 week period led to effective and cost-effective literacy gains. Significan t overall improvements were made in the skills targeted, including reading standard scores, and reading speed, accuracy and comprehension. All childre n reacted positively to the RITA lessons, and most made good progress towar ds their Individual Education Plans. It is suggested that computer-assisted reading support can be effective in supporting the majority of children wi th reading failure, even in secondary school.