Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF)

Curriculum and Standards Guidance Leaflet Ref: 00688-2007BKT-EN
Date of issue: 12-2007

 

What works for pupils with literacy difficulties?
The effectiveness of intervention schemes

for English and literacy managers and consultants

 

Evaluation

Though THRASS has been extensively studied in the UK, Australia, the Caribbean, Botswana and South Africa, almost all the work has considered its use as an initial, across-the-board scheme, and there is little evidence on its value as a 'catching-up' intervention. In the 1998 edition, the entry on THRASS was based on an investigation mounted in Sheffield in 1994-95 (Johnson, 1995) - but the version of THRASS used in that evaluation has long been superseded. For the 2002 edition, that analysis was replaced by data from the 'Special Initiative to Enhance Literacy Skills in Bridgend' conducted there with pupils in Years 3-8 in 1998. Both reading and spelling were assessed. The results showed useful to substantial impact on reading for all year-groups, and on spelling in Year 3, but not on spelling in Years 4-6, where the children made standard progress. For this edition, new data from an evaluation in Hampshire in 2005 were provided, and an analysis of those data has been added in the Appendix. There was a useful gain in reading (spelling was not assessed).

 

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