Web-based literacy intervention for struggling readers

Educational value

• This is a valuable resource for primary schools concerned about students' faltering progress in reading. It describes a computer program that provides individualised, systematic, direct instruction to build reading skills and motivate students so they maintain their focus. The Method, Results and Lessons learned sections of the resource are particularly useful in describing what is required to implement the Academy of READING strategy successfully, pointing out, for example, the need for students to access the program for 20-30 minutes at least three times a week and to have their own high-quality headphones.
• The Academy of READING strategy as used at Palmyra and other WA primary schools has value in the implementation of the Australian Curriculum. By focusing on phonemic awareness, sound-symbol association, phonics and decoding, and comprehension, the program helps address content descriptions in the English curriculum in the Interpreting, analysing, evaluating substrand. The diagnostic data provided by the program also helps teachers track student progress in relation to the English achievement standards. Using the Academy of READING calls for and develops students' ICT general capability, especially in relation to managing and operating ICT.

Year level

2; 3

Topics Educational research Teaching methods Reading Language proficiency Learning strategies Computer assisted teaching Assessment for learning Phonemes