The Effectiveness of an Enhanced Book-Gifting Intervention for Improving Reading Outcomes for Children in Care

托儿所儿童的教育结果很差，他们与更广泛的儿童人口之间仍然存在着一贯的成就差距。这一差距现在得到了国际上的广泛认可，并出现了一些举措来解决这一问题。然而，关于哪些干预措施在解决托管所儿童的教育结果方面有效的证据基础仍然非常有限。这项拟议的研究旨在为这一证据基础和有效的教育干预措施的发展做出重大贡献。赠书方案被广泛用于提高托儿所儿童的识字水平。在英国，最受欢迎的计划通常包括六包个性化的书籍和其他材料，每月一次，为期六个月。人们认为，孩子们会养成对书籍的热爱，这将促进阅读活动，并最终提高阅读技能。对这类方案的定性评价表明，它们往往受到儿童和照顾者的欢迎。它们相对便宜，而且处于有利地位，能够产生重大影响。然而，目前的研究团队成员使用随机对照试验设计对这种赠书干预进行了评估，结果发现它对儿童的阅读技能或阅读态度没有影响。这项研究将主要建立在最初的小规模试验结果的基础上。这项研究将寻求开发另一种图书赠送计划-一起阅读-将重点放在寄养中心的7-9岁儿童身上。除了寄送图书包裹外，该计划还将通过鼓励寄养人和儿童之间的结对阅读活动，让寄养人在支持儿童参与方面发挥明确的作用。研究发现，更有条理的一对一教学可以有效地加快儿童的学习速度，使他们的学习进度增加大约五个月。如果寄养照顾者被给予与寄养子女有关的活动的明确指导，那么建议这种结对阅读也可能是有效的，特别是如果与赠书计划相结合。干预将以两种形式提供--一种是为寄养照料者编写如何支持其子女阅读的指导手册，另一种是对寄养照料者进行结对阅读的直接培训。这两种形式的有效性将通过一项随机对照试验进行评估，该试验涉及从英格兰15-20个地方当局招募的500多名寄养儿童。儿童将被随机选择：与照顾者手册一起接受阅读；与手册一起接受阅读，并接受照顾者的培训；或者照常继续，在现阶段根本不接受一起阅读方案。对于第三组-对照组-他们将在试验完成后立即接受干预。通过试验，将对孩子们的阅读技能和态度进行前后测试。此外，还将进行详细的定性过程评估。这将在帮助理解试验结果方面发挥重要作用。两个咨询小组--一个由专家顾问、服务提供者和寄养照顾者组成，另一个由托儿所儿童组成--将在研究的各个方面为研究小组提供协助。总体而言，这项研究的目的是：制定有效的干预措施，提高阅读技能；缩小托儿所儿童的成就差距；并有助于我们了解寄养家庭的照顾者如何为他们的教育成就做出贡献。

Educational outcomes for children in care are poor and there remains a consistent attainment gap between them and the wider child population. This gap is now well-recognised internationally and a number of initiatives have emerged to tackle this issue. However, the evidence base regarding which interventions are effective in addressing the educational outcomes of children in care remains very limited. This proposed study seeks to make a significant contribution to this evidence base and the development of educational interventions that are effective. Book gifting programmes are widely used to improve the literacy levels of children in care. The most popular schemes in the UK typically comprise six personalised packs of books and other materials posted to the children once a month for six months. It is thought that children will develop a love of books that will enhance reading activities and ultimately improve reading skills. Qualitative evaluations of such schemes demonstrate that they tend to be well-received by children and carers. They are relatively cheap and well placed to achieve significant impact. However, the one evaluation of such a book-gifting intervention, by members of the current research team, using a randomised controlled trial design, found that it had no effect on children's reading skills or attitudes towards reading. This present study will build significantly upon the findings of this initial small-scale trial. The study will seek to develop an alternative book gifting programme - Reading Together - that will focus on 7-9-year-old children in foster care. Alongside sending them book parcels, the programme will incorporate an explicit role for foster carers in supporting children's engagement by encouraging paired reading activities between the foster carer and child. More structured one-to-one tuition has been found to be effective in accelerating children's learning by approximately five additional months' progress. If foster carers are given explicit guidance in relation to activities to follow with their foster children, then it is suggested that this type of paired reading may also be effective, especially if delivered in combination with the book-gifting programme.The intervention will be offered in two formats - one involving a guidance manual for foster carers on how to support their children's reading, and the other that supplements this with direct training for the foster carers in paired reading. The effectiveness of both formats will be assessed using a randomised controlled trial involving over 500 foster children recruited from between 15-20 local authorities in England. The children will be randomly selected to either: receive Reading Together with the carers' manual; receive Reading Together with the manual and also the training of carers; or to continue as normal and not to receive the Reading Together programme at all at this stage. For those in the third group - the control group - they will receive the intervention as soon as the trial is completed. Through the trial, there will be pre- and post-tests of the children's reading skills and attitudes. Alongside this, a detailed qualitative process evaluation will also be conducted. This will play an important role in helping to make sense of the findings from the trial.Two Advisory Groups - one consisting of expert advisers, service providers and foster carers, and the other of children in care - will assist the research team on all aspects of the study. Overall, the study aims to: develop an effective intervention for improving reading skills; reduce the attainment gap for children in care; and contribute to our understanding of how foster carers can contribute to their educational attainment.