The impact of sustained, in-school coaching on reading instruction for early years students and their teachers: Research protocol for a randomised-controlled trial

Initial success when being taught to read is a strong predictor of ongoing growth in children's reading and spelling skills. With unacceptably large proportions of students across several English-speaking countries continuing to fall below reading and spelling benchmarks, educators and educational policymakers are demonstrating a strong interest in adopting more evidence-informed systematic and explicit approaches to reading instruction, progress monitoring and provision of timely support. This is a vital step towards reducing the negative academic and psychosocial sequelae that are disproportionate among students who have persisting reading and spelling difficulties. This protocol will describe a randomised controlled trial that will explore whether the provision of fortnightly in-school coaching directed towards early years reading and spelling instruction will result in improved word reading and spelling skills for students in the first three years of school. Across Victoria, Australia, 22 schools will be provided with a suite of professional learning and sets of teaching resources. Of these 22 schools, 10 will receive fortnightly coaching over a two-year period. The primary outcome measure will be students’ word reading skills at 24 months. Secondary outcome measures include students’ spelling along with various tools designed to conduct an in-depth process analysis. The process and implementation analysis of the coaching experiences will be conducted to explore enablers and barriers to providing a sustained program of coaching to support school staff to ensure that all students make a strong start when learning to read.