Written question asked by John Bercow (Conservative) on Wednesday, 15 February 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 27 February 2006. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Tuesday, 7 March 2006 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Reading

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will list the sponsors of the Every Child a Reader project; and what the results of the project were.

Answer: Every Child a Reader (ECAR) is a three-year programme which aims to help 5,000 five- and six-year-olds learn to read by placing specialist literacy teachers, trained in ‘Reading Recovery', into schools to provide intensive one-to-one support to children most in need. The programme will also explore the potential for those teachers to support tailored literacy teaching more broadly within a school. ECAR is currently funded by the KPMG Foundation, the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, the Indigo Trust, JJ Charitable Trust, and the SHINE Trust in partnership with the DfES. Further sponsors are being sought. The KPMG Foundation are also funding the appointment of an experienced educationalist to manage the programme, working with the Primary National Strategy and the Institute of Education.Every Child a Reader began in September 2005. It is too early to say what the overall results of the programme will be. ECAR has commissioned an evaluation study to compare the progress of 200 children in London schools supported in 2005–06 through the ECAR programme with the progress of 200 children in schools not involved. The study will also evaluate the impact of the ECAR programme on overall standards in the schools involved. The results of the evaluation study will be available in autumn 2006.

Secondary information