Reading intervention with Reading Progress

Reading Progress is an application within the Office365 workspace. It is a Learning Accelerator from Microsoft, which is accessed through the TEAMS application.

Effective Practice when using Reading Progress

 Repeated Reading- Research conducted by William Therrin, found that fluency and comprehension gains follow a clear upward curve that peaks around the fourth read. Findings: Students who read a passage three times showed a mean effect size for fluency of 0.85. Increasing to four times bumped the effect size to 0.95. Beyond four, the gains per repetition began to level off significantly.  

 Word Count- Jay Samuels argues that reading is like any other motor skill, which requires 'overlearning' to become automatic. Findings: Samuels advocates for reading a short passage (50-200 words) until a criterion rate (e.g. 85 words per minute)is reached. This shifted the focus from 'doing it once' to 'doing it until it's smooth'.

Summary of Best Practices from Research

Additional tools which may support the use of Reading Progress.

Artificial Intelligence AI- Schools could make use of AI tools (Copilot/Gemini) to create passages for learners. These could be tailored to the interests of the learner or support topics in class at a reading level more suited to them.

e.g. Prompt: Create a 200 word text which explains the Romans to a year 5 boy who has an interest in Manchester United football club and a reading age of 8.

Which would provide 'The Romans were one of the most powerful groups of people in history. They lived a long time ago, more than 2,000 years before Manchester United ever kicked a football! The Romans started in a city called Rome, in Italy, and built a huge empire that spread across Europe, including Britain.

When the Romans came to Britain, they brought many new ideas. They built straight roads that were so strong that some are still used today. Think of them like the best football pitches – well‑planned, well‑built, and made to last. They also built towns, baths, and forts to keep soldiers safe.

Roman soldiers were a bit like a football team. They trained hard, followed rules, and listened to their leaders. Instead of kicking a ball, they carried shields and swords, and worked together to win battles. Their armour was tough and shiny, just like a goalkeeper’s kit, but much heavier!

The Romans also loved entertainment. They watched exciting chariot races and gladiator battles in big arenas. Imagine Old Trafford, but filled with cheering Romans instead of football fans!

The Romans stayed in Britain for almost 400 years. When they finally left, they had changed the country forever.'

In this example, I have added a reading age, where Reading Progress creates passages in the app, it uses the Lexile measure.

Lexile to UK Reading Age Conversion Chart