Research School Network: Closing the Reading Gap Through Peer Tutoring Three Years of Evidence from Fluency for All

Headline findings

At Shotton Hall Research School, we know that reading opens doors to learning, opportunity and life chances. Yet too many pupils arrive at secondary school without the fluency they need to fully access the curriculum. For disadvantaged pupils in particular, gaps in vocabulary and background knowledge can make this challenge even greater.

If we’re honest, Fluency For All began out of frustration.

We knew that repeated reading, feedback and structured practice could improve fluency. We had the evidence and the strategies. What we didn’t have was a practical, affordable and scalable way of delivering them in secondary schools. Schools often lacked the time, texts and staffing capacity needed to provide the regular practice that struggling readers need.

So we set out to create one.

With support from SHINE, we developed Fluency For All: an evidence-informed peer tutoring programme designed to improve the reading fluency of struggling readers as they transition into Key Stage 3. Over three years, it has grown from a small pilot into a programme tested through 25 randomised controlled trials across 21 schools, involving 666 pupils.

Three Years of Evidence 

Across three years, pupils participating in Fluency For All consistently outperformed matched control pupils on every measure collected. Figure 1 shows the average gains made by pupils across the programme on reading comprehension (NGRT SAS), reading fluency (Words Correct Per Minute) and reading quality (EARS).

Understanding the Measures

• NGRT SAS – New Group Reading Test Standard Age Score, a standardised measure of reading comprehension.
• WCPM – Words Correct Per Minute, a measure of reading fluency and automaticity
• EARS – Expression, Accuracy, Rhythm and Smoothness, a measure of prosody and reading quality.

The findings are encouraging. Across all three measures, intervention pupils substantially outperformed matched control pupils. Pupils participating in Fluency For All made more than four times the progress of control pupils on NGRT, almost three times the gain in reading fluency and nearly six times the improvement in prosody.

Particularly encouraging was the impact on disadvantaged pupils. Across the project, Pupil Premium pupils consistently made the strongest gains in reading fluency and reading quality, suggesting that peer tutoring may be a valuable approach for helping to narrow persistent literacy gaps.

At its heart, the programme is simple. Importantly, it was designed to be affordable and sustainable in real schools, using existing staff, trained peer tutors and short, focused sessions that fit within the constraints of busy secondary timetables.

Year 7 pupils participate in two 20-minute sessions each week, reading alongside trained older peers, typically from Year 10 and Year 12. Together, they work through carefully crafted anthologies of predominantly non-fiction texts covering topics such as mythology, history, science and exploration. These texts were written specifically for the programme, providing opportunities for repeated reading whilst deliberately building vocabulary and background knowledge.

Behind this simplicity sits a rigorous implementation model. Peer tutors receive comprehensive training and ongoing support, while reading leads and senior leaders engage in regular monitoring and implementation check-ins. Detailed guidance, quality assurance processes and robust assessment procedures help ensure consistent delivery across schools.

More Than Fluency

Across the programme, pupils made gains equivalent to around five to six months’ additional progress in reading comprehension, alongside substantial improvements in reading fluency. What excites us most, however, is that the programme delivered far more than we originally intended.

Through knowledge-rich texts, pupils developed vocabulary, built background knowledge and engaged with ideas they might not otherwise have encountered. Improved fluency helped pupils access these texts more successfully, supporting stronger comprehension, greater confidence and a willingness to tackle challenging reading.

The programme also supported successful transition into secondary school. Schools reported that pupils became more confident readers, more willing to participate in lessons and increasingly able to access the wider curriculum.

The Tutor as the Intervention

The peer tutoring model played a huge part in this success.

For many Year 7 pupils, the reading sessions quickly became about more than reading. Sitting alongside the same older student each week created consistency, encouragement and trust. Tutors noticed improvements, celebrated successes and helped pupils persevere when texts felt difficult. At a time when many pupils are still finding their place in a new school, those relationships mattered.

Some of the most powerful feedback we received was not about reading scores at all. It was about confidence. It was about feeling supported. It was about having an older pupil who knew their name, believed in them and gave up part of their week to help them improve.

The benefits flowed both ways. Younger pupils developed confidence as readers, while tutors developed leadership, communication and coaching skills. Across the project, one lesson became increasingly clear: the tutor is the intervention. The quality of tutor training, coaching and support mattered enormously, and strengthening these elements became a key focus as the programme evolved.

Lessons from Three Years

Looking back, one lesson stands out above all others: implementation matters.

The outcomes were built on much more than good resources. Comprehensive tutor training, ongoing quality assurance, robust assessment processes and close support for schools all helped ensure that the programme delivered consistently. As the programme evolved, so too did the strength of the evidence.

We also learnt more about who benefits most. The programme appears particularly effective for lower-attaining readers who are struggling with fluency but have not yet fallen too far behind. These insights will help us target support even more effectively in future iterations of the programme.

Looking Ahead

We are incredibly proud of what has been achieved so far, but this is not the end of the story.

Our ambition remains the same as it was three years ago: to provide schools with an approach that is affordable, efficient and effective. One that is grounded in evidence, practical to deliver and capable of helping the pupils who need it most.

The next phase of Fluency For All will focus on refining texts, training materials and implementation resources whilst testing the model at greater scale. We are already planning to work with a further 20 schools and to strengthen the evidence base through independent evaluation.

We set out to improve reading fluency.

What we found was something broader.

Alongside gains in fluency, we saw improvements in vocabulary, background knowledge, comprehension, confidence and transition. We saw disadvantaged pupils make some of the strongest gains. We saw older pupils develop as leaders and mentors.

Most importantly, we saw what can happen when schools create structured opportunities for young people to support one another.

For us, that is the real story of Fluency For All.