The impact of the Lexia Reading software on progress was
assessed by means of a quasi-experimental design. The
independent variable was intervention school (schools
using Lexia software) or control school (schools not using
Lexia software). A sample of 106 children aged 6–7 years
(53 intervention participants selected from four schools,
and 53 control participants selected from six different
schools) were assessed pre-intervention in October Year 3
and post-intervention in May of the same school year. A
range of quantitative measures were used at baseline to
establish whether there were any quantifiable differences
between the intervention (N = 53) and the control schools
(N = 53). Qualitative measures were used to shed light on
the processes involved in the implementation of the
reading software in the intervention schools. When standardised
reading scores for the intervention and control
groups were compared, the intervention group made significantly
greater progress in reading than the control
group. However, closer scrutiny found that 66% of children
who had used the software increased their standardised
reading score over the period of the research and the
remainder did not. Factors affecting progress of the children
and the views of the children and their teachers are
discussed (45% of the control group increased their standardised
reading score).