Let’s Read Fluently! (LRF!) is a targeted cognitive-based methodology for improving decoding and oral reading fluency of young children with relatively poor early Arabic literacy development. It is delivered to children attending grades 1 – 3 in public schools across Jordan with a focus on improving Arabic literacy attainment.

Available data from national and international assessments points to a crisis in foundational reading skills across grade levels in Jordan and improving these skills is crucial for unlocking further learning and improving academic attainment.

LRF! has been evaluated through a pilot, a mixed-methods randomised design that targeted 16 schools and almost 90 practitioners in 2021/2022. During this phase, two versions of the LRF model were studied, a whole class model (W/C) delivered to all Grade 1 students in a class over three 30-minute sessions a week and a ​‘Literacy Catch-Up’ model (C/U) delivered to small groups of students identified as among the 20% of lowest achieving pupils. Results from this study are soon to be published.

Following the introduction of a new Arabic curriculum in early 2023, a second pilot study looking at evidence of promise and feasibility of implementation of the Catch-Up model at a larger scale is currently being set-up.

This study was commissioned and managed by the Queen Rania Foundation and has been funded by the Education Endowment Foundation, in partnership with the BHP Foundation, as part of the​“Building a global evidence ecosystem for teaching” project.