Can small scale, classroom-based literacy initiatives, when supported by resources and expertise, significantly impact on the literacy levels of disadvantaged young people? Every year a small group of students leave Irish schools without attempting any of the State examinations. For many of these young people, their experience of school has been one of failure and alienation. The Junior Certificate School Programme has been designed to ensure that young people who are underachieving can benefit from their time in school and enjoy the experience of improvement and success. The Programme attempts to help young people experience success and develop a positive self-image by providing a curriculum and assessment framework suitable to their needs. It is a national Department of Education and Science Programme aimed at junior secondary students who may leave school early. Over 200 schools, all designated disadvantaged, are involved nationally. The students involved in the Programme are aged between 12 – 16, their average reading age is 4 years behind their chronological age (Room for Reading: the Junior Certificate School Programme Library Demonstration Project, 2005). By the age of 12 and 13 students who have not experienced success in reading are reluctant to continue trying. They may be on the verge of giving up and who can blame them? More of the same simply will not work. Innovation, novelty & creativity are required to reengage the students and energise the learning environment. A Literacy Strategy has been developed to support a school wide approach to the development of literacy. This strategy includes a national in-service programme, supported short term initiatives and materials specially designed to support students who are seriously underachieving in literacy. Underpinning the Literacy Strategy is the development of confidence: confidence among the teachers – that it’s not too late to make a difference to their students’ literacy and that they can do it; confidence among the students – that they can read and succeed in school. Hand in hand with the emerging confidence is the development of a culture of high expectations. The Support Service has developed a range of short term literacy initiatives which are offered to schools annually. These are designed to support specific elements of literacy: reading accuracy and fluency, spelling, oral work and storytelling, writing skills, creative writing and accessing textbooks. They also provide opportunities to students to read age -appropriate, high-interest material within the school day and to read for leisure. Schools are supplied with guidelines and support materials specific to each initiative and small grants for resources, student incentives and celebrations. The initiatives have become the focus through which large numbers of teachers engage in classroom-based research projects on literacy.We will outline the results of these projects to date and then examine one reading initiative in particular: Who Wants to be a Word Millionaire?

Participating teachers establish baseline information on student literacy through pre-testing on standardised reading tests (nferNelson GRT II) or through questionnaire/ teacher observation/ classroom records. They plan and then implement the initiative over a period of 4 - 8 weeks after which they post-test and evaluate the impact on student learning and literacy levels. We collate the information from the schools and analyse it. This data is used to plan future initiatives and to inform the wider group. The teachers are encouraged to disseminate and showcase their findings through our national in-service programme and through the development of further support materials

The expected outcome is improved literacy levels, more positive attitude towards reading, increase in number of books read, increased motivation for the duration of the initiative, greater willingness to read in class. Several of the initiatives have been written up - for the purpose of the conference we will concentrate on one: Who Wants to be a Word Millionaire?