To explore how myON use relates to progress in general reading ability, we drew upon a sample of 76,622 UK pupils from the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. Results indicated that myON use was associated with improved student outcomes, and more frequent programme use was associated with accelerated academic progress.The research study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67912>.

This study examined patterns of academic growth and performance according to the extent of individualised reading practice accomplished by students. We drew upon large databases comprised of thousands of UK students in year groups 1-13 to compare independent reading practice as tracked by Accelerated Reader (AR) with the typical performance of students who do not use the programme. The study is available online: <https://docs.renaissance.com/R67533>.

From the introduction: "This analysis is the fourth in a series of reports produced by the Education Policy Institute, working in partnership with Renaissance. The purpose of this research programme is to ensure that policy makers and schools have access to robust data on the performance of different pupil groups, so that support is targeted effectively to those who need it most as we continue to recover from the pandemic. Our previous reports examined outcomes in Renaissance Star Reading and Renaissance Star Maths assessments before, during, and after the pandemic across all pupils and for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. This included examining how the disadvantage gap - the difference in outcomes between pupils from low-income backgrounds and their peers - had changed between 2017/18 and 2022/23." The full report is available online: <https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/PUBLICATION-3_Final_v2.pdf>.

From the introduction: "This analysis is the second in a series of reports produced by the Education Policy Institute, working in partnership with Renaissance. The purpose of this research programme is to ensure that schools and policy makers have access to robust data on the performance of different pupil groups, so that support is targeted effectively to those who need it most as we continue to recover from the pandemic. The purpose of this report is to provide benchmarking data to users of Renaissance Star Reading and Renaissance Star Maths assessments. It allows users to see how outcomes for their pupils compare to all pupils nationally - both against averages at different points in the academic year and across the whole attainment distribution. It also shows how these results have changed over time so that schools can better understand the patterns of attainment that they are seeing." The full report is available online: <https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/FINAL_Benchmarking_report.pdf>.

From the introduction: "This analysis is the second in a series of reports produced by the Education Policy Institute, working in partnership with Renaissance. The purpose of this research programme is to ensure that policy makers and schools have access to robust data on the performance of different pupil groups, so that support is targeted effectively to those who need it most as we continue to recover from the pandemic. The purpose of this report is to explore the outcomes of pupils from low-income backgrounds in Renaissance's Star Reading and Star Maths assessments. We know from previous analysis that pupils from low-income backgrounds suffered disproportionately from the effects of the pandemic and experienced a greater degree of lost learning. This has been confirmed by measures from statutory assessments in primary schools and GCSE and equivalent qualifications in secondary schools which have shown that the disadvantage gap increased to its widest level in a decade." The full report is available online: <https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/FINAL_Disadvantage_report.pdf>.

"EPI's report into education recovery, in partnership with Renaissance, shows that the pandemic is still having an adverse effect on pupils' learning. This new analysis uses Renaissance's Star Reading and Star Maths Assessments to create the largest sample size of its kind available in the country. It finds that primary aged pupils' outcomes in maths remain well below pre-pandemic norms, whilst outcomes in reading have largely been recovered. The report reveals that outcomes for primary aged pupils in maths amounted to just under 1.5 months' worth of learning loss by the end of the most recent autumn term. Whilst outcomes for younger year groups were found to be even further behind pre-pandemic norms, this is perhaps unsurprising given their time in education has so far been defined by the disruption of the pandemic. More positively, average outcomes in reading have largely been recovered in primary schools, this is consistent with results from national assessments last summer. The report also builds on existing EPI research that has highlighted the pandemic to have not impacted all pupils equally. The gap in reading outcomes between primaries with the highest levels of socioeconomic disadvantage and those with the lowest is still around 6 per cent wider than at the start of the pandemic. This suggests that pupils in disadvantaged areas have suffered bigger adverse learning effects than those in more affluent areas. This report forms the first in a series of reports by the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance over the coming year. Later reports will provide further detailed estimates of learning loss and recovery, including regional breakdowns, with the aim of enhancing policymakers' and educators' understanding of the impacts on pupils over recent years, so that future support can be targeted where it is most needed."The Full Report is available online: <https://epi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/RecoveringFromTheCovid19PandemicMay2023.pdf>.

From the summary: " This report presents the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Learning’s most recent assessment of the learning loss and recovery experienced by pupils in England as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on assessment data from Renaissance Learning’s Star Reading and Star Maths. Star Assessments are computer-adaptive in nature and adapt to the individual, providing an assessment that identifies gaps in learning from the entirety of the curriculum independent of their current year group. Star Assessments also include a standardised measure which takes account of the pupil’s age in years and months. This data has been linked with data held by the Department for Education in the National Pupil Database which has enabled us to carry out analysis by pupil characteristics. In this report we provide estimates of the overall level of learning loss by the end of the first halfterm of the 2021/22 academic year which is then broken down by various characteristic groups. In our previous reports we gradually built a picture of how the degree of learning loss changed over the course of the 2020/21 academic year by restricting our analysis to a consistent group of pupils for whom we had assessment data across the academic year. In this report we analyse the results of all pupils at the start of the 2021/22 academic year for whom we can calculate a learning loss estimate. Not all of these pupils would have been included in previous analyses. This is primarily to ensure sufficient sample sizes but also reflects that we are interested in producing the best estimate of the current situation in schools. However, we know that there is naturally a keen interest in how the situation has changed since the summer, so we present additional analysis of how outcomes have changed during this time using a consistent group of pupils" The study is available online: <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/623dd828e90e075f13a3a58d/Understanding_Progress_in_the_2020_to_2021_Academic_Year_Extension_report_covering_the_first_half_of_the_autumn_term_2021.pdf>.

"This report presents the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Learning's fourth assessment of the learning loss experienced by pupils in England as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It builds on our third report that was published in June 2021. It is based on assessment data from Renaissance Learning's Star Reading and Star Maths. Star Assessments are computer-adaptive in nature and adapt to the individual, providing an assessment that identifies gaps in learning from the entirety of the curriculum independent of their current year group. Star assessments also include a standardised measure which takes account of the pupil's age in years and months. This data has been linked with data held by the Department for Education in the National Pupil Database which has enabled us to carry out analysis by pupil characteristic. In our previous report we carried out analysis of assessments undertaken in the spring term in 2020/21 which enabled us to carry out an initial assessment of whether pupils lost learning as a result of the second instance of in-person school closures for the majority of pupils. In this report we will, for the first time, breakdown our estimates of learning loss for the spring term by various characteristics to understand how the latest disruptions to in-person learning have impacted certain characteristic groups. We will also, for the first time, provide estimates of learning loss for secondary-aged pupils in reading for the spring term." The Full Report is available online: <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6239cb91d3bf7f6ac63c390c/Understanding_progress_in_the_2020-21_academic_year_Complete_findings_from_spring_term_Oct2021.pdf>.

"This report presents the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Learning's fifth assessment of the learning loss experienced by pupils in England as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on assessment data from Renaissance Learning's Star Reading and Star Maths. Star Assessments are computer-adaptive in nature and adapt to the individual, providing an assessment that identifies gaps in learning from the entirety of the curriculum independent of their current year group. Star assessments also include a standardised measure which takes account of the pupil's age in years and months. This data has been linked with data held by the Department for Education in the National Pupil Database which has enabled us to carry out analysis by pupil characteristics. In this report we provide estimates of the overall level of learning loss by the end of the summer term in the 2020/21 academic year which is then broken down by various characteristic groups. Furthermore, for the first time, we provide estimates of learning loss by the second half of the autumn term split by degree of pupil-level absence in the autumn term to determine if there is any association between absence and our estimates of learning loss. We also look at the association between school level absence and our estimates of learning loss in the second half of the autumn term and spring term." The Full Report is available online: <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6239cb5fe90e0779a2c9952a/Understanding_progress_in_the_2020_to_2021_academic_year_Findings_from_the_summer_term_and_summary_of_all_previous_findings.pdf>.

"This ad hoc report presents a brief headline summary of the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Learning's third assessment of the learning loss experienced by pupils in England as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is based on assessment data from Renaissance Learning's Star Reading and Star Maths in the spring term of the 2020/21 academic year. These data have been linked with data held by the Department for Education in the National Pupil Database, enabling us to control for a range of pupil characteristics. This is the first time we have analysed assessments undertaken in the spring term 2020/21 and represents an initial assessment of whether pupils lost learning as a result of the national lockdown at the beginning of 2021. In this report we present estimates of learning loss for pupils in primary schools (covering year groups 3-6). Further breakdowns by pupil characteristics and estimates for pupils in secondary schools will be presented in a subsequent full report." The Full Report is available online: <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6239cbf08fa8f540f127aaae/Understanding_Progress_in_the_2020_21_Academic_Year_Initial_findings_from_the_spring_term.pdf>.

"This report presents the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Learning's second assessment of the learning loss experienced by pupils in England as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is based on assessment data from Renaissance Learning's Star Reading and Star Maths. Star Assessments are computer-adaptive in nature adapt to the individual, providing an assessment that identifies gaps in learning from the entirety of the curriculum independent of their current year group. Star assessments are also standardised to take account of the pupil's age in years and months.This data has been linked with data held by the Department for Education in the National Pupil Database which has enabled us to carry out analysis by pupil characteristics (such as eligibility for free school meals, and pupil ethnicity) for the first time. In addition, this is the first time we have carried out analysis of assessments carried out in the second half of the autumn term in 2020/21 which enables us to carry out an initial assessment of whether pupils started to make up for the 'lost learning' that we identified in our first report." The Full Report is available online: <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6239cbcdd3bf7f6ab868f314/Understanding_Progress_in_the_2020_21_Academic_Year_Complete_findings_from_the_Autumn_term_June2021.pdf>.

"This research was commissioned by the Department for Education in 2020 to understand the progress pupils make in the 2020 to 2021 academic year and estimate the impact of the disruption to schooling as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on that progress.The interim findings are based on more than 400,000 reading and maths assessments taken in the first half term of autumn 2020. The report is in 3 parts: -presentation of study sample sizes -examination of historical trends in assessments to develop an approach to measuring the impact on assessment scores of the disruption to schooling as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic -estimation of the average impact on reading and mathematics scores of the disruption to schooling as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic" The Full Report is available online: <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6239cbb1e90e07799a20bc0e/Understanding_progress_in_the_2020_21_academic_year_Interim_findings_Jan2021.pdf>.

From the abstract: "Implementation fidelity or integrity is a key variable in evidence-based interventions, but is rarely assessed by student response or over a long period. This study related implementation fidelity in independent book reading to tested reading achievement over a year. The sample of 852,295 students in 3243 primary and secondary schools was reduced by schools providing incomplete data and the discarding of mid-year data. Achievement was measured pre-post by STAR Reading, a computerised item-banked adaptive test of reading accuracy and comprehension. Implementation fidelity was measured by variables from the computerised Accelerated Reader (AR) software, which analyses comprehension of a real book the student has chosen by a quiz. Results compared key variables for the four regions of the UK, local authorities and best performing schools. Computerised methods offer an interesting alternative to teacher behaviour for investigating implementation and outcomes. This study showed stronger links between implementation and outcomes at an individual level than when all data is aggregated, and that student response is at least as good an implementation index as teacher behaviour. The implications for practice, policy and future research were outlined."Citation: Topping, K. J. (2018). Implementation fidelity and pupil achievement in book reading: Variation between regions, local authorities and schools. Research Papers in Education, 33(5), 620-641.