Total Words: Turning the Page on Reading Achievement

Ed-tech is dramatically increasing reading achievement, motivation, progress, access to resources, evidence for programme planning and effective home-school liaison.

Currently 2.8 million pupils in UK schools do not have adequate reading skills. The problem is simple: we can’t afford to lose the potential workskills, the earning potential, the social potential of over 25% of students currently in school.

For schools, the story is an ongoing saga: too many pupils need assistance, too few resources, ineffective strategies, too many delays. For parents, the story is an unfolding tragic-drama, watching their child lose enthusiasm, confidence, losing hope.

Total Words(www.totalwords.com) has a mission to turn the page, to start a new chapter in the delivery of an effective 21st century reading system, a cost-effective, time-effective system that provides schools, themselves, with resources and expertise to tailor reading programmes for their students, individuals, classrooms, whole school. Their solutions, not ours.

Three elements of the Total Words reading system are key to its success: a library of informative reading books; a positive, success-focused learning process; daily individual data that records what progress is being made, can be made. Books in our digital library, are concise and informative, with one simple standout innovation: word counts. We know how many words are in each book. We know how many words Jack has read today, we know that if he reads 250 words each day, by the end of the week he will gain 15-20 new words. We know it, Jack knows it. Time is essential for effective learning; time generates motivation. The Total Words learning process is fast, tailored to individual learning styles, built on repeated daily successes. Progress can be dramatic. Last term, a Year 7 student gained over 5 years in reading age.

Data is the core of the Total Words’ playbook. Data analyses the connection between the number of words read and student progress. Data tells pupils what works for them, what they can achieve, how much progress they are making, lets them feel what it’s like to challenge themselves and reap the reward of skill practices. Data makes confident, engaged, motivated students.

There is no one-page instruction manual that works for all students, for the 2.8 million who are being left behind, but with technology, resources, daily data, and emotionally healthy learning generating achievement, Total Words is enabling all schools, all students, to significantly increase their reading skills and desire to learn.