DART Project Update April 2020

Hi everyone!

We’ve been very busy on the DART project since we got going in April 2019. Like lots of other research projects, we have had to pause our activities due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and subsequent closing of schools. We’re not entirely sure what impact this will have on the project timeline for now, but we thought it would be a good opportunity to provide a general update of where we are up to.

The DART project is organised into three separate ‘work packages’ each looking at a different aspect of reading skills with children in different year groups (for more information on each work package, see our dedicated website pages). Our aim was to carry out our computerised dynamic assessment (and other tasks) with children once and then again approximately 12 months later to see what progress they had made.

As of April 2020, we have completed the first assessments for Year 4 children in work package 3 (looking at reading comprehension), as well as for Year 3 children in work package 2 (looking at orthographic learning). We had just begun assessments for Reception children for work package 1 in March this year when unfortunately schools were required to close.

The Year 4 children in work package 3 were due to be re-assessed on their reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge between April and July this year. In the event that schools do not re-open before September, we will aim to re-assess these children in the new academic year.

We will aim to begin work package 1 with a new cohort of Reception children around January or February 2021.

We will post additional updates here when we have a clearer idea of how the outbreak will affect the project timeline. For now we’d like to extend our thanks to the children who have already taken part, as well as schools for their ongoing support of the project.

All the very best wishes in these uncertain times,

Chris, Emily, and the DART project team