Decoding and comprehension skills mediate the link between a small-group reading programme and English national literacy assessments.

BACKGROUND Despite the fact that literacy instruction is a main focus of primary education, many children struggle to meet nationally set standards. AIMS We aimed to test which components of a comprehensive reading programme (ABRACADABRA: https://eur03.safelinks.protection. OUTLOOK com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fdoi.org%2F10.1186%2FISRCTN18254678d decoding, β = .26, 95% CI [0.09-0.43]; and comprehension, β = .26, 95% CI [0.05-0.47]). Improvements in the programme group's decoding and comprehension skills fully mediated the improvements in national literacy assessments serving as a delayed post-test 12 months after the programme. Programme group pupils were 2.3 (95% CI [1.4-4.1]) times more likely to achieve/exceed the expected standard in reading, and 1.8 (95% CI [1.2-2.6]) times more likely to achieve/exceed the expected standard in writing due to an increase in the trained skills. CONCLUSIONS These results provide strong evidence that a programme that incorporates decoding and comprehension instruction for typically developing beginning readers improves distal educational outcomes in reading and writing through increasing proficiencies targeted by the reading programme.