News
A recent launch of the CEE report evaluating the Doodle Den literacy programme in Dublin has been welcomed with a wave of media attention. The positive findings of the evaluation were reported in the Irish Examiner (“Calls to roll out literacy scheme nationwide”), Irish Mirror (“Calls to help literacy with extra classes”) and the Irish Times online (“Programme ‘helped child literacy’”).
Doodle Den was independently evaluated by researchers from the Centre for Effective Education through a randomised controlled trial and a process evaluation. It is an after-school literacy programme aimed at 5 and 6 year olds and operated in six schools in Tallaght West, Dublin.
The three year evaluation followed three different year cohorts of children and showed the programme succeeded in its initial aims of making moderate improvements in the children’s literacy. Not only was the programme shown to improve children’s overall literacy ability, there was also evidence to suggest that it had a positive impact on improving concentration and reducing problem behaviours in school, family library activity and the child’s reading at home.
Commenting on the results, Dr Andy Biggart who led the research team said: “These results are very encouraging, especially given the fact that literacy is such an important gateway subject and demonstrates that a well-designed and structured literacy after-school programme can be effective in improving children’s literacy in disadvantaged areas. We are pleased to see the programme has received further funding to continue in Tallaght West as well as its expansion to three schools in Limerick under the School Completion Programme.”
The CEE has been awarded further funding to follow the children over a further two years to assess the longer-term benefits of the programme.
A copy of the full report of the evaluation can be found by clicking the image below.
For further information on the evaluation contact .
