Proven Results
Backed by independent research and trusted by thousands of educators, our literacy programmes are research-proven.
The Lexia® team are dedicated to evolving our literacy programmes to meet the needs of today’s educators and learners. This year’s new enhancements will deliver even more effective, engaging, and accessible learning experiences.
Lexia® Core5® Reading
Core5 is an adaptive literacy program that accelerates the development of literacy skills for all students from Reception to Year 6. It supports reading success by helping students with both word recognition and comprehension.
Enhanced Autoplacement Experience
To create a more supportive experience we’ve added engaging new visuals and audio, such as enhanced Language Support. This now plays before and after the competition of placement, so the learner knows what to expect when working through the programme.
Data-Driven Updates to Skills Checks
Skill Checks have been refined using data-driven insights, boosting student engagement while preserving assessment accuracy.
Audio Updates to Passage Fluency Units
The updated intro and directional audio in Passage Fluency activities provide clear guidance and a more immersive experience for learners.
Core5 Instructional Resources: Empowering Educators and Learners
The Comprehension and Vocabulary Lexia Lessons® have been updated with a new format that aligns with the science of reading and research-based best practices. Core5 Digital Lexia Lessons for Phonological Awareness, Fluency, and Phonics also now reflect these changes.
We’ve expanded language accessibility with the addition of Bengali translations for several key caregiver materials, including the General Achievement Certificate and General Home Use Letter, ensuring more families can stay informed and engaged.
Core5 Accessibility Enhancements
Recent enhancements to Core5 strengthen alignment with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), making the program increasingly accessible, inclusive, and user- friendly for all learners. Updates include:
- Improvements to keyboard navigation for easier movement through the program.
- Significant upgrades to colour contrast to improve readability.
- Additional support for sensory characteristics to ensure that students engage meaningfully with the content.
Lexia® PowerUp® Literacy
PowerUp is designed specifically for students in Years 7 to 11 who need support with literacy to fully access the wider secondary curriculum. The program focuses on accelerating literacy gains through an personalised learning experience that enhances reading, writing, and comprehension skills. PowerUp enables students to make multiple years of growth in a single academic year.
New: Units Goals
PowerUp students now have weekly Unit Goals that display directly on the Home Screen. Each strand card features a progress meter showing how many units the student has completed during the week, along with their weekly time goal.
Each strand has its own specific unit goal, balancing achievability and progress, with these resetting at the start of each week. Students are encouraged to meet, and exceed, their unit goals on their way to improving their reading proficiency.
Flexible Strand Management Option
Educators have the ability to turn off automatic strand management, ensuring all learning units remain active even after students meet their weekly usage goals. This flexibility supports a wider range of instructional models and implementation strategies.
Boosting Student Engagement
PowerUp introduces the following exciting new features designed to create a more engaging, efficient, and motivating experience for students.
- Background music has been added to the Home Page, creating a more dynamic and inviting atmosphere.
- Animations now appear when students meet unit goals, offering positive reinforcement that encourages continued progress.
- A button on the Home Page allows students to return to their last activity by jumping straight back into the unit they were working on during their last session. This time-saving feature helps students bypass intro videos and activity selections, encouraging them to complete unfinished work and stay on track. The button appears once a student has begun working in the program.
Engaging Content and Stronger Vocabulary Support
As part of PowerUp’s ongoing commitment to delivering research-driven, student-centred literacy instruction, we’ve made the following updates to strengthen comprehension and vocabulary support across the program:
- The Comprehension strand in Levels 2 and 4 now feature new passages, refreshed themes, and updated artwork, all designed to increase engagement. These enhancements support key instructional goals by integrating rich content-area topics, targeted vocabulary development, and higher-order thinking skills to deepen comprehension.
- In Levels 7–15, students will benefit from brand-new Essential Vocabulary activities that include explicit instruction and custom artwork to introduce key terms before reading. This offers meaningful vocabulary support that strengthens understanding and boosts overall reading success.
- To better reflect current research and ensure alignment with Core5, and educational standards, “Sight Words” in PowerUp are now called “High-Frequency Words.”
myLexia
myLexia is a platform and reporting tool designed to support educators using Lexia’s Core5 and PowerUp. The platform provides real-time student performance data, allowing teachers to monitor individual and classroom progress while equipping school leaders with progress and usage monitoring tools.
Deeper Insights, Streamlined Navigation, and Enhanced Reporting
Usability Improvements for Educators in myLexia
- Improved Student Navigation in the Reading Tab (Core5 and PowerUp): Educators using Core5 and PowerUp can now easily switch between students within the Reading tab using a dropdown class list or arrow navigation.
- Set a Default Class (Core5 and PowerUp): Teachers using Core5 and PowerUp can now set a default class to appear upon login. This enhancement enables quicker, more focused access to the student data that matters most.
Core5-Specific Enhancements in myLexia
See When Core5 Students Were Flagged for Instruction
In the Core5 Needs Instruction tab of the Class Action Plan, educators can now view the date each student was flagged. This added detail helps educators more effectively prioritise and plan timely interventions.
PowerUp-Specific Enhancements in myLexia
- Class-Level Student Activity Export With Skill Check Scores: A new export option in the Skills Status report lets teachers view all PowerUp activity data for their entire class in one place—including Skill Check scores—without needing to open individual student reports.
- PowerUp Certificates on Student Action Plan: Teachers can now access a student’s latest PowerUp certificates directly from the Student Action Plan, making it easier to recognise student success.
PowerUp Unit Goals and Usage Report Enhancements
Weekly unit goals have been added for students using PowerUp. Educators can now monitor student progress toward these goals in the Class Usage Report within myLexia. To support this, we’ve improved the report layout, making it easier to find key information at a glance. Updates include a clearer display of student usage and unit progress, now organised by strand.
Learn more about Lexia Core5 Reading and Lexia PowerUp Literacy by visiting our product pages
Reading Programmes for Primary Schools
Core5®
Reading Programmes for Primary Schools
A structured and adaptive literacy programme for primary schools. Developing reading skills from phonological awareness and phonics to SATS-ready comprehension skills. One solution – perfect for reading intervention in schools to support and encourage pupils of all ages and abilities.
Literacy Intervention for Secondary Schools
PowerUp®
Literacy Intervention for Secondary Schools
Bridging the gap from learning to read, to reading to learn – building missed early skills and advancing literacy for GCSE readiness and secondary school success
Your Personalised Educator Dashboard
myLexia™
Your Personalised Educator Dashboard
myLexia™ is your educator dashboard – designed to enhance literacy instruction through data-driven insights and personalised support. Built to work seamlessly with Lexia’s literacy programmes. With features like Assessment Without Testing® and a rich Resource Hub, myLexia helps schools save planning time, close learning gaps, and elevate student outcomes.
Our Star School for May is…
Launceston College, Cornwall!
We spoke to Zoe Brundell, English Teacher and Attainment & Intervention Lead, who shared how Launceston has embedded Lexia PowerUp Literacy into the timetable and created a culture of praise that keeps students motivated and on track.
How did you first come across the Lexia program and what led to the school’s final decision to purchase?
So we’ve had it for several years actually, but for a while, we weren’t really doing that much with it.
Then we decided maybe two or three years ago to give it a good go and in the last two, we’ve managed to convince leadership to dedicate the time needed to the programme to make it work.
We really liked the fact that it was student friendly. It’s not pitched too high and it looks like a game to them – so it’s fun! Since we’ve managed to convince everyone that it’s worth spending the time on the timetable, it’s taken off!
What do you feel makes Lexia stand apart from other reading skills software products on the market?
Firstly, the ease of use. The students can use it without much supervision. As teachers, we’re in the room giving lots of praise and deliver the skill builders. It’s student friendly – simple and straightforward for them to use by themselves.
It helps us support them with things that they are finding difficult. So when we go in and look at kind of the breakdowns in the back end, you can see where it is that they’re struggling or what they’re maybe of what trying to avoid doing.
It’s also great for just being able to give praise and celebrate those students who maybe don’t get that positive reinforcement as much. Because we award them for all sorts of things to do with Lexia, it’s just such a positive experience for them. They’re improving and they’re getting recognised for it. They’re often students that have struggled and not found much success in other places. So, to see it working with them and having evidence of that on the screen in front of them is really, really helpful and makes them feel good about themselves, their progress and their journey.
How is Lexia used in your school?
We select students to participate Lexia based on their reading age. They take a reading age test each year, and anyone significantly below their chronological age is selected for Lexia.
We timetable it so they have three hours a week on Lexia. Two of their English lessons are dedicated to Lexia, while the other two follow the normal curriculum. They also have one hour taken from their languages lessons—so instead of doing French or Spanish, they spend that time on Lexia as well. Our languages department has been incredibly supportive. They’ve said for a long time that if these students can’t access English properly, they’re going to struggle with French and Spanish too. So, they were keen to get involved and help support them in this way.
We’re very lucky to have those three hours, and it’s great that other departments support it too. It means students can meet a minimum of 90 minutes per week on the programme. Before this, we tried having just one hour in school and expecting them to do the rest at home, but students with lower reading ages often struggled to access it independently, even with incentives. But now, with the extra time and support from across the school, it’s working really well.
Describe the impact that Lexia has had on your pupils.
Yeah, many of them do make progress in their reading age by the end of the year. We haven’t done this year’s reading age test yet, but every year, we see improvements.
Even just in lessons with my own class, I can definitely see the difference. Their comprehension and decoding skills have improved. In our normal English lessons, we’re currently studying war poetry, and previously, we’ve read Animal Farm and other challenging texts. As the year goes on, they become much better at understanding difficult words and grasping the meaning of what they’re reading.
They struggle less with complex vocabulary because they’ve learned to break words down—looking at prefixes, suffixes, and understanding how words are structured. It’s nice to see that progress as a classroom teacher.
Even without this year’s reading age data, you can see their confidence growing in lessons. That shift in their ability and self-assurance over time is just lovely to see.
The Year 6s, where the format of the previous programme maybe wasn’t as mature for them. So, last year we decided to switch them over to PowerUp, and the difference has been incredible.
Can you give an example of a Lexia success that sticks out to you?
So far this year, we’ve actually had a couple of students who have already completed the whole programme and have been moved up sets. That was awesome, and amazing for them to see their own progress.
One of my Year 9s, in particular, has struggled with reading for a long time. He used to find it really difficult to get high streaks. As you know, streaks show when they’re getting consecutive answers right, and we reward students for streaks of 25 or more. He would often say, “Oh, I was almost there, but I lost it.”
But now, he’s frequently getting streaks in the hundreds! It’s been amazing to see his confidence grow—to see him getting more and more questions right and holding onto those streaks. From the start of the year to now, the progress is incredible.
How have you used rewards to motivate and celebrate success on the Lexia program?
We have these little praise postcards where we can write a message on the back, and they’re worth five praise points in our school system. Students get one of these if they manage to reach a streak of 25 or more during a lesson.
Sometimes, I turn it into a bit of a competition—who can get the highest streak in the lesson. It can get a little boisterous, but since it’s all about the work, that’s always a good thing!
After my implementation review the other day with LexiaUK, we’ve just introduced praise for units gained in a lesson as well. Now, whoever gains the most units in a lesson also gets a praise postcard. This has really encouraged students to stick with sections they find difficult. Before, they would sometimes jump between different sections to avoid getting stuck, but now they stay focused because they want to earn their praise postcards.
We also track how many minutes they complete each week. I export all the data, put it into a spreadsheet, and an admin assistant sends emails home. The top three students with the most minutes get a message congratulating them on their effort. We make it as encouraging and rewarding as we can.
How useful have you found the myLexia reports in terms of demonstrating progression and informing planning?
I usually use it to track minutes and make sure students are meeting the minimum of 90, because we know that if they reach that target, they’ll make the progress they need.
We also use it to monitor where they are in terms of progressing through the levels—from Foundation to Intermediate to Advanced—and to keep an eye on who’s close to finishing sections.
In the future, we hope to make more use of the Skill Builders and instructional resources that are generated. That’s something I’m working towards—maybe having a reading mentor or someone else in the room who could take a smaller group and focus on Skill Builders or targeted instruction. While we’d like to use the resources more, for now, we mainly focus on tracking progress through levels and ensuring students complete the minutes they need. Hopefully, we can expand this in the future.
What main piece of advice would you give to a school that was just getting started with Lexia?
The biggest thing is just praise—constant praise for anything and everything you can. If you can get students on board and excited about it, everything becomes so much easier.
The other key thing is making sure that everyone in the school understands the importance of reading. We’re very lucky here at Launceton because reading is a whole-school priority. We do lots of different things to promote it, like tutor reading in the mornings, so it’s a school-wide initiative. That’s made it much easier for me to get everyone on board with Lexia.
If you can create that culture, it helps secure time for students to actually use the programme. Without dedicated time, it just doesn’t work.
And finally, make sure those minutes are happening in school, ideally with support from the whole staff. If everyone recognises that reading and literacy are essential, and that this programme will support those skills, it makes a huge difference.
What feedback have you had from your Lexia pupils?
A lot of them have said it’s helped build their confidence. They feel more confident in class, more confident when reading, and more confident that they understand what’s happening when we read together. That’s always lovely to hear.
Some have said, “I understand more of what I’ve read,” or “I get why sentences are structured the way they are.”
And then, of course, a lot of them just say, “I really like it. It’s fun. I like seeing my streak. I like that I’m beating someone’s streak. I like winning my postcard.”
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I think the key over the last couple of years has been having backing from everyone across the college—our languages teachers, our senior leadership team—all working together to implement Lexia in the way we have.
That support has made the biggest difference, not just for the students, but for us as Lexia teachers and for me as a Lexia lead. Without it, we were struggling because we didn’t have the dedicated time, and the students weren’t always completing it at home independently. Not every child has the same level of access or support at home.
Knowing that we’re all working together has been the biggest factor in boosting Lexia attainment. You can see from everything we’ve achieved this year just how much of a difference it has made.
I’m grateful to everyone in the school for supporting the programme and, most importantly, for supporting our students. As we all know, GCSE papers require a reading age of 15+, so without these interventions, we would be letting our students down.
So, I’m just incredibly grateful to everyone for making the most of the time our students have with us and ensuring they get the support they need.
Finally, if you could describe Lexia in 3 words, what 3 words would you use?
I would say impactful, engaging, and, due to the fact that it gives me data on student progress, insightful.
Step into the Literacy Spotlight
Watch Morton Academy in Action
At LexiaUK, we believe that every student has the potential to succeed when equipped with the right tools. Morton Academy is a shining example of what’s possible when educators are empowered with Lexia PowerUp Literacy.
Lexia PowerUp Literacy – More School Success Stories
Learn from schools across the UK that have successfully implemented Lexia PowerUp to boost literacy attainment.
Theale Green School
How structured support improved GCSE outcomes
At Theale Green School, Lexia has transformed literacy support into a structured, data-informed, and highly motivating journey that is directly contributing to improved GCSE outcomes. Faced with rising literacy needs and limited intervention capacity, the school introduced Lexia to deliver tailored, high-impact support for a growing number of students—particularly those with SEND or in receipt of Pupil Premium.
Since implementation, Lexia has enabled staff to triple the number of students receiving individualised literacy intervention while tracking progress with precision. Pupils’ confidence has flourished, and sustained Lexia use is helping bridge critical gaps in phonics, grammar, and comprehension—skills essential for accessing the wider curriculum and succeeding in English at GCSE.
The school’s whole-staff approach, including collaboration with the English department, has embedded Lexia into daily routines, resulting in higher motivation, measurable progress, and students walking into lessons ready to engage.
The Compton School
Promoting secondary curriculum readiness
At The Compton School in London, Lexia has become a powerful tool in improving literacy outcomes, particularly in supporting students to achieve stronger results at GCSE. Introduced as part of a whole-school reading strategy, Lexia was implemented to target the bottom 20% of readers in Key Stage 3. Assistant Headteacher Emily Walker-Nolan and Lexia Lead Deeya Sharma have embedded the programme into the school’s culture through structured routines, including breakfast clubs, transition initiatives, and personal development time, ensuring pupils achieve the recommended usage each week.
The adaptive nature of Lexia has enabled students to close individual reading gaps efficiently, with clear links between engagement and accelerated reading progress—one pupil even gaining nearly four years in reading age. The school has seen a 20% uplift in the number of students reaching the expected reading benchmark, a testament to Lexia’s role in supporting GCSE readiness.
With robust use of data through myLexia, personalised interventions, and creative reward systems, The Compton School continues to position its most vulnerable readers for long-term success.
Upton-by-Chester High School
The measurable impact of Lexia on reading ages
At Upton-by-Chester High School, Lexia has been key to the school’s literacy intervention strategy, helping students make measurable, meaningful progress in reading. With a clear focus on supporting learners who fall just below age-related expectations, Lexia was chosen for its student-led, highly targeted approach, allowing pupils to work independently on their specific areas of need. The school’s structured model, backed by regular assessment and robust pastoral support, ensures consistent engagement and visible outcomes.
Pupils in Years 7 and 8 benefit from two hours of dedicated Lexia time each week, supported by a thoughtfully developed rewards system that has transformed intervention into a space for celebration and growth. As a result, students have seen reading age increases of up to two years within a single academic year—an achievement the school attributes to sustained engagement and Lexia’s accessible, confidence-building format.
Request Your Free Trial Today
Join the growing number of schools seeing real literacy progress with Lexia. We’re offering a free 30-day evaluation so you can experience the transformative power of our program first-hand.
Simply fill in the form below and a dedicated member of our team will be in touch to get you started!
Introducing The Big LexiaUK Survey 2025!
“How do other schools implement Lexia?”
It’s one of the most common questions we hear from schools—and now, we want to hear directly from you.
Take part in The Big Lexia Survey 2025 to share how your school has been using Lexia this year—and help us better understand what’s working, where extra support is needed, and how we can improve our guidance, training, and resources to help you get the most from your programme.
Whether it’s your approach to targeting, timetabling, or tracking progress, your feedback will help shape the future of Lexia support across the UK.
And as a thank you, you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win £250 of National Book Tokens for your school library.
Join the conversation and help strengthen the LexiaUK community—one voice at a time.
Click below to take part. It only takes 15 minutes, but your insights will make a lasting impact.
Giveaway Rules
- Only one entry per person.
- Entrants from the UK and Ireland only.
- Entrants must be teaching staff in a school that is a current customer of LexiaUK.
- We are unable to accept entries from anyone connected with any schools participating in empirical studies relating to Lexia, such as the ongoing study from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF).
- Winner will be selected using a random number generator and checks to ensure all entry requirements are satisfied will take place until an eligible winner is chosen.
- Prize will only be sent to a school email address. Winner must provide a valid school email address upon selection for prize to be delivered.
- Winner will be notified by email where email address will be confirmed for prize delivery. A follow up phone call to the school will be made in a further attempt to make contact. If no response in received within 7 days of initial contact, the prize will be withdrawn and a new winner selected.
- All entry requirements must be satisfied for successful entry into the prize draw.
- Giveaway submissions will be accepted between 1st May 2025 at 8:30am and 25th July 2025 at 4:00pm after which a winner will be selected. We cannot accept entries submitted after this time.
- Winner will be announced from 1st September 2025.
- In the event of unforeseen circumstances beyond reasonable control, LexiaUK reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the competition or these terms and conditions, either in whole or in part, with or without notice.
Giveaway Entry Requirements
To Enter, participants must:
- Complete The Big Lexia Survey 2025.
- Provide contact details at the end of the survey.
- Be a member of staff at a school that is currently a LexiaUK customer.
One of the most important tasks and school leaders face is ensuring that every student, regardless of their learning needs, receives the right support to thrive in literacy. However, with the diverse range of challenges that learners can face—whether it’s dyslexia, language delays, decoding or comprehension difficulties—tailoring needs to meet these can feel overwhelming.
In this post, we’ll explore practical, adaptive approaches to reading intervention. These strategies aim to empower you to adjust interventions for supporting pupils with SEND as well as those in need from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Understanding the Diverse Needs of Learners with SEND
Learners with SEND often face a wide range of challenges that impact their ability to develop literacy skills. These may include:
- Difficulties with decoding: Struggling to break down words into sounds.
- Language processing issues: Difficulty understanding and using language effectively.
- Comprehension barriers: Challenges in understanding what they read or retaining information.
For these students, it’s crucial that interventions are adaptive and flexible. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, so the key is to tailor your approach to each learner’s unique needs. This requires not only adjusting the content but also pacing and resources to ensure that every student has the right level of challenge and support.
Key Strategies for Adaptive Teaching in Reading Intervention
Tailoring Speed and Intensity
The speed at which students advance through reading materials is critical, especially for pupils with SEND. A pace that is too fast can overwhelm, while one that is too slow can lead to disengagement. The goal is to find a pace that challenges the student while allowing them to build confidence and competence.
For example, break down tasks into manageable steps and allow students to revisit concepts as needed. Regularly assess progress to determine if the pace needs adjusting. The key is to provide just enough challenge to keep students engaged, while ensuring they are not overwhelmed by complex tasks too soon.
Students may also benefit from frequent breaks, particularly when they are working on new or difficult concepts. These breaks can help reset focus and provide time for students to reflect on what they’ve learned.
Resource Selection: Providing the Right Materials
The resources you use play a significant role in how effectively students can progress in their literacy journey. It’s important to match the difficulty of resources to the learner’s level and needs. For learners with SEND, the resources should not only align with their current skills but also be motivating and engaging.
When selecting materials, consider the following:
- Levels of challenge: Choose resources that are appropriately challenging but not too difficult for the student to engage with successfully. Resources that are too simple will not promote growth, while those that are too complex can lead to frustration.
- Multisensory elements: Some learners may benefit from resources that engage more than one sense. For example, visual aids, tactile activities, or spoken instructions can help students better understand the material.
- Interest-based materials: Engage students with texts and topics they find interesting, helping them build motivation and a love for reading.
By selecting materials that are the right level of difficulty, you can ensure that students are constantly progressing and building new skills, while also keeping them engaged and motivated to continue learning.
Scaffolding: Supporting Independence While Building Skills
Scaffolding is an essential strategy for all learners but is particularly important in promoting independence in learners with SEND. Scaffolding allows pupils to build skills incrementally while still receiving the support they need to succeed. The goal of scaffolding is to help learners become more independent by providing targeted support that can be gradually removed as the student gains confidence and ability.
Key techniques for scaffolding include:
- Modelling: Initially, provide clear, step-by-step demonstrations of the task at hand. For example, when teaching reading comprehension, model how to read a passage aloud, highlight key information, and summarise the main points.
- Guided practice: Allow students to practice tasks with support. This might include working through a passage together, providing prompts or questions as they read, or discussing vocabulary words.
- Gradual release of responsibility: As students become more competent, gradually reduce the amount of support you provide. Start by offering more guidance and slowly move towards independent work, ensuring students are ready to take on tasks by themselves.
For example, when teaching a pupil to read a difficult text, start by reading aloud together and discussing the content. Over time, ask them to take over more of the reading, then support them with comprehension questions, and eventually let them read and answer questions independently.
Scaffolding allows learners to progress at their own pace, ensuring they have the tools to succeed even as the level of challenge increases.
Progress Monitoring: Tracking and Adjusting Intervention
Monitoring progress is essential to ensuring that the interventions you are using are working. Without regular assessments, it’s impossible to know whether a student is making the desired progress or if adjustments are needed. Ongoing progress monitoring also allows you to celebrate small victories, boosting students’ confidence and motivation.
Regularly track your students’ performance through formative assessments and observations. By collecting data on areas such as phonics, fluency, and comprehension, you can determine whether the pace and resources are appropriate or if adjustments need to be made.
If a student is struggling in a particular area—such as decoding or fluency—it may be necessary to adjust the focus of the intervention, providing more targeted support. Conversely, if a student is excelling, the level of challenge can be increased to ensure continued development.
Practical Tips for SENCOs
SENCOs play a vital role in shaping how literacy interventions are implemented in school. Here are some practical tips to help maximise the impact of interventions:
- Collaborate with teachers: Regular communication with classroom teachers is key to ensuring interventions are aligned with classroom learning. By working together, you can ensure that support is consistent and well-integrated.
- Use data-driven decisions: Regularly monitor student progress and use data to inform your decisions. If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to make changes—whether it’s adjusting the pacing, selecting new resources, or altering the focus of the intervention.
- Offer ongoing support: For many students with SEND, literacy development is a long-term process. Ensure that there is a plan for continued support beyond initial interventions. This can include follow-up sessions, extended practice opportunities, or adjustments to the classroom environment.
Conclusion
Supporting learners with SEND in developing crucial literacy skills is an ongoing challenge. With the right strategies in place, you can help your students develop the skills they need to succeed. Tailoring interventions to suit each learner’s pace, selecting the right resources, scaffolding learning for independence and regularly monitoring progress are essential components of a successful literacy strategy.
By integrating these approaches into your practice, you can ensure that every student receives the support they need to build confidence and competence in reading, regardless of their learning needs. However, implementing these strategies effectively takes time and can be complex, requiring careful planning and adaptation. Utilising research-evidenced technology can help streamline this process, equipping teachers with the tools they need to provide targeted, effective support for SEND learners.
Looking for a Reading Intervention that Supports Both Pupils and Teachers?
If you’re looking for a solution to streamline and personalise your reading interventions, Lexia Core5 Reading and Lexia PowerUp Literacy offer tools that can help. These programmes adapt to each learner’s needs, offering a flexible, data-driven approach to literacy development.
Request a Demo to learn more about how Lexia can support your pupils. We are proud to partner with schools ensure every student reaches their literacy goals, no matter their learning journey.
Introduction
When it comes to maximising the impact of Lexia in your school, some of the most powerful tools are the ones that often go unnoticed. Beyond the familiar dashboards and progress reports, myLexia offers a range of hidden features that can transform the way educators track progress, target additional support, and enhance student learning.
In this article, we’ll explore three valuable features that you may not have fully explored. By making the most of these tools, you can gain a clearer picture of student progress, personalise support, and save valuable planning time.
1. Detailed Skills Reports: A Deeper View of Student Progress
While many are familiar with myLexia’s Class Overview and Class Progress reports, fewer are aware of the level of detail that can be gained from the student reports. The student-level Detailed Skills Report provides an in-depth look into an individual student’s strengths and needs, right down to the specific phoneme, high frequency word, or comprehension question type.
Why it’s Valuable
- Allows for targeted interventions by highlighting precise skill gaps.
- Supports progress tracking over time, ensuring that detailed evidence of literacy skills acquisition can be easily obtained and analysed.
- Provides clear and specific information to support discussions with colleagues and parents.
How to Access and Use
- Log into myLexia and navigate to the student overview. This can be done by clicking on the student’s name from the Class Overview.
- Select the button at the top right to view their Skills Report. A detailed version of this can be obtained by clicking on the name of a current or past level.
- Use this report to identify areas of need by assessing the number of steps into Lexia’s instruction mode. The common errors column can also be used to identify and address any more specific issues, such as an issue with spelling a particular sight word.
2. The Resource Hub: Practical Teaching Tools at Your Fingertips
Lexia’s Resource Hub provides a veritable treasure trove of literacy resources, including structured lesson plans and printable activities, designed to reinforce key literacy skills. From comprehension passages and decodable readers to sticker charts and goal setting exercises, these resources can be integrated into classroom teaching, small-group interventions, or sent home as a homework
Why It’s Valuable
- Offers ready-to-use teaching resources aligned with students’ individual needs and abilities.
- Saves planning time by providing detailed intervention lesson plans and activities for skill reinforcement.
- Provides a host of additional, high-quality literacy and reading resources that cater to all ages and ability levels in school.
How to Access and Use
- Log into myLexia and navigate to the Resources tab.
- Click on the Core5 or PowerUp Resources Hub Link.
- Browse a host of printable and digital resources to integrate into whole-class teaching, group interventions or 1-to-1 teaching. We recommend the ‘Support for Instruction’ area as a great place to start.
3. Skill Checks and Skill Builders: Assessing and Reinforcing Learning
Many are already aware of Skill Builders and their ability to provide printed offline practice and consolidation activities to ensure students have fully grasped key literacy skills. However, the introduction of Skill Checks in a recent update means that the delivery of these resources can be even more targeted and effective. Skills Checks serve as quick and subtle assessments at the end of each level to provide added progress and mastery information to the teacher.
Why it’s Valuable
- Enables targeted support and adaptive teaching. Skill Checks provide quick assessments that help pinpoint student mastery levels, ensuring that Skill Builders are used effectively for reinforcement where needed.
- Provides valuable data to inform further support and offers detailed insights into pupils’ understanding and skill mastery.
- Promotes stronger skills retention while ensuring that valuable teaching time is used as efficiently as possible.
How to Access and Use
- When a student completes a level, check their assigned Skill Builders under the Action Plan tab in the Class Overview.
- Use Skill Checks to assess proficiency in recently completed skills. Skills check scores can be found by accessing the student individual Skills Report. We recommend providing a Skill Builder for any skill score below 75% to enable to students to gain further practice and consolidation in this skill.
- Print and distribute the activities for small-group work, independent practice, or homework.
Maximising the Impact of Lexia
By making the most of these powerful yet often overlooked features, you can gain a deeper understanding into student progress and deliver more targeted interventions to boost literacy progress even further. Whether it’s using Detailed Skills Reports to fine-tune interventions, exploring the Resource Hub for ready-made teaching resources, or taking advantage of Skill Checks and Skill Builders to reinforce learning, each tool is designed to help you maximise the impact of Lexia in your school.
Next Steps
- Explore these features in myLexia and consider how they can support your teaching strategies.
- Share this post with colleagues to help more educators make full use of these tools.
- For additional guidance, contact the LexiaUK Implementation and Support Team. We offer unlimited training and support to help you get the best out of Lexia.
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Literacy is the foundation for success across all subjects, yet gaps in reading comprehension and writing can often go unnoticed. These gaps can hinder their ability to engage with subject content, complete coursework, and succeed in exams. Because literacy difficulties do not always present in obvious ways, students may develop coping mechanisms that mask their struggles. This means that by the time gaps are identified, they may already be limiting academic potential.
This article explores how hidden literacy gaps can affect secondary students, the long-term consequences of leaving them unaddressed, and practical strategies to ensure that all learners can access and succeed in their education.
How Do Literacy Gaps Go Unnoticed?
Secondary schools naturally focus on subject-specific learning, assuming students have already acquired foundational literacy skills. However, literacy underpins success in all subjects such as understanding exam questions in maths, evaluating sources in history, or structuring an argument in science.
Some literacy gaps may also go unnoticed due to the way primary assessments are structured. For example, the heavy weighting of spelling in the SPAG SATs paper means that students who are strong spellers but have grammatical deficits may fly under the radar. As a result, secondary students with undiagnosed literacy difficulties may struggle with:
- Reading comprehension: Difficulty understanding and analysing complex texts, leading to surface-level learning.
- Academic vocabulary: Limited ability to access subject-specific language.
- Written expression: Struggling to structure responses effectively in exams and coursework.
Because secondary students often develop strategies to work around these issues—such as avoiding reading aloud or memorising content without fully understanding it—literacy gaps may not become apparent until exam results or disengagement highlight a deeper problem.
The Long-Term Impact of Hidden Literacy Gaps
Literacy difficulties don’t just affect academic achievement; they can have a lasting impact on a student’s future. Challenges include:
- Reduced academic engagement: Students who struggle to access texts in various subjects may withdraw from active participation.
- Limited exam success: Poor literacy skills can prevent students from effectively understanding and answering exam questions, even in non-English subjects.
- Fewer post-16 opportunities: Many college courses, apprenticeships, and career paths require strong literacy skills. Without targeted support, students may find their options significantly limited.
Proactive Strategies to Close the Literacy Gap
Addressing literacy challenges in secondary schools requires a whole-school approach that prioritises early identification, personalised intervention, and cross-curricular literacy development. A well-structured intervention programme can make a significant difference, ensuring that students receive the support they need to develop essential reading, vocabulary, and writing skills.
Key strategies include:
- Data-driven identification: Use assessment tools to gain insight into students’ reading and comprehension levels. Early detection allows for timely intervention before gaps widen. Digital solutions like Lexia® PowerUp Literacy provide real-time data on student progress, helping educators pinpoint specific areas for improvement.
- Targeted interventions: Provide structured, personalised support to students struggling with literacy, ensuring they receive help that meets their individual needs. Adaptive literacy programmes such as PowerUp adapt to each student’s ability, offering targeted instruction in word study, grammar, and comprehension to build core literacy skills efficiently.
- Embedding literacy across the curriculum: Encourage subject teachers to integrate reading strategies, vocabulary support, and writing scaffolds within their lessons. Literacy development shouldn’t be confined to English lessons alone. Due to its broad content and skills-based approach, PowerUp helps students develop literacy proficiency in ways that can be applied across all subjects.
- Engaging and age-appropriate support: Literacy challenges in older students require a different approach from primary-level interventions. Ensuring materials are relevant and accessible can boost motivation and progress. PowerUp’s age-appropriate content and game-based activities keep students engaged while developing essential literacy skills at their own pace.
A Commitment to Literacy for All
Every student deserves the opportunity to succeed, regardless of their starting point. By recognising and addressing hidden literacy gaps, educators can empower students with the skills they need to access the full curriculum, achieve their potential, and build brighter futures.
To learn more about how Lexia PowerUp Literacy can support your students, visit our product page.
Free Downloadable Guide: Literacy For All: Tackling Literacy Gaps in Secondary Students & Practical Strategies for Support.
Last year, over 120,000 students from disadvantaged backgrounds entered secondary school below the expected standard for reading. Students arrive with different skill levels, and factors such as SEND, socio-economic barriers, and EAL can further widen gaps in spelling, grammar, and comprehension. Without the right support, these challenges can affect access to the curriculum, engagement in learning, and success in GCSEs.
This free guide explores:
- The key literacy challenges facing secondary students, including low reading age and difficulties with comprehension
- Practical strategies for literacy support, including approaches for SEND, disadvantaged students, and those eligible for Pupil Premium
- The role of reading intervention and adaptive teaching in improving literacy outcomes at scale
- How technology and data-driven instruction can help close literacy gaps and build core literacy skills
Building Stronger Literacy Foundations
By understanding the diverse needs of secondary students and applying evidence-based strategies, schools can create a more inclusive, effective approach to literacy support.
See the Results for Yourself – Request a Free 30-Day Evaluation
Want to experience the impact of Lexia PowerUp in your school? We’re offering a free 30-day evaluation for schools interested in seeing how Lexia PowerUp Literacy can support their students’ literacy skills development.
Fill out the form below to enquire about a 30-day evaluation of Lexia PowerUp Literacy
At LexiaUK, we’re privileged to partner with schools that are committed to transforming literacy outcomes for their pupils. Hearing their success stories not only inspires us but also reinforces the impact of a thoughtfully implemented literacy program. In this post, we share how three schools have used Lexia to achieve remarkable results, and what we can learn from their approaches.
The Compton School – Identifying and addressing gaps early
The Compton School in North Finchley, London has successfully integrated Lexia into its whole-school literacy strategy, led by Assistant Headteacher Emily Walker-Nolan and Lexia Lead Deeya Sharma. Initially introduced to support with COVID catch-up, Lexia has now become central to Compton’s three-tier literacy approach, which includes staff training, targeted interventions, and comprehensive screening for Key Stage 3 students with reading difficulties.
Lexia’s adaptive features have proven effective in motivating students. The school enhances engagement by rewarding students with incentives like chocolates and postcards. Lexia is also used creatively across various settings, including transition programs for Year 6 students and daily routines such as breakfast clubs.
The program has led to impressive results, including a 20% increase in students meeting reading benchmarks. The school emphasises the importance of early implementation and actively involves parents through workshops and home-school communication.
Through these combined efforts, The Compton School has set a high standard for effective literacy intervention, ensuring all students experience progress and success.
What we can learn
The Compton School’s approach highlights the importance of early intervention. By identifyihttps://youtu.be/7FE5T_1WtU4ng struggling readers early, the school ensures they receive targeted support before gaps widen.
By integrating Lexia into their Year 6 transition, the school supports students in starting their secondary education with stronger literacy skills, potentially avoiding years of struggle. Early intervention not only helps address foundational gaps but also boosts student motivation and engagement, ensuring ongoing progress and success in literacy.
Watch The Compton School’s Full Interview
Herne Junior School – Motivating pupils with daily Lexia sessions
At Herne Junior School, Hampshire, Lexia has become a cornerstone of the school’s reading intervention strategy, particularly under the leadership of Lynne Tandy, the school’s SEN Assistant and Lexia Coordinator. Initially used as an early morning intervention for Year 4 and Year 5 pupils, the program evolved during the COVID-19 lockdown into a daily routine across the whole school.
By providing personalised learning experiences, Lexia helps close reading gaps, boosting students’ confidence. Lynne creatively integrates Lexia into the school day, offering morning sessions that include breakfast, and rewards that ensure engagement and motivation.
Her approach, which combines consistency, positive reinforcement and tailored support, has led to impressive improvements. For example, one pupil gained confidence after completing over 1,000 minutes on Lexia and advancing three levels. Lynne advises other schools to thoroughly explore Lexia’s features to ensure effective implementation.
Herne Junior’s success with Lexia is a testament to the programme’s potential when used creatively and consistently, making a lasting impact on pupils’ reading development.
What we can learn
Herne Junior School demonstrates the power of building pupil motivation and consistency. By embedding Lexia into the school day with consistent morning sessions, the school fosters a routine that encourages daily engagement with the program. This regular practice ensures that pupils see continuous improvement, building their confidence over time.
The reward system, including house points, stickers, and special reward activities, reinforces positive behaviour and celebrates small achievements, making learning feel rewarding and enjoyable. Lynne’s focus on creating a positive, supportive environment where learners are motivated to share their progress also plays a crucial role in maintaining high levels of engagement.
Herne Junior’s approach shows that when students are consistently encouraged, given clear goals, and rewarded for their efforts, they are more likely to stay committed and succeed in their reading development.
Watch Herne Junior School’s Full Interview
St. Alban’s Academy: Adapting to meet every pupil’s needs
At St Alban’s Academy, located in an area with high deprivation and significant learning gaps, Lexia Core5 was implemented as a whole-class solution rather than a small-group tool. This innovative adaptation ensured all pupils benefited from the program’s design of offering targeted support, regardless of their starting point.
The school adopted an effective routine: while some pupils worked independently on Lexia’s personalised online tasks, teachers focused on smaller groups to address specific learning needs. This model allowed for both individualised practice and focused intervention. Teachers also used Lexia’s detailed reports to inform lesson planning, ensuring that classroom teaching addressed areas where pupils struggled most.
The impact was transformative. Within five weeks, most pupils had gained two months’ progress, with the school’s most vulnerable learners making particularly notable strides. Teachers reported a significant reduction in workload stress, as Lexia’s adaptive technology provided vital support.
Beyond academic gains, the school saw an uplift in pupils’ enthusiasm for reading. Children began sharing their progress and favourite moments from Lexia, while teachers noted improvements in writing because of exposure to richer vocabulary and texts.
What we can learn
St. Alban’s Academy’s approach offers valuable lessons for other schools looking to maximise the impact of reading interventions. Their decision to implement Lexia Core5 as a whole-class intervention demonstrates the power of inclusivity in reading progress. By ensuring that every pupil, regardless of their starting point, could benefit from personalised support, the school effectively reduced learning gaps and promoted equity.
The integration of Lexia with targeted teacher interventions also highlights the importance of a blended approach that combines technology with teacher expertise. The use of Lexia’s detailed reports to inform lesson planning demonstrates how data-driven decision-making can enhance teaching strategies.
Read St Alban’s Academy’s Full Interview
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Engaging secondary students in reading can be a challenge for educators. At this stage of the learning process, some students may have developed a reluctance to engage with reading due to past struggles, while others might find traditional approaches uninspiring. However, with the right strategies, these barriers can be overcome. Gamified learning is one such strategy—one that taps into the natural instincts for play and achievement to reframe reading as an enjoyable and rewarding activity.
At LexiaUK, we are passionate about fostering literacy for all. By leveraging innovative, equitable approaches, like gamification, we aim to empower educators to create inclusive learning environments where every student can succeed.
Why Gamified Learning Works
Breaking Reading into Manageable Tasks
One of the key principles of gamified learning is chunking tasks into bite-sized, achievable goals. For struggling readers, the thought of tackling an entire novel or lengthy article can be overwhelming. Gamification breaks the process into smaller, digestible steps, such as decoding a paragraph, mastering a set of vocabulary words, or answering a few comprehension questions.
Each small success contributes to a sense of progress, reducing anxiety and building confidence in students who may have previously felt defeated by reading challenges.
Quick Bursts of Success and Instant Feedback
Games thrive on rapid feedback loops—moments where players see the direct results of their actions. When applied to literacy, this might look like immediate feedback on a comprehension quiz or unlocking a new level after completing a set of vocabulary challenges. These quick wins provide a dopamine boost, motivating students to keep engaging and improving.
Building Confidence through Progress
Gamified learning helps students track their progress in a visual and tangible way. Badges, progress bars, and rewards show learners how far they’ve come, encouraging them to push further. For secondary readers, these features help shift their mindset from “I can’t” to “I can” and eventually to “I am successful”.
Implementing Gamified Learning
Incorporate Game Mechanics into Daily Activities: Add elements such as leader boards, timed challenges, or reward systems to regular reading tasks. Introduce a “mystery reader” challenge where students earn clues about a famous author or character after completing reading tasks. Once all the clues are collected, they can guess the identity for a reward or bonus activity.
Use Technology to Your Advantage: Digital platforms like Lexia PowerUp Literacy integrate gamification seamlessly, making it easy for teachers to implement these techniques. These tools often include built-in progress tracking, goal-setting features, and interactive tasks that engage students.
Make Success Visible: Celebrate small wins openly in the classroom. Display a progress chart or award badges for milestones reached, such as mastering a new set of vocabulary words or completing a series of comprehension challenge.
Encourage Collaboration and Healthy Competition: Use group activities or team challenges to foster collaboration among peers. A reading scavenger hunt, where groups work together to solve questions based on assigned texts, combines teamwork with literacy skills.
Provide Differentiated Challenges: Not all students are at the same reading level, so tailor gamified activities to suit varying needs. Adaptive platforms like Lexia PowerUp Literacy automatically adjust to students’ abilities, ensuring that every learner is working at an appropriate challenge level.
How Lexia PowerUp Literacy Gamifies Reading
Lexia PowerUp Literacy is designed specifically for struggling and reluctant readers at the secondary level, blending innovative gamification techniques with evidence-based learning strategies.
Personalised Learning Paths: The program adapts to each student’s strengths and areas for growth, ensuring that they receive content that is both challenging and achievable.
Engaging Skill Practice: Activities are presented as interactive, game-based learning, such as sight word racing, sentence building, and comprehension quizzes.
Progress Tracking and Rewards: Lexia PowerUp literacy includes game elements such as streaks, unlockable levels and competitive, beat-the-clock activities. The learning experience is further enhanced by high quality visual indicators of progress, motivating students to keep advancing.
Real-Time Data Insights: While students engage independently, educators gain access to detailed reports, helping them provide targeted support where it’s needed most. Tracking student progress throughout your secondary school is simple with our myLexia administration tool.
Empowering Readers Together: Your Path to Literacy Success
At LexiaUK, we believe in the power of literacy to transform lives. By introducing gamified learning into the classroom, you can spark a love for reading in even the most reluctant students, fostering skills that will support them far beyond their school years.
Ready to explore how Lexia PowerUp Literacy can elevate reading engagement in your school?
Get in touch with our team to discuss your goals and discover how we can support your journey towards literacy for all.
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