What Literacy Progress Really Looks Like: A Term in Review
At the end of each term, I sit down with a large set of data: reading speeds, accuracy scores, writing samples, spelling patterns, behaviour notes, and confidence observations. I write individual reports for every student I teach, and while this is time-consuming, it is also one of the most important parts of my work.
I also like to harness the ease of plugging data into Chat GPT, and as I did I could see some patterns emerging. As I have shared these previously, I thought I might also share the end of 2025 data. It tells an important story about literacy progress that often gets missed when we focus on a single score or number.
Progress Is Rarely Linear:
One of the clearest trends this term is that reading and writing progress rarely moves in a straight line, especially for learners with dyslexia or high cognitive load.
Some students made significant gains in reading fluency. Others plateaued. A few showed temporary dips, which can feel alarming if you view progress only through words-per-minute data. I must admit I am always looking at the why behind a dip, but sometimes it can be something as simple as the way a student is feeling on the day of assessment.
When students had a dip in fluency, I like to look deeper, and these students often showed:
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higher reading accuracy
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stronger decoding strategies
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improved expression
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better stamina
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increased confidence
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These indicators tell us that learning is happening. Plateaus often signal consolidation, not regression.
Reading: strong foundations are forming across students this term and several positive reading trends stood out:
Accuracy Is High
Many students are now reading with 96 to 100 percent accuracy, which is a crucial foundation for long-term fluency. Accuracy tells us that phoneme-grapheme mappings are becoming secure and that orthographic mapping is strengthening.
Fluency Is Improving Over Time
While not all students reached year-level fluency norms yet, many showed clear upward movement across months and even years. A number of students doubled their reading rate compared to earlier assessments.
For dyslexic readers especially, fluency development often lags behind comprehension. This does not mean reading is failing. It means the brain is still building automaticity.
Expression Is Emerging
Prosody and expression remain a growth area. Many students read carefully, slowly, or in a monotone voice while they stabilise decoding. Others rush because they believe speed equals skill. We are explicitly teaching students that fluent reading is about accuracy, phrasing, and meaning, not just speed.
Morphology Is Making a Difference
A standout theme this term has been the impact of explicit morphology instruction, particularly for older students.
By teaching prefixes, suffixes, base words, and roots, students are:
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decoding longer unfamiliar words more confidently
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spelling with greater logic
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expanding their vocabulary
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becoming less overwhelmed by “irregular” spellings
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Even students who once found English spelling frustrating are now developing curiosity about how words work and where they come from.
Writing: Structure Changes Everything
Writing progress this term has been one of the most encouraging areas to reflect on.
Paragraph Writing Is Strengthening
Many students who once wrote a single long sentence are now able to write a coherent paragraph with:
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appropriate punctuation
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clear ideas
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logical sequencing
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This didn’t happen by accident. It happened through explicit sentence-level and paragraph-level teaching.
Essay Structures Reduce Cognitive Load
This term most students have been working with short forms of:
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cause and effect
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opinion writing
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persuasive writing
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problem and solution
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By learning the structure first, students can focus their mental energy on what they want to say, rather than trying to figure out how to start.
Planning Skills Are Improving
Mind maps, sentence starters, and writing frameworks have:
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reduced writing avoidance
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supported learners who freeze at the blank page
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improved writing stamina
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Some students still over-plan and overthink during the planning stage and need support moving into actual writing, but this too improves with time and confidence.
Spelling and Handwriting: Progress Under Load Takes Time
Spelling in isolation has improved for many learners this term. However, spelling in connected writing continues to be challenging, which is expected.
When students are thinking, planning, spelling, and handwriting all at once, cognitive load is high. As transcription skills become more automatic, spelling accuracy within writing improves.
Handwriting progress has also been evident, especially where cursive has been introduced. For some learners, handwriting must always be approached gently and with autonomy. I’d like to note (and I have blogged about this before) that not all of my students do cursive. Some are drawn to it and want to give it a go, but others try and it’s not worth ‘relearning’ how to form letters.
Just as an aside, I can almost guarantee (with no scientific evidence mind you) that learners with dysgraphia find cursive writing incredibly challenging, and I don’t even bother teaching it.
The Most Important Trend: Confidence
Perhaps the most important change this term is not found in a data table.
Students are:
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staying regulated for longer
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recovering more quickly when tasks feel difficult
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engaging with challenge rather than shutting down
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trusting that mistakes are part of learning
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