Talk Of The Town
No impact
for Primary reading
Intervention description
Talk Of The Town is a whole school approach to supporting speech, language and communication for children with needs in these areas. The programme provides an integrated approach to support language development as a step towards improving literacy skills.
The programme grew out of a pilot in Wythenshawe, a deprived area of Manchester, funded by the Department for Education, and is now provided by the Communication Trust.
Professional development/training
It supports universal workforce development so teachers so are able to accurately identify pupils with SLCN, and provides targeted training for teaching staff through part-time speech and language therapists, to deliver evidence-based interventions for raising attainment. It also supports leadership to embed a sustainable, long-term strategy to support all children’s communication needs.
Evidence Summary
The Education Endowment Foundation recently ran a project investigating the effectiveness of Talk Of The Town, which did not show it to be effective. The evaluation found a negative effect on primary reading, the effect size was very small and may have occurred by chance, meaning it is not possible to say with confidence that the intervention had a negative impact on reading comprehension.
The study found a mean effect size of -0.03 for primary reading. The study also found a limited impact on primary speaking and listening with a mean effect size of 0.11.
No impact
for Primary reading
Key research
https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/talk-of-the-town/
Provider
The Communication Trust
Key stages
Targeted groups
Practices
Cost
Contact provider for quote