We want to find out whether Today's reading helps children learn letter sounds. The fair way to find out is to compare families who have it with families who do not, over the same weeks. That is what the study does, and nobody is in it who did not say yes.
Who is asked
When the study is open, we ask a family's grown-up on Your data and agreements if one of their readers has Today's reading switched on and they have agreed to the version of our privacy notice that describes it. Readers added by a school are never in the study.
What happens if you join
Chance puts your family in one of two groups, for eight weeks from the day you join:
- One group keeps Today's reading, exactly as before.
- The other reads without it. Their books and word games work as usual, and Today's reading comes back on its own after the eight weeks.
Which group you are in is shown on the same page. Your child is not asked to do anything new, and they are not told about the study.
What we count
At the end, we compare how many letter sounds the children in each group became secure in, during the eight weeks before joining and the eight weeks after. We also compare how often they picked the right picture for a new word, and, only for children who read our fixed passage aloud at the start and the end, how many words a minute they read it at. All of this comes from what we already keep while learning is on. We only ever look at totals across many families, and nothing about your child is shown to anyone as a result.
We keep which group your family was in, the day you joined, the day you left if you did, and which versions of our notices you had agreed to. We delete this a year after your eight weeks end or you leave, and at once if you close your account. It is in a copy of your data.
No result is a claim about any one child, and we will not say anything in public about what the study found until it is finished and has been checked.
Leaving
You can leave at any time from Your data and agreements. Leaving gives Today's reading back at once and takes your family out of the results. A family who has left cannot join again, because choosing a second time after seeing your group would make the comparison unfair. Saying no, or leaving, changes nothing else.