Evaluating the Impact of a Structured Phonics Programme on Reading Fluency in Lusaka's Primary Schools: A Survey of Grade 3 Learners

Reading fluency in English, a key instructional language, remains a significant challenge in many Zambian primary schools. There is limited large-scale evidence on the efficacy of specific literacy interventions within the public-school context of peri-urban areas. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a newly implemented, structured synthetic phonics programme on the English reading fluency of Grade 3 learners in Lusaka's public primary schools. It sought to measure attainment against curriculum benchmarks and identify learner-level factors associated with outcomes. A cross-sectional survey design was employed. A sample of Grade 3 learners from Kalingalinga township public schools completed a standardised oral reading fluency assessment. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were conducted on the quantitative data. Learners exposed to the structured phonics programme for one academic year demonstrated significantly higher mean reading fluency scores compared to a matched cohort from the previous year who followed the standard curriculum. Specifically, 58% of the intervention group met or exceeded the expected curriculum benchmark for word recognition per minute. The findings suggest that a systematic, structured phonics approach can substantially improve foundational reading skills in this educational context, supporting the decoding component of fluency. Curriculum developers should consider the systematic integration of structured phonics into early grade reading instruction. Teacher professional development must provide sustained pedagogical training for effective programme delivery. reading fluency, structured phonics, early grade reading, literacy intervention, primary education, Zambia This study provides novel, large-scale empirical evidence from a real-world implementation of a structured phonics programme within the under-researched context of peri-urban Zambian public schools, filling a critical gap in the literature on effective literacy strategies for similar educational environments.