The Literacy Intervention Toolkit (LIT) programme aims to improve the reading ability of children in Year 7 who scored below Level 4 at the end of primary school using a method known as reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching methods encourage children to 'become the teacher'. They are taught how to apply four comprehension strategies: summarising, clarifying, questioning, and predicting. These strategies enable children to check that they understand the content of the material they are reading and can make inferences based on what they have read. The LIT programme is tightly structured, providing training to staff as well as a set of detailed lesson plans on the use of reciprocal teaching to deliver basic instruction in literacy. However, the method of delivery is not particularly prescriptive. It can be used to teach whole classes or small groups, can be delivered by teachers or teaching assistants, and can be offered in addition to or instead of regular English classes. In this evaluation, children typically received 3-4 hours of LIT tuition per week for eight months, mostly delivered in small groups. The programme was devised by the Hackney Learning Trust, who delivered the training sessions for staff and developed a detailed set of lesson plans for them to follow. The primary outcome was reading ability as assessed by scores on the Access Reading Test (ART). The LIT programme was tested using a randomized control trial (RCT). 41 schools were recruited, with 22 schools randomly allocated to a treatment group and 19 schools to a control group. Key conclusions included: (1) This evaluation cannot conclude with certainty what impact the LIT programme had on reading ability for those pupils who received the intervention; (2) This evaluation did not find evidence of a significant impact on reading ability at the year group level (comparing all Year 7 pupils in treatment schools with similar Year 7 pupils in control schools.); (3) Teachers felt that the programme facilitated 'healthy debate' within the classroom, increased confidence in pupils who struggled with core literacy skills, and promoted independent learning. However, they did not feel it worked well with children with underlying cognitive issues requiring intensive vocabulary support; and (4) Feedback from those who used the programme suggested groups of 5-6 children led by qualified teachers or teaching assistants with experience of delivering literacy interventions worked best.