Reading is an essential life skill, which defines an individual's chances of making good progress in education and flourishing in today's increasingly high-skilled economy. The urgent need to improve literacy standards is what prompted this government to revolutionise the way we teach our children to read through the introduction of the national strategies and daily literacy hour, an emphasis on phonics, and training for every teacher in literacy.

And hard evidence shows that this approach has had an impact. In 2007, for example, reading results show that 84% of 11 year olds achieved the expected level - up 17 percentage points since 1997.

We shouldn't deprecate this achievement, nor doubt its veracity. The tests measure against a constant national standard and are independently managed. And these findings have been validated many times by independent experts - Ofsted, for example, said our literacy strategy has sparked a "transformation" in teaching. So this isn't the government "marking its own homework", but clear evidence that our investment and the hard work of teachers is delivering results.

But make no mistake there's still a lot of work to do. It is unacceptable that 20% of children are leaving primary school unable to read or write to the expected standards.

Teachers need to have the capacity to spot those that are struggling early on and intervene. With 40,000 more teachers and 100,000 more teaching assistants in our schools since 1997, we now have the capacity. The next step is to deliver the intensive, targeted support to these children.

Initiatives like Every Child a Reader is designed to provide these important interventions. Pilots found that this programme of one-to-one help and group reading sessions helped six-year-olds make well over four times the normal rate of progress, and we're now making it more widely available.

We have also just launched a dedicated training programme to help schools work more effectively with special educational needs, with an initial focus on dyslexia and other communication difficulties. And there is a raft of initiatives to deliver support for black and minority ethnic pupils, who are often at greatest risk of falling behind.

There's a lot going on, therefore, but the one thing we can't dispense with is the accountability and clarity that a national system of testing delivers. Without it, we will be floundering in the darkness. Tests account for only a couple of hours within the six years of a child's primary education, but parents expect to know how their children are doing and the government has a responsibility to monitor and control standards.

Equally, I reject the idea that testing is turning children off books. It's not something I recognise from my visits to schools, and it's not something that tallies with the astronomic success of the Harry Potter series either.

So let's not be tempted to dismantle something that's key to taking a decisive step forward in improving teaching. Because transparency, allied to an increasingly targeted and personal approach to a child's education, will help us build decisively on the progress we've already made on raising literacy standards.