Reading Recovery is an early literacy intervention designed to
accelerate the progress of first grade children who are having
difficulty learning to read and write. A child selected for
participation in Reading Recovery will receive individualized
instruction for thirty minutes each day for up to twenty weeks. Because
Reading Recovery is a research-based intervention, data is collected and
kept regularly.
The Reading Recovery procedures help children
build on what they know, using books that are within the child’s
capability. The texts that children read and write become more complex
as the child’s abilities expand. Each Reading Recovery lesson consists
of reading familiar stories, a second reading of the previous day’s new
book, word work, writing a short message, and the reading of a new,
slightly more challenging story. The goal of Reading Recovery is for
students to be processing texts at or above the level of their school
age peers by the end of a lesson series. As soon as students can meet
grade-level expectations and demonstrate that they can continue to work
independently in the classroom, their lessons are discontinued, and new
students begin individual instruction. Some students are referred for
additional supports after a lesson series. These supports may consist of
continued work with the Early Literacy Interventionist or work with
other specialists in the building.
How Reading Recovery Students are Selected
The
Reading Recovery Teacher/ Early Literacy Interventionist assesses the
first grade students who were identified at the end of kindergarten as
possibly needing extra literacy help, but who are not receiving special
education services for a learning disability. This information is based
on benchmark assessment scores supported by classroom teacher
observations and data collection. A selection meeting is held after
assessments are completed to select the students who are most in need of
individual intervention. Grade 1 classroom teachers, the literacy
coach, an administrator and the Early Literacy Interventionist attend
these meetings. Consent forms for pull out intervention, data collection
and photo or video are then sent home to families before services may
begin.