Reading Recovery® has been available through Broome Tioga BOCES since 1993. Currently, there are 17 participating area districts, including six in the DCMO BOCES. Developed by New Zealand educator Dr. Marie M. Clay, Reading Recovery® is a short-term intervention for children who have the lowest achievement in literacy learning in the first grade. Children meet individually with a specially-trained teacher for 30 minutes each day for an average of 12-20 weeks. The goal is for children to develop effective reading and writing strategies in order to work within an average range of classroom performance.

The key to the successful implementation of Reading Recovery® resides in the training model. Three levels of professional staff provide a stable training structure: university trainers who train and support teacher leaders; district- or site-level teacher leaders who train and support teachers; and school-based teachers who work with the hardest-to-teach children.

Broome-Tioga BOCES is affiliated with the Lesley University Reading Recovery Training Site in Cambridge, Mass., http://www.lesley.edu/crr/index.html. To ensure quality implementation and service to the area, Broome Tioga BOCES has two teacher leaders on staff and is currently training a third teacher leader at Lesley University.

Initial teacher training is for one academic year. As teachers are trained, they simultaneously implement the program with children. Extensive use is made of a room with one-way glass for observing and talking about lessons with children. Teachers become sensitive observers of students' reading and writing behaviors and develop skill in making moment-by-moment analyses that inform teaching decisions. Following the initial year of training, teachers continue to participate in ongoing professional development sessions called 'continuing contact'. They continue to teach for their colleagues and to discuss their programs. Continuing contact sessions provide collaborative opportunities for teachers to remain responsive to individual children, to question the effectiveness of their practices, to get help from peers on particularly hard-to-teach children, and to consider how new knowledge in the field may influence their practice.

Reading Recovery® is not an isolated phenomenon in schools. Reading Recovery® is a carefully designed plan for implementation into existing systems. The success of any intervention, such as Reading Recovery®, is influenced by the quality of the decisions made about implementation. Replication studies document outcomes for all children served in Reading Recovery®. Consistent outcomes have been shown for children served in English and Spanish. A large majority of children in full programs have successfully reached average-range literacy performance. There is also evidence from several countries showing the long-lasting effects of Reading Recovery®.

For more information about Reading Recovery®, visit the Reading Recovery Council of North America website at http://www.readingrecovery.com and the Reading Recovery National Data Evaluation Center website at http://www.ndec.us.

Quotes

"Reading Recovery is an excellent program that four of my children have been in. As they grow, I see where Reading Recovery has helped them have a great foundation for reading and has helped them in all their subjects. Thank you to all the Reading Recovery teachers who have worked with my children!"
-A parent of a Reading Recovery student

"My son now has the tools necessary to read. I see greater self-confidence and the ability to get through an entire book. "
-A parent of a Reading Recovery student

"His reading has improved 100%; Hats off to you!!"
-A parent of a Reading Recovery student

"The Reading Recovery students are more confident in both reading and writing."
-A first grade teacher

"These children feel more confident in their reading. They are willing to take risks."
-A first grade teacher

"I feel that every year I do Reading Recovery I learn more and become a more effective teacher."
-A Reading Recovery teacher

"Reading Recovery has had a positive impact on student achievement. Students who in the past would have struggled, now enjoy reading and school."
-An elementary school principal