Program information

Developer and contact

Developed by Dr. Marie M. Clay, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Distributed through the Reading Recovery® Council of North America (RRCNA). Address: 400 West Wilson Bridge Road, Suite 250, Worthington, OH 43085-5218. Email: jjohnson@readingrecovery.org. Web: http://www.readingrecovery.org. Telephone: (614) 310-7323.

Scope of use

Reading Recovery® was developed in the mid-1970s by Dr. Clay, who first tested the program in New Zealand. According to the RRCNA, more than 1.5 million first graders in 48 states and the Department of Defense Dependents Schools have been served in the United States since Reading Recovery® was introduced in 1984. Reading Recovery® is also used in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Teaching

According to the Reading Recovery® web site, lessons incorporate the program's ten principles: phonological awareness, visual perception of letters, word recognition, phonics/decoding skills, phonics/structural analysis, fluency/automaticity, comprehension, a balanced literacy approach, early intervention, and individual tutoring. Each Reading Recovery® lesson consists of reading familiar and novel stories, manipulating letters and words, and writing and assembling stories. Lessons are interactive between teacher and student, with the teacher carefully monitoring each child's reading behavior. Reading Recovery® lessons are discontinued when children demonstrate the ability to consistently read at the average level for their grade—between weeks 12 and 20 of the program. Those who make progress but do not reach average classroom performance after 20 weeks are referred for further evaluation and a plan for future action. Teacher training includes a one-year, university-based training program.

Cost

Reading Recovery® is available on a nonprofit, no royalty basis. Costs for the program involve start-up costs and ongoing costs. To establish a Reading Recovery® site—a district or group of districts representing multiple schools—a teacher leader must first be trained. This start-up cost includes paying salary, paying university tuition for the Reading Recovery® coursework, and covering the costs of books and materials. Sites must also build a one-way mirror and sound system to monitor training for the teachers. In addition to salary, travel, and program support costs for the teacher leader, costs for teachers include paying salaries and benefits for the time they dedicate to Reading Recovery® and paying tuition for training. Books and materials for lessons and evaluation as well as ongoing professional development for both teacher leaders and teachers should also be figured into the costs.

In addition to the teacher training described above, in 2006 the cost of program materials was approximately $100 per student served (calculated by the RRCNA as an average over the past five years, 2002–06). Sites pay an annual data evaluation fee of $250 a site plus $3.50 per student served. Sites implementing the program also pay annual technical support fees, which vary by the university that provides the Reading Recovery® training. Because of the cost and staff needed for the intervention, a typical school with one Reading Recovery® teacher will serve 4 or 5 students a semester.

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