The Reading Recovery Program
Reading Recovery Teachers: Tom Prince (Rosa Parks School) and Lividia Evans-Taylor (LeConte School) spoke about their experiences in the program. There are Reading Recovery teachers at all schools as well as an English Language reading teacher at Rosa Parks. Reading Recovery is a short-term intervention for students who have the greatest need for reading and writing skills. Classroom and Reading Recovery teachers perform student assessments. Classes are 30 minutes per day, 5 days a week for 12 to 20 weeks. By the end of the classes, the students are caught up with classroom peers and continue to make progress in the classroom setting.
With early intervention and highly trained teachers, children can make significant progress. Reading Recovery teachers also build strong relationships with parents, inviting them in to view lessons and suggesting ways to assist with daily homework. Books are sent home every night that parents can read with their children. This gives children and parents an opportunity to practice skills and strategies between lessons.
The other important piece of this program is to work with the classroom teacher to make sure he/she has the survival skills needed to continue to make good progress with the students. It offers teachers assistance in strategies and brings expertise in reading and writing into the classroom. Children served include the bottom 20% of all students in 1st grade and small groups of students in the 2nd and 3rd grade. The children served in the 2nd and 3rd grades are usually students who are newly enrolled into BUSD.
The key to the success of this program is the training model. It provides three levels of support to ensure a stable structure. The three levels are:
- university trainers who train and support the district Reading Recovery leaders
- district Reading Recovery leaders who train and support site based Reading Recovery teachers
- site-based Reading Recovery teachers who support and train classroom teachers.
Part of the year-long training includes developing skills in using and analyzing data to help inform instruction. In addition, all Reading Recovery teachers hold a reading teacher certificate awarded by the State of California. Many of the teachers have also earned one or more Master's degrees. Teachers also participate in on-going professional development called Continuing Contact. They meet once a month. Through professional development teachers focus on:
- Examining data
- Analyzing patterns and trends
- Reflecting on instruction
- Adjusting teaching methods