Components of a One-Hour Session:
Materials
1. Reading Recovery Article
--Reading Recovery (Sensenbaugh)
EDO-CS-95-09 June 1995
Reading Recovery
Prepared by: Roger Sensenbaugh
ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English, and Communication Digest #106
This digest discusses elements of the Reading Recovery program, describes a typical reading recovery lesson, addresses
issues of the importance of teacher education and teacher role in those lessons, reviews the existing literature in the
ERIC database regarding the effectiveness of Reading Recovery, and discusses the cost effectiveness of the program.
Introduction
!
In the often contentious world of beginning reading instruction, marked by the sharply differing opinions of advocates of
intensive phonics instruction and those who support the whole language approach, Reading Recovery (r) appears to be
fairly non-controversial. Combining extensive teacher education with an emphasis on the development of phonological
awareness and the use of contextual information to assist reading, Reading Recovery seems to offer the lowest-achieving
first -grade children an effective method of reading and writing instruction. Reading Recovery continues to generate
interest among educators, parents, and administrators. Journal articles, conference papers, books, research reports on
Reading Recovery continue to be added to the ERIC database. Unofficially, Reading Recovery is the topic on which this Clearinghouse's User Services specialists currently receive the most requests for information. Earlier responses by this
Clearinghouse to this continued interest in Reading Recovery include two annotated bibliographies LS~b:~~2.4; ~.
Introduced into the United States from New Zealand in the mid 1980s, Reading Recovery projects have been
implemented in nearly every State. In addition, Reading Recovery is being implemented in Australia, Canada, and
England.
.
Reading Recovery (Clay. 1985) offers daily half -hour one-on- one tutorial sessions for students who are having trouble
learning to read after one year of formal instruction. The program is supplementary and short-term, with most students
needing.from 12 to 16 weeks of instruction (Pollock. 19941. before they are successfully discontinued from the program.
A combination of teacher judgment and systematic evaluation procedures identify those lowest-achieving children for
whom Reading Recovery was designed. The program's goal is to bring students up to the level of their peers and to give
students the assistance they need to develop independent reading strategies. Once students are reading at a level
equivalent to that of their peers, theyare discontinued from the program.
Reading Recovery is designed to provide the social interaction that supports the students' ability to work in their "zone
of proximal development"--just beyond their level of actual development--with a supportive adult who helps them solve problems and to perform. Clay's theory of learning to read is based on the idea that children construct cognitive systems to understand the world and language. These cognitive systems develop as self-extending systems that generate further
learning through the use of multiple sources of information ( Clay. 1985; Panel. 1994).
A Typical Reading Recovery Lesson
During the daily ha1f-hour sessions, children read many
small books, some of which are written in a style close to that of
oral
language. The books also often use predictable language. Teachers keep a running
record to analyze the child's
reading
performance. Children also compose and read their own messages or stories. In
addition, children read slightly
more
challenging texts that they have not read before. Teachers provide detailed
support for the children as they read
these
more difficult texts. Magnetic alphabet letters might be used to assist in
analyzing words. Reading skills are taught
in
the context of extended reading and writing by Reading Recovery teachers who
have completed a year-long in service
education
program that focuses on moment-to-moment responses to children's actions and
behavior.
I
Teacher's
Role
An
essential component of the Reading Recovery program is the training of the
teachers who provide the tutorial
instruction.
Reading Recovery teachers learn to observe, analyze, and interpret the reading
and writing beha,iors of
individual
students and to design and implement an individual program to meet each
student's needs. Just as the
Reading
Recovery children engage in social interaction with the teacher, Reading
Recovery teachers engage in social
interaction
with their colleagues and mentors to construct a view of learning and teaching
that supports literacy learning
(Gaffn~.
1993).
Panel
( 1994) expanded earlier research on the effectiveness of Reading Recovery
by controlling for a variet.)7 of local factors at the school level and by
allowing for a comparative inference in relation to traditional remedial
programs
"i, targeting at-risk first-grade children. In addition to
finding that Reading Recovery was the most effective of the five
1 : programs evaluated. Panel
found that one-on-one instruction was essential for the lowest-achieving
students, and that
teacher
training was an important factor in the success of Reading Recovery.
Is
Reading Recovery Effective1 " .
Reading
Recovery's seemingly non-controversial nature is nowhere more apparent than in
the research base examining
the
program's effectiveness. Nearly all of the documents in the ERIC database find
that the program is effective and
recommend
the program with only minor reservations. An extended series of studies of the
Reading Recovery program
as
implemented in Ohio (one of the earliest Reading Recovery programs in the United
States) find that the program is I successful
in accelerating 3 out of 4 students up to the level of their peers ~ollock.
1994). Each of the series of reports
ends
with the recommendation that the program be continued and a list of
recommendations regarding specific aspects
of
the program that could be improved
Areas
of criticism or need for further research include the long-term effectiveness of
the program (Center, t2W, the
kind
of reading skills to be emphasized (Chapman. 1991 ). the program's cost
effectiveness (discussed below). and
problems
of implementing the program (Panel. 1994).
Making
the general claim that Reading Recovery is an effective program is somewhat
misleading. Existing research
ranges
from case studies of particular teachers or students all the way up to detailed
analyses of state-wide programs.
Although
"Reading Recovery" is a registered trademark of the Ohio State
University, and authorized programs use
Marie
Clay's materials. the various Reading Recovery programs in the United States
differ somewhat in how they are ;
Ideveloped, implemented, and assessed. Perhaps it is more precise to say
that existing research validates the effectiveness ~ of the specific Reading
Recovery programs examined so far.
GIYM
(1992). while noting the clear gains made by Reading Recovery pupils, brings
up another area of concern--how to
coordinate
Reading Recovery instruction and regular classroom instruction so that students
who are successfully
discontinued
from the program can continue to succeed on independent reading tasks in the
very different environment
of
the regular classroom.
Cost
Effectiveness
While
only a comparatively few documents in the ERIC database address Reading
Recovery's cost effectiveness, the
program's
high per-pupil cost (compared to other intervention programs) is enough to give
any administrator or
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Reading
Recovery Page 3 Of 3
-~ .,
.
" ; taxpayer pause. As JlYer (1992) points out, however,
the initial high cost is offset by the money saved through (1) not having to
retain low- achieving students in the first grade; (2) not having to place
students in special education or
Chapter
I programs; and (3) not mislabeling a child as "learning disabled"
when in fact the child needed only the brief, supplementary intervention
provided by Reading Recovery.
Dyer
concludes (based on a cost-benefit analysis) that Reading Recovery is an
educationally sound and cost-effective
early
intervention program for helping children who are at-risk of early reading
failure.
Center,
Yoda, et al. (1992). Evaluating the Effectiveness of Reading Recove~: A
Critiau~ Educational Psychology, 12 (3-4), 305-13. [EJ 478469]
Chapman,
James W., and William E. Turner (1991). "Recoverinl! Readinl! Recoverv."
Australia and New Zealand
Journal
of Developmental Disabilities, 17(1),59-71. [EJ 445894]
Clay,
Marie M. (1985). The Earlv Detection of Reading Difficulties. Third Edition. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann. [ED
263
529]
Dinner,
Michael, Comp. (1993). ~'Reading Recoverv Research. 1986- 1992: Citation~ and
~!!a_C!S- ~~I!~ the
Database."
Bloomington, IN: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skills. [ED
376449]
Dyer,
Philip C. (1992). "Reading Recoverv: A Cost-Effectiveness and
Educational Outcomes A11al Spectrun1, 10(1), 10-19. [EJ 442889]
Gaffney,
Janet S. (1993). "Readin of Prevention for the Lowest Aclrievin Readers. Technical
Reoort No.580." Urbana, n..: enter for the tu o Reading. [ED 360624]
Glynn,
Ted (1992). "Reading Recove~ in Context: Imolementation and
Outcome." Educational Psychology, 12(3-4), 249-61. [EJ 478468]
Panel,
Gay Zu, et al. (1994). "Corn rin Instructional Models for the Litera
Education of Hi -Risk First Grades." Reading Research Quarterly, 29(1),
8-39. [EJ 475 731]
Pollock,
John S. (1994).
Final
Evaluation Reoort. " Columbus Public Schools, Ohio. Department of
Program Evaluation. [ED 376 437]
Sensenbaugh,
Roger (1994). "Effectiveness of Readinl! Recoverv Programs." Reading
Research and Instruction, 34(1), 73-76. [EJ 494 625]
Roger
Sensenbaugh is CIJE Coordinator at the ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading, English,
and Communication.
..
Digest
# 106 is EDO-CS-95-09 and was published in June 1995 by the ERIC Clearinghouse
on Reading, English and Communication, 2805 E lOth Street. Bloornington, IN
47408-2698, Telephone (812) 855-5847 or (800) 759-4723. ERIC Digests are in the
public domain and may be freely reproduced. Additional copies may be ordered by
contacting the ERIC Document Reproduction Service at (800)443-3742.
This
project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S.
Department of Education under contract number RR93002011. The content of this
publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S.
Department of Education
nor
does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply
endorsement by the u.s. Government.