Reading Recovery is a research based, individualised literacy early intervention that is focused on accelerating the literacy learning for those students in the lowest 20% of Year 1. Developed by New Zealand educator Dame Marie Clay, it is a safety net designed to promote literacy learning and reduce the number of students struggling with reading and writing.
The Guidelines for Reading Recovery 2015 outline the aim of the program for both the student and the school:
Reading Recovery aims to ensure that:
students have the best possible learning opportunities;
students receive the help required to develop an effective processing system in reading and writing;
the cost of remediation in later years is reduced.
For Students
Reading Recovery achieves these aims for students by assisting those experiencing early literacy difficulties to become successful literacy learners through:
- the comprehensive assessment of a student's literacy needs;
- the provision of quality individual teaching delivered by a trained Reading Recovery teacher, implemented on a daily basis;
- the ongoing monitoring of individual student's progress by the school literacy team.
For Schools
Reading Recovery achieves these goals for school through a collaborative approach to the educational needs of students in literacy by:
- the early identification of students at risk in literacy learning;
- ensuring that students who meet the identification criteria in regular Year 1 classrooms have access to the intervention;
- lifting the performance of the lowest Year 1 students in literacy;
- identifying those students who may have a need for long-term support
- equipping teachers with additional knowledge and skills in early literacy, so they can implement quality early intervention for individual students."
At Ferncourt we are allocated a Reading Recovery Teacher for 2 days (plus a small amount of administration time). Students are selected for the program at the beginning of Year 1 and stay on the program from 12 to 20 weeks.
Our Reading Recovery Teacher is Mrs Michelle Summers.