Reading Recover y across the Archdiocese
Reading Recovery programs have been implemented in many schools across the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn. Some schools have had Reading Recovery for over eight years, while others are currently in their second year. Reading Recovery was developed by New Zealand educator Doctor Marie M. Clay. Reading Recovery® is a research based, short-term intervention for children who have the lowest achievement in literacy learning in Year One. 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. (Adapted from https://www.idecweb.us/AboutRR.asp) Over the past three years, Reading Recovery programs have been offered at St Bernard’s Batemans Bay, St Mary’s Batlow, St Joseph’s Boorowa, St Patrick’s Bega, St Bede’s Braidwood, St Francis of Assisi Calwell, St Clare of Assisi Conder, Sacred Heart Central Cootamundra, St Monica’s Evatt, St John the Apostle Florey, St Michael’s Kaleen, St Francis Xavier Lake Cargelligo, St Mary’s Moruya, St Matthew’s Page, St Gregory’s Queanbeyan and St Thomas Aquinas West Belconnen At the end of Kindergarten, in participating Reading Recovery schools, students with reading levels below the benchmark of Level 8 are targeted for the intensive the Reading Recovery program in order to raise their reading levels to Archdiocesan Benchmarks of Reading Levels 15-17 by end of Year One and Reading Level 24 by end of Year Two. Reading Recovery and a whole school focus on timetabling,
planning and pedagogical approaches in Literacy Blocks frequently yield impressive results, evident in qualitative and quantitative data on student achievement rates. Results from the 2012 academic year indicated that 86% of students in National Partnership schools implementing Reading Recovery reached Reading Level 24 or above by end of Year Two. Mid-year 2013 results indicate the same trends. In Figures 1.1 and 1.2, the initial reading level was obtained after one academic year, but the following columns indicate only 6 months of academic achievement. Despite this, rate of progress is frequently more than double the rate of reading achievement in half the period of time.
1.1 Sample of 2012 – 2013 progress over six month period
Comments from Reading Recovery Teachers across the Archdiocese: • This is the best professional learning opportunity I have had in my entire teaching career and I have been teaching for thirty years