{"id":206578,"date":"2011-11-29T08:59:50","date_gmt":"2011-11-29T13:59:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=206578"},"modified":"2023-11-06T09:02:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T14:02:52","slug":"neag-schools-reading-recovery-certification-program-wins-1-7-million-dollar-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2011\/11\/neag-schools-reading-recovery-certification-program-wins-1-7-million-dollar-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"Neag School\u2019s \u201cReading Recovery Certification Program\u201d Wins $1.7 Million Dollar Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a very simple reason why, for nearly 20 years, Neag professor of curriculum and instruction Dr. Mary Anne Doyle has been a passionate advocate for and the driving force behind UConn\u2019s participation in\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>, a program aimed at dramatically improving the reading skills of at-risk first-graders. \u201cIt just works phenomenally well,\u201d says Doyle. \u201cAnd it\u2019s about so much more than reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

The funding, part of a $46 million U.S. Department of Education grant to be shared among 19 partner schools, will enable Doyle to continue reaching out to, and reducing tuition costs for, Connecticut schools electing to implement this early intervention and participate in the program. In-service teachers are nominated by their districts and receive\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0certification through the\u00a0Neag School of Education\u00a0<\/a>at UConn, the only university in the state that offers it.<\/p>\n

Created more than 30 years ago by University of Auckland professor Marie Clay,\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0is a one-to-one program aimed at helping first-graders with extreme difficulty learning to read and write. They are typically in the bottom 20 percent of their classes. Students work in 30-minute sessions, with a specially trained\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0instructor, in a curriculum that emphasizes reading and writing development.<\/p>\n

Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0teachers assess their students\u2019 progress daily and document measurable results in a very short period of time.<\/p>\n

After a full series of lessons, taking anywhere from 12 to 20 weeks, most students reach grade-level standard. \u201cFor those students who don\u2019t,\u201d says Doyle, \u201cthe lessons serve as a period of diagnostic teaching that can be the basis for long-term planning. Both of these outcomes are positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0children who exit the program at grade level continue to improve their literacy skills and perform within an average range of class performance without ongoing remediation or special support. \u201cConsidering where these students start,\u201d Doyle adds, \u201cthese results are remarkable and have profound implications for schools and districts implementing response-to-intervention methods while striving to achieve yearly progress in literacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early intervention is\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u2019s reason for being. \u201cFor too long,\u201d says Doyle, \u201ceducators insisted that all we needed to do was give children the \u2018gift of time\u2019 and their reading skills would evolve and improve.\u201d But, she adds, that was a grave disservice to students. \u201cWhen they\u2019re not catching on,\u201d she says, \u201cthey\u2019re trying to make connections and do it for themselves, and they\u2019re very confused about it. What they need is someone helping them immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program\u2019s successes support that point of view.\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0can claim more than 2 million first-graders nationwide, across all socioeconomic levels, who have benefited from the program. Nearly 80 percent achieved grade-level reading skill within the 20-week period. In October of this year, the National Center on Response to Intervention (NCRTI) gave\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u2019s screening tool,\u00a0An Observation Survey of Early Literary Achievement,<\/em>\u00a0its highest possible rating for scientific rigor.<\/p>\n

The NCRTI called the survey \u201cvalid, reliable and evidence-based.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, in 2007, the Institute of Education Sciences\u00a0 \u201cWhat Works Clearinghouse\u201d gave\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0the highest rating possible for research evidence relating to its effect on alphabetic skills and general reading achievement, and the second-highest rating for its effect on fluency and comprehension.<\/p>\n

But even with all the accolades, Doyle is still working as hard as ever to promote the\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0approach to school districts around Connecticut. Several cities and towns have been with the program since the mid-1990s; but in a time of serious budget-cutting and uncertainty about education funding from the state, some districts have had to put a hold on implementing this intervention and sending teachers for training.<\/p>\n

Doyle demonstrates to superintendents and boards of education that while\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0has its costs, it can also be a cost-saving move by reducing retention and lowering remediation rates and special education numbers. \u201cI tell the districts that\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0always makes a difference for every child who participates,\u201d Doyle says, \u201cregardless of whether he or she achieves grade level skill. It also helps identify other needs the child might have and kick-starts the ways those needs can be met once the program ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she doesn\u2019t say so specifically, Doyle could easily tell school districts to \u201caccept no substitutes.\u201d\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0is a trademarked program, administered through Ohio State University, and while it has been modified, based on research and annual evaluations, it is still disseminated and implemented according to guidelines designed and established by Clay. School districts sometimes attempt to mimic its one-to-one reading instruction without having teachers receive the extensive training that\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0provides.<\/p>\n

Doyle emphatically says they will not be as effective. \u201cThis program is not a bandwagon,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s not a little bag of tricks that teachers can pick up at a conference. Graduate-level study means you read theory, you analyze deeply, you problem-solve. This is about teaching children to read. It is hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

A hallmark of\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0is intense, year-long training for school-based teachers, which entails graduate coursework offered by the Neag School, and ongoing professional development offered six times a year thereafter. In the final analysis, the power of the program rests in knowledgeable teachers. Thus,\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0is an investment in teachers who are well-prepared to have an impact on both learners and programs. They acquire the professional knowledge and skills to make a profound difference for young learners in need of an intensive, early intervention in literacy to assist their colleagues with curricular and instructional \u201cissues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doyle confirms\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>, a school-university partnership, makes a difference for children and their parents as well as for teachers and schools. The i3 (Investing in Innovation) grant, awarded by DOE to support the scaling up of\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>, is giving the Neag School\u2019s\u00a0Reading Recovery<\/em>\u00a0Training Center and our Connecticut schools an exciting and unprecedented opportunity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a very simple reason why, for nearly 20 years, Neag professor of curriculum and instruction Dr. Mary Anne Doyle has been a passionate advocate for and the driving force behind UConn\u2019s participation in\u00a0Reading Recovery, a program aimed at dramatically improving the reading skills of at-risk first-graders. \u201cIt just works phenomenally well,\u201d says Doyle. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":206579,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1855],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2455],"class_list":["post-206578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-neag"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-01 01:57:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206578"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206578\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":206580,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206578\/revisions\/206580"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/206579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206578"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=206578"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=206578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}