Reading Recovery in the News - July-September 2007

JULY 2007

Teachers help to make ‘every child a reader’
Mid Devon Star – Mid-Devon, UK
July 16, 2007

Four Mid Devon teachers recently completed Reading Recovery training and will lead the way in pioneering a reading programme, which is set to benefit hundreds of children in Devon.

“Reading Recovery allows children to make great progress in their reading and there is considerable evidence to show they maintain that progress through their school careers and carry on developing with their peers,” said Dr. Norrey.

The initiative is now set to be rolled-out across Devon with specially qualified “reading recovery teachers” sharing their skills with fellow teachers.

Reading program engages children
Tonganoxie Mirror - Tonganoxie, KS
By Eric Sorrentino
July 12, 2007

Tonganoxie children are working this summer to Keep on Reading.
The program lasts through August and provides children primarily in the first and second grades with six books to read this summer. This is the second year for the program.

"We're trying to find ways to motivate kids to keep reading over the summer," said Reann French, Reading Recovery teacher at Tonganoxie Elementary School. "The kids are excited to get mail. They get to keep the books."
The books will be free of charge to the families. The Tonganoxie Education Foundation helped Reading Recovery purchase the books.

French and Debbie Williams, also of Reading Recovery, organized the program. About 50 children will receive books in the mail this summer. The group doesn't meet, but French and Williams ask parents for feedback at the end of the summer.

AUGUST 2007

McDonald Board Hears About Reading Program
Youngstown Vindicator, Youngstown, Ohio
By Mary Smith
August 28, 2007

The district’s first-grade Reading Recovery Program was on display at the school board’s Monday night session. The program’s teachers gave the board a report on the first-year program’s success.
 

Seminar Focuses on Literacy
Manawatu Standard, New Zealand
August 15, 2007

Schools struggling with tail-end students was the focus of a seminar at Massey university College of Education yesterday. In New Zealand, about 14,000 children are in a Reading Recovery program. National Reading Recovery Centre Coordinator, Blair Koefoed spoke to attendees and quoted British research on cost-savings for Reading Recovery at a figure of (PndStlg) 47,000 ($NZ129,000) a person by the age of 37.

SEPTEMBER 2007

Reading Recovery helps 1st graders stay on track
Brighton-Pittsford Post, Pittsford, NY
(reprinted with permission)
September 26-October 2, 2007
By Molly Giles

Children who struggle with early reading and writing skills are not necessarily destined for Special Ed, says reading and literacy expert Sue Geier of BOCES 2 in Spencerport. These kids may only need a few months of one-on-one literacy tutoring that is skillfully geared to their unique strengths and weaknesses.  

A program that meets this need is Reading Recovery, a highly effective early intervention developed in New Zealand 30 years ago and now used throughout the U.S., including many school districts in our area. (See list below.) Geier is the BOCES-employed Reading Recovery Teacher Leader and Site Coordinator for Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES site, providing 47 local Reading Recovery teachers with advanced education, professional development, and support.    
 

Challenging Students in Literacy is goal at Harmony Grove schools
The Courier, Benton, AR
Friday, September 28, 2007

The Reading Recovery program is one way the district is addressing literacy. The program benefits first- and second-graders. The Reading Recovery teacher also leads several small literacy groups.

Prime Mover
Hackney Gazette News, London, England
Friday, September 28, 2007

A South Hackney seven-year-old impressed Gordon Brown so much with his reading ability that the youngster got a mention in the Prime Minister's speech at the Labour Party conference this week.
 

The schoolboys who inspired Gordon Brown
Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom
By Duncan Gardham and Laura Clout
September 25, 2007

Prime Minister Gordon Brown featured seven-year-old Max, a Reading Recovery student in his speech on September24. Max, who was formerly struggling to read, has now overtaken many children his age thanks to Reading Recovery’s one-to-one tuition.


For LCSD1 Teacher of the Year winner Janet Gronski, ‘it’s about kids’
Wyoming Tribune Eagle, Cheyenne, WY
By Becky Orr
September 25, 2007

Janet Gronski, a trained Reading Recovery teacher was named 2008 Teacher of the Year for Laramie County School District 1. Gronski says she learned from Reading Recovery why children make the mistakes they do in reading and learned ways to help them. Gronski is a member of the Reading Recovery Council of North America.
 

Reading skills of elementary students being strengthened
Netherlands Antilles Daily Herald, Philipsburg, Saint Maarten, Netherlands Antilles
September 18, 2007

In an effort to strengthen the reading skills of elementary students, five public primary schools are currently involved in a Reading Recovery programme for the 2007/2008 academic year.

Reading Recovery is an early intervention literacy programme for children. “Typically, these would be first grade (cycle one, year three) students who have the most difficulty in reading and writing,” it was stated in a press release.

Washington again receives School of Promise distinction
Oshkosh Northwestern, Oshkosh, WI
By Amanda M. Wimmer
September 12, 2007

Inside the doors of the Washington Elementary School hangs a bulletin board letting students and staff know the school has been recognized as a New Wisconsin Promise School for the 2007-08 school year. Washington is one of 63 schools statewide to receive this award for schools eligible for Title I funding. …Principal James Thoma “credits some of the success at the school to the reading recovery program, which takes first-grade students who are having a hard time reading.”

Reading teacher up for state’s biggest honor
Hanover Park Press, Hanover Park, IL
By Laura Knapp
September 12, 2007

Renae Kraetsch, a Reading Recovery teacher at Einstein Elementary School is one of eight teachers statewide to be named a finalist for the Illinois 2007-08 Teacher of the Year. Talking about the results of her Reading Recovery teaching Kraetsch said, “I’ve seen students who have been given better literacy skills, and I know how the improvements have made life easier for these students,”
 

Federal review names Reading Recovery the only early reading intervention with positive outcomes on all measures
Lesley Today, Cambridge, MA
September 11, 2007

In a review of beginning-reading programs by the federal What Works Clearinghouse, Reading Recovery was found to be the only program that had positive effects across all four domains in the review – alphabetics, fluency, comprehension, and general reading achievement.
 

Reading Recovery Council of Massachusetts & Lesley University establish The Marie M. Clay Chair in Reading Recovery
Lesley Today, Cambridge, MA
September 11, 2007

Lesley University and the Reading Recovery Council of Massachusetts (RRCMA) have announced the creation of The Marie M. Clay Chair in Reading Recovery. The endowed chair has been established with the purpose of recognizing faculty expertise and distinguished scholarships on the Reading Recovery early literacy intervention model developed by New Zealand educator and psychologist Dame Marie M. Clay.
 

Pope honours retired primary school teacher
Marlborough Express, New Zealand
By Angela Crompton
September 6, 2007

A retired Reading Recovery teacher was officially blessed by the Pope and honored for her service to the parish children’s educational and pastoral needs. Pamela McConnell summarized the highlight of her teaching career as: “Seeing a child learn…a little child finding it difficult to learn in a group situation and then seeing the light in their eyes when they succeed.”