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The success of Reading Recovery as an early intervention in literacy has
been carefully documented since its inception and it has proven to be
extraordinarily successful.
A 2006 study carried out in New Zealand by Timperely, Fung,
Wilson and Barrar found that Reading Recovery was “having outcomes of
educational significance for students”. (Timperley H., Fung I.,
Wilson A. and Barrar H. Professional learning and development: A best
evidence synthesis of impact on student outcomes, 2006)
Studies in New Zealand,
the United States, Australia, the United
Kingdom and Canada demonstrate that Reading
Recovery enables most students who are experiencing difficulties in
literacy learning to make the accelerated progress necessary to read at the
grade level of their peers in an average of 15 weeks.
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A major study of Maori and Pasifika students and Reading Recovery
conducted in New Zealand
in 2004 found that “Maori and Pasifika students entered Reading Recovery
with lower initial scores than other students and these differences were
reduced by the time the series of lessons ended”. (Ministry of Education
New Zealand, Reading Recovery in New Zealand:
Uptake implementation and outcomes, especially in relation to Maori and
Pasifika students, 2006)
An evaluation of Reading Recovery in London schools found that “children
without access to Reading Recovery had made little progress in learning and
the gap between them and their peers had widened considerably by the end of
the year”. (Burroughs-Lange S., Evaluation of Reading Recovery in London schools: Every
child a reader, 2005-2006)
Studies completed locally and internationally, present further evidence
that most Reading Recovery students continue to read and write at an
average or better level after receiving the intervention, thereby reducing
the need for long-term remediation.
Students who successfully complete Reading Recovery are described as
“discontinued from their series of lessons”.
Accurate monitoring data is kept on the progress of students who have
participated in the intervention. Between 1996 and 2006, 68 790 students in
NSW public schools, have participated in Reading Recovery.
Eighty-seven percent of these students have successfully discontinued
their series of lessons and most of these students continue to thrive
within the classroom without requiring additional assistance.
The students who did not successfully discontinue their series of
lessons still made valuable progress. Participation in Reading Recovery
enabled them to be readily identified as continuing to need intervention.
Research outcomes showed that students who had discontinued their series
of lessons had sustained literacy gains and surpassed the initially more
able group.
In his Victorian study, Rowe (Factors affecting students’ progress
in reading: Key findings from a longitudinal study, 1995) examined the programs of 147
Reading Recovery students from the end of Year 1 to Year 5.
Rowe found that those initial reading gains were still maintained in
Year 5, thus indicating that they had become independent readers.
In contrast, research studies that have followed students who have
participated in other remedial programs consistently report that many
students' progress was not maintained in the classroom. (Wasik and Slavin,
Preventing early reading failure with one-to-one tutoring: A review of five
programs,
1993)
In addition, the many positive comments from students, parents and
teachers provide additional evidence of the benefits of Reading Recovery.
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