College of Education

How Reading Recovery Works

First graders who show evidence of having reading problems are given an observation survey of various literacy tasks. The Reading Recovery teacher, in consultation with the classroom teacher, determines from the observation survey data the students' strengths and weaknesses in letter recognition, word identification, concepts about print or general book awareness, fluency in writing words, hearing and recording sounds in words, and text reading.

First grade students who score in the lowest 20 percent in the testing are targeted for intensive, individually tailored 30-minute daily lessons. Each lesson is built on what the child already knows, and emphasizes the teaching of strategies to make children successful readers and writers. Although there is a common lesson framework, each child's lesson is unique.