Reading Recovery

Reading Recovery is a supplemental pull-out intervention for struggling first-grade readers, delivered during the regular school day (but not during regular classroom literacy instruction). The program consists of daily, 30-minute, one-to-one instructional sessions delivered by highly trained teachers for 12 to 20 weeks. Reading Recovery teachers participate in a yearlong graduate course taught by a teacher leader, receive on-site coaching, and participate in "behind-the-glass" training sessions where observers offer feedback on lessons taught in real time behind a two-way mirror. During sessions, teachers carefully observe students' literacy behaviors, identify specific learning needs, and tailor instruction in response to students' progress. Each lesson follows a prescribed structure: students reread familiar books, work on letter/word recognition activities, compose a brief story, assemble a cut-up story, and practice reading a new book. The goal is to equip students with literacy strategies applicable in the regular classroom, allowing them to continue developing as readers after the intervention ends.