Reading Recovery

Reading Recovery was established in Florence 1 Schools in 1991 with the training of a Teacher Leader at the Clemson University training site in Columbia, South Carolina. The next year, Reading Recovery expanded to training of teachers and service of children at each of the twelve elementary schools. Since that time, more than fifty teachers have been trained at the site and consulting services have been provided to twelve other school districts in addition to Florence One.

The goal has been to supplement classroom instruction with early intervention support for our most at-risk first grade students. Individual instruction has been provided to almost three thousand five hundred children at a substantial cost savings to the district since the majority of these children became successful readers and writers and were not retained in first grade.
 
As part of the training process, Reading Recovery teachers are involved in year-long inservice and attend conferences and virtual technology sessions as well as receive frequent support and problem solving vists from the teacher leader. These sessions provide ongoing professional development that enables the teachers to continuously reflect on their teaching practices and develop strengths as literacy leaders within their schools.
  
 

Reading Recovery is an early intervention created by Dr. Marie Clay for first grade children identified as having extreme difficulty learning to read and write. The goal is to create independent learners who become stronger each time they read or write. This is done through accelerated learning. Students must make faster than average progress in order to catch up with their class. Intensive one-on-one instruction is given to students five days a week, in thirty minute sessions based on the individual child's needs. This instruction is in addition to regular classroom instruction and lasts only 12-20 weeks. The series of lessons are discontinued when there is solid evidence that they possess the needed skills and strategies to enable them to continue to make progress without the one-on-one assistance.

Reading Recovery uses and builds on real conversation between the teacher and the child. This teacher-child talk has been found to be an effective way of helping students learn to deal with the very complex tasks of learning to read and write. The lesson follows a fairly strict routine of components but contains activities that are tailored to the specific needs of the individual child.              

Implementation of Reading Recovery in F1S Elementary Schools

Reading Recovery is implemented in each of the twelve elementary schools in Florence 1 Schools.  At least one Reading Recovery teacher is placed in every school. Three schools supports two Reading Recovery teachers. The Teacher Leader is housed at Wallace Gregg in addition to another Reading Recovery teacher. There is a continued need to expand the program by training more teachers. Because of the strong school board, administrative, teacher and parent support, the intervention has been extremely effective.

     


  
       SC District Literacy Spot Award

Florence 1 Schools was the first district in the state to earn the South Carolina state District Literacy Spot Award in recognition of our strong commitment to early literacy.

Briggs Elementary, Carver Elementary, and Royall Elementary Schools have been identified as school Literacy Spot winners by the South Carolina Reading Recovery Council. This means that literacy instruction in the classrooms is exemplary and has become so with the help of Reading Recovery.

For more information about Reading Recovery, visit the Reading Recovery Council of North America.

Clemson University is the training site for Reading Recovery Teacher Leaders and teachers in South Carolina.