Whether old research or new research, will people committed to Reading Recovery ranging from those promoting it, providing training, investing in it in schools, ever accept there are better alternatives and move on?
New research shows controversial Reading Recovery program eventually had a negative impact on children
Initial gains from first-grade intervention didn’t last and kids performed worse in third and fourth grade.
April 23, 2022 | by Emily Hanford and Christopher Peak
Thank you to Tina Bojanowski for this informative Twitter thread:
Tina Bojanowski
@TinaForKentucky
A study has found that students who participated in Reading Recovery (RR) scored lower on third grade state reading tests than students of similar ability who don't do RR.
I don't yet know any details about this development, but the following message was tweeted on 14th December 2022. Slowly, slowly, people are getting the message that they've long since been 'sold a story' - the mantra introduced by US journalist Emily Hanford!
After 10 years of advocating, we have reasons to celebrate today...
"Starting next school year, DCS will be dissolving the relationship with OSU and Reading Recovery."
Dublin City Schools will no longer operate as a Reading Recovery training site or fiscal agent.
You can read about Emily Hanford's work, including her latest podcasts 'Sold a Story' - causing ripples of awareness and encouragement to tackle flawed reading instruction and teacher-training beyond the USA!
5th May 2023 - here is an update featuring the Reading Recovery contributed by Cathryn Bjarnesen who says, "As an assessor of Specific Learning Disorders, I routinely see unrecovered Reading Recovery students. Not only do they lack the Basic Reading Skills for functional literacy, they have firmly developed habits that are so desperately hard to break (ie. Not looking at the actual letter sequence in a word, & guessing at text)."
Cathryn shared her despair with the DDOLL network noting this information:
Despite the mountain of evidence, and the pleas for change, particularly from the families of struggling students, the NZ government and the Ministry of Education has rebranded Reading Recovery as Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Support (RR & ELS). The contract (Statements of Work) with the Universities of Auckland, Waikato and Otago for RR&ELS services have been extended until January 31, 2024.
While the training providers will enjoy millions of $ through this move, thousands of children will suffer and be denied an opportunity to become literate.
Cathryn Bjarnesen
Learning Support Specialist
Professor James Chapman added:
Yes, very frustrating. Probably too difficult politically, though it shouldn’t be. The only good news is that the number of schools offering RR has dropped to 41%. And the Ministry of Education has contracted three groups to research intervention for struggling readers in Years 2 to 8. All three groups are very much on the “structured literacy” side of teaching.
Dr Kerry Hempenstall has kindly provided some literature featuring the Reading Recovery programme. [Some of this may be a repeat of content previously provided in this thread.]
There is a 4-minute review of Reading Recovery research at 19:00.
5: What's the Deal With Whole Language?
A Novel Idea: The History of the Science of Reading
Whole language is one of the most talked about developments in literacy instruction in the past several decades. In this episode of A Novel Idea, we take a look at the history and founders of this popular teaching philosophy and examine its effects on contemporary instruction. Featuring insight from: Dr. G. Reid Lyon, former director, NICHDNatalie Wexler (Twitter: @natwexler), author, The Knowledge GapKate Will, program coordinator, Iowa Reading Research CenterMelissa Loftus and Lori Sappington (Twitter: @literacypodcast), co-hosts, Melissa and Lori Love LiteracyDr. Maryanne Wolf, author, Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain and Dyslexia, Fluency, and the Brain… & more.
Episode transcript and sources https://irrc.education.uiowa.edu/transc ... -episode-5 A Novel Idea website: irrc.education.uiowa.edu/resources/novel-idea-podcast
3rd May 2024 - The end of Reading Recovery in New Zealand - flagged up by Professor Pamela Snow:
NZ Education Minister Erica Stanford has confirmed the end of #ReadingRecovery in NZ schools. This is history in the making & time now for a true “reading recovery” for NZ children. No child should have to recover from their initial reading instruction
