A room full of reading teachers assembles. They chat, unpack supplies, finish a snack, but when Kristine Short takes to the front of the room they are all business. It is May and the teachers are working with their second or third set of students for the school year. “Don’t think that these last few weeks of the year won’t make a difference – because it will,” Short assures them.
Short is a 20 year trainer of the Reading Recovery program. She is licensed through the Reading Recovery Council of North America with oversight from Ohio State University. Twice a year she travels there for professional development as well as attending two national conferences. In turn, she leads eight yearly professional development trainings through Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES Office of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development (CIPD). Participating teachers are required to attend at least six. Short also visits the teachers at their schools for observations and to offer guidance.
In the room the teachers are getting to work. Short presents a student case. The following discussion is about the student’s strengths and weaknesses, progress made, skills that still need attention, and tools or techniques that may work. When this discussion ends, the lights go out.
At the back of the room are two rows of chairs, an audio system, and a two-way mirror. The teachers assemble themselves to observe. On the other side of the mirror is the student whom they have been discussing and their reading teacher. As they observe they point out the techniques at work and brainstorm other possible solutions. When the lesson is over, the lights come back on and the discussion begins. Collaborative problem solving is at the center of the training.
“Watching a student behind the glass opens your eyes. You can see more clearly,” Short explains.
When not in the room with the two-way mirror, participating teachers meet with students for 30 minutes a day, five days a week at school. The goal is to bring the student up to the level where they can keep up in the classroom and discontinue lessons. This usually takes twelve to fifteen weeks. Each teacher meets with forty students per week for a minimum of sixty per school year.
Reading Recovery is intensive intervention for first graders. The concept to teach how words work and give the students the tools to build comprehension. The program emphasizes both reading and writing. “Some kids learn to read by writing. We focus on meaning and phrasing. It’s the integration and orchestration of sources of information that we are teaching,” Short explains.
Student assessment for the program takes place at the end of kindergarten or the beginning of first grade. The students with the lowest evaluations start the program immediately and, as these students return to their classrooms, the students with the next lowest evaluations begin. “The program is for first-graders but the theory works for other age groups. I am currently volunteering with a third grader with ADHD who was passed through the system and now needs help,” says Short.
“It’s a great program. There is nothing else out there like this program. It’s a special relationship working one on one (with a student) and then coming together with colleagues. I can’t say enough about it. This is my fifteenth year,” says Susan Patchem of the Churchville-Chili schools.
Each student has a running record. Teachers take careful notes throughout the lessons. Which problems have be resolved? Which problems have resurfaced? How has the student applied the lesson while reading or writing? This running record will be part of the program evaluation that is submitted to Ohio State University. “It’s a program with a high level of accountability,” say Short. Ohio State University acts as an international data evaluation center and publishes the results of the program on the state, region, and school level every year.