Reading Recovery receives the highest ranking of any early literacy intervention. Reading Recovery was found to have positive effects on students' alphabetics skills and general reading achievement outcomes. Reading Recovery was found to have potentially positive effects on comprehension and fluency. www.whatworks.ed.gov, www.readingrecovery.org

Each individually designed Reading Recovery lesson includes reading, writing, and word work. The five essential components of reading instruction as described in Reading First, part of the ESEA Act, are part of the daily RR lessons. The five essential elements are: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, fluency and comprehension.

Scientific research has demonstrated that intensive, individual, early intervention instruction by highly qualified teachers can greatly reduce the number of children who fail to learn to read and write in first grade. Research suggests that this type of intervention can reduce the portion of first grade cohort that appears to be reading disabled from 9% to less than 1.5%, a substantial individual and societal savings. Despite scientific research supporting the
effectiveness of this type of intervention many administrators and educational reserchers doubt its cost-effectiveness.

This study is designed to answer the following research question: What is the effect of teacher-student ratio on the literacy learning achievement outcomes of at-risk first-grade students?

This study is being conducted during the 2007-2008 school year by Dr. Robert M. Schwartz, Oakland University, Dr. Mary Lose, Oakland
University and Dr. Maribeth C. Schmitt, Purdue University.

NECAP Results for The year of 2008 -> PDF copy