The long-term effectiveness of the Reading Recovery program

This study describes the long-term effects of the Reading Recovery program on reading achievement. Six research questions guided this study of 153 students who were referred for Reading Recovery instruction during the 1998–1999 school year in Montgomery County, Tennessee. The long-term effects of Reading Recovery could prove beneficial to school system administrators looking to spend budget resources wisely. This study includes a brief history of reading instruction. The review of the literature covers how students are selected for Reading Recovery, goals of the program, a review of specific studies which found Reading Recovery to be beneficial, a review of specific studies which found mixed results of Reading Recovery, and a review of specific studies which found Reading Recovery did not meet school district expectations. The thirty-eight students who were successfully exited from the Reading Recovery program or completed 60 or more lessons were placed in an experimental group. The remaining 115 referred students were placed in the control group. The three reading sections of the 2003 TerraNova exam and students\u27 end of year reading averages were examined. The number of students referred for special reading classes during the 2002–2003 school year and teacher perception of whether students read below grade level, on grade level, or above grade level during the 2002–2003 school year were also analyzed. Means for the control group were higher than the experimental group for the Vocabulary and Reading Composite sections of the 2003 TerraNova but lower for the Reading section. The experimental group had a slightly higher mean for end of year reading percentages. Students reading below, on, and above grade level were similar for both control and experiment groups. The percentages of students referred for special reading classes were identical. However, results of the analyses suggest that there were no statistically significant differences for any of the six hypotheses evaluated for this study