The classroom impact of Reading Recovery training : examining restated Reading Recovery-based teacher learning

Responding to calls for more effective teacher preparation for teaching early literacy, this descriptive study examines if and how teacher learning from Reading Recovery training can be applied within whole-class contexts. Reading Recovery is an early literacy intervention developed by Marie Clay and is implemented internationally to assist Grade One children having difficulty developing early literacy skills. Teachers are trained to deliver one-to-one instruction by attending professional development sessions over one school year in an apprentice-style of learning. Using an online survey instrument, 53 Canadian Kindergarten, Grade One, or Grade Two teachers who had completed Reading Recovery professional development in the three years prior to the study were asked to describe if and how Reading Recovery training had influenced their instructional procedures, language, knowledge or beliefs when teaching English Language Arts in their classrooms. Additionally, three Manitoba survey respondents volunteered as case study participants and were observed weekly over a three-month period in their classrooms. The survey and case study findings show participants appropriated many procedures and language from Reading Recovery during different reading and writing activities. More significantly, they described being more capable of formatively assessing students and how their knowledge and beliefs about literacy instruction had shifted, or developed, in ways that reflected those of Reading Recovery. The case study observations revealed that rather than simply transferring knowledge gained from the Reading Recovery training, teachers took this knowledge and applied it in individual ways in their classrooms, essentially resituating their learning into what is termed their personal theory of literacy instruction. The participants depict Reading Recovery’s model of professional development being particularly potent to their learning. They described how Reading Recovery training increased their confidence and effectiveness in literacy instruction, a finding that could add to discussions of both in- and pre-service teacher professional development.Education, Faculty ofLanguage and Literacy Education (LLED), Department ofGraduat