The impact of Reading Recovery five years after intervention

Reading Recovery is part of the Every Child a Reader strategy to enable children to make a good start in reading. Reading Recovery is well known to have impressive effects in the shorter term but less is known about its long term effectiveness. The present study followed up at the end of Year 6: 127 comparison children, 77 children who had received Reading Recovery five years earlier and 50 children in Reading Recovery schools who had not receive Reading Recovery. The children who had received Reading Recovery had made significantly greater progress in English than the comparison children by the end of Year 6, achieving on average a National Curriculum Level of 4b compared with a borderline between Level 3 and 4 in the comparison group. Comparison children in the Reading Recovery schools were also significantly out-performing the comparison in non Reading Recovery schools on the reading test. 78% of Reading Recovery children achieved Level 4 in English compared with 62% in the comparison group in non Reading Recovery schools and 64% for the comparison children in Reading Recovery schools. There was a tendency for Reading Recovery children to be receiving less SEN provision than children in the other two groups, but this only reached statistical significance for those on School Action Plus or a Statement. This suggests that the substantial gains which result from receiving Reading Recovery in Year 1 continue to deliver a significant advantage for those children at the end of the primary phase, providing a surer footing for transition to secondary school