Reading Recovery
When the Morgridge College of Education opens its Reading Recovery Center in 2009, the Rocky Mountain region will gain enhanced access to one of the nation's most successful reading intervention programs.
In any given academic year, the center will provide training to between six and eight teacher/trainers. These trainers will then work within their school districts to spread the methodology, credited with consistent and impressive results. In fact, the What Works Clearinghouse, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences, gives the program its highest rating on general reading achievement.
"It"s a very effective program in helping get kids up to grade level in a very short time," says Virginia Maloney, dean of the Morgridge College. "It gets into theory and techniques that go well beyond most teacher preparation programs."
The research-based Reading Recovery approach promotes one-on-one work with the lowest achieving first-graders, addressing their reading challenges before they fall too far behind their peers or too far below state standards. As a result, Reading Recovery not only makes a difference in the lives of individual students, it also saves school districts considerable expense.
According to the Reading Recovery Council of North America, 75 percent of U.S. students who have completed the 12-to-20-week intervention can meet grade-level expectations in reading and writing.
Professionals interested in the Morgridge College's one-year Reading Recovery training will enjoy firsthand observation of what works and what doesn't. "We will have a classroom that is equipped with what is called 'behind-the-glass-training,'" Maloney says, noting that this amenity provides more effective instruction than a traditional review of techniques.
Maloney hopes that the new center will help stimulate Reading Recovery participation throughout Colorado school districts. "We see this as a very important part of the Morgridge College's goal to prevent and intervene early in reading problems," she says.