1. Reading Recovery Works
2008 Customizable PowerPoint Presentation
Developed by the Reading Recovery Council of North America for use by Council members
This PowerPoint presentation provides a simple framework that can be adapted for use in a school, region, or state. The content can be used as
a brief orientation to Reading Recovery for potential or new sites,
a brief introduction to accompany an annual status report to administrators or a board of education, and
a defense of Reading Recovery when funding cuts are under consideration.
You can easily customize the presentation by selecting the slides that seem most useful for your situation, and by adding slides with local names, data, and photos to make them relevant to your audience. (See TECH NOTES on next slide.)
GETTING STARTED
When you are ready to run the PowerPoint presentation, go to the View menu and select Slide Show. This slide will appear and you will need to click to advance to the opening slide. The presentation will not start until you are ready to begin talking. Click once and the headline “Powerful Proven Results” will appear on the slide.
This sample presentation includes Talking Points for each slide (under View, select Notes Page). Most of the slides are formatted as “builds” — each talking point builds on previous points as you move through your script for that slide. When you click to the next talking point, the previous point will change to yellow but still remain on the screen. CLICK points are indicated throughout the sample script. As you customize the presentation, you will need to adjust the script notes and make similar notations.
We hope you will find this a valuable tool, and we welcome your comments or suggestions.
 Copyright Reading Recovery Council of North America. All rights reserved.

2. Reading Recovery Works
TECH NOTES — Quick Guide to Customizing the Presentation
For those new to PowerPoint, here are a few tips that may help you. There are a number of ways to accomplish each of these steps, and we’ve given you only the basics. Seasoned PowerPoint users will have many shortcuts.
To delete a slide
Under View, select Slide Sorter
Click on the slide you want to delete and press delete.
To insert a slide
For a blank new slide: Under Insert, select New Slide.
For a formatted new slide: Click on a slide you want to duplicate; under Insert, select Duplicate Slide.
You can rearrange the order of any slide in the Slide Sorter view by simply dragging it to a new position.
To change the copy on any slide and retain formatting
From the Slide view, double click on the existing text and type in your new text.
To change a photo
From the Slide view, click the photo you want to replace and press delete.
If you don’t already have it open on your desktop, under View select Formatting Palette.
Under the Graphics heading on the palette, select Picture from File and browse your hard drive for the photo you want to insert. You can resize and move the photo by double clicking it in the slide layout.
REMINDER
Since this presentation contains custom animation, the formatting builds will not be applied to any blank new slides. For help with animation, go to the HELP menu for PowerPoint and type “custom animation” in the search field.

3. Powerful Proven Results
Reading Recovery
Powerful Proven Results
UNDER VIEW MENU, SELECT SLIDE SHOW
Slide 1 — Reading Recovery
CLICK
Powerful Proven Results
Talking Points
Every 6-year-old is eager to learn to read. Their families and teachers are equally anxious for them to succeed. But each classroom has a few children who struggle with beginning reading.
Unfortunately, researchers have found that among the very lowest children in first grade, 9 of 10 will still be at the bottom of their class in fourth grade, too! [NOTE 1] These are the children who are likely to be retained and likely to be referred to special education. Without special help they fall farther and farther behind and may even drop out of school. But early intervention can make a difference.
Reading Recovery changes the future for the majority of the lowest first graders who have a complete series of lessons. This brighter future is possible because Reading Recovery teachers are specially trained to build on each child’s strengths and to accelerate their learning.

4. Reading Recovery Success
Slide 2 — Reading Recovery Success
(A local story might have more impact; this is just an example.)
Talking Points
This photo shows Dante Marshall — one of the first children trained in Reading Recovery when it began in Ohio in 1984 — now a practicing attorney in Atlanta. This is the kind of successful future that parents and teachers dream of when they think about their youngsters.
As a 6-year old, no one would have predicted this future for Dante because he had very limited literacy skills—so limited that he was among the lowest children in his first grade in the Columbus Public Schools. Fortunately for Dante, Reading Recovery was being piloted as an intervention. He was chosen to work individually with a Reading Recovery teacher-in-training, Rose Mary Estice. After just 15 weeks of daily 30-minute lessons, Dante reached grade-level standard. And even though he was enrolled in a different elementary school each year, he continued to achieve; graduating from law school at The Ohio State University in 2003.
Oh, and those people with Dante in the photo… That’s Marie Clay, the founder of Reading Recovery on his left, and Rose Mary Estice, his Reading Recovery teacher from first grade. Dante’s story is compelling, but is it typical?
CLICK
Here are Reading Recovery’s results from other students.

5. Reading Recovery Results
1.7 million American first graders
Tens of thousands of teachers trained in Reading Recovery
Data collected on every student
75% of students with a full series of lessons reached grade-level standard
Slide 3 — Reading Recovery Results
Talking Points
CLICK
Since Reading Recovery began in the U.S. in 1984–85, more than 1.7 million first graders have had Reading Recovery lessons
and tens of thousands of teachers have had the yearlong Reading Recovery professional development.
One of the remarkable features of Reading Recovery is that outcome data have been
collected on every student since the beginning. No other beginning reading intervention has this kind of individual, long-term information.
Nationally, of the students who have a complete intervention, 75% reach grade-level standard. These are amazing results considering that Reading Recovery always starts with the lowest 10–20% of students.
[NOTE: You may want to adapt the information on success rate based on your local experience.]
This evaluation evidence is backed up by scientific studies demonstrate that Reading Recovery works!

6. Reading Recovery Works
What Works Clearinghouse independent review of research
High ratings across all 4 domains
1. Alphabetics
2. Fluency
3. Comprehension
4. General Reading Achievement
No other intervention measures up
For more information go to
Slide 4 — Reading Recovery Works
Talking Points
CLICK
Evidence of Reading Recovery’s effectiveness comes from an independent review of research by the U.S. Department of Education’s What Works Clearinghouse, an online resource to help educators select proven programs.
Reading Recovery received high ratings across all four domains studied: Alphabetics which includes phonemic and print awareness, letter knowledge, and phonics; Fluency; Comprehension; and General Reading Achievement.
No other intervention received high ratings across all four areas studied. And of the 153 beginning reading interventions studied in this first wave of What Works Clearinghouse reports, only Reading Recovery received a positive effects rating—the highest rating possible—in General Reading Achievement. [SEE NOTE 2 FOR INFORMATION]
You can compare ratings among all the interventions studied and download detailed reports at the What Works Clearinghouse website.
You might think it would take a long time to achieve such highly successful results with children at the bottom of their class.

7. Measurable Results in Weeks
30-minute daily lessons for just weeks, not years
One-to-one teaching
Reading Recovery teacher works closely with classroom teacher
Slide 5 — Measurable Results in Weeks
Talking Points
Reading Recovery produces measurable results in weeks—not years.
CLICK
First graders have individual 30-minute lessons each school day for 12 to 20 weeks—that’s just 30 to 50 hours in all.
The child works one-to-one with a Reading Recovery teacher who has had a full academic year of training in how to work with the lowest literacy achievers.
The Reading Recovery teacher works closely with the classroom teacher. The two study the child’s progress in Reading Recovery and in the classroom. They discuss any adjustments that may be needed.
The child’s progress is measured by the Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, a 6-task assessment developed by Dr. Marie Clay. Let’s take a look at the results from the beginning to the end of a typical child’s series of lessons.

8. Writing Vocabulary Beginning of lessons After a series of lessons
Slide 6 — Writing Vocabulary
[You may want to substitute your own examples and narrative here.]
Talking Points
The Writing Vocabulary Task shows how the child is building a personal resource of words that he can write in every detail. The child is asked to write as many words as he can in a 10-minute time period.
CLICK
At the beginning of this child’s Reading Recovery lessons, she knew how to write her name (Taylor) and the words to, yes, I, and go. Although she wrote MaMa, she said it was mom.
At the end of her Reading Recovery intervention, Taylor was able to write more than 50 words in every detail. Many were high-frequency words and words that she could use to learn new words.
Beginning of lessons
After a series of lessons

9. Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words
After a series of lessons
Slide 7 — Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words
[You may want to substitute your own examples and narrative here.]
Talking Points
The Hearing and Recording Sounds in Words task on the Observation Survey assesses phonemic awareness by determining how well a child represents sounds in graphic form. The teacher reads a short sentence or two for the child to write. The score represents every sound recorded accurately, whether or not the word is spelled correctly.
CLICK
When this child began Reading Recovery, he was asked to write, “The bus is coming. It will stop here to let me get on.” As you can see, he represented a few sounds in the words and correctly wrote the word stop.
In a matter of weeks, at the end of his Reading Recovery lessons, this child represented all 37 sounds accurately, even though a couple of words were inaccurately spelled. Remember, this is not a spelling test; it is hearing and recording sounds.
Beginning of lessons

10. Reading Level Level 2 - Beginning of lessons
Slide 8 — Reading Level
Talking Points
An important task in the Observation Survey is a record of text reading that yields a reading level. The child reads books that escalate in levels of difficulty.
CLICK
As you can see, at the beginning of this child’s lessons, he was able to read a Level 2 book with a single line of text.
After his lessons, he was able to read a much more-challenging Level 16 book, which represents the standard for his grade level.
How do Reading Recovery teachers help children achieve these results over just a few weeks?
Level 2 - Beginning of lessons
Buffy by Lucy Lawrence
Level 16 - After a series of lessons
Stone Soup retold by Annette Smith

11. Powerful Professional Development
Yearlong on-the-job training
Non-profit, university-school partnership
Reading Recovery’s highly skilled teachers also fill other roles
Slide 9 — Powerful Professional Development
Talking Points
Reading Recovery provides powerful professional development.
CLICK
The initial yearlong professional development happens on the job—usually in after- school classes that occur 1 day a week at a university training center. Classes include use of a one-way mirror so that teachers can observe and discuss Reading Recovery lessons with actual students. Teachers who receive the training also receive graduate credit from [INSERT THE NAME OF YOUR LOCAL UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE GRANTING CREDIT FOR READING RECOVERY TRAINING HERE.]
Reading Recovery is a non-profit, university-school partnership that includes more than 20 U.S. universities that train teacher leaders. The teacher leaders then conduct teacher professional development and provide school-based support.
Reading Recovery teachers typically fill a variety of other roles, too. They work half a day with Reading Recovery students and the other half-day, they bring their expertise to other children. They may teach kindergarten, small literacy groups, or special education classes. Across the U.S., the typical Reading Recovery teacher serves 8.1 Reading Recovery students each year and 41.5 other students. This makes a highly skilled reading teacher available to a wider number of students. Reading Recovery teachers become literacy leaders in their schools.
[ADD LOCAL DATA HERE – SEE NOTE 3]
In some schools, administrators purposefully rotate their good early-grade teachers through Reading Recovery training in order to develop a broad base of expertise for their students.

12. Long-Term Cost Benefits
All children make progress
School receives a diagnostic history for children who need additional screening or services
Majority of children reach grade-level standard in just weeks
Slide 10 — Long-Term Cost Benefits
Talking Points
CLICK
Another reason why thousands of elementary schools have chosen Reading Recovery is because they see long-term cost benefits. Reading Recovery’s high success rate reduces referrals and placements in special education.
All children make progress; even those who do not reach grade-level standard make great strides.
In addition, each child has received an early intervening service that provides a full diagnostic history for children who need more long-term literacy support. After a period of Reading Recovery teaching, the school knows a lot more abut a child’s strengths and challenges and can recommend future support services.
[ADD LOCAL DATA HERE – SEE NOTE 4]
The majority of these formerly lowest-achieving students do reach grade-level standard in 12 to 20 weeks. And although the individual tutoring with an expert teacher requires extra staff resources, those costs are less than a year of retention or several years in special education.
Even the children who do not reach grade-level standard in Reading Recovery DO make progress. In addition, they have received an early intervening service, a requirement under the federal IDEA funding to reduce unnecessary testing and referrals to special education.

13. with Reading Recovery Success is Within Reach!
Slide 11 — With Reading Recovery, Success is Within Reach!
Talking Points
With Reading Recovery,
CLICK
literacy success is within reach for most of our lowest literacy learners in first grade. With a skilled Reading Recovery teacher we CAN prevent literacy failure. Literacy failure is costly for schools, for the community, and most critically for a child’s future ability to succeed in school and later life.
NOTES
1 — The study that found lowest first graders were likely to still be lowest in fourth grade is Juel, C. (1988). Learning to read and write: A longitudinal study of fifty-four children from first through fourth grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80(4), 437–447.
2 — Positive effects is the highest rating possible. To see a chart with General Reading Achievement ratings for beginning reading interventions, visit
Note just 25 interventions are listed with research evidence supporting effectiveness; 130 other programs were reviewed and listed as having no evidence of effectiveness in any area.
3 — Adapt these points to reflect how your school divides time for Reading Recovery teachers. One of the typical arguments in cost cutting is that teachers serve just 8 first graders. To counter this argument, it’s important to emphasize the other roles and contributions of Reading Recovery teachers.
4 — Here’s the place to use your local data if your implementation has reduced retention or special education referrals. Still another possible data use is to look at your Reading Recovery students’ results on standardized tests or state tests. Without Reading Recovery, the performance would likely be lower. For more information and specific research studies on cost benefits, see the research section of the RRCNA website,