Guidelines for Summer/Extended Reading Recovery Instruction for 2002-03

May 1, 2003

Consult with your school team and teacher leader to assess the effectiveness of carry over programs in your school context. Ensure the team continues to be committed to Reading Recovery as a short-term, accelerative, first-grade intervention.

Extend a child’s instruction only if your school meets the new definition of fully implemented, that is all first graders who need Reading Recovery are being served.

Carefully select children. Consider the number of weeks already completed in the program and the child's text reading level at the end of grade one. Only select children who are making accelerated progress who will discontinue.

Serve no more than two extended program children per Reading Recovery teacher.

Begin a child's fall extended program by administering the Observation Survey and Roaming Around the Known. Research indicates that children make accelerated progress when they are fluent and flexible with what they already know.

Teach hard to ensure that children are discontinued by November or December.

Meet regularly with second-grade teachers to ensure that extended program children are transferring reading and writing skills to the second-grade program.

Discontinue children when they have achieved a self-extending system, have reached an appropriate text reading level, and there is appropriate classroom instruction where they can continue to learn. It may be unrealistic to expect the child to achieve average of a second-grade class as text difficulty levels rise steeply.

You can locate the Summer/Extended Year Data Update forms on the University of Maine’s Reading Recovery website. Just follow the Research and Evaluation in Maine link to State Program Evaluation to Data Collection to Data Entry Forms. Print out the form and complete it. Mail forms for summer programs to your teacher leader by Aug. 31 and forms for extended programs by Dec. 31.

DO NOT fill out new 2002-03 forms for children being carried-over from 2001-02!

If you have questions please contact the Center for Literacy by phone at 581-2438 or mail us at the University of Maine, 5766 Shibles Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5766.