Reading Recovery is an early literacy intervention programme designed to raise literacy standards in an education system. It provides intensive, individual help for any children, who, after a year of schooling, have not made accelerated progress in reading and writing. Reading Recovery is not solely concerned with improving children’s reading and writing skills. The term ‘Recovery’ implies a clear objective to help children acquire efficient patterns of learning which enable them, by the end of their supplementary programme, to work at the average level of their classmates and to continue to progress satisfactorily.
In Scoil Iosef Naofa the Reading Recovery programme identifies those children who would benefit from specialised one-to-one assistance in Reading Recovery procedures. The teaching is individually designed and individually delivered. It involves reading and writing in a daily one-to-one lesson for a period of between 15 and 20 weeks. The specially designed series of lessons, individually planned and delivered, provide intensive help for the child. At the end of the time period, most children will be reading and writing at a level which is above average for their class.
The Reading Recovery programme is proving very successful in Scoil Iosef Naofa.