Thread by @TinaForKentucky

🧵 This week, Reading Recovery was on the agenda for the BR Education Committee meeting. I had a couple of questions.

@ehanford @mandy_mclaren @StanDehaene
@DrMPaff
@kyhousedems #teacherlegislator

1/14

At the table were representatives of the CCLD, an agency that has a general fund appropriation of $1.3m a year.

2/14

Q1: Please explain "Roaming Around the Known."

Clay (2019) states that, "for the first two weeks of the lesson series stay with what the child already knows how to do .... Do not deliberately teach him any new items or behaviors" (p. 29).

3/14

Q1: Please explain "Roaming Around the Known."

In the last five years, KY has had 12,563 Reading Recovery students. Reading Recovery is 30m a day, 5 days a week, 1:1 with a teacher. That means that there were 62,815 hours of absolutely no reading instruction.

4/14

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

In Episode 3 of "Sold a Story," @ehanford described how Marie Clay, founder of Reading Recovery, responded in 2001 when she was not going to qualify for Reading First funding.

5/14

features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

Clay is reported to have stated, "We will not change a thing in our program, but we will modify our description of Reading Recovery to comply with the law."

6/14

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

I compared the 1993 manual (pre-National Reading Panel) with the one from 2016 to see if there were significant changes; if not, perhaps Clay's refusal to adapt RR based on reading research was true.

7/14

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

Reading Recovery lessons have not changed.

8/14

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

Children are still taught to predict a word. Teachers are still taught to cover a word and give the child clues about the word.

9/14

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

Cues are still given. Does the word make sense? Does it look right? Does it sound right?

10/14

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

Reference to the picture is still a prompt that teachers are taught.

What exactly does it mean to have "bias towards letters"? @StanDehaene may have some thoughts.

11/14

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

An answer to my question was that sound boxes were added to the curriculum, but even the 1979 edition of the manual had sound boxes, so that is not a recent addition.

12/14

The speaker also references @mandy_mclaren's investigative series in @courierjournal.

13/14

courier-journal.com/in-depth/news/…

Q2: How has Reading Recovery changed over the last 20+ years?

My conclusion is that Reading Recovery has not significantly changed over 20+ years, and it is likely that that is exactly what Marie Clay desired.

And many of our children aren't learning how to read.

14/14