Welcome to Reading Recovery initiative in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education

The goal of this initiative is to focus on developing highly effective teachers and resources for schools for improving the reading and writing abilities of students.

Funding has been provided through an award from the U.S. Department of Education, under award number U215K090094, for the Fund for the Improvement of Education (FIE) Program. The contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

« return to RRCNA site

Home

Effective Literacy Practices

Response to Intervention in Grade One:
Reading Recovery

What is response to intervention?

Response to intervention (RTI) is an educational approach to instruction, assessment, and intervention designed to provide effective, data-based interventions for struggling students. Although conceived as a means of early identification and determination of special education eligibility, RTI is increasingly becoming an overall approach to school improvement through general education. Possible benefits to an RTI approach include:

fewer inappropriate referrals to special education
earlier intervention with students at risk of literacy failure
greater ongoing collaboration between general and special education

Reading Recovery and RTI
Although RTI involves multiple interventions for various needs across grade levels, one literacy intervention has compelling evidence for meeting the intent of the legislation for first graders. The goal of Reading Recovery is to dramatically reduce the number of first-grade students who have extreme difficulty learning to read and write, and to reduce the cost of these learners to education systems. With more than 25 years of implementation in the U.S. and high research ratings from the U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse, Reading Recovery is a proven intervention used by thousands of elementary schools.

An ideal fit within an RTI framework
Reading Recovery is a close fit with eight crucial features of RTI, adapted from frameworks provided by the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities and the International Reading Association Commission on RTI.

What works in successful schools and districts
Educators across the country realize the importance of Reading Recovery within their comprehensive plan for literacy. A new study reports administrator experiences and ideas, with a special focus on their decisions to include Reading Recovery within their RTI frameworks. A summary report of findings is also available. Learn more about each of the implementations in the study.

Other online resources
Reading Recovery as an Effective Component of RTI
on-demand webcast