Andy Pierrotti

For the past 30 years, Georgia State University has run a program for experienced teachers to learn a curriculum called, Reading Recovery, which is intended to help children learn how to read.

Reading Recovery is one-on-one instruction in the classroom for the lowest performing students in first grade struggling to read. School districts in Georgia and across the country used its teaching methods for decades.

Once hailed as one of the most effective intervention models, a study published in the Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness in 2023 raises questions about its effectiveness. While the results show the short-term impact to students “largely positive,” researchers say the results completely flipped once the children reach third and fourth grade.

“The Reading Recovery kids were actually worse off. There was a negative impact of Reading Recovery,” said Henry May, a professor at the University of Delaware who led the study. May also runs the Center for Research Use in Education.

Reading Recovery Council of North America asked the professor to the conduct the study, which tracked thousands of students in multiple states over 13 years. It’s the largest study of the program ever conducted.

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more.

The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…

The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic”

My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results

2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results 

Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.

“An emphasis on adult employment”

Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]

WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators

Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results

Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.

When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?