Illinois Reading Recovery® Center for Literacy

i3 Grant Information

NLU has received a $2.5 million innovation grant through the U.S. Department of Education.  Click here for more information.

Reading Recovery - Part of a Comprehensive Literacy Model

Reading Recovery® is an integral part of a comprehensive approach to literacy which includes effective classrooms, small group instruction and individual interventions. Research has shown that the lowest achieving first grade children need individually designed literacy lessons. Some need continued supplemental help in the form of small group intervention.

The Illinois Reading Recovery Center for Literacy partners with a growing national network of university centers. This partnership supports Illinois school districts in achieving shared goals related to school-wide renewal. Collaborative university research projects are being designed to improve educational practices and policies most likely to influence student achievement.

Systematically aligning classroom instruction with supplemental interventions, results in the greatest possible student achievement gains. The results of the Partnerships in Comprehensive Literacy (PCL) model, as directed by the Center for Literacy at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, has had dramatic results in high-poverty, low achieving schools, as well as schools with average and above average socioeconomic status. The results have been observed in districts across the United States.

Research supports professional development that is:

• Embedded into a school reform effort that links curriculum, assessment, and standards to professional learning
• Collaborative and collegial
• Intensive and sustained over time

Darling-Hammond, L. and Richardson, N. (2009). Teacher learning: What matters? Educational Leadership, Vol.66, No. 5

- Center Newsletter, Winter 2010