Effectiveness | Reading Rescue

Reading Rescue Program:
Effectiveness

Why is Reading Rescue a good choice?

Reading Rescue, developed in cooperation with the University of Florida, College of Education, is based on several bodies of research:

1. teacher professional development and adult learning,
2. school reform and restructuring,
3. early literacy acquisition, reading disabilities, and reading instruction.

Reading Rescue conforms to the features of effective training programs as shown by the chart below. Reading Rescue was in fact designed at the outset to incorporate components and features that research indicates are essential for effective professional development programs--those that improve instruction and support school reform efforts.

Effective training programs:	Reading Rescue Training Program
Incorporate exploration of underlying theory	The Reading Rescue training program is based on a theory of literacy acquisition that is supported by recent scientific research. This understanding of how literacy is acquired is reflected in the assessment and instructional procedures within the program. As staff are trained in how to interpret diagnostic information and how to provide effective instruction, connections between recommended practice and theory are made clear. Both the training program for school personnel and the instruction recommended for children are under constant study; modifications to both based on research findings are continual.
Demonstrate exemplary practice	Viewing and analyzing exemplary practice are an essential feature of every Reading Rescue training session. All Reading Rescue trainers are required to provide Rescue tutoring for a struggling reader in a continuing basis and are required to show current tapes of their tutoring for analysis during training sessions. Videotapes showing exemplary practice are provided for analysis during meetings of each school's Peer Coaching Team. Participants continue to analyze instructional tapes, including their own, over the three years of training. In addition, Reading Rescue consultants provide demonstration teaching on their visits to schools.
Model and teach peer-coaching	Reading Rescue consultants coach Reading Rescue tutors on follow-up visits to schools and are available for in-class coaching as well. However, to assure that coaching is provided on a continuous basis in a Reading Rescue school, training for the School-based Coordinator as a Literacy Coach begins immediately and is an important feature of the intensive summer institutes. The Peer-Coaching Team within a Rescue school is also a powerful provider of feedback.
Provide opportunities to try out new skills with support and supervision, accompanied by collegial feedback	Significant improvements in teaching are only achieved over time. Recognizing this, the Rescue training program spans three years and provides continuous support in a variety of ways. The presence of a highly trained Reading Rescue Coordinator within each school assures the supervision essential to the program's success and assures that those participating receive a great deal of collegial feedback following observations as well as during meetings of the school's Peer Coaching Team.

Reading Rescue addresses school improvement goals adopted by many school systems throughout the country:

School Improvement Goals:	How Reading Rescue® Helps:
To improve academic achievement	Struggling readers in the bottom quartile who would not normally achieve reading fluency in the primary grades graduate from Reading Rescue® reading at grade level. Standardized test scores show an overall increase in schools that commit to Reading Rescue®.
To increase parental/home involvement	Parents and guardians are informed when the tutoring begins and are able to monitor the child's progress on a daily basis. Family involvement is made possible every day as Rescue students bring home sentences that they have written and their tutors have "published" and cut apart to be reconstructed with the help of a family member. Where the school's supply of leveled books will allow, one or two are also sent home for additional reading practice. Home interest and support often increases with the school's investment of individual tutoring for a struggling child.
To assure students' feelings of belonging, acceptance, security, safety	When students experience success in the most important task schools ask of a child - that he or she learn to read - the student's feelings of self-worth naturally increase. Participation and success in tutoring sessions are carried over into classrooms. As students gain competence, their confidence increases, and, for the first time, many become active participants in their classrooms.
To lower retention rates	Reading problems are a leading cause of retention. When a school establishes a policy that no teacher may recommend a child for retention unless that child has received at least 60 Reading Rescue® sessions, retentions dramatically drop. When students receive the individual instruction they need to succeed they come to see the school as a safe and welcoming place. Students who are tutored one-on-one bond not only with their tutor but also with the other adults in the school and with the values of the school. The positive, close relationship students develop with their tutors has a powerful effect in promoting students' sense of belonging and acceptance.
To reduce referrals for special testing	A referral for special education testing indicates that instruction has failed. However, tutoring is the most powerful form of instruction. When a school requires that a child first receive at least 60 Reading Rescue® sessions before s/he is referred for special education testing, such referrals are fewer in number and far more accurate.
To decrease student misbehavior	Some students who experience daily frustration and the humiliation that accompanies failure withdraw. Others act-out their resentment and their misbehavior robs the other students of teachers' time and attention. When failing students are tutored, those who have withdrawn begin to blossom and the behavior of those who have been acting-out dramatically improves.