Introduction | Reading Rescue

Reading Rescue Program:
Introduction

Reading Rescue, developed in cooperation with the University of Florida, is an early intervention that enables a school to use its existing resources to prevent reading failure through one-on-one tutoring for the lowest performing students while improving the quality of literacy instruction provided for all students in the classrooms of participating teachers.

The Literacy Trust, Inc. delivers a variety of services to a school over the initial three-years of program implementation, all of which contribute to the goal of fluent reading for each child in the early grades. Foremost among these services is sustained, site-based, high quality professional development that assures 1) the program's maintenance over time, 2) the development of a Literacy Coach within each school, 3) the creation of a Peer Coaching Team and 3) continual monitoring of program implementation and results.

Three strands of professional development

1) In-service education for school administrators who lead the program
Reading Rescue professional development for administrators, which prepares them to lead the intervention within their schools, focuses on the restructuring required to serve children in both large and small groups while providing tutoring for those at severe risk of failure. Since members of a school's regular staff provide tutoring for bottom quartile students during the regular school day, no additional salary expenditures are required. However, the model necessitates scheduling changes and, in some instances, modification of job assignments. A second important outcome for administrators is an understanding of early reading failure and of what constitutes effective literacy instruction for all students and especially for those who struggle the most. Administrators are encouraged to participate in their staff's professional development, but if they can't, a condensed version is provided to assure that they are aware of: a) the theoretical basis for the program, b) the variables that will determine its success within their school, c) assessments for evaluating emergent literacy and d) effective, research-based instruction for the prevention of reading failure.

2) For staff members who deliver instruction
School staff members including administrators, special education, reading and classroom teachers, paraprofessionals and aides, specialists such as Music, Art, Bilingual and PE teachers, guidance counselors, etc. may be selected or may volunteer to participate in Reading Rescue's major strand of professional development which approximates a university practicum in the assessment, prevention and correction of reading problems among young children. In the first year of implementation, The Literacy Trust delivers 30 hours of professional development. Reading Rescue School Coordinators by contract are required to conduct Literacy Seminars twice a month attended by their cohort of tutors who, over time, form a Peer Coaching Team. The Literacy Trust prepares Coordinators for their role as in-house trainers for the Peer Coaching Team. In house training during Literacy Seminars can provide tutors with as many as 18 hours of additional training. In years two and three of program implementation, the Literacy Trust delivers 12 hours of professional development and in-house Literacy Seminars provide an additional 18 hours of professional development for tutors. Professional development for administrators and School Coordinators is also delivered in the second and third years. The Literacy Trust advises administrators in advance that participants will be required to demonstrate their developing knowledge and skill during in-service sessions, during Literacy Seminars with their School Coordinator and Peer Coaching Teams, as well as in their work with struggling readers. In the second and third years of program implementation, participants begin to make videotapes of their tutoring sessions for self-analysis and for sharing during regularly scheduled Literacy Seminars conducted by each school's Reading Rescue Coordinator/Coach.

3) For Coordinators who serve as literacy coaches and in-house trainers
Each school's Reading Rescue Coordinator/ Coach must be a certified teacher who does not have a classroom of his or her own. In small schools where all teachers are assigned classrooms, the role is sometimes shared between two who may receive stipends for after-hours work. While not a full-time position, the Coordinator/Coach role is critical to the success of the model. Coaches are prepared as Reading Rescue school-based trainers in the third strand of professional development, which takes place primarily during week-long, intensive Summer Institutes attended by Coordinators and often by other staff as well. During Summer Institutes, Coordinators from high poverty schools across seven states learn a great deal from one another as well as from the leading researchers who are invited to report on their work. Journal articles are read and discussed, their understanding of effective literacy instruction is enhanced, and Coaches receive all the materials they will need to provide stimulating and effective professional development for their peers in monthly Literacy Seminars that are scheduled on each school's calendar. They also practice their skills as trainers in microteaching lessons that are critiqued by their peers.

Three-tier assessment and instruction with tutoring providing a safety net

The Literacy Trust, Inc. recommends a three-tier assessment and instruction model that includes both large and small groups and one-on-one tutoring for those students unlikely to develop fluent reading even when taught in a small group. The first tier of assessments are quick-to-give, easy-to-score screening measures administered to all first graders at the start of the school year, at mid-year, and again in the spring. Students' performance on these large group pencil-and paper-assessments are used to identify students who can be taught effectively in large and small groups and those who qualify to receive one-on-one instruction during the fall semesters. Midyear scores are used to identify students who will be tutored in the second semester and end-of-year scores provide a comparison between those tutored and students who were average and above average on the fall assessments.

Reading Rescue programs serve the lowest performing students within a school. The number who can be tutored during a school year depends on the number of trained tutors and the number of children each has time to assist. The Literacy Trust reports that when students receive consistent, daily, 30 minute tutoring sessions, the majority achieve grade level reading in one semester. Which students are served in the fall and which in the spring is a critical decision since the ability to tutor two cohorts requires that the majority of the first group catch-up and "graduate" by midyear Therefore, in the fall, students whose scores on the screening assessments place them at the top of the bottom quartile are tutored.

Although such students are typically at risk of literacy failure, their levels of emergent literacy are usually sufficient to enable them to accelerate with skilled tutoring. After a child is assigned to a tutor, a comprehensive battery of individual literacy assessments are administered. If a child's performance on these measures is strong, s/he may be judged not to need tutoring. Likewise, if a child is able to "zoom ahead" during initial tutoring sessions, the Coordinator, in consultation with the tutor, may determine that the child could make good progress in a small group. Reassignment to a group then opens up a tutoring slot for another child whose screening measures may not have suggested a problem but who in fact may be struggling in a group and holding the others back. In the fall semester, Reading Rescue recommends that the very lowest performing students be served in groups of four with instruction designed to develop the knowledge and skills that will enable them to accelerate in the second semester through tutoring.

Monitoring of program implementation and results

In years two and three of program implementation, Quality Assurance Visits from Literacy Trust consultants assist school administrators in the full implementation of the model. Program outcomes are monitored by The Literacy Trust and by each school's Reading Rescue Coordinator who receives training in data entry and interpretation during Summer Institutes. Each school's contract requires that the Coordinator prepare a yearly comprehensive report of Reading Rescue's implementation within the school including numbers served and test results, both informal and standardized. Preparing and presenting data-based reports during Summer Institutes, at staff meetings within their schools, for PTA's, School Board's, at professional conferences, etc. is an important aspect of each Coordinator's professional development.