Administrators Write About Reading Recovery

Craig Dougherty
Superintendent, Sheridan District #2, Wyoming

I am writing this letter as a passionate educator and administrator who cares deeply about all children receiving the opportunity to become what they want in life. I have worked with many educators who are dedicated toward reaching each and every child they teach, but it is without question that I find Reading Recovery teachers to be those that get the job done in the most effective manner.

My own experience as a teacher has been in working with at-risk students, especially American Indians and Alaskans who struggled in reading. I was extremely frustrated to have a child that would fail to read adequately and my frustration was equally shared by teachers when I was an administrator. We all realized that reading is the key to a successful school experience and without that important ingredient, school failure seemed to inevitably follow.
 
That is, until Reading Recovery answered the call! This program basically told teachers that if they wanted to learn and experience the hardest and most difficult training they would experience as an educator, they would be able to get students to read and read well! Instead of looking into the vacant eyes of children you knew we were not reaching, Reading Recovery children were excited and full of life, with their new gift of becoming a reader.

This changed my life in how I perceived those children who struggled. It wasn't their lack of intelligence or experience that prevented them from becoming a reader. It was teachers who were highly skilled in learning how to adjust their teaching toward the child's strengths. Reading Recovery has this single aphorism that guides their work: If my child fails to read, I fail: If my child reads, I succeed.

In our society often ruled by blame, Reading Recovery simply says, give me any child, no matter the intelligence, nationality, ethnicity, or creed and I will teach that child to read. All children will be taken from where they are and the vast majority have the skills to independently read on their own for the rest of their lives. Reading Recovery has sent children into the world as learners with the best and most productive gift of all – reading.



John Kelly
Superintendent, Boerne Independent School District, Texas

Approximately 15 years ago, I was invited to a demonstration of the Reading Recovery program then being demonstrated in Northside ISD. We stood in a specially designed room with a large one way mirror that viewed the small classroom setting where this program takes place.

A group of reading teachers were huddled together in the same viewing room with me and were taking notes and providing commentary as a teacher worked one on one behind the glass with a first grade student. After a few minutes, it was crystal clear to me that this program had great promise and led inevitably to great results. Every mannerism of the teacher and every utterance by the student were part of the experience - all designed to ensure that the child made rapid progress on reading skills. I was very impressed.

A few months later, I attended a meeting of all the San Antonio superintendents. At one point, a discussion began about the superior attributes of Reading Recovery. I remember superintendents from the two largest districts in San Antonio extolling its virtues and calling it the very best reading program they had ever encountered.

Unfortunately, as superintendent of a smaller school district located 60 miles from San Antonio, I was unable to attract the specially trained Reading Recovery teachers to that district. But in 1998, I became superintendent of the Boerne ISD and learned to my delight that Reading Recovery was already in place here. Since that time, we have maintained and grown the program so that it has now touched hundreds of students.

Last semester, all of this became quite personal for me. My 7th child, Matthew, was born with various complications and placed in early childhood education when he was 3 years old. He is now a first grader and a struggling reader. He was placed in the program and began making almost overnight progress. I was invited by our district Reading Coordinator Betsy Ilgenfritz, who is also a Reading Recovery trainer, to observe our child Matthew through the one way glass at one of our elementary schools. My wife and I were both invited and most impressed and gratified by the work of the teacher, Brenda Hepler, and by the small group of teachers who sat with us and critiqued the lesson taught.

I'm told that most districts have greatly curtailed or eliminated Reading Recovery because its structure requires one on one teaching and as such is relatively expensive to fund. But here in Boerne ISD, I'm proud to say that our program continues to thrive and our Reading Recovery trainer is now sought after by other San Antonio districts - for her expertise with this program.

Thus on a personal level, I am grateful for the program - and as superintendent, I have witnessed its profound effect upon a new generation of first grade readers in Boerne ISD.

Superintendent's Message originally published in "FOCUS: BISD District News," Vol. 11, Issue 1, Spring 2008. Posted with permission.