REGIONAL READING PROGRAM HELPS FIRST-GRADERS

"Reading is a complex process and some kids don't take to it readily," said Linda Robert, a reading recovery teacher-leader at Clippard Elementary School in Cape Girardeau. "We teach a love of reading, and many kids become fluent readers."

Robert works with teachers in 28 school districts in Southeast Missouri. She helps implement a first-grade intervention program called "Reading Recovery." Robert says the program is not remedial -- it is for children who are struggling in reading and writing.

"We catch them early and tutor them one-on-one. We teach them strategies to become good readers," Robert said.

The program is in every school in Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City and is in many other schools in the region. The program is based on the notion that children should be taught to be problem solvers, and positive results should be obtained within 12 to 20 weeks.

The program was written by Dr. Marie Clay of New Zealand in the late 1970s. It was introduced into the United States 11 years ago and has been in Southeast Missouri schools the past five years.

Robert, who received a master's degree in elementary education from Southeast Missouri State University in 1978, says the program is meant to catch first-graders "who are falling through the cracks," so by the time they are second-graders they are reading at that level of competency.

"Some kids can't learn well with a phonics-based system and some can't learn well with a whole language system, so we try to blend it all together.

"We always stress that the meaning of the words come first. We go from the known to the unknown, from words they know to words they don't."

Robert says that every day students in the program read four short books and write a sentence within 30 minutes. They also work on letter identification skills. The average program is 60 lessons given in 12 to 20 weeks.

The books show pictures and a sentence describing the picture is written underneath. For example, one book shows a person eating honey and the sentence says, "I like to eat honey." Robert says students point to each word as they say it in order to train their eyes to focus on the print.

The program's success rate is considered to be high, says Robert. Last year about 500 kids were in "Reading Recovery" and about 390 of those improved their reading skills and caught up with the first-graders not in the program.

"We've done follow-up studies of these kids when they are in third and fourth grade and have found they are doing well," Robert said.

It takes considerable training to become a teacher in the program and there are only two teacher-leaders in the area: Robert and Jeanine Dobbins, both of Cape Girardeau.

This year seven teachers are in training at Southeast Missouri State University and eight are in training at Farmington. Classes are held one night a week for a year. To make sure teachers are not "sliding away from the concept," refresher courses are required in subsequent years.

There are about 60 "Reading Recovery" teachers in Southeast Missouri. They are in schools from DeSoto in the northern part of the region to Caruthersville and Kennett in the southern part.

Robert says if students do not successfully complete the program, they likely need further intervention. They could be retained in the first grade or given learning disabled attention.

"This program can be cost effective for school districts," said Robert. "And we hope that eventually it will cut down on drop-out rates."