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(March 19, 2007) The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), a branch of the United States Department of Education (USDE) and the Institute for Education Sciences (IES), today released its 3-year independent review of the experimental research on Reading Recovery. The evidence that Reading Recovery is an intervention based on scientific research is now documented and acknowledged by the USDE and IES.
"We are pleased that the What Works Clearinghouse has recognized Reading Recovery's strong scientific research base," said Jady Johnson, executive director of the Reading Recovery Council of North America (RRCNA). "The announcement confirms what teachers, parents, and school administrators across the U.S. know — Reading Recovery works!"
The WWC found that Reading Recovery, a one-to-one tutoring program for the lowest-achieving first graders, has positive effects on students' alphabetics skills and general reading achievement. A finding of positive effects is the WWC's highest rating. They found potentially positive effects, their next highest level of evidence, on fluency and comprehension outcomes.
The report includes an improvement index to reflect the strength of the Reading Recovery intervention. Scores on this index can range from -50 to +50. The average improvement index scores for Reading Recovery students show large and impressive effect sizes: +34 for alphabetics (phonemic awareness, print awareness, letter knowledge, and phonics); +46 for fluency; +14 for comprehension (vocabulary and reading comprehension); and +32 for general reading achievement.
The WWC conclusions are based on five research studies, four that meet WWC's highest level of evidence standards and one study that meets their standards with reservations. The WWC requires only two independent, well-designed clinical trials to establish a positive causal finding.
This review focuses on K-3 reading interventions that address student outcomes in four domains: alphabetics, reading fluency, comprehension, and general reading achievement. View effectiveness ratings for the 24 programs, including Reading Recovery, the only intervention that is effective across all four domains.