UTC Careers

University Career Opportunities in Reading Recovery

The Reading Recovery Trainer
Trainers are faculty members working at university based centers for training Reading Recovery teacher leaders. University trainers have broad responsibilities that include the following:  

• training teacher leaders in their yearlong full-time post-masters graduate study,
• collaborating with other faculty members and schools toward comprehensive school reform through early literacy initiatives,
• providing leadership for Reading Recovery at the local, state, national, and international levels,
• implementing, developing, and expanding Reading Recovery,
• conducting research and program evaluation, and
• directing a Reading Recovery university training center.

Yearlong Study to Become a University Trainer
Becoming a Reading Recovery university trainer requires a yearlong post-doctoral residency program. In the United States, the residency program is offered at The Ohio State University or Texas Woman’s University. Tuition and expenses to become a university trainer are typically paid by universities seeking Reading Recovery-trained faculty. The Web site for the Reading Recovery Council of North America (www.readingrecovery.org) lists postings of Reading Recovery trainer positions available. The graduate course work includes intensive study on a wide range of literacy theories and research:

• emerging literacy,
• theories of literacy processing,
• literacy assessment, 
• oral language development, 
• reading comprehension, 
• written language development, 
• phonological awareness and orthographic development, 
• theories of teaching and learning, including cultural influences, 
• prevention and early intervention, 
• learning disabilities, and 
• English language development.

In addition to the course work, becoming a university trainer includes clinical and field experience with emphasis on the following: 

• teaching four Reading Recovery students, 
• connecting theory and instructional procedures, 
• systematic observation of students’ reading and writing behaviors, 
• working with adult learners to increase understandings and foster change, 
• establishing and maintaining quality Reading Recovery teacher training sites, 
• advocacy and communication, 
• collecting and analyzing data on Reading Recovery program implementation,
• writing and disseminating reports of data, and
• leadership skills, including work as an instructional leader and change agent.

Teacher Education and Staff Development in Reading Recovery
Reading Recovery is widely known for the high quality of professional development it provides at all levels. University trainers provide dynamic leadership for training teacher leaders and overseeing teacher education in Reading Recovery.

Reading Recovery makes extensive use of a one-way mirror through which teachers or teacher leaders observe colleagues working with children. Participants put their observations and analyses into words, and through this process they sharpen their observational powers and build new understandings to inform teaching decisions.

All Reading Recovery professionals teach children as part of their professional requirements. This includes university trainers, teacher leaders, and teachers.

A three-tiered model of staff development is key to Reading Recovery’s success. University trainers provide professional development for teacher leaders, then teacher leaders provide professional development for Reading Recovery teachers.

The course content for teacher leaders focuses on five content areas. 

1. Teaching children. Teacher leaders engage in diagnostic teaching of individual children, working with multiple cases for a range of experiences. They learn procedures especially designed for working with children selected for Reading Recovery while connecting their practice to theoretical understandings. 
    
2. Teaching teachers. Teacher leaders learn how to provide the initial and ongoing training experiences for Reading Recovery teachers. University trainers work alongside teacher leader trainees through guided on-site experiences. Special attention is given to the many aspects of working with adult learners. 
    
3. Implementation in Reading Recovery. Teacher leaders develop problem-solving skills and learn how to identify and address challenges to implementation. They learn how to create awareness, work collaboratively with stakeholders, and cultivate support for implementing Reading Recovery at the school, district, site, and state levels. 
    
4. Literacy theories and research. Teacher leaders examine the theoretical foundations underlying oral language development, aspects of reading and writing processes, and theories of teaching and learning. 
    
5. Issues in literacy difficulties. Teacher leaders examine the concept of prevention rather than remediation as a response to individual differences in literacy learning. In addition, teacher leaders investigate issues that have arisen in the field of literacy difficulties. 

The course content for Reading Recovery teachers focuses on teaching children and includes: 

• careful observation and recording of children’s reading and writing behaviors to build a theory of the reading and writing processes, 

Three Tiers for Reading Recovery Teacher Education and Staff Development 

1. University Trainers at the University Training Center Level
   In university training centers, university trainers train teacher leaders, provide ongoing professional development, offer technical assistance to Reading Recovery sites, and work with children. 
    
2. Teacher Leaders at the Teacher Training Site Level
   At the school district or training site level, teacher leaders work with children and train teachers. More than 500 training sites operate in the United States. 
    
3. Teachers at the School Level 
   At the school level, Reading Recovery students receive individual lessons from a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher. More than 10,000 elementary schools in the United States have implemented Reading Recovery. Reading Recovery operates in 20% of public elementary schools with first grades and is spread across 49 states. 

• learning a set of procedures that have been shown to be effective in helping struggling young readers, 
• making teaching decisions about use of the procedures based on observation and analysis, 
• learning about how to implement Reading Recovery in their schools, and  
• collecting required data for monitoring and evaluation. 

University trainers and teacher leaders also receive practical experience and theoretical grounding in how adults learn. This understanding is key to why Reading Recovery is an effective teacher training program. 

Theory and Practice Integrated in Reading Recovery 
Reading Recovery offers a unique opportunity for academics who believe that educational theory should be grounded in practice. This tradition is rooted in Reading Recovery’s earliest development by educational researcher and child psychologist Marie Clay. Dr. Clay observed children’s behavior and identified how successful readers and writers work. Children who have difficulty with literacy learning have diverse and interacting deficits and strengths. Building on a child’s strengths, Reading Recovery designs individual instruction to accelerate learning. University trainers have unique opportunities to examine the relationship between theory and practice as they teach beginning readers and teach Reading Recovery teacher leaders at the university level. 

University trainers work closely with schools and other university-based training programs. This school-university partnership benefits both the university and the school by assuring that lowest performing students have expert teachers and that university students have continuing practical experience in schools. Collaboration also provides opportunities to work toward comprehensive school reform through implementation of Reading Recovery within the framework of a comprehensive literacy approach. 

Research Opportunities in Reading Recovery 
University trainers guide research that is essential to Reading Recovery’s success with the children it serves. Trainers conduct research in areas related to early literacy acquisition, teacher education, professional development, and systems innovation in schools. Specific research topics have included adoption and implementation of Reading Recovery, metacognition in young readers, achievement motivation and attribution theory, coaching in teacher education, and phonemic awareness in Reading Recovery students. Trainers design their research both individually and collaboratively, with faculty members or with university trainers at other centers. 

The extensive program evaluation design that is built into Reading Recovery offers additional opportunities for research. Reading Recovery teachers, teacher leaders, and administrators at every site systematically collect and report data on every child served to the National Data Evaluation Center located at The Ohio State University. Since Reading Recovery’s beginning in the United States in 1984, participating schools have collected data on every child served by Reading Recovery and reported results for a national database. This national database of more than one million children has informed Reading Recovery research, made Reading Recovery accountable for its outcomes to schools and funding sources, and informed teaching and implementation decisions. 

A Network of Literacy Scholars 
Reading Recovery’s university trainers are part of an organized national and international network of literacy scholars. In North America, university trainers meet twice annually with other members of the North American Trainers Group (NATG). The group provides leadership to Reading Recovery in North America and provides high-quality continuous learning for Reading Recovery educators. Professional development at NATG meetings has included scholars such as Marie Clay, David Wood, Anthony Bryk, and Andy Hargreaves. 

In addition to the NATG sessions, university trainers meet twice during a three-year period with members of the International Reading Recovery Trainers Organization. This organization, whose membership includes all university trainers from the five countries where teacher leaders are trained, provides leadership and high-quality, continuous learning for Reading Recovery educators. Outside formal meeting times, an active Internet list serve and regular conference schedule offer valuable opportunities to network with other Reading Recovery literacy scholars. Trainers often travel to other states and regions to consult with Reading Recovery sites in other communities. 

Trainers also take advantage of the network of scholars at their individual institutions by serving on faculty committees, teaching courses outside the Reading Recovery arena, and conducting collaborative research. This networking further assists the trainer in expanding the professional network of peers and colleagues. 

Leadership Opportunities 
One of the key roles of a university trainer is to inform policy makers, the public, and the university community about Reading Recovery and how it helps both children and schools. The university trainer oversees reporting for states and regions and works with the National Data Evaluation Center to create reports that inform decision making. University trainers also meet with elected officials to provide information and discuss the need for supportive legislation and funding. 

In addition, trainers can participate with schools, districts, and states to enhance the overall effort to reform schools through comprehensive school reform. Reading Recovery operates as the first-grade safety net in a school’s comprehensive literacy program. 

Reading Recovery 
Reading Recovery is a highly effective short-term intervention of one-to-one tutoring for low achieving first graders. The intervention is most effective when it is available to all students who need it and is used as a supplement to good classroom teaching. Individual students receive a half-hour lesson each school day for 12 to 20 weeks with a specially trained Reading Recovery teacher. As soon as students can read within the average range of their classroom and demonstrate that they can continue to achieve, their lessons are discontinued, and new students begin instruction. 

There are two positive outcomes for Reading Recovery students: 

• Over 17 years of Reading Recovery in North America, 81% of those students who completed the full 12- to 20-week series of lessons and 59% of all Reading Recovery students were able to demonstrate achievement within the average performance band of their class. Follow-up studies indicate that most Reading Recovery students also did well on norm-referenced tests and continued to maintain their gains in later years. 
   
• The few students who are still having difficulty after a full series of lessons are referred for further evaluation. They may be candidates for longer-term programs.