Reading skills of elementary
students being strengthened
PHILIPSBURG--In an effort to strengthen the reading skills of elementary school students, five public primary schools are currently involved in a Reading Recovery programme for the 2007/2008 academic year.
Reading Recovery is an early intervention literacy programme for children. “Typically, these would be first grade (cycle one, year three) students who have the most difficulty in reading and writing,” it was stated in a press release.
Schools participating in the programme are: Ruby Labega Primary; Dr. Martin Luther King Jr; Leonard Conner School; Oranje School, and Genevieve de Weever School. There is one reading recovery teacher at each school.
Reading Recovery has been implemented in New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Canada, Bermuda and Anguilla.
Students are referred by their class teacher, tested and selected for the programme. Specially trained, certified teachers meet with each student every day, during school hours, on a one-to-one basis for a thirty-minute lesson.
The goal of the programme is to teach children strategies that will allow them to become independent readers and writers. Studies have shown that most Reading Recovery students maintain their literacy growth, even after the programme has ended.
“Reading Recovery prevents long-term reading difficulties for many children. A report commissioned by the KPMG Foundation in the United Kingdom reports the Long-Term Costs of Literacy Difficulties and estimates substantial cost savings in unnecessary social services, health costs, corrections costs, and increased productivity,” the release stated.
“The Island Government is dedicated to making sure that the needs of our students are met, especially those who need that extra assistance and towards this end has invested in the programme for St. Maarten’s students,” Education Commissioner Sarah Wescot-Williams was quoted as saying in the release.
