Lawrence schools to use $60,000 grant to expand Reading Recovery program
Aiming to ensure that elementary school students can read before they leave the third grade, township school officials plan to expand the district’s Reading Recovery program during the next school year.
By: Lea Kahn
The Lawrence Township Education Foundation recently awarded the district $60,000 for the Reading Recovery program, said Bruce McGraw, assistant superintendent for curriculum. The Reading Recovery program was initiated in Lawrence schools during the 1995-96 school year.
The LTEF grant will be used to train four first-grade teachers in the Reading Recovery program techniques, Dr. McGraw said. There also is money in the proposed 2001-02 school district budget to enable one teacher to become a Reading Recovery program trainer, he said.
"Our plan is to train every first-grade teacher in Reading Recovery strategies," Dr. McGraw said. "It will give the teachers new strategies in teaching all of the students to read. It will give the teachers an additional tool."
The Reading Recovery program recommends having one program teacher for every two first-grade classrooms, he said. That standard has been met at the Slackwood Elementary School, but not at the Ben Franklin, Eldridge Park or Lawrenceville elementary schools, he said.
Reading Recovery teachers work one-on-one with students who have been identified as needing extra help, Dr. McGraw said. The teacher works with each student for about 30 minutes.
The expanded Reading Recovery program meshes with Superintendent Max Riley’s goal of having every child learn to read by the end of third grade.
"My goal is to have every child learn to read by the end of first grade. Nobody gets out of the third grade without being able to read. All first-grade teachers will be certified in the Reading Recovery program over the next four years," Dr. Riley said.