READING RECOVERY NOT EFFECTIVE AND COSTLY
RDate sent:      	Mon, 20 Mar 2000 21:22:53 -0600
From:           	Mike McKeown <mike_mckeown@qm.salk.edu>
                       Subject:                              Time:  2:53 PM
   OFFICE MEMO         RR Report from SDCS                   Date:  3/20/00


FROM:  Mike McKeown


TO:  Those interested in effective reading instruction.




Enclosed in Word 5 for Macintosh format is a San Diego Unified School 
District report entitled


Reading Recovery Research Project  by Jerome O. Torres, Board Policy Analyst.


This study takes advantage of California's recent STAR test scores to 
compare SAT9 test scores for second or third grade students who were in 
Reading Recovery in first grade, or a comparison group of non-Reading 
Recovery students from the same student populations.  For Spanish speaking 
students, results from Aprenda were used instead of SAT9.


This allows a test of the claim that students who successfully complete 
Reading Recovery will be at a level comparable to their classmates who did 
not require Reading Recovery and that this improved performance will carry 
through to later years.


The conclusions from the data on second or third grade scores:


"SAT 9 test scores indicate first grade students who successfully completed 
the English version of Reading Recovery, on average, scored lower than the 
control group of non-participating students used in the internal studies 
conducted by the District's RR/DLL Program.


"The Aprenda 2 test scores indicate first grade students who successfully 
completed the Spanish version of Reading Recovery, on average, scored lower 
than the control group of non-participating students used in the internal 
studies conducted by the District's RR/DLL Program.


"Likewise, the percentage of first grade students scoring above the 50th 
percentile was higher for those comprising the control group than those 
students who successfully completed either version of Reading Recovery."


There were also significant budget implications.  In 1998-1999 Reading 
Recovery cost ~$8,000 per student, for a total in the district of 
$8,148,149.  This consumes $20.4% of the Title 1 budget.  As the report notes:


"The high per capita cost to deliver Reading Recovery to address the lowest 
20% of performing first grade students precludes elementary school sites 
from enlisting alternative strategies that may (or may not) prove more 
cost-effective and cost-efficient."