Annual Monitoring of Reading Recovery: the Data for 2004

Executive Summary

The overall pattern of progress for students who entered Reading Recovery in 2004 remained the same as previous years, with 59 percent of students successfully completing Reading Recovery within the year and a further 24 percent judged to be responding well and expected to complete their series of individual sessions in 2005.

There was an increase in the absolute number of children entering Reading Recovery, which is consistent with the increased number of six-year-olds in New Zealand schools for 2004 (an increase of 2,555 six-year-olds between 2003 and 2004). However, there is now a slight but steady decline in the proportion of six-year-olds entering Reading Recovery (16% in 2000 and 2001, 15% in 2002 and 2003, and 14% in 2004). The proportion of schools operating Reading Recovery has similarly declined slightly over this period (69% in 2000 and 2001, 68% in 2002, 67% in 2003, and 64% in 2004).

In terms of school decile, the data show that Reading Recovery was more widely available in high decile schools than low decile schools. However, when available in low decile schools, there were more students participating and students had more time in Reading Recovery. While higher decile schools have slightly higher reading and writing scores (more so on entry than on exit), the gains that students made in lower decile schools were slightly greater than for students in higher decile schools for the Burt Word Reading Test and Writing Vocabulary Task. There was little difference in the Reading Recovery Instructional Text Level.

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