Executive Summary

Key Findings

• The majority (82%) of students who exited Reading Recovery in 2011 were successfully discontinued from the intervention (an increase from 78% in 2009 and 80% in 2010). A further 12% of students were referred on for specialist reading support (down slightly from 13% in 2009 and 2010), five per cent left their school before their lessons could be discontinued (down from seven per cent in 2009 and equal to five per cent in 2010), and one per cent were responding well but were unable to continue their lessons (down from two per cent in 2009 and 2010).
• The majority of successfully discontinued students (91%) were reading texts at, or above, the Turquoise level of Ready to Read (the New Zealand Curriculum Reading Standard for "After two years at school") when they exited Reading Recovery. The standard was designed to be used for all children after two years at school. The majority (76%) of successfully discontinued students had not yet completed two years of schooling when they exited Reading Recovery. These results should be interpreted with care as classroom teachers will use a range of evidence when making judgements about student achievement in relation to the Standards.
• Data collected from the Burt Word Reading Test and the Writing Vocabulary Task (Clay) provided additional evidence that on average, successfully discontinued students were reading and writing at the average level expected for their age group when they exited the intervention.
• Girls, NZ European/Pākehā and Asian students, and students from higher decile schools (deciles 8 to 10) were more likely to have successfully discontinued their series of lessons than boys, Māori and Pasifika students, and students from decile 1 to 3 schools. It is important to note, however, that many students (ie, more than 75%) in these latter groups did achieve the levels required to successfully discontinue their Reading Recovery lessons.
• Just under two-thirds (64%) of state and state-integrated schools with six-year-old students offered Reading Recovery in 2011 (slightly less than 66% in 2010). Three-quarters (75%) of the total six-year-old population in state and state-integrated schools attended schools where Reading Recovery was offered (same as 75% in 2010). The proportion of schools offering Reading Recovery and access to Reading Recovery at the student level has decreased slightly (by three per cent and four per cent respectively) over the last 10 years.
• Fourteen per cent (n=7,895) of students attending state and state-integrated schools entered Reading Recovery for the first time in 2011. In total there were 10,745 students involved with Reading Recovery during the year (includes students who were carried over from 2010 and who transferred from another school). Although the number of students in Reading Recovery was slightly lower than it was in 2010 (11,040 students), the proportion of six-year-olds entering the intervention remained consistent with data from previous years.
• Consistent with trends identified in previous years:
• Reading Recovery was more likely to be implemented in higher decile schools than in lower decile schools. However lower decile schools that did offer Reading Recovery had proportionately more students enter the intervention than did higher decile schools.
• Access to Reading Recovery was lowest in the Auckland region, where a large proportion of Māori and Pasifika learners are enrolled.
• Māori and Pasifika students were less likely to attend schools where Reading Recovery was offered, compared with the total six-year-old population. However, Māori and Pasifika students from schools that did offer Reading Recovery were more likely than New Zealand European/Pākehā and Asian students to be involved in the intervention.