All students have the right to achieve their optimum educational outcome. However some students have poor reading skills and a reading accuracy and reading comprehension age that is far below their chronological age. The Bosco College Reading Recovery Programme is designed to help those student whose reading ability is hindering their academic progress. Boosting reading skills can also have a positive effect on the students’ achievements in other curriculum areas as well as improving the students’ confidence and self-esteem. In this way the Reading Recovery Programme aims to assist and encourage the development and realisation of such students’ full potential.
Guidelines
The Reading Recovery Programme comprises students following a structured reading programme is a one-to-one situation with a tutor. This process is monitored and supervised by the Reading Programme Coordinator. Students are withdrawn one period per day on three consecutive days for twenty days (one semester). Each session consists of passage reading and comprehension, phonics, sight words, probe lists and oral reading of a book of the student’s choice.
The Programme runs twice a year with a separate group for each semester. Year 10 students are targeted in the first semester so that poorer readers are given an opportunity to improve their reading skills prior to the School Certificate Reference Test. Year 7 (and, if numbers permit Year 8) are targeted for Semester 2 - The ELLA test and examiniation results are used to target students.
Students are pre-tested and post-tested using the Neale Analysis Reading Test and the Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests. These tests give appropriate analysis of a students reading ability in the areas of word attack skills, reading accuracy and fluency, word and passage comprehension. The Programme is individually designed to meet the specific needs of the students. It also provides the means to measure the improvements achieved as a result of the Programme.
To be successful the Programme requires the full support and cooperation of the parents as home-work/reading must be supervised each night. Parents are asked to sign a letter sent at the beginning of their child commencing the Programme and to complete a checklist each week.