She laid the foundation for the techniques in detecting early reading and writing problems of children. In the mid-1970's, Dr. Clay worked with a team of experienced teachers in New Zealand and was able to develop program procedures and conducted field trials. Because of the success of the field trials, New Zealand adopted the Reading Recovery Program. This was the pilot program which led to the nationwide adoption of the Reading Recovery Program in the early 1980's. The United States was introduced to Reading Recovery in 1984. Over the next decade Reading Recovery sites opened worldwide.
Teachers are selected via criteria. Typically, teachers must have a minimum three years of teaching experience, have primary level experience, and have recommendations from the principal and administrators. The teachers are then put through a special in-service program for over a year. This special program allows the teachers to teach without losing time in providing services to the children. .
According to program guidelines, students are selected on the basis of their reading abilities, usually falling in the lowest twenty percent of their class. The students are primarily all in the same age group- first grade. Teachers select students that they feel will benefit the most from the early intervention (Glynn, Bethune, Crooks, Ballard & Smith, 1992). Students are measured by letter identification, word test, concepts of print, writing vocabulary, hearing sounds in words and text reading level.
Once the students have been identified and selected, a parental consent form is sent to the parents of each child. This is done because parental consent is needed for participation in the Reading Recovery Program. The students are tested at entry to the program or within one month of entering the program using a standard diagnostic test. This assessment is to determine the student's reading level at entry.
