Reading Recovery is a one-on-one tutoring program designed to help low-achieving first-graders learn to read. It is based on three principles: Reading takes place in the mind, children learn to read by reading, and reading and writing are interconnected (Herman & Stringfield, 1995).
A special diagnostic tool identifies students for the program. Each student works 30 minutes daily with a teacher trained in the Reading Recovery technique, reading new and familiar stories and writing a sentence for an ongoing story. The teacher then cuts up the student's sentence, and the student practices recreating it. Teachers focus on the student's strengths, not deficits, and tailor each lesson based on their observations the day before. Students learn strategies that help them to read and comprehend on their own.
For more information, refer to the online article Reading Recovery (Thomas, 1992).
