Early Intervention
in Reading
The Early Intervention in Reading (EIR) program, developed by Barbara Taylor of the University of Minnesota, provides an in-class alternative to traditional pull-out remedial reading programs. It consists of supplemental instruction provided by the first-grade classroom teacher rather than by other personnel. The program has been tested in several locales and has proven that teachers can intervene to support struggling readers.
Taylor, Short, Shearer, and Frye (1995) state the purpose of EIR:
"To accelerate the learning of the lowest achieving readers by providing them with twenty minutes of daily supplemental reading instruction by the classroom teacher, in addition to the regular heterogeneous classroom reading lessons." (p. 160)
Children meet daily in a small group with the classroom teacher. Instruction consists of working with students as they read aloud, and focusing on phonemic awareness, phonics instruction, word recognition, and writing within the context of the story. Reading selections generally are quite short so that children can read the entire story. Stories and retellings of picture books are divided into four categories according to their length, and children progress through these reading materials during the school year. By late February or early March, children are reading independently and working together in pairs.
Taylor, Short, Shearer, and Frye (1995) note the benefits of EIR:
"The results of EIR are not as dramatic as those reported for other, more intensive interventions (e.g., Reading Recovery, Success for All). This is not too surprising, however, because EIR does not provide individual tutoring, and the overall intensity of the intervention is actually quite modest. Nevertheless, EIR works well in schools with quite different approaches to first-grade reading instruction and might be seen as an initial effort in rethinking beginning reading instruction in almost any school. ... The program is inexpensive, relatively easy to implement, and has been viewed favorably by classroom teachers who have provided the intervention. Most importantly, the program has helped many low-achieving emergent readers get off to a better start in reading in first grade than would have been the case without their participation in the program." (p. 174)
