Due to the success of Reading Recovery a classroom Intervention called Literacy Lift off was designed by Reading Recovery Teachers to incorporate the elements of the one to one intervention into a whole class approach. This was enabled due to their experiences of working with the hardest to teach children in their school. In this way all children can receive high quality Reading and Writing instruction at their appropriate level. Reading Recovery teachers through the country drive this initiative in their school with support from their teaching colleagues. All children are reading and writing at their appropriate level. This means that instead of just getting instruction on the core reading texts for their class,children are receiving instruction on approximately 70 booksat their instructional level. Due to this all children are receiving the benefits of good literacy practice and literacy levels in schools are gradually rising.
Literacy Lift off is a huge commitment to schools as it requires all teachers to work closely together in a team situation. It is tailored for the different ability groupings in the class and allows children to learn at their own pace.
Literacy Lift off has proved to be a useful and effective programme in schools. It provides support for all children and allows classroom teachers to differentiate their teaching in a highly effective and organised manner. It also highlights veryquickly those children who need the specialised individualised programme of Reading Recovery. Literacy Lift off does produce accelerated learning in most children. It will help but will not fully support those with more specific learning needs. These are the children that need the individualised Reading Recovery.
Reading Recovery is a vital and necessary National programme which would benefit all schools in developing good literacy practice. Not only does it provide schools with the ability to work effectively with the weakest children on a one to one basis it also enables all children through the class room programme Literacy Lift off to engage in high quality literacy activities. Reading Recovery Teachers are highly trained and become Literacy Leaders in their schools. It is most effective when both programmes run alongside each other. With both programmes working hand in hand no child should be left behind.
