Tutoring increases the actual number of children who read within the average range of their first-grade cohort and decreases the number of children who need extra help. Reading Recovery teachers understand the critical nature of helping children hear phonemes in words and recognize and use spelling patterns. During lessons, students apply sound-letter knowledge while reading and writing. Reading Recovery teachers give specific and explicit attention to letters, sounds, and words, both while writing extended text and as direct instruction within each lesson. Reading Recovery recognizes that decoding must be purposeful.
Teachers help children learn to use connections between letters and sounds.
Students use their knowledge of how words work in order to solve problems with difficult words while maintaining comprehension. Reading Recovery was not designed to take the place of a comprehensive plan for literacy but to provide a safety net within a comprehensive literacy plan. However, many educators in the United States have discovered that Reading Recovery becomes a catalyst to identify and make needed changes. Reading Recovery is not aligned with any specific classroom approach. For decades, educators and parents have debated the best approach for teaching children to read.