Spokane School District
Spokane, Washington
Spokane School District is the third largest district in the state
of Washington. Reading Recovery serves children in its 19 Title I
schools. Reading Recovery in Spokane began in 1997. In 12 years of
successful implementation, Spokane has trained 41 Reading Recovery
teachers and has served 2,190 students. More than 90% of Reading
Recovery students who complete the intervention meet grade-level
expectations by the end of first grade.
Currently, Spokane has 31 active Reading Recovery teachers and 3
teacher leaders. Each school year, Reading Recovery teachers work
with more than 200 Reading Recovery students and an additional 1,200
students in small groups or classrooms.
A variety of dynamic efforts work together to make Spokane highly
effective. Reading Recovery receives strong district support from
the Title I director, the literacy coordinator, the Title I school
principals and the district directors. Ongoing collaboration with
colleagues through continuing contact sessions enables the team to
read articles and study current professional resources to align
their instruction with research-based best practices. Reading
Recovery teachers value colleague-cluster visits at their own school
sites three times per year because it allows the teachers to problem
solve together in order to accelerate struggling learners.
Reading Recovery in Spokane works to increase systemwide
intervention for all struggling students. Teacher leaders have
worked with Dr. Linda Dorn and Dr. Barbara Schubert at University of
Little Rock Arkansas to study and implement the Comprehensive
Literacy and Intervention Model from 2006–2009. Reading Recovery
expanded the teachers’ role to work with small intervention groups
(3–4 students). They work with previous Reading Recovery students
and any students not meeting grade-level expectations. Reading
Recovery teachers work closely with classroom teachers to layer
intervention and provide seamless instruction, and teacher leaders
facilitate professional development for literacy coaches throughout
the school district.
New projects for this school year include a Reading Recovery
Intervention Wall, enhancing communication with classroom teachers
by reporting weekly acceleration on progress monitoring forms, and
training for special education teachers to provide quality
intervention for struggling students.
Spokane Reading Recovery teachers use a
district intervention wall to monitor student
progress. Teachers meet each month to
move student cards and analyze their
strengths and needs.
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