Be An Advocate

Visits to Your Program

Get to know your legislators before you need to ask for their support. The most effective thing you can do to educate legislators is to arrange for them to visit your site and to observe a Reading Recovery lesson. Legislators need to understand what you are doing, where, why, and with whom. You may wish to invite an individual legislator or several legislators. A breakfast reception at a Reading Recovery site or a more formal publicized reception to honor specific legislators may be variations on the kind of visit described in the following paragraphs.
 
Preparation
Your visit with legislators will be successful if you remember to do the following in preparation for the visit:

• Call or write the legislators and ask them to accompany you on a tour of your program at their convenience. Send details, time, location, map, etc. The tour should be scheduled at a time when a Reading Recovery lesson or a Behind The Glass session can occur.
   
• Also provide background materials about Reading Recovery. Include RRCNA Executive Summary and a fact sheet from your own site.
   
• Offer to provide transportation to and from the visit.
   
• Provide refreshments (breakfast, lunch, coffee and cookies) if possible.
   
• Follow-up a letter of invitation with a telephone call.
   
• Set the date, time, and place and begin planning.
   
• Decide who will participate to represent Reading Recovery: Reading Recovery teacher, student, and parents; teacher leader and site coordinator; classroom teacher, school principal, administrator, and others. Choose carefully so as to provide the focus you wish for the visit. Be sure to indicate that the people present are constituents of the visiting legislator.
   
• Notify the selected participants of the date, time, and location of the visit.
   
• Specify the purpose of the visit and the agenda – who will say what when.
   
• Prepare written materials and share with all participants in advance if possible. Include information on the number of children served, the number of children whose programs have been discontinued, and follow-up information about the children’s progress beyond first grade. Also include the names, titles, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail addresses for all participants. Provide written brochures, videotapes, pamphlets as appropriate.
   
• Obtain permission from the student’s parents for their child’s participation.
   
• Arrange transportation for the parents and children as needed.
   
• Reconfirm all the arrangements with all participants, including the legislator, no later than 48 hours prior to the visit.
   

During the visit:

• Provide name tags for the legislator’s convenience.
   
• Review the agenda and provide background information about Reading Recovery.
   
• Observe the lesson.
   
• Discuss the lesson, including the legislator’s questions about the lesson and about the program as a whole.
   
• Provide time for the legislator to talk with the student and the parents about their experiences in Reading Recovery, the changes it has made in their lives, and their support (hopefully) for the expansion of the program to be available to every child who needs its support.
   
• Explain how Reading Recovery fits into the school’s overall educational plan for early literacy, how Reading Recovery is an early intervention safety net to catch students before they fail, how Reading Recovery is not a classroom program and how children benefit from good first teaching in the classroom, and how Reading Recovery compliments the classroom teacher’s efforts on behalf of children who need extra support.
   
• Prepare teachers and other participants to think proactively about issues and questions they want to address when interacting with the legislator.
   
• Respond to any questions the legislator may have. These may include how many children are served, how much Reading Recovery costs in your school, how retention has been affected, how referrals to special education have been affected, how teachers view the program, and similar questions.
   
• Keep the schedule as agreed upon in advance with the legislator unless the legislator specifically indicates that additional time and discussion are desired.
   
• Take photographs during the visit and submit a short article concerning the visit to the local newspaper. (Black and white photographs provide greatest clarity for publicity purposes, but many media outlets now can use color photographs.)
   
• Thank the legislator for participating in the visit.
   

Following the Visit:

• Write a thank you letter to the legislator and to every one who participated in the visit.
   
• Provide any follow up information requested.
   
• Issue an open invitation for the legislator to return for another visit and to consider yourself as a resource on Reading Recovery and early literacy intervention.
   

(back to "Take Action")

(on to Organizing Advisory Groups)