In the News: Henry May

Several outlets recently featured  Henry May’s evaluation of Reading Recovery, a popular literacy program for elementary school students. May is an associate professor in the College of Education and Human Development’s (CEHD) School of Education and director of CEHD’s Center for Research in Education and Social Policy.

In his study, May and his co-authors examined the effectiveness of the Reading Recovery program. They found that students who received the program’s intensive one-on-one help as struggling first-graders had lower test scores years later than a similar cohort that didn’t participate in the program. May suggests that the Reading Recovery program may not be as effective as proponents claim and could potentially be harmful in the long term.

“Even though those early impacts were positive and big, long-term impacts are actually negative, suggesting that the kids may have been better off if they had not gotten Reading Recovery at all,” says May.

Following the lead of 10 other states, Kentucky lawmakers following the lead of 10 other states have proposed new legislation to ban instruction associated with Reading Recovery.

News mentions 

Could Reading Recovery be banned in Kentucky schools? These politicians hope so

Cincinnati Enquirer, March 5, 2024

Could Reading Recovery be banned in Kentucky schools? These politicians hope so

AOL.com, March 5, 2024

Could Reading Recovery be banned in Kentucky schools? These politicians hope so

Yahoo! News, March 5, 2024

Only a quarter of federally funded education innovations benefited students, report says

KQED, March 18, 2024

PROOF POINTS: Only a quarter of federally funded education innovations benefited students, report says

The Hechinger Report, March 18, 2024