News release

Province Welcomes Renowned Reading Expert

Education (July 1999 - March 2013)

The founder of Reading Recovery, an internationally renowned program to help correct reading problems in young children, is in Halifax this week to meet with teachers and educational officials.

Dr. Marie Clay, a New Zealand educator and researcher, is working with the Department of Education and the Canadian Institute of Reading Recovery to develop a French-language version of her program. The project will allow Reading Recovery services to be extended to francophone students in Nova Scotia as early as this fall.

"Reaching children early is very important in the development of literacy," said Education Minister Jane Purves. "Reading Recovery helps children to learn to read and write before major problems start. This project has the potential to help many thousands of children, here and elsewhere."

The three-year project will see a complete redevelopment and translation of Dr. Clay's influential work, An Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement, first published in 1993. The product could eventually be used by francophone students around the world.

Reading Recovery is a short-term, early intervention program for young readers who are experiencing difficulty in their first year of reading instruction. These children often fall behind their classmates and require long-term remedial help; some never learn to read.

Dr. Clay's Reading Recovery program has helped hundreds of thousands of young children around the world. Dr. Clay is also acknowledged as a world leader in research on early learning and the prevention of learning disorders.

Dr. Clay is in Halifax for two days this week to meet with project organizers, Reading Recovery teachers and school board officials. She will attend a Reading Recovery session with Ms. Purves today.


NOTE TO EDITORS: Dr. Marie Clay will be available today for media interviews at 3 p.m. at the Robert K. Turner Elementary School, 141 Circassion Dr., Cole Harbour.