Rave Reviews for RAVE-O Reading Program

The East Haddam Elementary school is utilizing a new reading intervention program to aid students struggling with language and reading comprehension development. The program, RAVE-O, is based on a five year study that was done through Tufts University's Center for Reading and Language Research. 

David Scata, Director of Pupil Services, spent time at Tufts to learn about the program and determine if it would be a beneficial tool to utilize in the East Haddam school system. According to Scata, "what initially interested me in the program was the [amount] of research that went into the development of the program and how [well] the researchers tied it into the brain and the process of how children learn."

The RAVE-O program is "an exceptional tool that works nicely at the phonics level and is designed for students in grades one through three", Scata says.

RAVE-O stands for retrieval, automaticity, vocabulary elaboration, and orthography (RAVE-O). According to the Tufts University website, RAVE-O is "a comprehensive fluency-based reading intervention program". Over the course of the five year study in the cities of Boston, Atlanta, and Toronto, the students who completed the curriculum through the study  "have shown significant gains in both specific and global reading skills."

The Elementary School is using RAVE-O as a tool in conjunction with the Houghton Mifflin Reading^© system that is already in place as the basic reading and language curriculum. According to Tina Mackenzie, Reading Intervention Specialist at the elementray school, the RAVE-O program is "all about making connections." When students are struggling with vocabulary words that have more than one meaning, this program "gives us a lot through catchy tips and has helped us zero in on what the students need", she says.

The teachers have also benefited from the program. Consultants from Tufts have provided in-house training and "worked with our teachers to improve their ability to teach reading", Scata says.

According to Elizabeth Liedke, Reading Teacher, "we have flexibility [with this program] to fill in the gaps to better assist with intervention." Through use, the program is determined to work best with Tier 2 intervention. Intervention for students requiring assistance is divided into a three tier classification. Tier 3 being the level for students having the most difficulty.

According to Alison Akehurst, Math Consultant, "the kids are excited and engaged in RAVE-O."

A progress report and presentation was recently brought to the Board of Education. "We have brought a variety of tools to the BOE that we have used throughout the years. This is one that has been extremely beneficial", Scata said. 

Superintendent Dr. Ellen Solek, is "optimistic about the benefits of RAVE-O now in its initial phases as well as in years to come."

The study through Tufts was conducted by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) intervention project through Tufts University researcher Dr. Maryanne Wolf and her colleagues, Robin Morris and Maureen Lovett. The purpose of the study was "to investigate the efficacy of state-of-the-art reading intervention packages with discrete subtypes of reading-disabled children." 

For additional information on the program and the study that went into its development, visit Tufts University Center for Reading and Language Research.

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