Reading Recovery Trademark

The trademark Reading Recovery intervention was founded by Dr. Marie M. Clay in New Zealand. At the time she conducted the research that informed her development of the teaching strategies for children and the training procedures for teachers, she was a professor of development psychology at The University of Auckland. (See Description of Reading Recovery.)

As the success of Reading Recovery was recognized by educators and researchers beyond New Zealand, Dr. Clay was asked to extend the availability of Reading Recovery by training educators from other universities and countries. She developed a system for disseminating her trademark intervention that included protocols designed to ensure both the quality and the effectiveness of the research-based teaching and training procedures in new settings. Specific procedures and conditions required of trademark Reading Recovery were specified in implementation standards described below.

As Reading Recovery was introduced to each new nation, Dr. Clay worked with university-based educators to introduce and establish the training, dissemination, and research procedures. The participating universities were designated University Training Centers (UTCs). Four UTCs have been designated to provide training for new university-based trainers: the University of Auckland, the Institute of Education at the University of London, The Ohio State University, and Texas Woman’s University. Through the training and support structures offered by these four Trainer Training Centers, Reading Recovery expands its network of affiliated trainers, UTCs or professional education training centers, and sites.

Standards detailing the required procedures of the trademark intervention were established in each national context to account for the unique conditions of that nation’s educational systems (e.g., university policies, public school procedures, etc.). Several of the trademark entities have extended their Standards by establishing Guidelines which further detail procedures associated with the trademark Reading Recovery intervention for their country.

Along with a system for data collection and evaluation to monitor national implementations, Standards define requirements for establishing and maintaining the trademark intervention. Adhering to the Standards is required for maintaining the right to trademark status. These minimum requirements, and the concomitant right to use the trademark, are reviewed annually.

Authorized by Dr. Marie Clay, the current Reading Recovery trademark holders are five national entities which have responsibility for supporting and monitoring the Reading Recovery implementations of all university training centers or professional education training centers affiliated with them.

  • Australia: The Marie Clay Literacy Trust, Auckland, New Zealand
  • Canada: The Canadian Institute of Reading Recovery, a body established jointly by the Scarborough Board of Education and the University of Toronto
  • New Zealand: The Marie Clay Literacy Trust, Auckland, New Zealand
  • United Kingdom: Institute of Education, London
  • United States: The Ohio State University

In addition to representing the Reading Recovery training centers within their nations, several of these trademark holders support and represent implementations of Reading Recovery beyond their borders in a range of nations and international settings.

  • Bermuda: Affiliated with the U.S. trademark through Georgia State University
  • Denmark: Affiliated with the UK trademark through the Institute of Education, University of London
  • Republic of Ireland: Affiliated with the UK trademark through the Institute of Education, University of London

Also affiliated with these national trademark holders are implementations of reconstructions of Reading Recovery in other languages that were guided by Marie Clay. These include Descubriendo la Lectura for Spanish-speaking children in U.S. schools whose initial literacy instruction is in Spanish, Intervention préventive en lecture-écriture available in Canada for children whose literacy instruction is in French, and Reading Recovery in Danish for children in Denmark.

  • Danish: Affiliated with the UK trademark through the Institute of Education, University of London
  • French: Affiliated with the Canadian trademark, The Canadian Institute of Reading Recovery
  • Spanish: Affiliated with U.S. trademark through The Ohio State University

Through the International Reading Recovery Trainers Organization (IRRTO), Reading Recovery trainers represent the authorization body of the trademark Reading program internationally. The role of IRRTO and the Executive Board of IRRTO is to support Reading Recovery trainers around the world in maintaining the integrity of Reading Recovery. This is done by adhering to the International Standards for Reading Recovery. These Standards detail the common essential elements pertaining to the instruction of children, the training of each level of Reading Recovery educator (teacher, tutor/teacher leader, and trainer), and the ongoing data collection and evaluation.

The Executive Board of IRRTO monitors compliance with the International Standards by requiring each of the five national entities with trademark status to submit a report of their annual data collection in the form used in their context. These reports present results for all sites affiliated with each trademark holder, and thus, monitor all affiliated implementations of trademark Reading Recovery around the world.

Skip to toolbar