THE ADOPT AND ADAPT OF READING RECOVERY PROGRAM BY CARRANBALLAC P-9 COLLEGE IN YEAR 1 PUPILS OF SK TENGKU MAHMUD ADB

RAHMAN BIN SARDAR Headmaster, SK Tengku Mahmud NORAINI BINTI IBRAHIM Head of Science Panel, SK Tengku Mahmud Abstract This paperwork is prepared to look on the effectiveness of Reading Recovery Program by Carranballac P-9 College, Australia in Year 1 pupils of SK Tengku Mahmud, Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia. Reading Recovery Program is one of the Student Wellbeing College Programs to support the academic progress among student. In Carranballac, students in Year 1 who are having difficulty learning to read and write are selected for the series of Reading Recovery lessons. Reading Recovery enables children to become active and independent readers and writers, better able to join in the daily literacy activities of the classroom. Each day the Reading Recovery teacher works individually with a child who reads three or four familiar books to gain confidence in reading, writes a sentence using his or her own ideas, re-assembles the cut-up sentence to practise searching for words, works with letters and words to assist in spelling and reads a new book to further develop reading skills. This is an extra support to the classroom reading and writing program for Year 1 students. In SK Tengku Mahmud, participants for this program were selected based on the Saringan Literasi and Saringan Numerasi (LINUS). These pupils were required to sit for a LINUS Test to determine their level of difficulty in learning. Based on the test, 29 out of 165 pupils were identified having difficulty learning and these pupils were required to undergo the Reading Recovery Program for 18 weeks. After completing the courses, the pupils were required to sit for LINUS Test 2. Based on the second test, 17 pupils were seen to have improvement in their reading ability.

Keywords: Reading Recovery Program, difficulty in learning, LINUS.

1.0 Introduction a. Background of Carranbalac P-9 College, Melbourne, Australia. The College was named after the Chirnside family property in western Victoria, as a way of remembering the significant contribution the family made to this area. The Deer Park Club, Point Cook homestead, Werribee Park Mansion, Werribee Crossroads Uniting Church and The Manor homestead in Werribee (destroyed by fire in 1966) were all built by this well known family in their pioneering days as graziers in the district. Carranballac College is a P-9 co-educational school incorporating two Schools, Boardwalk, opened in 2002, and Jamieson Way, opened in 2006. The College is situated in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne and takes in enrolments mainly from Point Cook but also from Altona Meadows. At the start of 2009, the College enrolment was 1583, approximately 790 students at each School. The schools committed and enthusiastic staff provides a rich learning environment that caters for the whole child. The College has an excellently resourced Music program, which includes Instrumental Music, Singing and Music Performance tuition. It is also proud of its young College Band. The College also works in partnership with Soundhouse providing students with access to the latest developments in the teaching and learning of music technology.Also, in partnership with Soundhouse, students are able to learn new skills in animation technology. The College has a dedicated computer animation laboratory. The College has indoor and outdoor sports facilities, a library, college buses, a performing arts centre, visual arts and music centre. The College is also proud of its computer laboratories, computer pods and 120 wireless access notebook computers for student use, Materials Technology and Food Technology facilities, gymnasiums, science rooms and canteens. The College administration and teachers strongly believe that the wellbeing of young people at the College is an important part of their academic progress. To ensure this happens, the College has set up a very supportive Student Wellbeing Programs.

In the Early Years, these include:

Well developed and supported programs for students with special needs Reading Recovery Buddies program (family-based vertical groups) Student Leadership opportunities Transition support

Children in the first stage of schooling need support with their confidence and self-esteem as they develop skills and strategies and understandings in foundational learning. In the Middle Years, these include

Well developed and supported programs for students with special needs Buddies program (family-based vertical groups across the school P-8) Social Skills and Confidence programs Opportunities for student leadership and responsibility Leadership Program

Adolescents in the middle years of schooling have specific needs as they undergo rapid developmental changes on a emotional, social and physical level. Our programs are designed to establish strong relationships with each individual student and engage students in interesting and authentic units of work. All these programs are run by our professional teachers and our support staff which include:

Full-time Educational Psychologist Speech Therapists Occupational Therapist

b. Reading Recovery Program a selected program that to be implemented in SK Tengku Mahmud. In Carrranbalac College each year, students in Year 1 who are having difficulty learning to read and write are selected for the series of Reading Recovery lessons. Reading Recovery enables children to become active and independent readers and writers, better able to join in the daily literacy activities of the classroom.

How students are selected One of the key ways in which students are selected is through an Observation Survey of Early Literacy Achievement.This is administered individually to students and assesses their skills in the following areas: letter identification word knowledge print concepts writing vocabulary phonemic awareness text reading level. In addition to the Observation Survey, the Early Years team identifies students based on observation in the classroom. The Reading Recovery Lesson A trained Reading Recovery teacher works with the student for 30 minutes every day on an individual reading and writing program. This is extra support to the classroom reading and writing program for Year 1 students. A child may take part in the program for twelve to twenty weeks. c. How Reading Recovery Program overcomes the reading difficulties among pupils of SK Tengku Mahmud. SK Tengku Mahmud as one of the primary school in Besut district Terengganu, has to admit the enrolment from the pupils nearby the school without screening. The registration of Year 1 pupils was opened to all the parents. As a result, the Year 1 classrooms consist of different intelligent level of pupils. Start from 2010, the government has launched the LINUS program to overcome the problem in learning disability among the young Malaysian. All Year One pupils will be screened three times a year in March, June and September to identify those who do not meet the required reading, writing and counting standards. For SK Tengku Mahmud, the 2012 enrolment for Year 1 is 165 pupils. After the pupils sat for the Saringan LINUS 1, 29 of them were identified having difficulty in learning. Table 1 shows the result of Saringan LINUS 1. Besides placing them under LINUS program, they were also required to undergo the Reading Recovery program for 18 weeks. Here, the program acts as an intervention program.

Table 1: Result of Saringan LINUS 1 Kohort: 3 Tahun: 2012 Saringan: 1

Bil Tahap 1 2 3 4 5 Bil. Tidak Berkeperluan Pelajar Hadir Khas D1 31 0 0 LITERASI NUMERASI D1 36 0 0 LITERASI NUMERASI D1 28 0 0 LITERASI NUMERASI D1 1 34 0 0 LITERASI KENANGA NUMERASI D1 1 SEROJA 36 0 0 LITERASI 2 NUMERASI JUMLAH 165 0 0 LITERASI NUMERASI Nama Kelas 1 TERATAI 1 SEROJA 1 1 MELATI Linus Tegar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Linus Aliran Perdana 2 29 0 31 0 36 0 36 24 4 27 1 3 31 0 34 0 36 0 36 29 136 27 138 Tarikh Kemaskini 18/04/2012 18/04/2012 25/04/2012 25/04/2012 26/04/2012 26/04/2012 25/04/2012 25/04/2012 24/04/2012 24/04/2012

*Appendix 1: Shows the overall result. No one intervention works for all children with reading difficulties. However, interventions that succeed for many children have several characteristics in common. Typically they involve more instructional time for children, but extra time is not enough. Other characteristics include:

carefully planned assessments that allow for continual monitoring of the child's response and lead to modifications of the intervention when indicated teaching methods that are supported by research on how children learn to read and how they should be taught considerable attention to the materials used (e.g., predictable, patterned, easy-to-more-difficult texts), with a focus on interesting and enjoyable texts at appropriate reading levels an array of activities (e.g., word study, reading, rereading, and writing)

Successful interventions generally occur on a daily basis and may occur in focused, short blocks of time, or in longer blocks, with appropriate accommodations in classroom instruction. In SK Tengku Mahmud, we wish to use the Reading Recovery Program as a good intervention program for children with learning disability.

2.0 Implementation of Reading Recovery Program in SK Tengku Mahmud. A child's success in school and throughout life depends in large part on the ability to read. Many young children experience some kind of difficulty learning to read. For many children, reading difficulties can be identified in Kindergarten or Grade 1 and can be prevented or substantially reduced, but often they are not. Research findings on early reading difficulties are very clear: children who continue to experience difficulties in Grade 3 seldom catch up in later grades.(The Report of the Expert Panel on Early Reading in Ontario, 2003). The consequences are well documented. These children are at risk of failing school and dropping out, and they may have limited career opportunities in adulthood. Therefore, it is important to have the conditions and resources including time, manageable class size, materials, and learning opportunities that enable teachers to meet the challenges of ensuring that all children learn to read. The opportunity to visit Carranbalac P-9 College in 2010 and experienced their success in Reading Recovery Program, inspired me to implement the same program in my school. Table 2 below shows the list of teachers and pupils involved in the program. The program takes place in the school library, self access learning room (SAL) and J- Qaf room in time frame 30 minutes after the school hour. Table 2: List of teacher and pupils involved in Reading Recovery Program. Time: 12.45 1.15 pm Name of teacher Name of pupils Pn. Haswidatul Hanim binti 1. Muhammad Faris bin Subki Che Adnan (1K) 2. Muhammad Faiz bin Subki (1K) 3. Muhammad Adam bin Amuzani (1K) Pn. Azizah binti Hassan 1. Nurin Alia Batrisya binti Ameran (1T) 2. Mohammad Zafri Hisyam bin Che Yusmadi 3. Izzhar Damiean bin Zulkifli (1M) Puan Wan Rohana binti Wan 1. Muhammad izwan Shah Salleh bin Mohd Azian (1M) 2. Muhammad Ammar Al Muhaimin bin Shamsul

Venue Bilik J-QAF

Bilik J-QAF

Bilik J-QAF

Puan Kelthum binti Kassim

Puan Rohana Sallehuddin

binti

Puan Mazlina binti Mohamad

Encik Halim biln Shafie

Puan Rohaizan binti Hashim

Puan Zainon binti Husin

Encik Zilfitli bin Yatim

Kamal (1M) 3. Mohamad Ikram Daniel bin Ramlee (1M) 1. Hana Syasya Amirah binti Che Khairunizan (1M) 2. Muhammad Naqiuddin bin Mohd Ropi (1M) 3. Al-Adib Ikhwan bin Norsham (1M) 1. Wan Harmin bin Wan Mohd Ariff Rasyidin (1M) 2. Nur Izzati binti Zahar (1M) 3. Muhammad Sudaishi bin Rosazmi (1M) 1. Nik Muhammad Iman Aqil bin Nik Abdul Wahab (1M) 2. Mohamad Daniel Hakimi bin Mohd Hairuddin (1M) 3. Arsyad Rafiuddin bin Abd Samad (1M) 1. Tuan Muhammad Hasif bin Tuan Hassan (1M) 2. Muhammad Afiq Aiman bin Muhammad Fadlie (1M) 3. Nur Amirah Irdina binti Muhammad Fadzil (1M) 1. Muhammad Firdaus bin Tiar Ramu @ Suhaimi 2. Abdul Waei bin Mohd Anuar (1M) 3. Muhammad Ismat bin Shaharuddin 1. Nur Awanis binti Mohd Ridzwan (1M) 2. Nur Nadiatul Mardiah binti Mohd Nazri (1M) 3. Nur Irdina Tasnim bin Mohamad Rizal (1M) 1. Nur Ain Qistina binti Mohd Sukimi (1M) 2. Siti Norzahirah binti Sabri

Bilik J-QAF

Bilk SAL

Bilik SAL

Bilik SAL

Bilik SAL

Library

Library

The costs for the program were fully supported by the library as all the books were purchased by them.

Table 3 below shows the lesson structure of the Reading Recovery Program in SK Tengku Mahmud. Week 1-18 Lesson Reads two or three familiar books to gain confidence in reading. Writes a sentence using their own ideas. Re-assembles the jumble-up sentence to practise searching for words. Works with letters and words to assist in spelling. Reads a new book to further develop reading skills.

3.0 Outcomes of the Reading Recovery Program. The outcomes of the program toward the pupils can be seen through the result of the Saringan LINUS 2. 17 pupils passed the exam, meaning that only 12 pupils still under LINUS program. Table 4 shows the result of Saringan LINUS 2. Table 5 shows the individual result of the pupils. Table 4: Result of Saringan LINUS Kohort: 3 Tahun: 2012 Saringan: 2
Bil Tahap 1 2 3 4 5 Bil. Tidak Berkeperluan Pelajar Hadir Khas D1 28 0 0 LITERASI NUMERASI D1 35 0 0 LITERASI NUMERASI D1 28 0 0 LITERASI NUMERASI D1 1 34 0 0 LITERASI KENANGA NUMERASI D1 1 SEROJA 36 0 0 LITERASI 2 NUMERASI JUMLAH 165 0 0 LITERASI NUMERASI Nama Kelas 1 TERATAI 1 SEROJA 1 1 MELATI Linus Tegar 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Linus Aliran Perdana 1 27 0 31 0 35 0 35 9 19 0 28 0 34 0 34 0 36 0 36 12 149 0 161 Tarikh Kemaskini 09/08/2012 09/08/2012 09/08/2012 09/08/2012 09/08/2012 09/08/2012 09/08/2012 09/08/2012 09/08/2012 09/08/2012

*Appendix 2: Shows the overall result.

Table 5: The individual result for Saringan LINUS 2. Name of teacher Name of pupils Pn. Haswidatul Hanim binti 1. Muhammad Faris bin Che Adnan Subki (1K) 2. Muhammad Faiz bin Subki (1K) 3. Muhammad Adam bin Amuzani (1K) Pn. Azizah binti Hassan 1. Nurin Alia Batrisya binti Ameran (1T) 2. Mohammad Zafri Hisyam bin Che Yusmadi (1T) 3. Izzhar Damiean bin Zulkifli (1M) Puan Wan Rohana binti Wan 1. Muhammad Izwan Shah Salleh bin Mohd Azian (1M) 2. Muhammad Ammar Al Muhaimin bin Shamsul Kamal (1M) 3. Mohamad Ikram Daniel bin Ramlee (1M) Puan Kelthum binti Kassim 1. Hana Syasya Amirah binti Che Khairunizan (1M) 2. Muhammad Naqiuddin bin Mohd Ropi (1M) 3. Al-Adib Ikhwan bin Norsham (1M) Puan Rohana binti 1. Wan Harmin bin Wan Sallehuddin Mohd Ariff Rasyidin (1M) 2. Nur Izzati binti Zahar (1M) 3. Muhammad Sudaishi bin Rosazmi (1M) Puan Mazlina binti Mohamad 1. Nik Muhammad Iman Aqil bin Nik Abdul Wahab (1M) 2. Mohamad Daniel Hakimi bin Mohd Hairuddin (1M) 3. Arsyad Rafiuddin bin Abd Samad (1M) Encik Halim biln Shafie 1. Tuan Muhammad Hasif bin Tuan Hassan (1M) 2. Muhammad Afiq Aiman bin Muhammad Fadlie (1M) 3. Nur Amirah Irdina binti Status Pass LINUS Pass Pass LINUS Pass Pass LINUS

Pass Pass LINUS Pass Pass Pass LINUS LINUS Pass LINUS LINUS Pass Pass

Puan Rohaizan binti Hashim

1. 2. 3.

Puan Zainon binti Husin

1. 2. 3.

Encik Zilfitli bin Yatim

1. 2. 3.

Muhammad Fadzil (1M) Muhammad Firdaus bin Tiar Ramu @ Suhaimi Abdul Waei bin Mohd Anuar (1M) Muhammad Ismat bin Shaharuddin Nur Awanis binti Mohd Ridzwan (1M) Nur Nadiatul Mardiah binti Mohd Nazri (1M) Nur Irdina Tasnim bin Mohamad Rizal (1M) Nur Ain Qistina binti Mohd Sukimi (1M) Siti Norzahirah binti Sabri (1M) Nur Elisa binti Rosli (1K)*

LINUS LINUS Pass LINUS Pass Pass Pass Pass LINUS

Graph 1 shows the percentage of pupils under LINUS program before and after Reading Recovery Program. From the graph, the percentage of pupils under LINUS program is decreasing after the Reading Recovery Program. This shows the effectiveness of the program in improving the LINUS result.

GRAPH 1: PERCENTAGE OF PUPILS UNDER LINUS PROGRAM BEFORE AND AFTER READING RECOVERY PROGAM
THE PERCENTAGE OF PUPILS % 100 80 60 40 20 0 LINUS TEGAR LINUS ALIRAN PERDANA SARINGAN 1 (BEFORE) SARINGAN 2 (AFTER)

LINUS CATEGORY

Reading Recovery Program is still carried out towards the remaining pupils. The actual result of the whole program can be seen through Saringan LINUS 3 that will be held on October.

The indirect interview among the teachers who involved in the Reading Recovery Program showed that the feel of pleased and proud to see their pupils passing the Saringan LINUS 2 after undergone the 18 weeks program. The satisfaction in teaching indirectly increases the teachers self esteem. For the school, the most important impact of the program is the contribution to the LINUS result. As we know, LINUS is one of the important elements of SBT Key Performance Indicators (KPI). Most of the teachers, pupils and the parents give a fully support in the continuity of this program in future, especially in helping pupils with reading problem. 4.0 Implication and suggestion. An implication of Reading Recovery program can be discussed based on three issues: i) Human resources By refering to the Table 2, there were altogether nine teachers who involved in the program. They were Bahasa Melayu teachers for Year 1 and Year 2. Everyday, they would spent 30 minutes extra times after school with two or three pupils. Although in Carranbalac the teacher works individually with the child, however in SK Tengku Mahmud we were not able to do that as we have the constraint in human resources. Because of that, the groups consist of two to three pupils. If there were probably happen, the absence of the teachers, the pupils will be transferred to the other groups. Cost As stated before, the programs are funded by school library as all the books were purchased by them. School time The current school time for Level 1 is from 7.45am 12.45pm. The Reading Recovery program only involved 30 minutes after school time. In fact for Year 1 pupils they do not involved with KAFA classes and Tasmiq classes only held on Tuesday. This make easier for the program to run.

ii)

iii)

5.0 Closure Effective early identification and intervention will help prevent and significantly decrease reading difficulties for many young children and improve their prospects for school success. However, even exemplary early intervention practices will not guarantee that severe reading difficulties are overcome. Some children will continuosly need additional reading instruction and supports to succeed in the later school grades. By adopting the Reading Recovery Program from Carranbalac P-9 College, SK Tengku Mahmud hopes that it will reduce the number of pupils with reading difficulties.

6.0 References Pelaporan LINUS Saringan 1, Tahun 1, 2012. Pelaporan LINUS Saringan 2, Tahun 1, 2012. Kirsten Weir, Catching reading problems early, April 2011, Vol 42, No.4 The Report of the Expert Panel on Early Reading in Ontario, Early Reading Strategy - Help for Children With Reading Difficulties, 2003