David SHEARER

Labour Leader                        
 
09 September  2012                                                   

MEDIA STATEMENT
 
Reading Recovery for all schools
 
The Labour Party is committing to roll out Reading Recovery to all schools.
 
Currently only two out of three schools offer the New Zealand-developed scheme, which has an 80 per cent success rate of lifting kids who fall behind in reading. Just 59 per cent of low decile schools have Reading Recovery.
 
“Reading Recovery is the gold-standard intervention to help kids that are struggling to learn to read.  It is a proven success, and should be available to every child who needs it,” says David Shearer.
 
The Labour Leader is this afternoon announcing some of Labour’s plans for education in a speech in west Auckland.
 
“The National Government has poured all its effort - and $36-million of taxpayers’ money - into National Standards and league tables designed to measure how our kids are doing.  But they have no plan to actually help improve children’s learning. Labour does.
 
“Children who don’t learn to read are generally the ones who fall through the cracks and subsequently drop out of school. We can help those children, and we should.
 
“Having Reading Recovery in every school will mean all our kids will have the best chance to make the most of their education.
 
“Labour will also investigate developing a maths recovery programme. 
 
“In today’s world a kid with no skills is a kid with no future. Education is critical to building a modern, 21st century economy. 
 
“Labour’s commitment is to build the world’s best education system.  Our children deserve nothing less,” says David Shearer.
 
ENDS

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