on a analyzes Steve Martin Fulbright scholarship steve marting displays to study child psychology at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Welfare. She later returned to New Zealand to teach elementary school and help develop a postgraduate training program for educational psychologists at the University of Auckland, where she earned a doctorate in 1966 and became its first female professor. Her doctoral research focused on when educators should begin to pay serious attention to reading problems. The conventional wisdom then was not to intervene too early because educators believed most children would catch on by second or third grade But Clay thought that was too late. “Rather than waiting until they were 8 or 9,” she asked, “could we detect problems earlier and do something about it?”To answer the question, she observed 100 first-graders for an entire academic year. One of her most novel tools was a booklet she devised with simple words and pictures. She used it as the basis of several activities she asked the children to perform. If they held the book upside down, didn’t know where the cover was, or tried to read from right to left instead of left to right, she knew they were not familiar with print and would need extra help to master reading.

Those who became proficient readers, on the other hand, knew just what to do. Clay coined the term “emergent literacy” to describe the behaviors she observed in young children before they actually learned to read and write. “She brought to people’s attention the fact that even very young children are learning important concepts about literacy before they come to school,” said Gay Su Pinnell, a reading expert and emeritus professor at Ohio State University, who was instrumental in introducing Reading Recovery in the United States. Clay began to develop the reading program in 1976 steve martin movie . Conceived to produce results quickly, it featured one-on-one, half-hour lessons each school day for 12 to 20 weeks. Students left the program after they could read at the average level of first-graders in their school steve martain Steve Martin – stevemartin . Clay reported an 80% success rate with nonreading first-graders who completed the lessons in New Zealand. During the 1980s and ’90s, the program was embraced by schools across the U. S pleasure of my company . By 1997, 2,500 Reading Recovery programs were operating in 49 states — with 400 in California. Clay was elected president of the International Reading Assn from 1992 to 1993 steve martin la grande . She was the first non-North American to fill the post Steve Martin . Critics complained about the cost of Reading Recovery — about $7,500 per student — and what they perceived as a de-emphasis on phonics instruction. A dip in reading test scores and a strong phonics movement in the 1990s slowed the growth of the program in the U. S. Steve Martin tickets , but advocates have maintained that it is effective. Last month a federal research clearinghouse gave Reading Recovery the highest possible rating, noting positive effects on students’ alphabetic skills and general reading achievement. Shanahan, who has been critical of Reading Recovery in the past, said the research validates Clay’s “basic notion that you have to give these kids help all along the way, identify them early on, and give them additional, more powerful instruction. She was right on all that. “Clay is survived by two children, Ian and Jenny; and three grandchildren. elaine. woo Steve Martin – imdb .