d average for their classrooms. Reading Recovery was developed and was given a three year trial. In 1978, the program was tried in five New Zealand schools. In 1979, the results were replicated in forty-eight different New Zealand schools. Reading Recovery became the national education program in New Zealand in 1983. It is now used in most English-speaking countries including the United States, and has been redeveloped for use in Spanish and French languages. (2)
             Reading Recovery is based on ten simple principles:
             Teach students to hear the sounds in words.
             Students need to develop the ability to hear sounds in words that are specifically selected in Reading Recovery. These students are then evaluated, measuring the ability to hear and record sounds in words used. Performance of phonological awareness gives information that teachers then use every day as they work individually with the students.
             ...