"We watch how they go about reading and writing, and where they need help," says Joetta Beaver, a reading teacher/leader in Arlington County Schools, Ohio. "You start with their strengths and then you move on to what they need to learn next."

One early intervention is for young readers who are having problems during their first year of reading instruction. 0i The cornerstone of the program is extensive training for teachers, who then provide diagnostic, individualized one-on-one tutoring sessions each day.

Children from the lowest-performing fifth of the class are selected for the program. For 12 to 20 weeks, a specially trained teacher gives them a 30-minute lesson each day. These lessons consist of a variety of reading and writing activities, including reading familiar stories, reading a story that was read the day before, working with letters and/or words using magnetic letters, writing a story, assembling a cut-up story, and reading a new book that the child will read independently the next day.

This program has earned national recognition and praise for causing schools to recognize the value of providing extra help to children early in their school careers. Yet, the program has come under recent criticism for its relative neglect of phonics and high costs. Teacher training includes a year-long curriculum at a university training center and is followed by ongoing development in a professional network. The program is also costly because teachers spend about half of each day working one-to-one with only a few children. Although many tutoring programs use inexperienced volunteers, this program strives to give expert attention to the children who are struggling the most and often have complex needs.

"Most teachers get only one or two reading courses when they're in school," says Beaver. "Through the training, teachers get a better understanding of the reading process and how young children learn. Having a trained teacher makes all the difference in the world."