Comprehensive Intervention Model (C.I.M.)

The Comprehensive Intervention Model (C.I.M.) is a well-coordinated, seamless design for providing intervention services to struggling readers. The C.I.M. is a systemic model for reversing the reading failures of struggling readers through layered interventions, including differentiated classroom instruction and supplemental interventions in small groups or one-to-one. The system goal of the C.I.M. is to change the achievement profile of a school by providing: a) training and professional development for teachers that increase their knowledge and expertise in teaching the lowest children, and b) research-based interventions that increase the literacy levels of low-performing children.

Training and Professional Development for Teachers

Training for the C.I.M. begins with a two-day Comprehensive Intervention Model summer institute as an intensive introductory experience, followed by an apprenticeship model, in which teachers apply the learning in their schools as they work with children during the school year. Reading Recovery Teacher Leaders (C.I.M. Specialists) and Reading Recovery teachers (C.I.M. Interventionists) are viewed as agents of system change. C.I.M. Specialists provide training and ongoing professional development for C.I.M. Interventionists, who work with struggling readers in grades K-3, including Reading Recovery in first grade.

Research-Based Interventions

C.I.M. includes one-on-one and small group interventions; all schools implementing C.I.M. must also be currently implementing Reading Recovery as a one-on-one intervention. The following menu of small group interventions is also availaible to teachers during their C.I.M. training:

Emergent Language and Literacy Groups are for children who are in kindergarten or first grade and are at the emergent level of reading and writing.

Guided Reading Plus Groups are for children in grades 1-3 who are reading at the early to transitional levels of reading and writing, but are lagging behind their classmates.

Assisted Writing Groups are designed to support first grade children at the early stafe of writing development who are lagging behind their classmates.

Comprehension Focus Groups are for children who are reading at the transitional level and beyond (grades 2-6) and who are having difficulty comprehending the wide range of text genres as they move up the grades.

For more information on implementing C.I.M. in your school, visit www.readingrecoverycenter.org or contact Dr. Judy Embry at the University of Kentucky, Reading Recovery Center at jembry@uky.edu or 859-257-7859.

 


C.I.M. Training Documents (restricted access)