Twenty years ago, Charlotte McFalin Connah enrolled in Georgia State University's first class of Reading Recovery, an international, early intervention program that trains teachers how to identify students with trouble reading and create tailored lessons to help them improve their reading skills.  

Since that time, Connah worked in the Fulton County School System, until her recent retirement, first as a general education teacher and then as a curriculum support teacher who developed writing rubrics for kindergarten through fifth grade students.

She reflected on her career and the benefits of the program at the College of Education's Reading Recovery graduation celebration on May 12.

"Reading Recovery is truly the gift that keeps on giving," Connah said. "You've earned a wonderful gift that you'll be able to share with children and teachers for years to come."

GSU's College of Education houses a Reading Recovery regional training center in the Southeast, which trains teachers and teacher leaders in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Virginia and Bermuda to work with students one-on-one to improve their literacy skills.

In its 20-year span, the Reading Recovery program at GSU has trained 1,465 teachers, 69 teacher leaders and has impacted thousands of children in the Southeast. Sixty-seven teachers were added to that count this spring, with graduates working in school districts as close as Cobb and Gwinnett counties in Georgia and as far as Campbell County Schools in Tennessee and Williamsburg-James County Schools in Virginia.

To continue reading about the graduation ceremony, click here.  

Photo caption: Teachers from Gwinnett and Cobb counties were among the 67 teachers who graduated from the Reading Recovery program at Georgia State University this year.