Two Reading Recovery events slated to celebrate Cole family contributions

The University of Maine College of Education and Human Development’s Reading Recovery program will celebrate its longtime collaboration with the Galen Cole Family Foundation at two upcoming events.

The annual Reading Recovery Cole Family Celebration will be held May 18 at the Cole Land Transportation Museum in Bangor. Members of the statewide education community will gather to celebrate the success of students whose literacy achievements have been made possible through the generous support of the Cole Family Foundation.

On May 24, educators from across Maine will be at the Hutchinson Center in Belfast for the third annual Suzanne W. Cole Reading Recovery and Early Literacy Institute. The conference will feature keynote addresses by internationally recognized experts in the field of literacy education, Mary Anne Doyle of the University of Connecticut and Billie Askew with Texas Woman’s University.

Reading Recovery is an early intervention program where teachers work one-on-one with first-grade students who are struggling with reading and writing.

For more than 20 years, the Cole Foundation has provided grants to Maine schools to allow Reading Recovery teachers to receive training and professional development through the college’s University Training Center for Reading Recovery and Comprehensive Literacy.