Marie Clay (1926-2007) was a distinguished New Zealand researcher known for her work in global educational literacy. She developed the worldwide Reading Recovery intervention program for children struggling to learn to read and write. For those of you tuning in for the first time, welcome! Here’s the deal: Every weekday, we highlight the stories of iconic women in history you may not know about, but definitely should. We’re talking about women from around the world and throughout history. Each month is themed. This month we’re going back to school, highlighting educators and intellectuals.
This month, we're going back to school with stories of the most influential women educators in history.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica.
Welcome to season 3. All month, we’re going back to school, talking about educators and intellectuals who have changed how we learn. Today, we’re talking about a woman who was a pioneer in the field of child literacy. Her work changed the way teachers and researchers thought about children struggling to read or write for decades to come.
Let’s talk about Marie Clay.
Marie was born in 1926 in Wellington, New Zealand. When she was five years old, her parents divorced. Marie lived primarily with her mother, but bounced between both parents’ houses. As a result, Marie ended up attending four different primary schools, something that would later influence her career trajectory.
In 1945, Marie earned her primary school teaching credentials at Wellington College of Education. Following her time at Wellington, Marie went on to earn both her bachelors and masters degree. Her master’s thesis focused on finding solutions for teaching special-needs students how to read and write.
In the 1950s, Marie was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship. The award allowed her to continue her research at the University of Minnesota in developmental child psychology and childhood literacy.
During her studies, Marie came to disagree with the prevailing literature about the ability of low-achieving students to learn how to read. Instead, Marie developed her own viewpoints that would shape her research for decades to come.
After finishing her Fulbright, Marie moved back to Whanganui, New Zealand, where she taught elementary school and worked as a school psychologist.
Then, in 1960, she moved to Auckland and joined the University of Auckland’s faculty. She taught educational psychology while pursuing her doctoral degree. She was interested in understanding how children learn to read, and how teachers could better support the children who were falling behind.
Marie’s research was unique because it focused on closely observing a child’s development over time. Her methodologies helped develop reliable observation tools that are still used in child literacy research today.
Over the next several years, Marie climbed the faculty ranks at the University of Auckland and published a book about how to intervene when a child is falling behind.
In 1976, Marie developed a program called Reading Recovery. It transformed traditional education settings by directly catering to first graders falling behind their reading goals. While designing the program, Marie centered on the voices and experiences of children, teachers, and parents. The final design involved giving kids half-hour individual tutoring sessions for 12 to 20 weeks.
The program started on a trial basis in 5 schools in 1978. By the following year, it was replicated in 48 schools across Auckland. And by the 1980’s it was a national education program in New Zealand. Today, there are Reading Recovery programs in most English-speaking countries, and the program has been translated for Spanish and French speakers.
For her contributions to education research and child literacy, Marie was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame. In 1987 she was even made Dame Commander of the British Empire.
Marie died on April 13th, 2007 in Auckland, New Zealand. She was 81 years old.
Marie’s work fundamentally changed the field of education by shifting the way people taught elementary school children how to read.
All month, we’re going back to school.
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Talk to you Monday!