This paper provides an overview of Reading Recovery, a preventative one-on-one tutoring program that targets first-grade students whose reading skills place them in the lowest 10-20% at their school. First implemented in the United States in 1986, by 1995-96, the program was being used by over 9,000 schools in 2,940 districts. Key components of the program include: diagnostic survey, tutoring sessions, teacher training, rereading of books introduced in previous lessons, independent reading of the preceding lesson's books while the teacher records errors, learning about letters, learning about sounds and how words work and are written, writing a story, and introducing and reading new books. Students receive 30 minutes of daily one-on-one tutoring by a specially trained, certified classroom teacher. Reading Recovery is supplemental to classroom instruction and lasts an average of 12-20 weeks. Students conclude the program when they can read at a level comparable to the average at that school and know how to use reading strategies. Sections of the paper discuss background, philosophy and goals, program components, evidence of effectiveness, professional development and support, implementation, costs, considerations, contact information, and policy issues and questions. (Contains 15 references.) (SR)