Doing More Response With to Intervention Less Using

‘Doing More. Response With to Intervention Less’: Using Research Findings & Internet Resources to Make RTI Work in Challenging Budgetary Times Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention Download Power. Points and Handouts from this workshop at: http: //www. interventioncentral. org/ NYASP. php www. interventioncentral. org 2

Response to Intervention Workshop Agenda Systems Change in a Time of Limited Resources Building Teacher Understanding and Support for RTI Tools and a Framework for Analytic (‘Instructional’) Assessment Linking Assessment to Intervention www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention Implementing Response to Intervention in Secondary Schools: Key Challenges to Changing a System Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention RTI: Research Questions Q: What Conditions Support the Successful Implementation of RTI? RTI requires: • Continuing professional development to give teachers the skills to implement RTI and educate new staff because of personnel turnover. • Administrators who assert leadership under RTI, including setting staff expectations for RTI implementation, finding the needed resources, and monitor ingthe fidelity of implementation. • Proactive hiring of teachers who support the principles of RTI and have the skills to put RTI into practice in the classroom. • The changing of job roles of teachers and support staff (school psychologists, reading specialists, special educators, etc. ) to support the RTI model. • Input from teachers and support staff (‘bottom-up’) about how to make RTI work in the school or district, as well as guidance from Source: Fuchs, D. , & Deshler, D. D. (2007). What we need to know about responsiveness to intervention administration (‘top-down’). (and shouldn’t be afraid to ask). . Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 22(2), 129– 136. www. interventioncentral. org 5

Response to Intervention Preventing Your School from Developing ‘RTI Antibodies’ • Schools can anticipate and take steps to address challenges to RTI implementation in schools • This proactive stance toward RTI adoption will reduce the probability that the ‘host’ school or district will reject RTI as a model www. interventioncentral. org 6

Response to Intervention Middle & High School RTI: Targeting the Reform of Classroom Practices “Restructuring efforts that appear promising are those that focus on changing what happens within classrooms, specifically on improving curriculum and instruction; however, programs typically welcomed by districts are those that accommodate the district and school. ” Source: Jimerson, S. , Reschly, A. L. , & Hess, R. (2008). Best practices in increasing the likelihood of school completion. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds). Best Practices in School Psychology - 5 th Ed (pp. 1085 -1097). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. . p. 1090 www. interventioncentral. org 7

Response to Intervention Role of ‘School Culture’ in the Acceptability of Interventions “…school staffs are interested in strategies that fit a group instructional and management template; intensive strategies required by at-risk and poorly motivated students are often viewed as cost ineffective. Treatments and interventions that do not address the primary mission of schooling are seen as a poor match to school priorities and are likely to be rejected. Thus, intervention and management approaches that are universal in nature and that involve a standard dosage that is easy to deliver (e. g. , classwide social skills training) have a higher likelihood of making it into routine or Source: Walker, H. M. (2004). school Use of evidence-based interventions in schools: Where we've been, standard practice. ” where we are, and where we need to go. School Psychology Review, 33, 398 -407. pp. 400 -401 www. interventioncentral. org 8

Response to Intervention Barriers in Schools to Innovations in Interventions “Factors that have been identified as barriers to … acceptance and implementation by educators [of effective behavioral interventions for at at-risk students] include characteristics of the host organization, practitioner behavior, costs, lack of program readiness, the absence of program champions and advocates within the host organization, philosophical objections, lack of fit between the program's key features and organizational routines and Source: Walker, H. M. (2004). Useand of evidence-based interventions in schools: Where we've been, operations, weak staff participation. ” where we are, and where we need to go. School Psychology Review, 33, 398 -407. p. 400 www. interventioncentral. org 9

Response to Intervention ‘Scaling Up’: Four Stages of RTI Development Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention RTI Development: Four Stages of ‘Scaling Up’ 1. Preparation. Planning activities & creating readiness in the school system for the RTI component. 2. Initial Implementation. Bringing the component into the school setting. 3. Institutionalization. Institutionalizing the RTI component as a part of routine school and district practices. 4. Ongoing Development/Updating. Ensuring that the RTI component stays current with changing revisions in state and federal Source: guidelines Ervin, R. A. , & Schaughency, E. (2008). Best practices in accessing the. RTI systems change and emerging findings in literature. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds. ), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 853 -873). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. research. www. interventioncentral. org 11

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Response to Intervention RTI Implementation Planning Sheet: Example “GOAL: Creating Consistent Use of Effective Tier 1 Academic Strategies in Content-Area Classrooms” Stage 1: Preparation: List any preparation steps such as development of materials or staff training. Examples of Preparation Tasks: § Inventory Tier 1 Interventions Already in Use § Create a Standard Menu of Evidence. Based Tier 1 Intervention Ideas for Teachers www. interventioncentral. org 13

Response to Intervention Sheet: RTI Implementation Planning Example “GOAL: Creating Consistent Use of Effective Tier 1 Academic Strategies in Content-Area Classrooms” Stage 2: Initial Implementation: Describe the tasks required to actually implement the goal. Examples of Initial Implementation Tasks: § Train Teachers to Write Specific, Measureable, Observable ‘Problem Identification Statements § Establish Tier 1 Coaching and Support Resources § Provide Classroom (Tier 1) Problem. Solving Support to Teachers www. interventioncentral. org 14

RTI Implementation Planning Response to Intervention Sheet: Example “GOAL: Creating Consistent Use of Effective Tier 1 Academic Strategies in Content-Area Classrooms” Stage 3: Institutionalization: Once the goal is initially carried out successfully, devise a plan to weave various activities that support the goal into the day-to-day institutional routine of the school. Examples of Institutionalization Tasks: § Develop Decision Rules for Referring Students from Tier 1 to Higher Levels of Intervention www. interventioncentral. org 15

RTI Implementation Planning Response to Intervention Sheet: Example “GOAL: Creating Consistent Use of Effective Tier 1 Academic Strategies in Content-Area Classrooms” Stage 4: Ongoing Development/Updating: The RTI model is steadily evolving as new research indicates better methods for data collection, intervention planning, etc. The RTI Implementation Plan should include Ongoing Development/Updating tasks-ongoing activities to ensure that the district’s practices confirm to best practices over time. Examples of Ongoing Development/Updating Tasks: § Set Up a System to Locate Additional Evidencewww. interventioncentral. org Based Tier 1 Intervention Ideas 16

Response to Intervention RTI Steering Committee: Using the Four Stages of ‘Scaling Up’ in Planning • First, the RTI Steering Committee selects a series of ‘RTI Implementation Goals. ’ These goals should be more general, global goals that will require attention through all stages of the RTI implementation process. • The RTI Steering Committee then takes each of the general RTI Implementation Goals and breaks the global goal into a series of specific subtasks. Subtasks are sorted by stage of implementation. www. interventioncentral. org 17

Response to Intervention Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: Seven Reasons Why Middle & High School Instructors May Be Reluctant to Implement Classroom RTI Literacy Interventions Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention ‘Teacher Tolerance’ as an Indicator of RTI Intervention Capacity “I call the range of students whom [teachers] come to view as adequately responsive – i. e. , teachable – as the tolerance; those who are perceived to be outside the tolerance are those for whom teachers seek additional resources. The term “tolerance” is used to indicate that teachers form a permissible boundary on their measurement (judgments) in the same sense as a confidence interval. In this case, the teacher actively measures the distribution of responsiveness in her class by processing a still series of teaching trials and Source: information Gerber, M. M. (2003). from Teachers are the test: Limitations of response to instruction strategies for identifying children with learning disabilities. Paper presented at the National Research Center on Learning perceives some range of Kansas students Disabilities Responsiveness-to-Intervention Symposium, City, MO. as within the www. interventioncentral. org 19

Response to Intervention Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: Seven Reasons Why Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI Literacy Interventions 1. Teachers believe that their ‘job’ is to provide content-area instruction, not to teach vocabulary and reading-comprehension strategies (Kamil et al. , 2008). 2. Teachers believe that they lack the skills to implement classroom vocabulary-building and reading-comprehension strategies. (Fisher, 2007; Kamil et al. , 2008). 3. Teachers feel that they don’t have adequate time to implement vocabulary-building and reading-comprehension strategies in the classroom. (Kamil et al. , 2008; Walker, www. interventioncentral. org 20

Response to Intervention Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: Seven Reasons Why Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI Literacy Interventions (Cont. ) 4. Teachers are not convinced that there will be an adequate instructional ‘pay-off’ in their content-area if they implement literacybuilding strategies in the classroom (Kamil et al. , 2008). 5. Teachers are reluctant to put extra effort into implementing interventions for students who appear unmotivated (Walker, 2004) when there are other, ‘more deserving’ students who would benefit from teacher attention. 6. Teachers are afraid that, if they use a range of classroom strategies to promote literacy (e. g. , extended discussion, etc. ), they will have difficultywww. interventioncentral. org managing classroom 21

Response to Intervention Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: Seven Reasons Why Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI Literacy Interventions (Cont. ) 7. Teachers believe that ‘special education is magic’ (Martens, 1993). This belief implies that general education interventions will be insufficient to meet the student’s needs and that the student will benefit only if he or she receives special education services. www. interventioncentral. org 22

Response to Intervention Ideas to Build Teacher Understanding and Support for RTI Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention 1. Offer RTI information to teachers in a series of short presentations or discussion forums • A common mistake that schools make in rolling out RTI is to present their teachers with RTI information in a single, long presentation —with little opportunity for questions or discussion. Instead, schools should plan a series of RTI information-sharing sessions with teachers throughout the school year. Any large-group RTI training sessions (e. g. , at faculty meetings) should be kept short, to ensure that the audience is not overwhelmed with large volumes of information. Consider using smaller instructional team or department meetings as a vehicle for followwww. interventioncentral. org 24

Response to Intervention 1. Offer RTI information to teachers in a series of short presentations or discussion forums • ACTION STEP: Create a year-long RTI information-sharing plan. Determine what RTI information your school would like to present to staff, as well as the degree of faculty input and discussion needed. Then draft a year-long plan to communicate with staff about RTI. Each year, update the plan to keep faculty updated about implementation of the RTI model. www. interventioncentral. org 25

Response to Intervention 2. Present RTI as a coordinated, schoolwide approach to address longstanding teacher concerns about struggling students • Schools should consider framing RTI as a broad, schoolwide solution to help teachers to better instruct, motivate, and manage the behaviors of struggling learners. Teachers want fewer class disruptions, more uninterrupted instructional time, higher performing students, targeted supplemental academic help for students who need it, and better communication among educators about the needs of all students. As schools make the case for RTI, they should demonstrate how it will helpwww. interventioncentral. org teachers to manage the day-to 26

Response to Intervention 2. Present RTI as a coordinated, schoolwide approach to address longstanding teacher concerns about struggling students • ACTION STEP: Get feedback from teachers about their classroom concerns. Find opportunities to engage teachers in productive discussions about what they see as the greatest challenges facing them as instructors. Note the teacher concerns that surface most often. For each teacher concern, generate ideas for how an RTI model in your school might help teachers with that issue. Craft these ideas for instructor support into ‘talking points’ and include them www. interventioncentral. org 27

Response to Intervention 3. Solicit teacher input when building your school’s RTI model • Teachers are a valuable resource that schools should tap when implementing RTI. When schools solicit teacher questions about RTI, include teachers on planning teams to help to develop the RTI process, and treat teacher objections or concerns about RTI as helpful feedback rather than stubborn resistance, those schools send the message that teachers are full partners www. interventioncentral. org 28

Response to Intervention 3. Solicit teacher input when building your school’s RTI model • ACTION STEP: Include teachers on the RTI Leadership Team. One of the best ways to ensure that teachers have input into the RTI development process is to include teacher representatives on the RTI Leadership Team, the group that oversees the district’s implementation of RTI. www. interventioncentral. org 29

Response to Intervention 4. Link all significant school and district initiatives to RTI • RTI is a comprehensive, proactive model to identify and assist struggling students. Yet teachers may erroneously perceive RTI as just another ‘program’ that is likely to last for only a short time and then disappear. Any RTI training for staff should make the point that RTI is not a single-self contained program but is actually an all-inclusive and flexible framework for student support that encompasses all existing student www. interventioncentral. org 30

Response to Intervention 4. Link all significant school and district initiatives to RTI • ACTION STEP: Organized all school programs under the RTI framework. Schools should present RTI as an elastic multi-tier problem-solving framework. First, the school lists all of its significant current programs or initiatives intended to assess or intervene with students with academic or behavioral needs. The school then assigns each of the programs or initiatives to Tier 1, 2, or 3 in the RTI framework. The message for staff is that, while specific programs may come and go, the overarching RTI model is both adaptable and durable--and that much of the power of RTI rests on its potential to integrate a series www. interventioncentral. org 31

Response to Intervention Building Teacher Capacity to Deliver Tier 1 Interventions: An 8 -Step Checklist Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

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Response to Intervention RTI & Issues Relating to Student Assessment & Progress-Monitoring Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention Use Time & Resources Efficiently By Collecting Information Only on ‘Things That Are Alterable’ “…Time should be spent thinking about things that the intervention team can influence through instruction, consultation, related services, or adjustments to the student’s program. These are things that are alterable. …Beware of statements about cognitive processes that shift the focus from the curriculum and may even encourage questionable educational practice. They can also promote writing off a student because of Source: the Howell, rationale K. W. , Hosp, J. L. , that & Kurns, S. (2008). Best practices insufficient in curriculum-based evaluation. In the student’s A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds. ), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 349 -362). Bethesda, MD: Nationalperformance Association of School Psychologists. is due to a limited and fixed www. interventioncentral. org 44

Response to Intervention Formal Tests: Only One Source of Student Assessment Information “Tests are often overused and misunderstood in and out of the field of school psychology. When necessary, analog [i. e. , test] observations can be used to test relevant hypotheses within controlled conditions. Testing is a highly standardized form of observation. …. The only reason to administer a test is to answer well-specified questions and examine well-specified hypotheses. It is best practice to identify and make explicit the most relevant questions before assessment begins. …The process of assessment should follow these questions. Source: Christ, T. (2008). Best practicesshould in problem analysis. In A. Thomasassessment. & J. Grimes (Eds. ), Best The questions not follow practices in school psychology V (pp. 159 -176). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School “ p. 170 Psychologists. www. interventioncentral. org 45

Response to Intervention Mining Archival Data: What Are the ‘Early Warning Flags’ of Student Drop-Out? • • A sample of 13, 000 students in Philadelphia were tracked for 8 years. These early warning indicators were found to predict student drop-out in the sixthgrade year: Failure in English Failure in math Missing at least 20% of school days Receiving an ‘unsatisfactory’ behavior rating from at least one teacher Source: Balfanz, R. , Herzog, L. , Mac. Iver, D. J. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping students on the graduation path in urban middle grades schools: Early identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychologist, 42, 223– 235. . www. interventioncentral. org 46

Response to Intervention What is the Predictive Power of These Early Warning Flags? Number of ‘Early Warning Flags’ Probability That Student Would in Student Record Graduate None 56% 1 36% 2 21% 3 13% 4 7% Source: Balfanz, R. , Herzog, L. , Mac. Iver, D. J. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping students on the graduation path in urban middle grades schools: Early identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychologist, 42, 223– 235. . www. interventioncentral. org 47

Response to Intervention Breaking Down Complex Academic Goals into Simpler Sub-Tasks: Discrete Categorization www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention Identifying and Measuring Complex Academic Problems at the Middle and High School Level • Students at the secondary level can present with a range of concerns that interfere with academic success. • One frequent challenge for these students is the need to reduce complex global academic goals into discrete subskills that can be individually measured and tracked over time. www. interventioncentral. org 49

Response to Intervention Discrete Categorization: A Strategy for Assessing Complex, Multi-Step Student Academic Tasks Definition of Discrete Categorization: ‘Listing a number of behaviors and checking off whether they were performed. ’ (Kazdin, 1989, p. 59). • Approach allows educators to define a larger ‘behavioral’ goal for a student and to break that goal down into sub-tasks. (Each sub-task should be defined in such a way that it can be scored as ‘successfully accomplished’ or ‘not accomplished’. ) • The constituent behaviors that make up the larger behavioral goal need not be directly related to each other. For example, ‘completed homework’ may include as sub-tasks ‘wrote down homework assignment correctly’ and ‘created a work plan before starting homework’ Source: Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior modification in applied settings (4 ed. ). Pacific Gove, CA: th Brooks/Cole. . www. interventioncentral. org 50

Response to Intervention Discrete Categorization Example: Math Study Skills General Academic Goal: Improve Tina’s Math Study Skills Tina was struggling in her mathematics course because of poor study skills. The RTI Team and math teacher analyzed Tina’s math study skills and decided that, to study effectively, she needed to: q q Check her math notes daily for completeness. Review her math notes daily. Start her math homework in a structured school setting. Use a highlighter and ‘margin notes’ to mark questions or areas of confusion in her notes or on the daily assignment. q Spend sufficient ‘seat time’ at home each day completing homework. q Regularly ask math questions of her teacher. www. interventioncentral. org 51

Response to Intervention Discrete Categorization Example: Math Study Skills General Academic Goal: Improve Tina’s Math Study Skills The RTI Team—with teacher and student input—created the following intervention plan. The student Tina will: q Approach the teacher at the end of class for a copy of class note. q Check her daily math notes for completeness against a set of teacher notes in 5 th period study hall. q Review her math notes in 5 th period study hall. q Start her math homework in 5 th period study hall. q Use a highlighter and ‘margin notes’ to mark questions or areas of confusion in her notes or on the daily assignment. q Enter into her ‘homework log’ the amount of time spent that evening doing homework and noted any questions or areas of confusion. q Stop by the math teacher’s classroom during help periods (T & Th only) to ask highlighted questions (or to verify that 52 www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention Discrete Categorization Example: Math Study Skills Academic Goal: Improve Tina’s Math Study Skills General measures of the success of this intervention include (1) rate of homework completion and (2) quiz & test grades. To measure treatment fidelity (Tina’s follow-through with subtasks of the checklist), the following strategies are used : q Approached the teacher for copy of class notes. Teacher observation. q Checked her daily math notes for completeness; reviewed math notes, started math homework in 5 th period study hall. Student work products; random spot check by study hall supervisor. q Used a highlighter and ‘margin notes’ to mark questions or areas of confusion in her notes or on the daily assignment. Review of notes by teacher during T/Th drop-in period. q Entered into her ‘homework log’ the amount of time spent that evening doing homework and noted any questions or areas of confusion. Log reviewed by teacher during T/Th drop-in period. q Stopped by the math teacher’s classroom during help periods (T & Th only) to ask highlighted questions (or to verify that Tina understood that week’s 53 www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention A Review of RTI Literacy Assessment/ Monitoring Tools Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

Response to Intervention RTI Literacy: Assessment & Progress-Monitoring The RTI Literacy model collects reading assessment information on students on a schedule based on their risk profile and intervention placement. Reading measures used are valid, reliable, brief, and matched to curriculum expectations for each grade. Depending on the grade, the battery of reading measures used can include assessments in phonological awareness, oral reading fluency, and basic reading comprehension. Source: Burns, M. K. , & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools: Procedures to assure scientific-based practices. New York: Routledge. www. interventioncentral. org 55

Response to Intervention RTI Literacy: Assessment & Progress-Monitoring • • • (Cont. ) To measure student ‘response to instruction/intervention’ effectively, the RTI Literacy model measures students’ reading performance and progress on schedules matched to each student’s risk profile and intervention Tier membership. Benchmarking/Universal Screening. All children in a grade level are assessed at least 3 times per year on a common collection of literacy assessments. Strategic Monitoring. Students placed in Tier 2 (supplemental) reading groups are assessed 1 -2 times per month to gauge their progress with this intervention. Intensive Monitoring. Students who participate in an intensive, individualized Tier 3 reading intervention are assessed at least once per week. Source: Burns, M. K. , & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools: Procedures to assure scientific-based practices. New York: Routledge. www. interventioncentral. org 56

Response to Intervention Apply the ’ 80 -15 -5’ Rule to Determine if the Focus of the Intervention Should Be the Core Curriculum, Subgroups of Underperforming Learners, or Individual Struggling Students (T. Christ, 2008) – – – If less than 80% of students are successfully meeting academic or behavioral goals, the intervention focus is on the core curriculum and general student population. If no more than 15% of students are not successful in meeting academic or behavioral goals, the intervention focus is on small-group ‘treatments’ or interventions. If no more than 5% of students are not successful in meeting academic or behavioral goals, the intervention focus is on the individual student. Source: Christ, T. (2008). Best practices in problem analysis. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds. ), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 159 -176). www. interventioncentral. org 57

Response to Intervention Curriculum-Based Measurement: Advantages as a Set of Tools to Monitor RTI/Academic Cases • Aligns with curriculum-goals and materials • Is reliable and valid (has ‘technical adequacy’) • Is criterion-referenced: sets specific performance levels for specific tasks • Uses standard procedures to prepare materials, administer, and score • Samples student performance to give objective, observable ‘lowinference’ information about student performance • Has decision rules to help educators to interpret student data and make appropriate instructional decisions • Is efficient to implement in schools (e. g. , training can be done quickly; the measures are brief and feasible for classrooms, etc. ) • Provides data that can be converted into visual displays for ease of communication Source: Hosp, M. K. , Hosp, J. L. , & Howell, K. W. (2007). The ABCs of CBM. New York: Guilford. www. interventioncentral. org 58

Response to Intervention Measuring General vs. Specific Academic Outcomes • General Outcome Measures: Track the student’s increasing proficiency on general curriculum goals such as reading fluency. Example: CBM-Oral Reading Fluency (Hintz et al. , 2006). • Specific Sub-Skill Mastery Measures: Track short-term student academic progress with clear criteria for mastery Sources: Burns, M. K. , & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary (Burns Gibbons, 2008). Example: Letter and secondary schools: & Procedures to assure scientific-based practices. New York: Routledge. Hintz, J. M. , Christ, T. J. , & Methe, S. A. (2006). Curriculum-based assessment. Psychology in the Identification. Schools, 43, 45 -56. www. interventioncentral. org 59

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Response to Intervention CBM Literacy Measures: Sources • • • DIBELS (https: //dibels. uoregon. edu/) Aims. Web (http: //www. aimsweb. com) Easy CBM (http: //www. easycbm. com) i. Steep (http: //www. isteep. com) Ed. Checkup (http: //www. edcheckup. com) Intervention Central (http: //www. interventioncentral. org) www. interventioncentral. org 61

Response to Intervention “ “…One way I have used the Maze in the past at the secondary level, is as a targeted screener to determine an instructional match between the student and the text materials. By screening all students on one to three Maze samples from the text and/or books that were planned for the course, we could find the students who could not handle the materials without support (study guides, highlighted texts, alternative reading material). …This assessment is efficient and it seems quite reliable in identifying the potential underachievers, and overachievers. The real pay back is that success can be built into the courses from the beginning, by providing learning materials and supports at the students' instructional levels. ” Lynn Pennington, www. interventioncentral. org Executive Director, SSTAGE ” 62

Response to Intervention Comparison of RTI Assessment/Monitoring Systems DIBELS [Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills] • Initial Sound Fluency: Preschool > Middle K • Letter Naming Fluency: Beginning K > Beginning Gr 1 • Phoneme Segmentation Fluency: Middle K > End Gr 1 • Nonsense Word Fluency: Middle K > Beginning Gr 2 • Oral Reading Fluency: Middle Gr 1 > Gr 6 www. interventioncentral. org 63

Response to Intervention Comparison of RTI Assessment/Monitoring Systems Easy CBM • Letter Naming Fluency: K > Gr 1 • Letter Sound Fluency: K > Gr 1 • Phoneme Segmentation Fluency: K > Gr 1 • Word Reading Fluency: K > Gr 3 • Oral Reading Fluency: Gr 1 > Gr 8 www. interventioncentral. org 64

Response to Intervention Comparison of RTI Assessment/Monitoring Systems Aims. Web • Letter Naming Fluency: Beginning K > Beginning Gr 1 • Letter Sound Fluency: Middle K > Beginning Gr 1 • Phoneme Segmentation Fluency: Middle K > Middle Gr 1 • Nonsense Word Fluency: Middle K > End Gr 1 • Oral Reading Fluency: Gr 1 > Gr 8 • Maze (Reading Comprehension Fluency): Gr 1 > Gr 8 www. interventioncentral. org 65

Response to Intervention Comparison of 2 RTI Assessment/Monitoring Systems DIBELS Aims. Web • • • Initial Sound Fluency: Preschool > Middle K Letter Naming Fluency: Beginning K > Beginning Gr 1 • • Phoneme Segmentation Fluency: Middle K > End Gr 1 Nonsense Word Fluency: Middle K > Beginning Gr 2 Oral Reading Fluency: Middle Gr 1 > Gr 6 • • Letter Naming Fluency: Beginning K > Beginning Gr 1 Letter Sound Fluency: Middle K > Beginning Gr 1 Phoneme Segmentation Fluency: Middle K > Middle Gr 1 Nonsense Word Fluency: Middle K > End Gr 1 Oral Reading Fluency: Gr 1 > Gr 8 Maze (Reading Comprehension Fluency): Gr 1 > Gr 8 www. interventioncentral. org 66

Response to Intervention Defining Student Academic Concerns www. interventioncentral. org 67

Response to Intervention Problem Definition Statement: A Critical Component of Intervention Planning Develop a specific description of the academic problem to provide a meaningful instructional context. Write the problem definition to include information about: • Conditions. Describe the environmental conditions or task demands in place when the academic problem is observed. • Problem Description. Describe the actual observable academic behavior in which the student is engaged. Include rate, accuracy, or other quantitative information of student performance. • Typical or Expected Level of Performance. Provide a typical or expected performance criterion for this skill www. interventioncentral. org 68

Response to Intervention Problem Definition Statement: A Critical Component of Intervention Planning Academic Problems: Sample Definitions Environmental Problem Typical or Expected Conditions or Task Description Level of Demands Performance On a 2 -minute math computation worksheet (double-digit times double-digit with no regrouping)… During social studies largegroup instruction… For science homework… …Ann computes 45 digits per minute… … Franklin attends to instruction an average of 45% of the time… … Tye turns in assignments an www. interventioncentral. org …while peers in her 4 th grade compute an average of 67 correct digits. … while peers in the same room attend to instruction an average of 85% of the time. … while the classroom median rate of homework 69

Response to Intervention Defining Student Problem Behaviors: A Key to Identifying Effective Interventions Jim Wright www. interventioncentral. org

Defining Problem Student Behaviors… Define the problem behavior in clear, observable, Response to Intervention 1. measurable terms (Batsche et al. , 2008; Upah, 2008). Write a clear description of the problem behavior. Avoid vague problem identification statements such as “The student is disruptive. ” A well-written problem definition should include three parts: – Conditions. The condition(s) under which the problem is likely to occur – Problem Description. A specific description of the problem behavior – Contextual information. Information about the frequency, intensity, duration, or other dimension(s) of the behavior that provide a context for estimating the degree to which the behavior presents a problem in the setting(s) in which it occurs. www. interventioncentral. org 71

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Defining Problem Student Behaviors… Response to Intervention 2. Develop examples and non-examples of the problem behavior (Upah, 2008). Writing both examples and non-examples of the problem behavior helps to resolve uncertainty about when the student’s conduct should be classified as a problem behavior. Examples should include the most frequent or typical instances of the student problem behavior. Non-examples should include any behaviors that are acceptable conduct but might possibly be confused with the problem behavior. www. interventioncentral. org 73

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Defining Problem Student Behaviors… Response to Intervention 3. Write a behavior hypothesis statement (Batsche et al. , 2008; Upah, 2008). The next step in problem-solving is to develop a hypothesis about why the student is engaging in an undesirable behavior or not engaging in a desired behavior. Teachers can gain information to develop a hypothesis through direct observation, student interview, review of student work products, and other sources. The behavior hypothesis statement is important because (a) it can be tested, and (b)www. interventioncentral. org it provides guidance on the 75

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Defining Problem Student Behaviors… Response to Intervention 4. Select a replacement behavior (Batsche et al. , 2008). Behavioral interventions should be focused on increasing student skills and capacities, not simply on suppressing problem behaviors. By selecting a positive behavioral goal that is an appropriate replacement for the student’s original problem behavior, the teacher reframes the student concern in a manner that allows for more effective intervention planning. www. interventioncentral. org 77

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Defining Problem Student Behaviors… Response to Intervention 5. Write a prediction statement (Batsche et al. , 2008; Upah, 2008). The prediction statement proposes a strategy (intervention) that is predicted to improve the problem behavior. The importance of the prediction statement is that it spells out specifically the expected outcome if the strategy is successful. The formula for writing a prediction statement is to state that if the proposed strategy (‘Specific Action’) is adopted, then the rate of problem behavior is expected to www. interventioncentral. org decrease or increase in the 79

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Response to Intervention Core Instruction, Intervention, Accommodation, & Modification: Definitions www. interventioncentral. org 81

Response to Intervention Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out • Core Instruction. Those instructional strategies that are used routinely with all students in a general-education setting are considered ‘core instruction’. Highquality instruction is essential and forms the foundation of RTI academic support. NOTE: While it is important to verify that good core instructional practices are in place for a struggling student, those routine practices do not ‘count’ as individual student interventions. www. interventioncentral. org 82

Response to Intervention Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out • Intervention. An academic intervention is a strategy used to teach a new skill, build fluency in a skill, or encourage a child to apply an existing skill to new situations or settings. An intervention can be thought of as “a set of actions that, when taken, have demonstrated ability to change a fixed educational trajectory” (Methe & Riley-Tillman, 2008; p. 37). www. interventioncentral. org 83

Response to Intervention Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out • Accommodation. An accommodation is intended to help the student to fully access and participate in the general-education curriculum without changing the instructional content and without reducing the student’s rate of learning (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005). An accommodation is intended to remove barriers to learning while still expecting that students will master the same instructional content as their typical peers. – Accommodation example 1: Students are allowed to supplement silent reading of a novel by listening to the book on tape. – Accommodation example 2: For unmotivated students, the instructor breaks larger assignments into smaller ‘chunks’ and providing students with www. interventioncentral. org 84

Response to Intervention Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out • Modification. A modification changes the expectations of what a student is expected to know or do—typically by lowering the academic standards against which the student is to be evaluated. Examples of modifications: – Giving a student five math computation problems for practice instead of the 20 problems assigned to the rest of the class – Letting the student consult course notes during a test when peers are not permitted to do so www. interventioncentral. org – Allowing a student to select a much easier book for a 85