response to intervention rti for high schools: the teacher as 'first responder' to help...

Response to Intervention

www.interventioncentral.org

RTI for High Schools: The Teacher as 'First Responder' to Help Struggling Students

Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org


www.interventioncentral.org 2

“ ”“In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers and the rest of us would have to settle for something less.” -Lee Iacocca



Workshop PPTs and handout available at:

http://www.interventioncentral.org/coppellisd



Workshop Agenda…Response to Intervention: An Introduction for High Schools

Methods of Classroom Data Collection: Starter Set

Academic Interventions and Classroom Accommodations: Starter Set

Behavioral Interventions: Starter Set

Helping the Student to Accept Responsibility for Learning: Strategies

Tier 1 Interventions: Case Examples



Response to Intervention: An Introduction for Middle and High Schools

Topics: What RTI Looks Like at the Secondary Level

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Secondary Students: Unique Challenges…

Struggling learners in middle and high school may:• Have significant deficits in basic academic skills• Lack higher-level problem-solving strategies and

concepts• Present with issues of school motivation• Show social/emotional concerns that interfere with

academics• Have difficulty with attendance• Are often in a process of disengaging from learning

even as adults in school expect that those students will move toward being ‘self-managing’ learners…



School Dropout as a Process, Not an Event

“It is increasingly accepted that dropout is best conceptualized as a long-term process, not an instantaneous event; however, most interventions are administered at a middle or high school level after problems are severe.”

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 - 5th Ed (pp. 1085-1097). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.. p.1090



Student Motivation & The Need for Intervention“A common response to students who struggle in sixth grade is to wait and hope they grow out of it or adapt, to attribute early struggles to the natural commotion of early adolescence and to temporary difficulties in adapting to new organizational structures of schooling, more challenging curricula and assessment, and less personalized attention. Our evidence clearly indicates that, at least in high-poverty urban schools, sixth graders who are missing 20% or more of the days, exhibiting poor behavior, or failing math or English do not recover. On the contrary, they drop out. This says that early intervention is not only productive but absolutely essential.”

Source: Balfanz, R., Herzog, L., MacIver, 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. .



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 sixth-grade year:

• Failure in English• Failure in math• Missing at least 20% of school days• Receiving an ‘unsatisfactory’ behavior rating from at

least one teacher




What is the Predictive Power of These Early Warning Flags?


Number of ‘Early Warning Flags’ in Student Record

Probability That Student Would Graduate

None 56%

1 36%

2 21%

3 13%

4 7%



What previous approach to diagnosing Learning Disabilities does RTI replace?

Prior to RTI, many states used a ‘Test-Score Discrepancy Model’ to identify Learning Disabilities.

• A student with significant academic delays would be administered an battery of tests, including an intelligence test and academic achievement test(s).

• If the student was found to have a substantial gap between a higher IQ score and lower achievement scores, a formula was used to determine if that gap was statistically significant and ‘severe’.

• If the student had a ‘severe discrepancy’ [gap] between IQ and achievement, he or she would be diagnosed with a Learning Disability.



Target Student

Discrepancy 1: Skill Gap (Current Performance Level)

Avg Classroom Academic Performance Level

‘Dual-Discrepancy’: RTI Model of Learning Disability (Fuchs 2003)

Discrepancy 2:Gap in Rate of Learning (‘Slope of Improvement’)



Essential Elements of RTI (Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino, & Lathrop, 2007)

1. A “continuum of evidence-based services available to all students" that range from universal to highly individualized & intensive

2. “Decision points to determine if students are performing significantly below the level of their peers in academic and social behavior domains"

3. “Ongoing monitoring of student progress"4. “Employment of more intensive or different

interventions when students do not improve in response" to lesser interventions

5. “Evaluation for special education services if students do not respond to intervention instruction"

Source: Fairbanks, S., Sugai, G., Guardino, S., & Lathrop, M. (2007). Response to intervention: Examining classroom behavior support in second grade. Exceptional Children, 73, p. 289.



RTI ‘Pyramid of Interventions’

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Tier 1: Universal interventions. Available to all students in a classroom or school. Can consist of whole-group or individual strategies or supports.

Tier 2 Individualized interventions. Subset of students receive interventions targeting specific needs.

Tier 3: Intensive interventions. Students who are ‘non-responders’ to Tiers 1 & 2 are referred to the RTI Team for more intensive interventions.



RTI: Tier 1 General-Education Classroom Intervention

Focus of Inquiry: Because the teacher is the Tier 1 (classroom) RTI ‘first responder’ who can potentially assist any struggling student, schools should prepare necessary resources and define clear guidelines for how to implement Tier 1 interventions.

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Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3






RTI Support: Tier 1 Core Instruction

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• Tier 1 core instruction is considered to be ‘universal’ because all students receive it and benefit from it.

• Core instruction should include the elements of ‘explicit instruction’, a structured method for instructional delivery that is more likely to be effective with struggling students.

• To judge whether core instruction is adequate, RTI schools use screening instruments (e.g., reading fluency & comprehension probes; math computation fluency probes, math concepts and applications measures) to assess classwide math performance three times yearly. If at least 80 percent of students attain or exceed the screener’s performance benchmark, core instruction is considered to be adequate.

Sources: Lembke, E. S., Hampton, D., & Beyers, S. J. (2012). Response to intervention in mathematics: Critical elements. Psychology in the Schools, 49(3), 257-272.

Wright, J. (2012). RTI Success in Secondary Schools: A toolkit for middle and high schools. Port Chester, NY: National Professional Resources, Inc.



Tier 1 interventions are intended for ‘red flag’ students who struggle in the content area(s) and require additional individualized teacher support during core instruction. To successfully implement Tier 1 interventions, a middle or high school teacher will need:

• Clear criteria to identify Tier 1 intervention students (e.g., students who are failing the course on a 5-week grade report).

• Research-based strategies to address the student’s academic (and perhaps motivational) deficits.

• A streamlined form to document the Tier 1 intervention plan.• The ability to collect and interpret classroom data to judge whether the

Tier 1 intervention is working.• Guidelines for how long to implement the Tier 1 intervention before

seeking additional RTI help for the student.

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RTI Support: Tier 1 (Classroom) Intervention

Sources: Wright, J. (2012). RTI Success in Secondary Schools: A toolkit for middle and high schools. Port Chester, NY: National Professional Resources, Inc.



RTI: Tier /32 Supplemental Interventions

Focus of Inquiry: Tier 2/3 interventions occur above and beyond core instruction, usually in small-group format. Tier 2 interventions are often off-the-shelf ‘standard-protocol’ programs that match common student intervention needs in a school. Tier 3 interventionsare typically overseen by the buildingRTI Problem-Solving Team.

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Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3






• Tier 2/3 interventions SUPPLEMENT core instruction. • Students are identified for Tier 2/3 services based on objective data sources

such as universal screeners that allow the school to predict each student’s degree of ‘risk’ for academic failure.

• In a typical school, 10-15 % of students may require Tier 2 interventions in a given academic area.

• Interventions at Tier 2 are monitored at least twice per month. Interventions at Tier 3 are monitored weekly.

• Each Tier 2/3 intervention should last at least 6-8 instructional weeks.

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RTI Support: Tier 2/3 Supplemental Interventions




Each Tier 2/3 intervention plan shows evidence that:• Instructional programs or practices are ‘evidence-based’.• The intervention has been selected because it logically addresses the area(s)

of academic deficit for the target student.• The student-teacher ratio in the group provides adequate student support: Tier

2 up to 7 students; Tier 3 up to 3 students. NOTE: The instructional ratio for students engaged in computer-delivered Tier 2/3 instruction is 1:1.

• Students enrolled in the Tier 2/3 intervention group have the same shared intervention need(s).

• The intervention provides contact time adequate to the student academic deficit. Tier 2 interventions occur a minimum of 3-5 times per week in sessions of 30 mins or more; Tier 3 interventions occur daily in sessions of 30 mins or more (Burns & Gibbons, 2008).

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RTI Support: Tier 2/3 Supplemental Interventions




Common Core State Standards: Supporting Different Learners in Reading

“The Standards set grade-specific standards but do not define the intervention methods or materials necessary to support students who are well below or well above grade-level expectations. No set of grade-specific standards can fully reflect the great variety in abilities, needs, learning rates, and achievement levels of students in any given classroom. However, the Standards do provide clear signposts along the way to the goal of college and career readiness for all students.”

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Source: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects.. Retrieved on September 23, 2012, from http://www.corestandards.org/; p. 6.



“It is also beyond the scope of the Standards to define the full range of supports appropriate for English language learners and for students with special needs. At the same time, all students must have the opportunity to learn and meet the same high standards if they are to access the knowledge and skills necessary in their post–high school lives.”

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Source: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects.. Retrieved on September 23, 2012, from http://www.corestandards.org/; p. 6.

Common Core State Standards: Supporting Different Learners in Reading



Defining Tier 1: Classroom Intervention

Topics: Teacher as Interventionist: 6 Steps; Definition of Core Instruction/Academic Intervention/Accommodation/Modification; Direct Instruction Checklist

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The Key Role of Classroom Teachers as Tier 1‘Interventionists’ in RTI: 6 Steps

1. The teacher defines the student academic or behavioral problem clearly.

2. The teacher decides on the best explanation for why the problem is occurring.

3. The teacher selects ‘research-based’ interventions.4. The teacher documents the student’s Tier 1 intervention plan.5. The teacher monitors the student’s response (progress) to the

intervention plan.6. The teacher knows what the next steps are when a student fails

to make adequate progress with Tier 1 interventions alone.

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pp. 7-9



Defining ‘Core Instruction’, ‘Intervention’, ‘Accommodation’ and ‘Modification’ p. 22

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Core Instruction, Interventions, Instructional Adjustments & 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’. High-quality 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.




• 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).




• Instructional Adjustment. An instructional adjustment (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 instructional adjustment is intended to remove barriers to learning while still expecting that students will master the same instructional content as their typical peers. – instructional adjustment example 1: Students are allowed to

supplement silent reading of a novel by listening to the book on tape. – instructional adjustment example 2: For unmotivated students, the

instructor breaks larger assignments into smaller ‘chunks’ and providing students with performance feedback and praise for each completed ‘chunk’ of assigned work (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005).



“ ”“Teaching is giving; it isn’t taking away.” (Howell, Hosp & Kurns, 2008; p. 356).

Source: Howell, K. W., Hosp, J. L., & Kurns, S. (2008). Best practices in curriculum-based evaluation. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.349-362). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists..




• Modification. A modification changes the expectations of what a student is expected to know or do in core instruction—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



RTI: Are Modifications Occurring in Core Instruction for General-Ed Students?

In your ‘elbow groups’, discuss the difference between ‘instructional adjustment (accommodation)’ and ‘modification’ (p. 22).Are there times in your classroom or school when it is difficult to avoid modifying math core instruction for a general-education student? Discuss these challenging situations.



Motivation Deficit 1: The student is unmotivated because he or she cannot do the assigned work.

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• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student lacks essential skills required to do the task.

Handout pp.10-12



• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem (Cont.):Areas of deficit might include:

• Basic academic skills. Basic skills have straightforward criteria for correct performance (e.g., the student defines vocabulary words or decodes text or computes ‘math facts’) and comprise the building-blocks of more complex academic tasks (Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009).

• Cognitive strategies. Students employ specific cognitive strategies as “guiding procedures” to complete more complex academic tasks such as reading comprehension or writing (Rosenshine, 1995).

• Academic-enabling skills. Skills that are ‘academic enablers’ (DiPerna, 2006) are not tied to specific academic knowledge but rather aid student learning across a wide range of settings and tasks (e.g., organizing work materials, time management).

Motivation Deficit 1: Cannot Do the Work



Motivation Deficit 1: Cannot Do the Work (Cont.)

• What the Research Says: When a student lacks the capability to complete an academic task because of limited or missing basic skills, cognitive strategies, or academic-enabling skills, that student is still in the acquisition stage of learning (Haring et al., 1978). That student cannot be expected to be motivated or to be successful as a learner unless he or she is first explicitly taught these weak or absent essential skills (Daly, Witt, Martens & Dool, 1997).

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• How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher collects information (e.g., through observations of the student engaging in academic tasks; interviews with the student; examination of work products, quizzes, or tests) demonstrating that the student lacks basic skills, cognitive strategies, or academic-enabling skills essential to the academic task.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: Students who are not motivated because they lack essential skills need to be taught those skills.

Direct-Instruction Format. Students learning new material, concepts, or skills benefit from a ‘direct instruction’ approach. (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008; Rosenshine, 1995; Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009).

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:ensures that the lesson content is appropriately

matched to students’ abilities.opens the lesson with a brief review of concepts or

material that were previously presented.states the goals of the current day’s lesson.breaks new material into small, manageable increments,

or steps.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:throughout the lesson, provides adequate explanations

and detailed instructions for all concepts and materials being taught. NOTE: Verbal explanations can include ‘talk-alouds’ (e.g., the teacher describes and explains each step of a cognitive strategy) and ‘think-alouds’ (e.g., the teacher applies a cognitive strategy to a particular problem or task and verbalizes the steps in applying the strategy).

regularly checks for student understanding by posing frequent questions and eliciting group responses.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:verifies that students are experiencing sufficient success

in the lesson content to shape their learning in the desired direction and to maintain student motivation and engagement.

provides timely and regular performance feedback and corrections throughout the lesson as needed to guide student learning.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:allows students the chance to engage in practice

activities distributed throughout the lesson (e.g., through teacher demonstration; then group practice with teacher supervision and feedback; then independent, individual student practice).

ensures that students have adequate support (e.g., clear and explicit instructions; teacher monitoring) to be successful during independent seatwork practice activities.

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Activity: Core Instruction Fidelity Checks

• Lembke et al (2012) recommend that schools periodically use teacher self-, collegial, or administrative checks to ensure that strong explicit core instruction is occurring in mathematics classes.

• Review the Direct Instruction Format checklist that appears on page 11 of your handout.

• Discuss how your school could use this or a similar checklist to conduct occasional ‘core instruction fidelity checks’ to verify strong Tier 1 math instruction.

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Source: Lembke, E. S., Hampton, D., & Beyers, S. J. (2012). Response to intervention in mathematics: Critical elements. Psychology in the Schools, 49(3), 257-272.



Academic Interventions and Classroom Accommodations: Starter Set

Topics: Sample Intervention Ideas for Reading, Writing, and Academic Support Skills; Accommodation Ideas Suitable for General-Education Classrooms

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Academic Interventions: Examples

Reading ComprehensionCore Writing StrategiesSentence Combining

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Promoting Student Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills pp. 13-15



Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit

Good readers continuously monitor their understanding of informational text. When necessary, they also take steps to improve their understanding of text through use of reading comprehension ‘fix-up’ skills. Presented here are a series of fix-up skill strategies that can help struggling students to better understand difficult reading assignments…

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Promoting Understanding & Building

Endurance through Reading-Reflection Pauses (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student decides on a reading interval (e.g., every four sentences; every 3 minutes; at the end of each paragraph). At the end of each interval, the student pauses briefly to recall the main points of the reading. If the student has questions or is uncertain about the content, the student rereads part or all of the section just read. This strategy is useful both for students who need to monitor their understanding as well as those who benefit from brief breaks when engaging in intensive reading as a means to build up endurance as attentive readers.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Identifying or Constructing Main Idea

Sentences (Davey & McBride, 1986; Rosenshine, Meister & Chapman, 1996). For each paragraph in an assigned reading, the student either (a) highlights the main idea sentence or (b) highlights key details and uses them to write a ‘gist’ sentence. The student then writes the main idea of that paragraph on an index card. On the other side of the card, the student writes a question whose answer is that paragraph’s main idea sentence. This stack of ‘main idea’ cards becomes a useful tool to review assigned readings.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Linking Pronouns to Referents (Hedin &

Conderman, 2010). Some readers lose the connection between pronouns and the nouns that they refer to (known as ‘referents’)—especially when reading challenging text. The student is encouraged to circle pronouns in the reading, to explicitly identify each pronoun’s referent, and (optionally) to write next to the pronoun the name of its referent. For example, the student may add the referent to a pronoun in this sentence from a biology text: “The Cambrian Period is the first geological age that has large numbers of multi-celled organisms associated with it Cambrian Period.”

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• Student Strategy] Apply Vocabulary ‘Fix-Up’ Skills for

Unknown Words (Klingner & Vaughn, 1999). When confronting an unknown word in a reading selection, the student applies the following vocabulary ‘fix-up’ skills:1. Read the sentence again. 2. Read the sentences before and after the problem

sentence for clues to the word’s meaning.3. See if there are prefixes or suffixes in the word that can

give clues to meaning. 4. Break the word up by syllables and look for ‘smaller words’

within.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Reading Actively Through Text

Annotation (Harris, 1990; Sarkisian et al., 2003). Students are likely to increase their retention of information when they interact actively with their reading by jotting comments in the margin of the text. Using photocopies, the student is taught to engage in an ongoing 'conversation' with the writer by recording a running series of brief comments in the margins of the text. The student may write annotations to record opinions about points raised by the writer, questions triggered by the reading, or unknown vocabulary words.

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A Sampling of Accommodation Ideas

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Accommodations: Sampling• Here is a sampling of accommodations for

‘Instruction’ taken from this application:

-- Pages 26-30 (items 17-37) from the accommodations section of the workshop handout.

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Instructional Adjustments/Accommodations: Instruction

• ADJUST INSTRUCTIONAL MATCH. Verify that the student possesses the required skills to understand course instruction and complete academic tasks assigned as in-class work or homework. If necessary, provide additional instruction (e.g., via tutoring sessions with a peer or instructor) or other supports to enable the student to meet academic expectations.

Source: Kern, L, & Clemens, N. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44(1), 65-75.

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• CHUNK CLASSWORK AND INCLUDE BREAKS. Break up lectures or student work sessions into smaller chunks and include brief breaks to sustain student attention.

Source: Barkley, R. A. (2008). 80+ classroom accommodations for children or teens with ADHD. The ADHD Report, 16(4), 7-10. 22




• CLASS NOTES: CREATE GUIDED NOTES. Prepare a copy of notes summarizing content from a class lecture or assigned reading—with blanks inserted in the notes where key facts or concepts should appear. As information is covered during lecture or in a reading assignment, the student writes missing content into blanks to complete the guided notes.

Source: Konrad, M., Joseph, L. M., & Eveleigh, E. (2009). A meta-analytic review of guided notes. Education and Treatment of Children, 32, 421-444.

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• CLASS NOTES: PROVIDE A STUDENT COPY. Provide a copy of class notes to allow the student to focus more fully on the lecture and class discussion. This strategy can be strengthened by requiring that the student highlight key vocabulary terms appearing in the prepared notes as they are brought up in the lecture or discussion.

Source: International Dyslexia Association. (2002). Accommodating students with dyslexia in all classroom settings. Retrieved from http://www.interdys.org/

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• CLASS NOTES: PROVIDE LECTURE OUTLINE. Make up an outline of the lecture to share with students. Encourage students to use the elements of the outline to help to structure their class notes and to ensure that their notes do not omit important information.

Source:International Dyslexia Association. (2002). Accommodating students with dyslexia in all classroom settings. Retrieved from http://www.interdys.org/

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• INCREASE OPPORTUNITIES TO RESPOND. Provide the student with increased classroom opportunities for active academic responding. Examples of active student responding are reading aloud, responding in writing or orally to a teacher question, and collaborating with a peer to solve a math problem.

Source:Kern, L, & Clemens, N. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44(1), 65-75.

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• INTERSPERSE LOW- AND HIGH-INTEREST ACTIVITIES. When structuring a lesson, switch between less-appealing and more-appealing activities in short spans to hold student interest.

Source: Barkley, R. A. (2008). 80+ classroom accommodations for children or teens with ADHD. The ADHD Report, 16(4), 7-10. 77




• LECTURE: SUMMARIZE OFTEN. When lecturing, review and reinforce student understanding through repetition, paraphrase, and frequent summarization of important points.

Source: Beech, M. (2010). Accommodations: Assisting students with disabilities. Florida Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/accomm-educator.pdf

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• LECTURE: TIE INFORMATION TO COURSE READINGS. When presenting important course concepts during lecture, explicitly link that content to page references in the course text or other assigned readings that also cover that information. In class notes, also link important information to the course text by page number.


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• MATCH WORK TO PEAK ENERGY PERIODS. Schedule the most challenging academic subjects, tasks, or activities when students’ energy levels are highest (e.g., at the start of the day or class period).

Source: Barkley, R. A. (2008). 80+ classroom accommodations for children or teens with ADHD. The ADHD Report, 16(4), 7-10.

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• PREPARE READING GUIDES. Develop reading guides to help students to better access demanding texts in the course or content area. Reading guides provide a general map of the text, summarize main ideas and key details presented, and offer tips and pose questions to alert the reader to important content. Depending on student needs, reading guides can deal broadly with whole sections of a text or focus more specifically on chapters or sub-chapters.


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• PREPARE WEEKLY HOMEWORK ASIGNMENTS. Share weekly listings of upcoming homework assignments with the student. Also, ensure that these homework assignments are shared with the student’s parent(s), to help them to support their child’s homework completion.


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• SET A REASONABLE HOMEWORK QUOTA. Limit homework to a manageable amount of work. Use this formula to estimate an appropriate homework load: 10 minutes times the student’s grade level equals an appropriate TOTAL time devoted to nightly homework.


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• TEST: ALLOW EXTRA TIME. For tests that evaluate student knowledge or skills but do not formally assess speed/fluency with fixed time limits, allow all students a reasonable amount of additional time if needed.

Source: Nelson, J. (2000). Student preferences for adaptations in classroom testing. Remedial & Special Education, 21, 21, 41-52.

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• TEST: ALLOW OPEN-BOOK/OPEN-NOTES. In situations in which students are being tested on their ability to apply – rather than memorize—course information or concepts, allow students full access to their textbooks and/or notes during the test.


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• TEST: EVALUATE MORE FREQUENTLY. Assess student mastery of course content frequently (e.g., weekly) through shorter quizzes in place of less–frequent, more-comprehensive tests. More frequent, smaller assessments can make study more manageable for students, build strong habits of continual study and review, and provide more formative assessment information for the teacher.


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• TEST: HIGHLIGHT KEY WORDS IN DIRECTIONS. When preparing test directions, highlight key words or phrases in bold or underline to draw student attention.


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• TEST: PRACTICE UNDER TEST CONDITIONS. Create practice tests that mimic the actual test in format and environmental conditions (e.g., with time limits). Have the student complete practice tests to build endurance, reduce test anxiety.


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• TEST: PROVIDE EXTRA SPACE. Format tests with extra space to write answers. This formatting change has two advantages: (1) it can accommodate students who have difficulty writing in small spaces due to fine-motor issues, and (2) it can result in a neater test that looks less crowded and therefore less intimidating.


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• USE GRAPHIC ORGANIZERS. Select the graphic organizer(s) (e.g., outline, chart, or other visual representation) most appropriate to help the student to better understand course content by noting key ideas, recording important details, making specific connections between concepts, etc. To adequately use graphic organizers, students should first be explicitly trained in their use. Teachers should also require that students turn in completed organizers periodically to monitor their use and effectiveness.


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• USE WHITEBOARDS FOR STUDENT RESPONDING. Reduce impulsive responding and increase student participation by providing all students with small white boards and markers. The teacher (1) poses a question, (2) directs students to write their answers on whiteboards, and then (3) prompts all students in unison to hold up their whiteboards for teacher review.


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Activity: Finding Accommodations For Your Classroom

In your groups:• Glance over the

accommodations ideas that appear on pp. 23-38 of your handout.

• Identify at least 2 ideas from this list that you think might be helpful to use with students in your classroom.

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AccommodationFinderhttp://www.interventioncentral.org/tools/accommodationfinder

This application allows the user to browse a set of 60+ classroom accommodations to put together a unique plan for a struggling learner.



Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/WritingNext.pdf



The Effect of Grammar Instruction as an Independent Activity“Grammar instruction in the studies reviewed [for the Writing Next report] involved the explicit and systematic teaching of the parts of speech and structure of sentences. The meta-analysis found an effect for this type of instruction for students across the full range of ability, but …surprisingly, this effect was negative…Such findings raise serious questions about some educators’ enthusiasm for traditional grammar instruction as a focus of writing instruction for adolescents….Overall, the findings on grammar instruction suggest that, although teaching grammar is important, alternative procedures, such as sentence combining, are more effective than traditional approaches for improving the quality of students’ writing.” p. 21

Source: Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC Alliance for Excellent Education.



Elements of effective writing instruction for adolescents:

1. Writing Process (Effect Size = 0.82): Students are taught a process for planning, revising, and editing.

2. Summarizing (Effect Size = 0.82): Students are taught methods to identify key points, main ideas from readings to write summaries of source texts.

3. Cooperative Learning Activities (‘Collaborative Writing’) (Effect Size = 0.75): Students are placed in pairs or groups with learning activities that focus on collaborative use of the writing process.

4. Goal-Setting (Effect Size = 0.70): Students set specific ‘product goals’ for their writing and then check their attainment of those self-generated goals.

Source: Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/WritingNext.pdf




5. Writing Processors (Effect Size = 0.55): Students have access to computers/word processors in the writing process.

6. Sentence Combining (Effect Size = 0.50): Students take part in instructional activities that require the combination or embedding of simpler sentences (e.g., Noun-Verb-Object) to generate more advanced, complex sentences.

7. Prewriting (Effect Size = 0.32): Students learn to select, develop, or organize ideas to incorporate into their writing by participating in structured ‘pre-writing’ activities.

8. Inquiry Activities (Effect Size = 0.32): Students become actively engaged researchers, collecting and analyzing information to guide the ideas and content for writing assignments.





9. Process Writing (Effect Size = 0.32): Writing instruction is taught in a ‘workshop’ format that “ stresses extended writing opportunities, writing for authentic audiences, personalized instruction, and cycles of writing” (Graham & Perin, 2007; p. 4).

10. Use of Writing Models (Effect Size = 0.25): Students read and discuss models of good writing and use them as exemplars for their own writing.

11. Writing to Learn Content (Effect Size = 0.23): The instructor incorporates writing activities as a means to have students learn content material.




Classroom Academic Instruction/Interventions: Syntax/Grammar

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Sentence Combining (pp. 16-18)Students with poor writing skills often write sentences that lack ‘syntactic maturity’. Their sentences often follow a simple, stereotyped format. A promising approach to teach students use of diverse sentence structures is through sentence combining.

In sentence combining, students are presented with kernel sentences and given explicit instruction in how to weld these kernel sentences into more diverse sentence types either – by using connecting words to combine multiple sentences into one

or – by isolating key information from an otherwise superfluous

sentence and embedding that important information into the base sentence.

Sources: Saddler, B. (2005). Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention. The Reading Teacher, 58, 468-471.

Strong, W. (1986). Creative approaches to sentence combining. Urbana, OL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skill & National Council of Teachers of English.



Formatting Sentence Combining Examples



Discussion: Interventions and Writing

In your groups, discuss how teachers can use a strategy like sentence combining in their classes to reinforce course content as well as strengthen student writing skills…



Where to Find High-Quality Tier 2/3 Intervention Programs for Middle & High School Students

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What Works Clearinghousehttp://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/

This website reviews core instruction and intervention programs in mathematics, as well as other academic areas.

The site reviews existing studies and draws conclusions about whether specific intervention programs show evidence of effectiveness.



Best Evidence Encyclopediahttp://www.bestevidence.org/

This site provides reviews of evidence-based math and reading programs.

The website is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University School of Education's Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (CDDRE) .



National Center on RTI Instructional Intervention Tools Charthttp://www.rti4success.org/instructionTools

Sponsored by the National Center on RTI, this page provides ratings to intervention programs in math, reading, and writing.

Users can sort their search by subject and grade level.



Doing What Workshttp://dww.ed.gov/

This website is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education and offers specific guidelines for how to teach effectively across disciplines.

The site has a section devoted to math and science, including pragmatic recommendations for putting into classroom practice the specific recommendations of the National Math Advisory Panel Report of 2008.



Methods of Classroom Data Collection: Starter Set

Topics: How to Structure Data Collection: Baseline, Goal, Progress-Monitoring; Examples of Teacher-Friendly Methods of Data Collection (Behavior Ratings; Global Skills Checklists)

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Interventions: Potential ‘Fatal Flaws’

Any intervention must include 4 essential elements. The absence of any one of the elements would be considered a ‘fatal flaw’ (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004):

1. Clearly defined problem. The student’s target concern is stated in specific, observable, measureable terms. This ‘problem identification statement’ is the most important step of the problem-solving model (Bergan, 1995), as a clearly defined problem allows the teacher or RTI Team to select a well-matched intervention to address it.

2. Baseline data. The teacher or RTI Team measures the student’s academic skills in the target concern (e.g., reading fluency, math computation) prior to beginning the intervention. Baseline data becomes the point of comparison throughout the intervention to help the school to determine whether the intervention is effective.

Source: Witt, J. C., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Gilbertson, D. (2004). Troubleshooting behavioral interventions. A systematic process for finding and eliminating problems. School Psychology Review, 33, 363-383.



Interventions: Potential ‘Fatal Flaws’ (Cont.)3. Performance goal. The teacher or RTI Team sets a specific,

data-based goal for student improvement during the intervention and a checkpoint date by which the goal should be attained.

4. Progress-monitoring plan. The teacher or RTI Team collects student data regularly to determine whether the student is on-track to reach the performance goal.

Source: Witt, J. C., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Gilbertson, D. (2004). Troubleshooting behavioral interventions. A systematic process for finding and eliminating problems. School Psychology Review, 33, 363-383.



The Structure of Data Collection• Teachers can use a wide variety of methods to

assess student academic performance or behavior.

• However, data collection should be structured to include these elements: baseline, the setting of a goal for improvement, and regular progress-monitoring.

• The structure of data collection can be thought of as a glass into which a wide variety of data can be ‘poured’.

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Classroom Data Collection: 6 Sample

Methods



Existing data. The teacher uses information already being collected in the classroom or school that is relevant to the identified student problem. Examples of existing data include grades, attendance/tardy records, office disciplinary referrals, homework completion.

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Existing Data: Example

Example: Mrs. Berman, a high-school social studies teacher, selected grades from weekly quizzes as one measure to determine if a study-skills intervention would help Rick, a student in her class. Prior to the intervention, the teacher computed the average of Rick’s most recent 4 quiz grades. The baseline average quiz grade for Rick was 61. Mrs. Smith set an average quiz grade of 75 as the intervention goal. The teacher decided that at the intervention check-up in six weeks, she would average the most recent 2 weekly quiz grades to see if the student reached the goal.

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Behavioral Frequency Count. In a behavioral frequency count, an observer (e.g., the teacher) watches a student’s behavior and keeps a cumulative tally of the number of times that the behavior is observed during a given period. Behaviors that are best measured using frequency counts have clearly observable beginning and end points—and are of relatively short duration. Examples include student call-outs, requests for teacher help during independent seatwork, and raising one’s hand to make a contribution to large-group discussion.TIP: Instead of trying to tally all behaviors observed, teachers can make frequency count more manageable by tallying the number of times that they must approach a student to redirect that student from a problem behavior.

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Sample Behavior Frequency Count Form(Available on Conference Web Page)



Behavioral Frequency Count/Behavioral Rate: Example• Example: Ms. Stimson, an 8th-grade teacher, was concerned at the frequency

that a student, Alice, frequently requested teacher assistance unnecessarily during independent seatwork. To address this concern, the teacher designed an intervention in which the student would first try several steps on her own to resolve issues or answer her questions before seeking help from the instructor. Prior to starting the intervention, the teacher kept a behavioral frequency count across three days of the number of times that the student approached her desk for help during a daily 20-minute independent seatwork period (baseline).

• Ms. Stimson discovered that, on average, the student sought requested help 8 times per period (equivalent to 0.4 requests for help per minute). Ms. Stimson set as an intervention goal that, after 4 weeks of using her self-help strategies, the student’s average rate of requesting help would drop to 1 time per independent seatwork period (equivalent to 0.05 requests for help per minute).

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Work Products. Student work products can be collected and evaluated to judge whether the student is incorporating information taught in the course, applying cognitive strategies that they have been taught, or remediating academic delays. Examples of work products are math computation worksheets, journal entries, and written responses to end-of-chapter questions from the course textbook.Whenever teachers collect student work products, they should also assess the performance of typical peers in the classroom. Work products can be assessed in several ways to yield objective numeric data. For example, the teacher can estimate the percentage of work completed on an assignment or the accuracy of the work actually completed--or use a rubric to assess quality of writing or other student work.

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Work Products: Example• Example: Mrs. Franchione, a social studies teacher, identified her eighth-grade

student, Alexandria, as having difficulty with course content. The student was taught to use question generation as a strategy to better identify the main ideas in her course readings.

• Mrs. Franchione decided to assess Alexandria’s student journal entries. Each week, Mrs. Franchione assigned students 5 key vocabulary terms and directed them to answer a social studies essay question while incorporating all 5 terms. She also selected 3 typical students to serve as peer comparisons.. Mrs. Franchione decided to assess Alexandria’s journal entries according to the following criteria:1. Presence of weekly assigned vocabulary words in the student essay2. Unambiguous, correct use of each assigned vocabulary term in context3. Overall quality of the student essay on a scale of 1 (significantly below peers)

to 4 (significantly above peers).

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Rating scales. A scale is developed with one or more items that a rater can use to complete a global rating of a behavior. Often the rating scale is completed at the conclusion of a fixed observation period (e.g., after each class period; at the end of the school day). Here is an example of a rating scale item: Brian focused his attention on teacher instructions, classroom lessons and assigned work. 1=Poor; 2=Fair; 3=Good.

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Monitoring Student Academic or General Behaviors:

Behavior Report Cards



Behavior Report Cards (BRCs) Are…

brief forms containing student behavior-rating items. The teacher typically rates the student daily (or even more frequently) on the BRC. The results can be graphed to document student response to an intervention.



Behavior Report Cards Can Monitor Many Behaviors, Including…

• Hyperactivity• On-Task Behavior (Attention)• Work Completion• Organization Skills• Compliance With Adult Requests• Ability to Interact Appropriately With Peers



Behavior Report Card Maker• Helps teachers to define student problem(s) more

clearly.• Reframes student concern(s) as replacement

behaviors, to increase the likelihood for success with the academic or behavioral intervention.

• Provides a fixed response format each day to increase the consistency of feedback about the teacher’s concern(s).

• Can serve as a vehicle to engage other important players (student and parent) in defining the problem(s), monitoring progress, and implementing interventions.

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Behavior Report Card Maker




Behavior Report Card Maker

www.interventioncentral.orgExample: Daily Report Card



Behavior Report Card: ExampleExample: All of the teachers on a 7th-grade instructional team decided to use a Behavior Report to monitor classroom interventions for Ray, a student who presented challenges of inattention, incomplete work, and occasional non-compliance. They created a BRC with the following items:

• Ray focused his attention on teacher instructions, classroom lessons and assigned work.

• Ray completed and turned in his assigned class work on time.• Ray spoke respectfully and complied with adult requests without argument or

complaint.

Each rating items was rated using a 1-9 scale: On average, Ray scored no higher than 3 (‘Never/Seldom’ range) on all rating items in all classrooms (baseline). The team set as an intervention goal that, by the end of a 6-week intervention to be used in all classrooms, Ray would be rated in the 7-9 range (‘Most/All of the Time’) in all classrooms.

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Global skill checklist. The teacher selects a global skill (e.g., homework completion; independent seatwork) and breaks that global skill down into a checklist of component sub-skills--a process known as ‘discrete categorization’ (Kazdin, 1989). An observer (e.g., teacher, another adult, or even the student) can then use the checklist to note whether a student successfully displays each of the sub-skills on a given day.

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Academic Survival Skills Checklistspp. 19-21



Academic Survival Skills Checklists: A Tool to Help Students to Manage Their Own Learning

Students who would achieve success on ambitious state standards must first cultivate a set of general 'academic survival skills' that they can apply to any coursework (DiPerna, 2006). Examples of academic survival skills include the ability to study effectively, be organized, and manage time well. When academic survival skills are described in global terms, though, it can be difficult to define them. For example, two teachers may have different understandings about what the term 'study skills' means.

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Source: DiPerna, J. C. (2006). Academic enablers and student achievement: Implications for assessment and intervention services in the schools. Psychology in the Schools, 43, 7-17.



Academic Survival Skills Checklists: A Tool to Help Students to Manage Their Own Learning (Cont.)

A solution is to complete a 'task analysis' of a given global academic-survival skill, dividing that larger skill into a checklist of component sub-skills (Kazdin, 1989).

With a checklist that breaks a global academic survival skill into components, a teacher can judge whether a student possesses the essential building-block strategies that make up a larger global 'survival skills' term. Teachers have access to good sources of information to verify what academic survival skills a student possesses, including direct observation; interviews (of the student, past teacher, or parent); and student work products.

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Source:Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior modification in applied settings (4th ed.). Pacific Gove, CA: Brooks/Cole.



Academic Survival Skills Checklist: Study Skills Example p. 19

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Source: Academic Survival Skills Checklist Maker. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.interventioncentral.org/tools/academic-survival-skills-checklist-maker



Academic Survival Skills Checklist: Study Skills Example

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Academic Survival Skills Checklist: Example• Example: A middle school math instructor, Mr. Haverneck, was concerned that

a student, Rodney, appears to have poor ‘organization skills’. Mr. Haverneck created a checklist of observable subskills that, in his opinion, were part of the global term ‘organization skills:– arriving to class on time;– bringing work materials to class;– following teacher directions in a timely manner;– knowing how to request teacher assistance when needed;– having an uncluttered desk with only essential work materials.

Mr. Havernick monitored the student’s compliance with elements of this organization -skills checklist across three days of math class. On average, Rodney successfully carried out only 2 of the 5 possible subskills (baseline). Mr. Havernick set the goal that by the last week of a 5-week intervention, the student would be found to use all five of the subskills on at least 4 out of 5 days.

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Academic Survival Skills Checklists: 5 Uses



Academic Survival Skills Checklists: 5 Uses1. Consistent expectations among teachers. Teachers at a

grade level, on an instructional team, or within an instructional department can work together to develop checklists for essential global academic-survival skills. As teachers collaborate to create these checklists, they reach agreement on the essential skills that students need for academic success and can then consistently promote those skills across their classrooms.

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Academic Survival Skills Checklists: 5 Uses2. Proactive student skills training. One excellent use of these

checklists is as a classwide student training tool. At the start of the school year, teachers can create checklists for those academic survival skills in which students are weak (e.g., study skills, time management) and use them as tools to train students in specific strategies to remediate these deficiencies. Several instructors working with the same group of students can even pool their efforts so that each teacher might be required to teach a checklist in only a single survival-skill area.

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Academic Survival Skills Checklists: 5 Uses3. Student skills self-check. Teachers can use academic

survival-skills checklists to promote student responsibility. Students are provided with master copies of checklists and encouraged to develop their own customized checklists by selecting and editing those strategies likely to work best for them. Instructors can then hold students accountable to consult and use these individualized checklists to expand their repertoire of strategies for managing their own learning.

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Academic Survival Skills Checklists: 5 Uses4. Monitoring progress of academic survival-skills interventions.

Often, intervention plans developed for middle and high school students include strategies to address academic survival-skill targets such as homework completion or organization. Checklists are a good way for teachers to measure the student's baseline use of academic survival skills in a targeted area prior to the start of the intervention. Checklists can also be used to calculate a student outcome goal that will signify a successful intervention and to measure (e.g., weekly) the student's progress in using an expanded range of academic survival-skills during the intervention period.

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Academic Survival Skills Checklists: 5 Uses5. Parent conferences. When teachers meet with parents to

discuss student academic concerns, academic survival-skills checklists can serve as a vehicle to define expected student competencies and also to decide what specific school and home supports will most benefit the student. In addition, parents often appreciate receiving copies of these checklists to review with their child at home.

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Academic Survival Skills Checklist Makerhttp://www.interventioncentral.org/tools/academic-survival-skills-checklist-maker

The Academic Survival Skills Checklist Maker provides a starter set of strategies to address:

•homework• note-taking• organization•study skills• time management.

Teachers can use the application to create and print customized checklists and can also save their checklists online.



Curriculum-Based Measurement. Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) is a family of brief, timed measures that assess basic academic skills. CBMs have been developed to assess a considerable number of academic competencies, including oral reading fluency, reading comprehension, math computation, and written expression. Among advantages of using CBM for classroom assessment are that these measures are quick and efficient to administer; align with the curriculum of most schools; have good ‘technical adequacy’ as academic assessments; and use standard procedures to prepare materials, administer, and score (Hosp, Hosp & Howell, 2007).

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Maze Passage Generator




“ ”“…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, achievers, 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, Executive Director, SSTAGE

(Student Support Team Association for Georgia Educators)



Group Activity: Monitoring Tier 1 Interventions

At your tables:• Consider the several

methods of data collection presented in this workshop.

• Discuss how you might use one or more of these data sources to track student progress on classroom interventions.

Methods of Classroom Data Collection1. Existing Data: Grades, attendance,

homework, etc.2. Behavior Frequency Count: TIP:

Teachers can track number of student ‘redirects’ required to manage behavior.

3. Work Products: Tally percentage of work completed; accuracy; use rubric to rate overall quality, etc. TIP: Collect peer comparison (‘anchor product’).

4. Rating Scale: Behavior Report Card: Tip: Use the BRC to build student buy-in, communicate with the parent.

5. Academic Survival Skills Checklists.6. Curriculum-Based Measurement: E.g.,

Maze Passage Generator



Helping the Student to Accept Responsibility for Learning: Strategies

Topics: How to Structure a Student-Teacher Problem-Solving Conference

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Unmotivated Students: What Works

The relationship between the two factors is multiplicative. If EITHER of these factors (the student’s expectation of success on the task OR the student’s valuing of that success) is zero, then the ‘motivation’ product will also be zero.

1. the student’s expectation of success on the task

2. the value that the student places on achieving success on that learning task

Motivation can be thought of as having two dimensions:

Multiplied by

Source: Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. A. Shinn, H. M. Walker & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp.373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

………………10X 0...…………

0

……………… 0X 10...…………

0

………………10X 10...…………

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Availability heuristic. When assessing the probability of a possible outcome (e.g., of winning the lottery), people are influenced by how easily they can imagine that outcome (Tversky & Kahneman, 1974; p. 1127.)

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Source:Tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1974) Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases.. Science, 185, 1124-1131.

Cognitive Bias: Impact on Student Motivation



AVAILABILITY: 'BIASES OFIMAGINABILITY'. The degree of motivation that a student brings to math work can be influenced by the ease with which that student is able to imagine positive or negative outcomes.

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Source: Tversky, A. & Kahneman, D. (1974) Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases.. Science, 185, 1124-1131.



EXAMPLE--AVAILABILITY: 'BIASES OFIMAGINABILITY'. A student lacks motivation to put her full effort into a math assignment because – she can vividly imagine failing the assignment

(based on past experience) but – cannot easily picture succeeding on the

assignment (because she has few if any prior examples of success to call to mind).

In this case, the ‘bias of imaginability’ is tilted toward the negative and saps student motivation.

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Student Self-Directed Interventions: Planning Sheet

pp. 44-48



Student Self-Directed Interventions Sheet: Guidelines for Use

• This worksheet is an organizer that teachers, counselors, and other educators can use to develop a student-directed intervention. The framework is flexible. A single teacher, or guidance counselor, or entire instructional team can use the form when conferencing with a student. This form can also be very helpful to structure parent-teacher-student meetings to make them more productive and to document the intervention plans developed there.

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Section 1: Defining Your Goals

Student Directions: Define 1-2 intervention goals that you would like to work on:

The student is likely to need your assistance to select 1-2 specific goals to be the focus of the intervention. The defined goal(s) may include basic academic skills, cognitive strategies, and/or more general 'academic enabling' skills. NOTE: If the presenting student problem stems from deficits in basic academic skills or cognitive strategies, you may want to review the appropriate reading or math Common Core State Standards for ideas on how to word the goal statement in standards-based form.



Student Self-Directed Intervention Plan: Tom• Tom is a middle-school student who is not getting his

homework in. He meets with the instructional team to create a student-directed intervention.

• The team and Tom agree that Tom has the skills to get his homework done but that he needs to improve his homework routine. At present, his rate of homework completion varies from about 20% (math) to 70% (English).

• Here is the way that they describe Tom's presenting problem as an intervention goal: "Tom will turn in at least 80% of his homework assignments in English, math, social studies, and science on time and completely done."

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Section 2: Selecting Student-Directed InterventionsStudent Directions: List up to 4 strategies that you will take on your own to reach your goal(s).

The goal is for the student to take initiative in selecting several strategies that he or she is responsible for doing to reach the goal. As you assist the student in selecting and writing down self-help strategies, specify how frequently or under what conditions the student will use each strategy (e.g., "At the start of each class period, the student will review a checklist to ensure that she has all work materials."). The student form also allows you to meet with the student for follow-up sessions and to check off whether he or she is consistently using the self-help strategies. NOTE: The student may need training before he or she can use some strategies independently.



Section 2: Selecting Student-Directed Interventions (Cont.)

Student Directions: List up to 4 strategies that you will take on your own to reach your goal(s).

Several sample student-directed solutions appear below: Self-monitor preparation for class using a student-created checklist Bring all work materials to class Write complete lecture notes Maintain a clear, uncluttered work space Create a structured work plan before completing larger assignments Complete additional readings to reinforce understanding of course concepts, content Take practice tests to prepare for actual class or state tests

Write down homework assignment and double-check for accuracy and completeness before leaving class Ensure that all work materials for homework go home Study course material on a regular review schedule Prepare nightly homework plans, check off completed tasks Use 'self-help' Internet sites (e.g., algebrahelp.com) to find answers to questions



Student Self-Directed Intervention Plan: Tom• The instructional team and Tom discussed those strategies

that Tom could use to address the homework problem. Tom shared that he sometimes had the wrong assignment or did not take the necessary work materials home. He also admitted that he did not have a set time set aside at home to do homework.

• Based on this discussion (and with encouragement from his teachers), Tom selected these three self-directed strategies…

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Section 3: Selecting Interventions Supported by OthersStudent Directions: List up to 4 types of assistance that you will obtain from others to reach your goal(s):

In this section are listed those student supports that require assistance from others. As you help the student to choose and document strategies involving others, specify how frequently or under what conditions the student will use each strategy (e.g., "When the student has a question about lecture content or an assignment, he will bring that question to the teacher during her free period."). The student form also allows you to meet with the student for follow-up sessions and to check off whether he or she is continuing to use these 'other-assisted' strategies.



Section 3: Selecting Interventions Supported by Others (Cont.)Student Directions: List up to 4 types of assistance that you will obtain from others to reach your goal(s):Several sample 'interventions supported by others' appear below: Use teacher-supplied guided notes in class Seek instructor help during free periods Receive tutoring services from peer or adult Be assigned an adult mentor Set up regular 'check-in' sessions with a school staff member to monitor student's intervention follow-through Have the teacher review and sign off on homework assignments written in the student's notebook/course agenda

Create a study group with other students Have parent(s) assist as 'homework coaches' to help the student to organize, get started with, and complete homework Meet with the teacher for brief weekly conferences to review course performance (e.g., grades, missing work, etc.)



Student Self-Directed Intervention Plan: Tom• Tom and the instructional team also agreed that he would

benefit from one 'other-directed' intervention idea:

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Section 4: Measuring Progress Toward Your Goals

Student Directions: Select up to 2 ways that you will measure progress toward your intervention goal(s):

The task in this section is to select one or more ways that you and the student can track whether the intervention(s) being tried are actually effective in helping the student to achieve his or her goal(s). As you help the student to choose each method for monitoring progress, specify how frequently the data is to be collected (e.g., 'daily', 'weekly', 'after each tutoring session'). The student form also allows you to meet with the student for follow-up sessions and to check off whether the data is being collected consistently. Several sample methods for tracking student progress on intervention appear below: 'Academic Enabler' Skills Checklist Behavior Report Card: To be completed by the teacher and/or student

Homework Log School/Home Note Evaluation of Work Products



Student Self-Directed Intervention Plan: Tom• To track progress on the intervention, the instructional team

and Tom selected the following:

– Student-created homework checklist (to monitor actual intervention follow-through)

– Teacher homework logs (to track ultimate benefit of the intervention)

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Section 5: Setting an Intervention 'Check-Up' Date

Directions: Decide how many instructional weeks your intervention will last. Write in the intervention 'end date' (the calendar date when you will review progress to see if your current intervention plan is effective):The student must allocate sufficient time for the intervention to accurately judge whether it is a success. Generally, student interventions should last between 4 and 8 instructional weeks. You can assist the student in both setting a reasonable timespan for the intervention and (by consulting a school calendar) writing down the end-date to mark the conclusion of the intervention.



Student Self-Directed Intervention Plan: Tom• The team and Tom agreed to try the intervention for six

weeks.

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Group Activity: Student Self-Directed Interventions: Planning the Student Conference• Review the five-step

process for helping students create self-directed interventions shared at this workshop.

• Discuss how you might use this structure when meeting with students to promote student responsibility.

Student ‘Self-Directed’ Interventions pp. 50-54

• Section 1: Defining Your Goals• Section 2: Selecting Student-

Directed Interventions• Section 3: Selecting Interventions

Supported by Others• Section 4: Measuring Progress

Toward Your Goals• Section 5: Setting an Intervention

‘Check-Up’ Date



Helping the Student Who is ‘Under Water’ With Late Assignments: A Structure for Teacher–Student Conferences pp. 49-51



Negotiating Missing Work: Student-Teacher Conference

When students fall behind in their classwork, they can quickly enter a downward spiral. Some students become overwhelmed and simply give up. In such cases, the teacher may want to meet with the student –and if possible, a parent--to help that student to create a work plan to catch up with late work. At the meeting, the teacher and student inventory what work is missing, negotiate a plan to complete that overdue work, and perhaps agree on a reasonable penalty when late work is turned in. All attending then sign off on the work plan. The teacher also ensures that the atmosphere at the meeting is supportive.

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Negotiating Missing Work: Student-Teacher Conference (Cont.)

Here in greater detail are the steps that the teacher and student would follow at a meeting to renegotiate missing work:

1. Inventory All Missing Work. The teacher reviews with the student all late or missing work. The student is given the opportunity to explain why the work has not yet been submitted.

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2. Negotiate a Plan to Complete Missing Work. The teacher and student create a log with entries for all missing assignments. Each entry includes a description of the missing assignment and a due date by which the student pledges to submit that work. This log becomes the student’s work plan. Submission dates for late assignments should be realistic--particularly for students who owe a considerable amount of late work and are also trying to keep caught up with current assignments.

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3. [Optional] Impose a Penalty for Missing Work. The teacher may decide to impose a penalty for the work being submitted late. Examples of possible penalties are a reduction of points (e.g., loss of 10 points per assignment) or the requirement that the student do additional work on the assignment than was required of his or her peers who turned it in on time. If imposed, such penalties would be spelled out at this teacher-student conference. Any penalties should be balanced and fair, permitting the teacher to impose appropriate consequences while allowing the student to still see a path to completing missing work and passing the course.

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4. Periodically Check on the Status of the Missing-Work Plan. If the schedule agreed upon by teacher and student to complete and submit all late work exceeds two weeks, the teacher (or other designated school contact, such as a counselor) should meet with the student weekly while the plan is in effect. At these meetings, the teacher checks in with the student to verify that he or she is attaining the plan milestones on time and still expects to meet the submission deadlines agreed upon. If obstacles to emerge, the teacher and student engage in problem-solving to resolve them.

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Behavioral Interventions: Starter Set

Topics: 'Big Ideas' in Behavior Management; Selected Strategies for Preventing or Managing Problem Classroom Behaviors

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Student academic problems cause many school behavior problems.

“Whether [a student’s] problem is a behavior problem or an academic one, we recommend starting with a functional academic assessment, since often behavior problems occur when students cannot or will not do required academic work.”

Big Ideas: Academic Delays Can Be a Potent Cause of Behavior

Problems (Witt, Daly, & Noell, 2000)

Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Noell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West, p. 13



Unmotivated Students: What Works

The relationship between the two factors is multiplicative. If EITHER of these factors (the student’s expectation of success on the task OR the student’s valuing of that success) is zero, then the ‘motivation’ product will also be zero.

1. the student’s expectation of success on the task

2. the value that the student places on achieving success on that learning task

Motivation can be thought of as having two dimensions:

Multiplied by


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0

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ABC: The Core of Behavior Management“....at the core of behavioral interventions is the three-term contingency consisting of an antecedent, behavior, and consequence.”

Source: Kern, L., Choutka, C. M., & Sokol, N. G. (2002). Assessment-based antecedent interventions used in natural settings to reduce challenging behaviors: An analysis of the literature. Education & Treatment of Children, 25, 113-130. p. 113.

A B C

“That is, most behavior is believed to occur…”

“… subsequent to some type of environmental event (i.e., an antecedent) …”

“…which then may be maintained if it is followed by an event that is pleasurable or reinforcing (i.e., consequence).”



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ABC: Events as Antecedents

A B C

The student stares at the paper for a moment—then

tears it up.Example: A student is given

a math computation worksheet to complete.

The student is sent to the office-allowing escape from

the task.

Source: Kern, L., Choutka, C. M., & Sokol, N. G. (2002). Assessment-based antecedent interventions used in natural settings to reduce challenging behaviors: An analysis of the literature. Education & Treatment of Children, 25, 113-130. p. 113.

‘Discriminative Stimulus’: An antecedent can become associated with certain desired outcomes and thus ‘trigger’ problem behaviors.

If the consequence associated with the behavior is reinforcing for the student, then the antecedent or trigger can serve to signal (discriminate) that reinforcement is coming.



Advantages of Antecedent Strategies vs. ‘Reactive Approaches’

1. Can prevent behavior problems from occurring2. Are typically ‘quick acting’3. Can result in an instructional environment that

better promotes student learning

Source: Kern, L. & Clemens, N. H. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 65-75.



Managing Challenging Behaviors: Targeted Strategies pp. 35-49Focus of Inquiry: What are examples of feasible classroom strategies to prevent or manage challenging student behaviors?

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Working With Behaviorally Challenging Students

Classroom strategies to proactively manage (and prevent) problem behaviors can be grouped as:

• Academic Adjustments• Communication Tools• Consequences• Defusing Strategies• Environmental Adjustments• Reinforcement• Relationship-Building

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Managing Challenging Behaviors in the Classroom: Academic Adjustments

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Behavior Management Strategies: Academic Focus• INSTRUCTIONAL MATCH: ENSURING STUDENTS CAN

DO THE WORK. A frequent trigger for behavior problems is that the student lacks the skills necessary to do the assigned schoolwork. To verify instructional match, the teacher (1) inventories the target student's academic skills and (2) adjusts assignments or provides additional academic assistance as needed to ensure that the student is appropriately challenged but not overwhelmed by the work.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Academic Focus• BEHAVIORAL MOMENTUM: INCREASING COMPLIANCE.

Students with low-frustration tolerance or lack of confidence may balk when asked to complete challenging academic tasks assigned as independent seatwork. A strategy to increase the probability that a student will attempt a challenging academic task is to precede that task with a short series of brief, easy academic tasks. (For example, a student may do three easy problems on a math worksheet before encountering a challenge problem.) The student builds 'behavioral momentum' in completing the easy items and is thus 'primed' to attempt the challenge item that might otherwise derail them.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Academic Focus• CHOICE: ALLOWING STUDENTS CONTROL OVER

LEARNING. Teachers who allow students a degree of choice in structuring their learning activities can increase engagement and reduce classroom behavior problems. One efficient way to promote choice in the classroom is for the teacher to create a master menu of options that students can select from in various learning situations. For example, during independent assignment, students might be allowed to (1) choose from at least two assignment options, (2) sit where they want in the classroom, and (3) select a peer-buddy to check their work. Student choice then becomes integrated seamlessly into the classroom routine.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Academic Focus• ALTERNATIVE ACADEMIC RESPONSE FORMATS:

REDUCING STUDENT FRUSTRATION. For some students, a trigger for misbehavior is that they are asked to complete an academic task in a response format that they find difficult or frustrating. A strategy to address this issue is to offer the student a more acceptable alternative response format. For example, a student who does not like to write by hand can be given access to a keyboard to draft an essay while a student who is put off by completing a math computation worksheet independently can answer the same math facts orally from flashcards.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Academic Focus• REDUCE RESPONSE EFFORT: INCREASING

COMPLIANCE. Teachers can increase student motivation and compliance through any method that reduces the apparent ‘response effort’ of an academic task- so long as that method does not hold the student to a lesser academic standard than classmates. Appropriate response-effort examples include (1) breaking a larger student assignment into smaller ‘chunks’ and providing the student with performance feedback and praise for each completed ‘chunk’ of assigned work, and (2) arranging for students to start challenging reading or homework assignments in class as a cooperative activity and then complete the remainder on their own.

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Group Activity: Academic Strategies for the Behaviorally Challenging StudentAt your tables:• Consider the ideas shared

for managing challenging behaviors.

• Discuss how you might use one or more of these strategies in your classroom or school.

1. INSTRUCTIONAL MATCH: ENSURING STUDENTS CAN DO THE WORK

2. BEHAVIORAL MOMENTUM: INCREASING COMPLIANCE

3. CHOICE: ALLOWING STUDENTS CONTROL OVER LEARNING

4. ALTERNATIVE ACADEMIC RESPONSE FORMATS: REDUCING STUDENT FRUSTRATION

5. REDUCE RESPONSE EFFORT: INCREASING COMPLIANCE



Managing Challenging Behaviors in the Classroom: Communication Tools

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Behavior Management Strategies: Communication Tools• CRITICISM PAIRED WITH PRAISE: COMMUNICATING

ACCEPTANCE. Here is a way to structure critical feedback to convey that the teacher continues to value the student despite the misbehavior: (1) The teacher describes the problem behavior that the student should target for change; (2) The teacher describes (or encourages the student to brainstorm) appropriate behavioral alternatives; (3) The teacher acknowledges and praises some noteworthy aspect of the student's past classroom behavior or accomplishments, and finally (4) The teacher affirms that he or she values having the student as a part of the classroom community.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Communication Tools• CRITICISM PAIRED WITH PRAISE: COMMUNICATING

ACCEPTANCE: EXAMPLE:(1) Description of problem behavior: "Trina, you said disrespectful things about other students during our class meeting this morning. You continued to do so even after I asked you to stop." (2) Appropriate behavioral alternative(s): "It's OK to disagree with another person's ideas. But you need to make sure that your comments do not insult or hurt the feelings of others." (3) Specific praise: "I am talking to you about this behavior because know that you can do better. In fact, I have really come to value your classroom comments. You have great ideas and express yourself very well." (4) Affirmation statement: "You contribute a lot to class discussion!"



Behavior Management Strategies: Communication Tools• EMPHASIZE THE POSITIVE IN TEACHER REQUESTS:

INCREASING STUDENT COMPLIANCE. When an instructor's request has a positive 'spin', that teacher is less likely to trigger a power struggle and more likely to gain student compliance. Whenever possible, the teacher avoids using negative phrasing (e.g., "If you don't return to your seat, I can’t help you with your assignment"). Instead, the teacher restates requests in positive terms (e.g., "I will be over to help you on the assignment just as soon as you return to your seat").

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Behavior Management Strategies: Communication Tools• SAY NO WITH PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE: INCREASING

COMPLIANCE. In preparation, the teacher creates a list of those activities or items preferred by the student that can actually be provided. Whenever the student requests an unavailable activity or item, the teacher structures the 'no' statement as follows: (1) The teacher states that the student cannot engage in the requested activity or have the desired item; (2) The teacher provides the student with an explanation for why the preferred activity or item is not available; (3) The teacher offers the student an alternative preferred activity or item in place of that originally requested.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Communication Tools• SAY NO WITH PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE: INCREASING

COMPLIANCE : EXAMPLE: Here is a sample teacher 'no' statement with preferred alternative: "Roger, you cannot listen to your music now because student music players are not allowed in class. However, you can take a five-minute break to play the Math Blasters computer game that you like."



Behavior Management Strategies: Communication Tools• TEACHER COMMANDS: ESTABLISHING CLASSROOM

COMMAND AND CONTROL. Teacher commands play an important role in classroom behavior management. Teacher commands are most likely to elicit student compliance when they (1) are delivered calmly, (2) are brief, (3) are stated when possible as DO statements rather than as DON'T statements, (4) use clear, simple language, and (5) are delivered one command at a time and appropriately paced to avoid confusing or overloading students. Effective teacher commands avoid both sarcasm or hostility and over-lengthy explanations that can distract or confuse students.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Communication Tools• TWO-PART CHOICE STATEMENT: DELIVERING CLEAR

CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE. The teacher can structure verbal requests to both acknowledge a non-compliant student’s freedom to choose whether to comply and to present the logical consequences for non-compliance (e.g., poor grades, office disciplinary referral, etc.). The teacher frames requests to uncooperative students as a two-part 'choice' statement: (1) The teacher presents the negative, or non-compliant, choice and its consequences; (2) The teacher next states the positive behavioral choice that the student is encouraged to select.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Communication Tools• TWO-PART CHOICE STATEMENT: DELIVERING CLEAR

CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE : EXAMPLE:Here is a sample 2-part choice statement, "John, you can stay after school to finish the class assignment or you can finish the assignment now and not have to stay after class. It is your choice."



Group Activity: CommunicationTools for the Behaviorally Challenging StudentAt your tables:• Consider the ideas shared



1. CRITICISM PAIRED WITH PRAISE: COMMUNICATING ACCEPTANCE

2. EMPHASIZE THE POSITIVE IN TEACHER REQUESTS: INCREASING STUDENT COMPLIANCE

3. SAY NO WITH PREFERRED ALTERNATIVE: INCREASING COMPLIANCE

4. TEACHER COMMANDS: ESTABLISHING CLASSROOM COMMAND AND CONTROL

5. TWO-PART CHOICE STATEMENT: DELIVERING CLEAR CONSEQUENCES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE



Managing Challenging Behaviors in the Classroom: Relationship-Building

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Behavior Management Strategies: Relationship-Building• MAINTAIN A HIGH RATIO OF POSITIVE INTERACTIONS:

BUILDING STUDENT CONNECTIONS. Teachers can increase the odds of building a positive relationship with any student by maintaining a ratio of at least three positive teacher-student interactions (e.g., greeting, positive conversation, high-five) for every negative (disciplinary) interaction (e.g., reprimand).

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Behavior Management Strategies: Relationship-Building• STRIVE FOR DAILY POSITIVE INTERACTIONS: BUILDING

STUDENT CONNECTIONS. If the teacher lacks a positive relationship with a particular student, the teacher makes the commitment to have at least one positive verbal interaction per class period with that student (e.g., greeting at the door, positive conversation, praise for student discussion comments). Whenever possible, the teacher continues to interact in positive ways with the student throughout the rest of the class period through both verbal (e.g., praise comment after a student remark) and non-verbal (e.g., thumbs-up sign, smile) means. In all such interactions, the teacher maintains a polite, respectful tone.

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Behavior Management Strategies: Relationship-Building• TWO-BY-TEN TEACHER CONTACT. The teacher makes a

commitment to have a 2-minute conversation with the student across 10 consecutive school days (20 minutes of cumulative positive contact). This strategy (‘non-contingent teacher attention’) can be helpful with students who lack a positive connection with the teacher.

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Group Activity: Reinforcementand Relationship-Building for the Behaviorally Challenging StudentAt your tables:• Consider the ideas shared



Reinforcement1. LINK PREFERRED

ACTIVITIES/ITEMS TO WORK COMPLETION: INCREASING COMPLIANCE

2. PRAISE: ACKNOWLEDGING AND SHAPING BEHAVIOR

Relationship-Building1. BEHAVIOR CONFERENCE:

ENCOURAGING STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY

2. MAINTAIN A HIGH RATIO OF POSITIVE INTERACTIONS: BUILDING STUDENT CONNECTIONS.

3. STRIVE FOR DAILY POSITIVE INTERACTIONS: BUILDING STUDENT CONNECTIONS



Team Activity: Select Behavior Strategies for Your Challenging Students…

: • At your table:

– Review the behavior management ideas in your handout: pp. 35-49.

– Select at least 2 ideas that you would like to try in your classroom.



‘Defensive Behavior Management’: The Power of Teacher Preparation (Available on Conference Web Page)



Defensive Management: A Method to Avoid Power Struggles

‘Defensive management’ (Fields, 2004) is a teacher-friendly six-step approach to avert student-teacher power struggles that emphasizes providing proactive instructional support to the student, elimination of behavioral triggers in the classroom setting, relationship-building, strategic application of defusing techniques when needed, and use of a ‘reconnection’ conference after behavioral incidents to promote student reflection and positive behavior change.

Source: Fields, B. (2004). Breaking the cycle of office referrals and suspensions: Defensive management. Educational Psychology in Practice, 20, 103-115.



Defensive Management: Six Steps1. Understanding the Student Problem and Using

Proactive Strategies to Prevent ‘Triggers’. The teacher collects information--through direct observation and perhaps other means--about specific instances of student problem behavior and the instructional components and other factors surrounding them. The teacher analyzes this information to discover specific ‘trigger’ events that seem to set off the problem behavior(s) (e.g., lack of skills; failure to understand directions).

The instructor then adjusts instruction to provide appropriate student support (e.g., providing the student with additional instruction in a skill; repeating directions and writing them on the board).




Defensive Management: Six Steps

2. Promoting Positive Teacher-Student Interactions. Early in each class session, the teacher has at least one positive verbal interaction with the student. Throughout the class period, the teacher continues to interact in positive ways with the student (e.g., brief conversation, smile, thumbs up, praise comment after a student remark in large-group discussion, etc.). In each interaction, the teacher adopts a genuinely accepting, polite, respectful tone.





3. Scanning for Warning Indicators. During the class session, the teacher monitors the target student’s behavior for any behavioral indicators suggesting that the student is becoming frustrated or angry. Examples of behaviors that precede non-compliance or open defiance may include stopping work; muttering or complaining; becoming argumentative; interrupting others; leaving his or her seat; throwing objects, etc.).





4. Exercising Emotional Restraint. Whenever the student begins to display problematic behaviors, the teacher makes an active effort to remain calm. To actively monitor his or her emotional state, the teacher tracks physiological cues such as increased muscle tension and heart rate, as well as fear, annoyance, anger, or other negative emotions. The teacher also adopts calming or relaxation strategies that work for him or her in the face of provocative student behavior, such as taking a deep breath or counting to 10 before responding.





5. Using Defusing Tactics. If the student begins to escalate to non-compliant, defiant, or confrontational behavior (e.g., arguing, threatening, other intentional verbal interruptions), the teacher draws from a range of possible descalating strategies to defuse the situation. Such strategies can include private conversation with the student while maintaining a calm voice, open-ended questions, paraphrasing the student’s concerns, acknowledging the student’s emotions, etc.





6. Conducting a ‘Reconnection’ Conference. Soon after any in-class incident of student non-compliance, defiance, or confrontation, the teacher makes a point to meet with the student to discuss the behavioral incident, identify the triggers in the classroom environment that led to the problem, and brainstorm with the student to create a written plan to prevent the reoccurrence of such an incident. Throughout this conference, the teacher maintains a supportive, positive, polite, and respectful tone.




Group Activity: Defensive Management: Classroom ApplicationsAt your tables:• Review the six steps of

‘Defensive Management’ reviewed in this workshop.

• Discuss how you might apply this framework to your own classroom behavior management.

Defensive Behavior Management: 6 Steps1. Understanding the Student Problem

and Using Proactive Strategies to Prevent ‘Triggers’.

2. Promoting Positive Teacher-Student Interactions.

3. Scanning for Warning Indicators. 4. Exercising Emotional Restraint. 5. Using Defusing Tactics.6. Conducting a Student ‘Reconnection’

Conference.



Team Activity: Select Behavior Strategies for Your Challenging Student…

: • At your table:

– Review the behavior management ideas in your handout: pp. 39-43.

– Select at least 2 ideas that you think might be effective for use with your students.



Tier 1 Interventions: Case Examples

Topics: Examples of Tier 1 Academic and Behavioral Interventions for Different Student Concerns

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Tier 1 Case Example: Patricia: Reading Comprehension



Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Problem• A student, Patricia, struggled in her social studies class,

particularly in understanding the course readings. Her teacher, Ms. Cardamone, decided that the problem was significant enough that the student required some individualized support.

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Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Evidence• Student Interview. Ms. Cardamone met with Patricia to ask her

questions about her difficulties with social studies content and assignments. Patricia said that when she reads the course text and other assigned readings, she doesn’t have difficulty with the vocabulary but often realizes after reading half a page that she hasn’t really understood what she has read. Sometimes she has to reread a page several times and that can be frustrating.

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Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Evidence (Cont.)• Review of Records. Past teacher report card comments suggest that

Patricia has had difficulty with reading comprehension tasks in earlier grades. She had received help in middle school in the reading lab, although there was no record of what specific interventions were tried in that setting.

• Input from Other Teachers. Ms. Cardamone checked with other teachers who have Patricia in their classes. All expressed concern about Patricia’s reading comprehension skills. The English teacher noted that Patricia appears to have difficulty pulling the main idea from a passage, which limits her ability to extract key information from texts and to review that information for tests.

•

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Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Intervention• Ms. Cardamone decided, based on the evidence collected, that

Patricia would benefit from training in identifying the main idea from a passage, rather than trying to retain all the information presented in the text. She selected two simple interventions: Question Generation and Text Lookback. She arranged to have Patricia meet with her during an open period to review these two strategies. During that meeting, Ms. Cardamone demonstrated how to use these strategies effectively with the social studies course text and other assigned readings.

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QuestionGeneration

Students are taught to boost their comprehension of expository passages by (1) locating the main idea or key ideas in the passage and (2) generating questions based on that information.

http://www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/interventions/rdngcompr/qgen.php



Text Lookback

Text lookback is a simple strategy that students can use to boost their recall of expository prose by identifying questions that require information from the text and then looking back in the text in a methodical manner to locate that information.

http://www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/interventions/rdngcompr/txtlkbk.php



Case Example: Reading ComprehensionDocumentation and Goal-Setting• Ms Cardamone filled out a Tier 1 intervention plan for the

student. On the plan, she listed interventions to be used, a checkup date (4 instructional weeks), and data to be used to assess student progress.

• Data: Ms. Cardamone decided that she would rate the student’s grasp of text content in two ways: – Student self-rating (1-3 scale; 1=don’t understand; 3 = understand

well)– Quiz grades.

• She collected baseline on both and set a goal for improvement.

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Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Outcome• When the intervention had been in place for 4 weeks, Ms.

Cardamone noted that Patricia appeared to have a somewhat better grasp of course content and expressed a greater understanding of material from the text.

• Because Patricia’s self-ratings of reading comprehension and quiz grades met the goals after 4 weeks, Ms. Cardamone decided to continue the intervention plan with the student without changes.

• The teacher shared her intervention ideas with other teachers working with Patricia.

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Tier 1 Case Example: Justin: Non-Compliance



Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Problem

• Justin showed a pattern from the start of the school year of not complying with teacher requests in his English class. His teacher, Mr. Steubin, noted that – when given a teacher directive—Justin would sometimes fail to comply. Justin would show no obvious signs of opposition but would sit passively or remain engaged in his current activity, as if ignoring the instructor.

When no task demands were made on him, Justin was typically a quiet and somewhat distant student but otherwise appeared to fit into the class and show appropriate behavior.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Evidence• Student Interview. Mr. Steubin felt that he did not have a strong

relationship with the student, so he asked the counselor to talk with Justin about why he might be non-compliant in English class. Justin told the counselor that he was bored in the class and just didn’t like to write. When pressed by the counselor, Justin admitted that he could do the work in the class but chose not to.

• Direct Observation. Mr. Steubin noted that Justin was less likely to comply with writing assignments than other in-class tasks. The likelihood that Justin would be non-compliant tended to go up if Mr. Steubin pushed him to comply in the presence of Justin’s peers. The odds that Justin would comply also appeared to increase when Mr. Steubin stated his request and walked away, rather than continuing to ‘nag’ Justin to comply.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Evidence (Cont.)• Work Products. Mr. Steubin knew from the assignments that he did

receive from Justin that the student had adequate writing skills. However, Justin’s compositions tended to be short, and ideas were not always as fully developed as they could be—as Justin was doing the minimum to get by.

• Input from Other Teachers. Mr. Steubin checked with other teachers who had Justin in their classes. The Spanish teacher had similar problems in getting Justin to comply but the science teacher generally found Justin to be a compliant and pleasant student. She noted that Justin seemed to really like hands-on activities and that, when potentially non-compliant, he responded well to gentle humor.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Intervention• Mr. Steubin realized that he tended to focus most of his attention on

Justin’s non-compliance. So the student’s non compliance might be supported by teacher attention. OR the student’s compliant behaviors might be extinguished because Mr. Steubin did not pay attention to them.

• The teacher decided instead that Justin needed to have appropriate consequences for non-compliance, balanced with incentives to engage in learning tasks. Additionally, Mr. Steubin elected to give the student attention at times that were NOT linked to non-compliance.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Intervention (Cont.)• Appropriate Consequences for Non-Compliance. Mr. Steubin adopted a

new strategy to deal with Justin’s episodes of non-compliance. Mr. Steubin got agreement from Justin’s parents that the student could get access to privileges at home each day only if he had a good report from the teacher about complying with classroom requests.

Whenever the student failed to comply within a reasonable time (1 minute) to a teacher request, Mr. Steubin would approach Justin’s desk and quietly restate the request as a two-part ‘choice’ statement. He kept his verbal interactions brief and neutral in tone. As part of the ‘choice’ statement, the teacher told Justin that if he did not comply, his parents would be emailed a negative report. If Justin still did not comply, Mr. Steubin would follow through later that day in sending the report of non-compliance to the parents.

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Teacher Command Sequence: Two-Part Choice Statement

1. Make the request. Use simple, clear language that the student understands.

If possible, phrase the request as a positive (do) statement, rather than a negative (don’t) statement. (E.g., “Justin, please start your writing assignment now.”) Wait a reasonable time for the student to comply (e.g., 1 minute)




2. [If the student fails to comply] Repeat the request as a 2-part choice. Give the student two clear choices with clear consequences. Order the choices so that the student hears negative consequence as the first choice and the teacher request as the second choice. (E.g., “Justin, I can email your parents to say that you won’t do the class assignment or you can start the assignment now and not have a negative report go home. It’s your choice.”) Give the student a reasonable time to comply (e.g., 1 minute).




3. [If the student fails to comply] Impose the pre-selected negative consequence. As you impose the consequence, ignore student questions or complaints that appear intended to entangle you in a power struggle.



Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Intervention (Cont.)• Active Student Engagement. Mr. Steubin reasoned that he could probably

better motivate the entire class by making sure that lessons were engaging.

He made an extra effort to build lessons around topics of high interest to students, built in cooperative learning opportunities to engage students, and moved the lesson along at a brisk pace. The teacher also made ‘real-world’ connections whenever he could between what was being taught in a lesson and ways that students could apply that knowledge or skill outside of school or in future situations.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Intervention (Cont.)• Teacher Attention (Non-Contingent). Mr. Steubin adopted the two-by-ten

intervention (A. Mendler, 2000) as a way to jumpstart a connection with Justin. The total time required for this strategy was 20 minutes across ten school days.

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Sample Ideas to Improve Relationships With Students: The Two-By-Ten Intervention (Mendler, 2000)

• Make a commitment to spend 2 minutes per day for 10 consecutive days in building a relationship with the student…by talking about topics of interest to the student.

Avoid discussing problems with the student’s behaviors or schoolwork during these times.

Source: Mendler, A. N. (2000). Motivating students who don’t care. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.



Sample Ideas to Improve Relationships With Students: The Three-to-One Intervention

(Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002)

• Give positive attention or praise to problem students at least three times more frequently than you reprimand them. Give the student the attention or praise during moments when that student is acting appropriately. Keep track of how frequently you give positive attention and reprimands to the student.




Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Outcome• The strategies adopted by Mr. Steubin did not improve Justin’s level of

compliance right away. Once the teacher had gone through the full ten days of the ‘two by ten’ intervention, however, Mr. Steubin noticed that Justin made more eye contact with him and even joked occasionally. And the student’s rate of compliance then noticeably improved—but still had a way to go.

• Mr. Steubin kept in regular contact with Justin’s parents, who admitted about 8 days into the intervention that they were not as rigorous as they should be in preventing him from accessing privileges at home when he was non-compliant at school. When the teacher urged them to hold the line at home, they said that they would –and did. Justin’s behavior improved as a result, to the point where his level of compliance was typical for the range of students in Mr. Steubin’s class.

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Activity: RTI: Taking the ‘Next Step’

At your tables:• Discuss the content covered in today’s

workshop.• Decide on the ‘next steps’ you plan to take

to apply ideas and/or resources shared today back in your classroom and school.

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