response to intervention rti lab for secondary schools: effective academic interventions for...

Response to Intervention

www.interventioncentral.org

RtI Lab for Secondary Schools:Effective Academic Interventions for Struggling Students

Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Workshop Agenda

1. RTI and Interventions: Key Points

2. Reading, Math, Writing, Study Skills Interventions

3. Defining and Promoting Interventions in the Classroom

4. Critical Components of Academic Interventions

6. Internet Resources to Support RTI Interventions

5. Measuring ‘Intervention Integrity’


www.interventioncentral.org 4

RTI Assumption: Struggling Students Are ‘Typical’ Until Proven Otherwise…

RTI logic assumes that:– A student who begins to struggle in general education is typical,

and that– It is general education’s responsibility to find the instructional

strategies that will unlock the student’s learning potential

Only when the student shows through well-documented interventions that he or she has ‘failed to respond to intervention’ does RTI begin to investigate the possibility that the student may have a learning disability or other special education condition.



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…



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.



Tier 1 (Classroom) Literacy Interventions for Middle & High Schools: A Skill-Building Lab




Promoting Literacy in Middle & High School Classrooms: Three Elements

• Explicit vocabulary instruction• Reading comprehension• Extended discussion

Source: Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., & Torgesen, J. (2008). Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A practice guide (NCEE #2008-4027). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc.



RTI & Secondary Literacy:Explicit Vocabulary Instruction



Vocabulary: Why This Instructional Goal is Important

As vocabulary terms become more specialized in content area courses, students are less able to derive the meaning of unfamiliar words from context alone. Students must instead learn vocabulary through more direct means, including having opportunities to explicitly memorize words and their definitions.

Students may require 12 to 17 meaningful exposures to a word to learn it.



Provide Dictionary Training

The student is trained to use an Internet lookup strategy to better understand dictionary or glossary definitions of key vocabulary items.

– The student first looks up the word and its meaning(s) in the dictionary/glossary.

– If necessary, the student isolates the specific word meaning that appears to be the appropriate match for the term as it appears in course texts and discussion.

– The student goes to an Internet search engine (e.g., Google) and locates at least five text samples in which the term is used in context and appears to match the selected dictionary definition.



Promote ‘Wide Reading’

Students read widely in the content area, using texts that supplement and extend information supplied by the textbook. ‘Wide reading’ results in substantial increases in student vocabulary over time due to incidental learning. To strengthen the positive impact of wide reading on vocabulary development, have student texts available that vary in difficulty and that are of high interest. Discuss readings in class. Experiment with ways to document student independent reading and integrate that ‘wide reading’ into an effort grade for the course. If needed, build time into the student’s school schedule for supervised ‘wide reading’ time.



Hold ‘Read-Alouds’

Select texts that supplement the course textbook and that illustrate central concepts and contain important vocabulary covered in the course. Read those texts aloud for 3 to 5 minutes per class session--while students follow along silently. Read-alouds provide students with additional exposure to vocabulary items in context. They can also lower the threshold of difficulty: Students may be more likely to attempt to read an assigned text independently if they have already gotten a start in the text by listening to a more advanced reader read the first few pages aloud. Read-alouds can support other vocabulary-building activities such as guided discussion, vocabulary review, and wide reading.



Provide Regular In-Class Instruction and Review of Vocabulary Terms, Definitions

Present important new vocabulary terms in class, along with student-friendly definitions. Provide ‘example sentences’ to illustrate the use of the term. Assign students to write example sentences employing new vocabulary to illustrate their mastery of the terms.



Generate ‘Possible Sentences’ The teacher selects 6 to 8 challenging new vocabulary terms and 4 to 6 easier, more familiar vocabulary items relevant to the lesson. Introduce the vocabulary terms to the class. Have students write sentences that contain at least two words from the posted vocabulary list. Then write examples of student sentences on the board until all words from the list have been used. After the assigned reading, review the ‘possible sentences’ that were previously generated. Evaluate as a group whether, based on the passage, the sentence is ‘possible’ (true) in its current form. If needed, have the group recommend how to change the sentence to make it ‘possible’.



Enhance Vocabulary Instruction Through Use of Graphic Organizers or Displays: A Sampling

Teachers can use graphic displays to structure their vocabulary discussions and activities (Boardman et al., 2008; Fisher, 2007; Texas Reading Initiative, 2002).



4-Square Graphic Display

The student divides a page into four quadrants. In the upper left section, the student writes the target word. In the lower left section, the student writes the word definition. In the upper right section, the student generates a list of examples that illustrate the term, and in the lower right section, the student writes ‘non-examples’ (e.g., terms that are the opposite of the target vocabulary word).



Semantic Word Definition Map

The graphic display contains sections in which the student writes the word, its definition (‘what is this?’), additional details that extend its meaning (‘What is it like?’), as well as a listing of examples and ‘non-examples’ (e.g., terms that are the opposite of the target vocabulary word).



Word Definition Map Example



Semantic Feature Analysis

A target vocabulary term is selected for analysis in this grid-like graphic display. Possible features or properties of the term appear along the top margin, while examples of the term are listed ion the left margin. The student considers the vocabulary term and its definition. Then the student evaluates each example of the term to determine whether it does or does not match each possible term property or element.



Semantic Feature Analysis Example

• VOCABULARY TERM: TRANSPORTATION



Comparison/Contrast (Venn) Diagram

Two terms are listed and defined. For each term, the student brainstorms qualities or properties or examples that illustrate the term’s meaning. Then the student groups those qualities, properties, and examples into 3 sections:

A. items unique to Term 1B. items unique to Term 2C. items shared by both terms



RTI & Secondary Literacy:Extended Discussion



Extended Discussions: Why This Instructional Goal is Important

Extended, guided group discussion is a powerful means to help students to learn vocabulary and advanced concepts. Discussion can also model for students various ‘thinking processes’ and cognitive strategies (Kamil et al. 2008, p. 22). To be effective, guided discussion should go beyond students answering a series of factual questions posed by the teacher: Quality discussions are typically open-ended and exploratory in nature, allowing for multiple points of view (Kamil et al., 2008).

When group discussion is used regularly and well in instruction, students show increased growth in literacy skills. Content-area teachers can use it to demonstrate the ‘habits of mind’ and patterns of thinking of experts in various their discipline: e.g., historians, mathematicians, chemists, engineers, literacy critics, etc.



Use a ‘Standard Protocol’ to Structure Extended Discussions

Good extended classwide discussions elicit a wide range of student opinions, subject individual viewpoints to critical scrutiny in a supportive manner, put forth alternative views, and bring closure by summarizing the main points of the discussion. Teachers can use a simple structure to effectively and reliably organize their discussions…



‘Standard Protocol’ Discussion FormatA. Pose questions to the class that require students to explain their

positions and their reasoning .B. When needed, ‘think aloud’ as the discussion leader to model

good reasoning practices (e.g., taking a clear stand on a topic).C. Supportively challenge student views by offering possible

counter arguments.D. Single out and mention examples of effective student reasoning.E. Avoid being overly directive; the purpose of extended

discussions is to more fully investigate and think about complex topics.

F. Sum up the general ground covered in the discussion and highlight the main ideas covered.



Team Activity: Evaluate ‘Extended Discussion’ Strategies

• Review the ‘Troubleshooting Tips’ and ‘Building Capacity’ sections of the intervention write-up.

• Share your thoughts about how you would promote the use of this strategy in your classrooms.

• Devise at least ONE strategy to move forward in getting teachers to expand their skills in this intervention area.



RTI & Secondary Literacy:Reading Comprehension



Reading Comprehension: Why This Instructional Goal is Important

Students require strong reading comprehension skills to succeed in challenging content-area classes.

At present, there is no clear evidence that any one reading comprehension instructional technique is clearly superior to others. In fact, it appears that students benefit from being taught any self-directed practice that prompts them to engage more actively in understanding the meaning of text (Kamil et al., 2008).



Assist Students in Setting ‘Content Goals’ for Reading

Students are more likely to be motivated to read--and to read more closely—if they have specific content-related reading goals in mind. At the start of a reading assignment, for example, the instructor has students state what questions they might seek to answer or what topics they would like to learn more about in their reading. The student or teacher writes down these questions. After students have completed the assigned reading, they review their original questions and share what they have learned (e.g., through discussion in large group or cooperative learning group, or even as a written assignment).



Teach Question-Answer Relationships (QARs)• RIGHT THERE questions are fact-based and can be found in a

single sentence, often accompanied by 'clue' words that also appear in the question.

• THINK AND SEARCH questions can be answered from the text--but answers must be pieced together by scanning the text and making connections between different pieces of factual information.

• AUTHOR AND YOU questions require that students take information or opinions that appear in the text and combine them with the reader's own experiences or opinions.

• ON MY OWN questions are based on the students' own experiences and do not require knowledge of the text to answer.



Team Activity: Classroom Literacy Strategies: Middle and High School

• At your table: Think of the content-area teacher who may believe that it is not his or her ‘job’ to promote literacy skills through whole-group, small-group, or individual strategies.

• How would you attempt to change that teacher’s mind?

• How can you help a reluctant teacher to adopt core-instruction or intervention strategies like those presented here?



Promoting Student Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills




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.)• [Core Instruction] Providing Main Idea Practice through

‘Partner Retell’ (Carnine & Carnine, 2004). Students in a group or class are assigned a text selection to read silently. Students are then paired off, with one student assigned the role of ‘reteller’ and the other appointed as ‘listener’. The reteller recounts the main idea to the listener, who can comment or ask questions. The teacher then states the main idea to the class. Next, the reteller locates two key details from the reading that support the main idea and shares these with the listener. At the end of the activity, the teacher does a spot check by randomly calling on one or more students in the listener role and asking them to recap what information was shared by the reteller.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Accommodation] Developing a Bank of Multiple Passages

to Present Challenging Concepts (Hedin & Conderman, 2010; Kamil et al., 2008; Texas Reading Initiative, 2002). The teacher notes which course concepts, cognitive strategies, or other information will likely present the greatest challenge to students. For these ‘challenge’ topics, the teacher selects alternative readings that present the same general information and review the same key vocabulary as the course text but that are more accessible to struggling readers (e.g., with selections written at an easier reading level or that use graphics to visually illustrate concepts). These alternative selections are organized into a bank that students can access as a source of ‘wide reading’ material.

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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] Restructuring Paragraphs with Main Idea

First to Strengthen ‘Rereads’ (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student highlights or creates a main idea sentence for each paragraph in the assigned reading. When rereading each paragraph of the selection, the student (1) reads the main idea sentence or student-generated ‘gist’ sentence first (irrespective of where that sentence actually falls in the paragraph); (2) reads the remainder of the paragraph, and (3) reflects on how the main idea relates to the paragraph content.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Summarizing Readings (Boardman et al.,

2008). The student is taught to summarize readings into main ideas and essential details--stripped of superfluous content. The act of summarizing longer readings can promote understanding and retention of content while the summarized text itself can be a useful study tool.

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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] Compiling a Vocabulary Journal from

Course Readings (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student highlights new or unfamiliar vocabulary from course readings. The student writes each term into a vocabulary journal, using a standard ‘sentence-stem’ format: e.g., “Mitosis means…” or “A chloroplast is…”. If the student is unable to generate a definition for a vocabulary term based on the course reading, he or she writes the term into the vocabulary journal without definition and then applies other strategies to define the term: e.g., look up the term in a dictionary; use Google to locate two examples of the term being used correctly in context; ask the instructor, etc.).

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

Enhancements (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). Text enhancements can be used to tag important vocabulary terms, key ideas, or other reading content. If working with photocopied material, the student can use a highlighter to note key ideas or vocabulary. Another enhancement strategy is the ‘lasso and rope’ technique—using a pen or pencil to circle a vocabulary term and then drawing a line that connects that term to its underlined definition. If working from a textbook, the student can cut sticky notes into strips. These strips can be inserted in the book as pointers to text of interest. They can also be used as temporary labels—e.g., for writing a vocabulary term and its definition.

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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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Team Activity: Promoting Reading Comprehsnion ‘Fix-Up Skills’ in Middle and High Schools

At your table: • Consider the ideas included in the

Reading Comprehension Fix-Up Skills (pp. 19-20) section of the ‘Strategies’ handout.

• What are some ideas that your school might consider to promote the use of these strategies across classrooms, grade levels, and/or within departments?



Tier 1: The Key Role of Classroom Teachers in RTIJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



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.



Tier 1 Core InstructionTier I core instruction:• Is universal—available to all students.• Can be delivered within classrooms or throughout the school. • Is an ongoing process of developing strong classroom instructional

practices to reach the largest number of struggling learners.

All children have access to Tier 1 instruction/interventions. Teachers have the capability to use those strategies without requiring outside assistance.

Tier 1 instruction encompasses:

• The school’s core curriculum.• Al published or teacher-made materials used to deliver that curriculum.• Teacher use of ‘whole-group’ teaching & management strategies.

Tier I instruction addresses this question: Are strong classroom instructional strategies sufficient to help the student to achieve academic success?



Tier I (Classroom) InterventionTier 1 intervention:

• Targets ‘red flag’ students who are not successful with core instruction alone.

• Uses ‘evidence-based’ strategies to address student academic or behavioral concerns.

• Must be feasible to implement given the resources available in the classroom.

Tier I intervention addresses the question: Does the student make adequate progress when the instructor uses specific academic or behavioral strategies matched to the presenting concern?



The Key Role of Classroom Teachers 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 ‘evidence-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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Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: 7 Reasons Why Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI Interventions




‘Teacher Tolerance’ as an Indicator of RTI Intervention Capacity

“I call the range of students whom [teachers] come to view as adequately responsive – i.e., teachable – as the tolerance; those who are perceived to be outside the tolerance are those for whom teachers seek additional resources. The term “tolerance” is used to indicate that teachers form a permissible boundary on their measurement (judgments) in the same sense as a confidence interval. In this case, the teacher actively measures the distribution of responsiveness in her class by processing information from a series of teaching trials and perceives some range of students as within the tolerance.” (Gerber, 2002)

Source: Gerber, M. M. (2003). Teachers are still the test: Limitations of response to instruction strategies for identifying children with learning disabilities. Paper presented at the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities Responsiveness-to-Intervention Symposium, Kansas City, MO.



RTI & ‘Teacher Reluctance’The willingness of teachers to implement interventions is essential in any school to the success of the RTI model. Yet general-education teachers may not always see themselves as ‘interventionists’ and indeed may even resist the expectation that they will provide individualized interventions as a routine part of their classroom practice (Walker, 2004).

It should be remembered, however, that teachers’ reluctance to accept elements of RTI may be based on very good reasons. Here are some common reasons that teachers might be reluctant to accept their role as RTI intervention ‘first responders’…

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Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: 7 Reasons Why Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI

Interventions• Lack of Skills. Teachers lack the skills necessary to

successfully implement academic or behavioral interventions in their content-area classrooms (Fisher, 2007; Kamil et al., 2008).

• Not My Job. Teachers define their job as providing content-area instruction. They do not believe that providing classwide or individual academic and behavioral interventions falls within their job description (Kamil et al., 2008).




Interventions(Cont.)

• No Time. Teachers do not believe that they have sufficient time available in classroom instruction to implement academic or behavioral interventions (Kamil et al., 2008; Walker, 2004).

• Insufficient Payoff. Teachers lack confidence that there will be an adequate instructional pay-off if they put classwide or individual academic or behavioral interventions into place in their content-area classroom (Kamil et al., 2008).




Interventions (Cont.)

• Loss of Classroom Control. Teachers worry that if they depart from their standard instructional practices to adopt new classwide or individual academic or behavior intervention strategies, they may lose behavioral control of the classroom (Kamil et al., 2008).

• ‘Undeserving Students’. Teachers are unwilling to invest the required effort to provide academic or behavioral interventions for unmotivated students (Walker, 2004) because they would rather put that time into providing additional attention to well-behaved, motivated students who are ‘more deserving’.




Interventions (Cont.)

• The Magic of Special Education. Content-area teachers regard special education services as ‘magic’ (Martens, 1993). According to this view, interventions provided to struggling students in the general-education classroom alone will be inadequate, and only special education services have the power to truly benefit those students.



Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: Seven Reasons Why Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI Literacy Interventions

1. Lack of Skills. Teachers lack the skills necessary to successfully implement academic or behavioral interventions in their content-area classrooms.

2. Not My Job. Teachers define their job as providing content-area instruction. They do not believe that providing classwide or individual academic and behavioral interventions falls within their job description.

3. No Time. Teachers do not believe that they have sufficient time available in classroom instruction to implement academic or behavioral interventions.

4. Insufficient Payoff. Teachers lack confidence that there will be an adequate instructional pay-off if they put classwide or individual academic or behavioral interventions into place in their content-area classroom.

5. Loss of Classroom Control. Teachers worry that if they depart from their standard instructional practices to adopt new classwide or individual academic or behavior intervention strategies, they may lose behavioral control of the classroom.

6. ‘Undeserving Students’. Teachers are unwilling to invest the required effort to provide academic or behavioral interventions for unmotivated students because they would rather put that time into providing additional attention to well-behaved, motivated students who are ‘more deserving’.

7. The Magic of Special Education. Content-area teachers regard special education services as ‘magic’. According to this view, interventions provided to struggling students in the general-education classroom alone will be inadequate, and only special education services have the power to truly benefit those students.



Building Teacher Capacity to Deliver Tier 1 Interventions: An 8-Step Checklist Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



At your tables:• Review the 8-step process

presented in this workshop for developing teacher capacity to do classroom interventions.

• Discuss the steps that you would take to implement this process in your own middle or high school.

Table Activity: Building Teacher Tier 1 Intervention Capacity (‘Support Materials’: pp. 20-26)



RTI: WritingInstruction & Interventions Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



"If all the grammarians in the world were placed end to end, it would be a good thing."– Oscar Wilde



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.




"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."– Mark Twain



"Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."– Samuel Johnson



Sentence CombiningStudents 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



At your tables:• Discuss the sentence-combining strategy discussed

today.• What are ways that content-area teachers can use this

strategy to both help struggling writers AND reinforce course content?

Table Activity: Sentence Combining



Improving the Integrity of Academic Interventions Through a Critical-Components ‘Pre-Flight’ Check




Academic Interventions ‘Critical Components’ Checklist

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Academic Interventions ‘Critical Components’ Checklist

This checklist summarizes the essential components of academic interventions. When preparing a student’s Tier 1, 2, or 3 academic intervention plan, use this document as a ‘pre-flight checklist’ to ensure that the academic intervention is of high quality, is sufficiently strong to address the identified student problem, is fully understood and supported by the teacher, and can be implemented with integrity. NOTE: While the checklist refers to the ‘teacher’ as the interventionist, it can also be used as a guide to ensure the quality of interventions implemented by non-instructional personnel, adult volunteers, parents, and peer (student) tutors.

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Allocating Sufficient Contact Time & Assuring Appropriate Student-Teacher RatioThe cumulative time set aside for an intervention and the amount of direct teacher contact are two factors that help to determine that intervention’s ‘strength’ (Yeaton & Sechrest, 1981).

Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Time Allocated. The time set aside for the intervention is appropriate for the type and level of student problem (Burns & Gibbons, 2008; Kratochwill, Clements & Kalymon, 2007). When evaluating whether the amount of time allocated is adequate, consider:Length of each intervention session.Frequency of sessions (e.g.., daily, 3 times per week)Duration of intervention period (e.g., 6 instructional weeks)

Student-Teacher Ratio. The student receives sufficient contact from the teacher or other person delivering the intervention to make that intervention effective. NOTE: Generally, supplemental intervention groups should be limited to 6-7 students (Burns & Gibbons, 2008).



Matching the Intervention to the Student ProblemAcademic interventions are not selected at random. First, the student academic problem(s) is defined clearly and in detail. Then, the likely explanations for the academic problem(s) are identified to understand which intervention(s) are likely to help—and which should be avoided.Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Problem Definition. The student academic problem(s) to be addressed in the intervention are defined in clear, specific, measureable terms (Bergan, 1995; Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004). The full problem definition describes:Conditions. Describe the environmental conditions or task demands in place when the academic problem is observed. Problem Description. Describe the actual observable academic behavior in which the student is engaged. Include rate, accuracy, or other quantitative information of student performance.Typical or Expected Level of Performance. Provide a typical or expected performance criterion for this skill or behavior. Typical or expected academic performance can be calculated using a variety of sources,



Matching the Intervention to the Student Problem (Cont.)Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Appropriate Target. Selected intervention(s) are appropriate for the identified student problem(s) (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008). TIP: Use the Instructional Hierarchy (Haring et al., 1978) to select academic interventions according to the four stages of learning:Acquisition. The student has begun to learn how to complete the target skill correctly but is not yet accurate in the skill. Interventions should improve accuracy.Fluency. The student is able to complete the target skill accurately but works slowly. Interventions should increase the student’s speed of responding (fluency) as well as to maintain accuracy.Generalization. The student may have acquired the target skill but does not typically use it in the full range of appropriate situations or settings. Or the student may confuse the target skill with ‘similar’ skills. Interventions should get the student to use the skill in the widest possible range of settings and situations, or to accurately discriminate between the target skill and ‘similar’ skills.Adaptation. The student is not yet able to modify or adapt an existing skill to fit novel task-demands or situations. Interventions should help the student to identify key concepts or elements from previously learned skills that can be adapted to the new demands or situations.



Matching the Intervention to the Student Problem (Cont.)Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

‘Can’t Do/Won’t Do’ Check. The teacher has determined whether the student problem is primarily a skill or knowledge deficit (‘can’t do’) or whether student motivation plays a main or supporting role in academic underperformance (‘wont do’). If motivation appears to be a significant factor contributing to the problem, the intervention plan includes strategies to engage the student (e.g., high interest learning activities; rewards/incentives; increased student choice in academic assignments, etc.) (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005; Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004).



Activity: Matching the Intervention to the Student Problem• Consider these critical aspects of academic intervention:

Clear and specific problem-identification statement (Conditions, Problem Description, Typical/Expected Level of Performance).

Appropriate intervention target (e.g., selected intervention is appropriately matched to Acquisition, Fluency, Generalization, or Adaptation phase of Instructional Hierarchy).

Can’t Do/Won’t Do Check (Clarification of whether motivation plays a significant role in student academic underperformance).

• What questions do you have about applying any of these concepts when planning classroom interventions?



Incorporating Effective Instructional ElementsThese effective ‘building blocks’ of instruction are well-known and well-supported by the research. They should be considered when selecting or creating any academic intervention.Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Explicit Instruction. Student skills have been broken down “into manageable and deliberately sequenced steps” and the teacher provided“ overt strategies for students to learn and practice new skills” (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008, p.1153).

Appropriate Level of Challenge. The student experienced sufficient success in the academic task(s) to shape learning in the desired direction as well as to maintain student motivation (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008).

Active Engagement. The intervention ensures that the student is engaged in ‘active accurate responding’ (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005).at a rate frequent enough to capture student attention and to optimize effective learning.

Performance Feedback. The student receives prompt performance feedback about the work completed (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008).

Maintenance of Academic Standards. If the intervention includes any accommodations to better support the struggling learner (e.g., preferential seating, breaking a longer assignment into smaller chunks), those accommodations do not substantially lower the academic standards against which the student is to be evaluated and are not likely to reduce the student’s rate of learning (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005).



Activity: Incorporating Effective Instructional Elements• Think about the effective

instructional elements reviewed in this workshop.

• How can teachers ensure that all effective instructional elements are included in academic interventions?

Incorporating Effective Instructional ElementsCritical Item?

Intervention Element Notes

Explicit Instruction. Appropriate Level of Challenge. Active Engagement.. Performance Feedback.

Maintenance of Academic Standards.



Verifying Teacher Understanding & Providing Teacher SupportThe teacher is an active agent in the intervention, with primary responsibility for putting it into practice in a busy classroom. It is important, then, that the teacher fully understands how to do the intervention, believes that he or she can do it, and knows whom to seek out if there are problems with the intervention.Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Teacher Responsibility. The teacher understands his or her responsibility to implement the academic intervention(s) with integrity.

Teacher Acceptability. The teacher states that he or she finds the academic intervention feasible and acceptable for the identified student problem.

Step-by-Step Intervention Script. The essential steps of the intervention are written as an ‘intervention script’--a series of clearly described steps—to ensure teacher understanding and make implementation easier (Hawkins, Morrison, Musti-Rao & Hawkins, 2008).

Intervention Training. If the teacher requires training to carry out the intervention, that training has been arranged.

Intervention Elements: Negotiable vs. Non-Negotiable. The teacher knows all of the steps of the intervention. Additionally, the teacher knows which of the intervention steps are ‘non-negotiable’ (they must be completed exactly as designed) and which are ‘negotiable’ (the teacher has some latitude in how to carry out those steps) (Hawkins, Morrison, Musti-Rao & Hawkins, 2008).

Assistance With the Intervention. If the intervention cannot be implemented as designed for any reason (e.g., student absence, lack of materials, etc.), the teacher knows how to get assistance quickly to either fix the problem(s) to the current intervention or to change the intervention.



Activity: Verifying Teacher Understanding & Providing Teacher Support

In your teams:

• Review the checklist for verifying that teachers understand all elements of the intervention and actively support its use.

• How will your school ensure that teachers will understand and support academic interventions designed to be implemented in the classroom?

Verifying Teacher Understanding & Providing Teacher SupportCritical Item? Intervention Element

Teacher Responsibility Teacher Acceptability. Step-by-Step Intervention Script. Intervention Training. Intervention Elements: Negotiable

vs. Non-Negotiable Assistance With the Intervention



Documenting the Intervention & Collecting DataInterventions only have meaning if they are done within a larger data-based context. For example, interventions that lack baseline data, goal(s) for improvement, and a progress-monitoring plan are ‘fatally flawed’ (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004).Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Intervention Documentation. The teacher understands and can manage all documentation required for this intervention (e.g., maintaining a log of intervention sessions, etc.).

Checkup Date. Before the intervention begins, a future checkup date is selected to review the intervention to determine if it is successful. Time elapsing between the start of the intervention and the checkup date should be short enough to allow a timely review of the intervention but long enough to give the school sufficient time to judge with confidence whether the intervention worked.

Baseline. Before the intervention begins, the teacher has collected information about the student’s baseline level of performance in the identified area(s) of academic concern (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004).

Goal. Before the intervention begins, the teacher has set a specific goal for predicted student improvement to use as a minimum standard for success (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004). The goal is the expected student outcome by the checkup date if the intervention is successful.

Progress-Monitoring. During the intervention, the teacher collects progress-monitoring data of sufficient quality and at a sufficient frequency to determine at the checkup date whether that intervention is successful (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004).



Activity: Documenting the Intervention & Collecting Data

In your teams:

• Consider the elements of intervention documentation, data collection, and data interpretation discussed here.

• What steps can your school take to make sure that data have a central focus when interventionsare planned and implemented?

Documenting the Intervention & Collecting DataCritical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Intervention Documentation.

Checkup Date.

Baseline.

Goal.

Progress-Monitoring.



References

• Bergan, J. R. (1995). Evolution of a problem-solving model of consultation. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 6(2), 111-123.

• Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York.

• Burns, M. K., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Boice, C. H. (2008). Best practices in intensive academic interventions. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.1151-1162). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

• Haring, N.G., Lovitt, T.C., Eaton, M.D., & Hansen, C.L. (1978). The fourth R: Research in the classroom. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.

• Hawkins, R. O., Morrison, J. Q., Musti-Rao, S., & Hawkins, J. A. (2008). Treatment integrity for academic interventions in real- world settings. School Psychology Forum, 2(3), 1-15.

• Kratochwill, T. R., Clements, M. A., & Kalymon, K. M. (2007). Response to intervention: Conceptual and methodological issues in implementation. In Jimerson, S. R., Burns, M. K., & VanDerHeyden, A. M. (Eds.), Handbook of response to intervention: The science and practice of assessment and intervention. New York: Springer.

• Skinner, C. H., Pappas, D. N., & Davis, K. A. (2005). Enhancing academic engagement: Providing opportunities for responding and influencing students to choose to respond. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 389-403.

• 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.

• Yeaton, W. M. & Sechrest, L. (1981). Critical dimensions in the choice and maintenance of successful treatments: Strength, integrity, and effectiveness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 156-167.

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Activity: Using the Academic Interventions ‘Critical Components’ Checklist

In your teams:

• Discuss the Academic Interventions ‘Critical Components’ Checklist.

• How might your school use this checklist to improve the quality of your building’s interventions at Tiers 1, 2, and 3?



Supplemental Interventions: The Challenge of Providing Tier 2/3

Support in Middle and High Schools



Secondary Students: Should Interventions Be ‘Off-Level’ or Focus on Grade-Level Academics?

There is a lack of consensus about how to address the academic needs of students with deficits in basic skills in secondary grades (Espin & Tindal, 1998).– Should the student be placed in remedial instruction at a point

of ‘instructional match’ to address those basic-skill deficits? (Instruction is adjusted down to the student)

– Or is time better spent providing the student with compensatory strategies to learn grade-level content and ‘work around’ those basic-skill deficits? (Student is brought up to current instruction)

Source: Espin, C. A., & Tindal, G. (1998). Curriculum-based measurement for secondary students. In M. R. Shinn (Ed.) Advanced applications of curriculum-based measurement. New York: Guilford Press.



K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Rdng Fluency

Rdng-Basic Comprehension

Subject-Area Rdng Comprehension

Remediating Academic Deficits: The Widening Curriculum Gap…

Reading Fluency

Small academic gap (elementary school). Student is only mildly off-level. The building curriculum overlaps the student’s point of ‘instructional match’.



K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Rdng Fluency





Reading Fluency

Widening academic gap (middle school). Student is significantly off-level. The building curriculum barely overlaps the student’s point of ‘instructional match’.



K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Rdng Fluency




Largest academic gap (high school). Student is significantly off-level. The building curriculum does not overlap the student’s point of ‘instructional match’ at all.




Supplemental Interventions in Secondary Schools: The Challenge

• Research indicates that students do well in targeted small-group interventions (4-7 students) when the intervention ‘treatment’ is closely matched to those students’ academic needs (Burns & Gibbons, 2008).

• However, in secondary schools:1. students are sometimes grouped for remediation by

convenience rather than by presenting need. Teachers instruct across a broad range of student skills, diluting the positive impact of the intervention.

2. students often present with a unique profile of concerns that does not lend itself to placement in a group intervention.

Source: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools: Procedures to assure scientific-based practices. New York: Routledge.



Caution About Secondary Supplemental Interventions: Avoid the ‘Homework Help’ Trap

• Group-based interventions are an efficient method to deliver targeted academic support to students (Burns & Gibbons, 2008).

• However, students should be matched to specific research-based interventions that address their specific needs.

• RTI intervention support in secondary schools should not take the form of unfocused ‘homework help’ or test preparation.



Tier 2/3 Interventions: Scheduling Strategies

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RTI Scheduling Strategy Considerations

Schoolwide RTI Period. The school sets aside one period per day (e.g., 35-45 minutes) during which all students have the opportunity to receive appropriate academic support. Tier 2/3 students are provided with interventions during this period. Non-RTI students may use this time as a study hall or for other academically relevant activities.

Ideas for scheduling a schoolwide RTI period: (1) Trim a brief amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes) from each class period in the daily schedule to free up time for a stand-alone period. (2) In schools whose staff by contract must report before students or remain for a period after student dismissal each day, the school might lengthen the student day to overlap with the additional AM or PM staff time, perhaps freeing up at least some of the minutes needed to cobble together an RTI period.




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Zero Period. The school creates an optional period before the official start of the school day. During that ‘zero period’, students can elect to take core or elective courses. Those students needing RTI support can take an essential class during zero period, freeing up a time-slot during the school day to receive their RTI assistance.

This option requires that staff teaching zero-period classes receive extra compensation or adjustment of their school-day teaching schedule. Also, parents and students must make a firm commitment to attend zero-period classes, as these course entail additional work and potential inconvenience—including an earlier wake-up time and home responsibility for transportation.




119


Core Course with Extended Time. The school creates two-period sections of selected core-area classes (e.g., English, Introductory Algebra). Students are recruited for these extended-time sections who need additional time to master course concepts and/or complete assigned work. The two-period course allows the teacher time to provide core instruction and provide supplemental interventions in such areas as literacy.

Students placed in an extended-time core course (two class periods) may have to give up or postpone the opportunity to take another course.

The extended-time course can be made more effective if the school can assign additional staff (e.g., co-teacher; trained paraprofessional) to push into the setting for at least part of the class to provide individualized support .




120

Study Hall Schedule Coordinated with RTI Services. Using academic screening and/or archival records, the school identifies students who require RTI support. These students are scheduled as a bloc in a common study hall. The school then schedules RTI services at the same time as the study hall. Reading teachers, other trained interventionists, and/or tutors run short-term (5-10 week) Tier 2/3 group or individual sessions.

Students are recruited from the study hall and matched to the appropriate RTI service based on shared need. They are discharged from the RTI service and rejoin the study hall if they show sufficient improvement. (NOTE: If the study hall meets daily, students in RTI groups who are in less-intensive interventions may be scheduled for alternate days between study hall and RTI groups.)

This model is fluid: After each 5-10 week period, new RTI groups or tutoring assignments can be created, with students again being matched to these services based on need.




121


Credit Recovery. A school that has access to online ‘credit recovery’ courses offers a struggling student the option to take a core course online (via credit recovery) on his or her own time. This option frees up a time-slot during the school day for that student to get RTI assistance.

The credit-recovery option requires that a student be self-motivated and willing to take on extra work in order to access RTI help. While this option may be s good fit for some students, many may lack the motivation and skill-set necessary for success in an online course taken outside of the school day.



Activity: Tier 1 Interventions



Interventions from ‘Strategies’ Packet• General Reading Ideas: pp. 2-5• Core Instructional Ideas for Literacy: pp. 7-18• Reading Comprehension Fix-Up Skills: pp. 19-20• General Math Ideas: pp. 22-26• Specific Math Intervention Scripts: pp. 28-39• General Writing Ideas: pp. 40-47• General Study/Organizational Skills: pp. 48-50• Specific Study/Organization Intervention Ideas (Guided

Notes, etc.): pp. 52-61124



Tier I Intervention Menu: Activity

• Select one academic area from the previous slide and review the ideas presented.

• Select at least ONE core instructional strategy or Tier 1 intervention that you believe that all teachers in your grade-level, department, or school should have in their Tier 1 ‘toolkit’.

• Be prepared to report out.



Guided Notes: Helping Students to Master Course Content




Guided Notes• Description: The student is given a copy of notes

summarizing content from a class lecture or assigned reading. Blanks are 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. Guided notes promote active engagement during lecture or independent reading, provide full and accurate notes for use as a study guide, and help students to identify the most important information covered (Heward, 2001).

127



Guided Notes: Recommendations• Keep guided note entries brief. Shorter guided note entries

promote student understanding of content as well as or better than longer entries (Konrad, Joseph & Eveleigh, 2009). Also, short entries can increase student motivation to write in responses.

• Distribute entry items throughout the guided notes. Guided notes help to promote active student engagement during lecture or reading (Heward, 2001). When entry items are distributed evenly throughout the guided notes, they require higher rates of active student responding (Konrad, Joseph & Eveleigh, 2009), which can both promote mastery of content and increase levels of on-task behavior.

129



Guided Notes: Recommendations• Verify student completion of notes. To ensure that students are

actively engaged in completing guided notes, the instructor can occasionally collect and review them for accuracy and completeness (on a random and unpredictable schedule).

• Have students tally notes-review sessions. Guided notes are a powerful tool for reviewing course content. Students can be encouraged to write a checkmark on the cover of a set of completed guided notes each time that they review them (Lazarus, 1996). These tallies assist students to monitor whether they have adequately reviewed those notes in preparation for quizzes and tests.

130



Guided Notes: Recommendations• Fade the use of guided notes. As the class becomes more proficient

at note-taking, the instructor can gradually 'fade' the use of guided notes by providing less pre-formatted notes-content and requiring that students write a larger share of the notes on their own (Heward, 1996).

• Give students responsibility for creating guided notes. Teachers may discover that they can hand some responsibility to their students to prepare guided-notes. For example, as a cooperative-learning exercise, a group of students might be assigned a chapter-section from a biology text and asked to compose a set of guided notes based on its content. The teacher can then review and edit the notes as needed.

131



Interventions to Help Study Skills



Intended Purpose:Students may become anxious in testing situations because they have never learned effective note-taking, study, and test-taking skills. This package maps out a comprehensive strategy for any student to follow when preparing for an important examination.

Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students



Doing well on a test starts with careful preparation. Students should have the essential skills to:• Study effectively. • Memorize instructional content.• Reduce test anxiety.• Adopt a ‘smart’ approach to test-taking.

Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students



Student Tips: Effective Study Habits

It is not enough just to schedule lots of study time. You also need to make sure that you use effective study techniques. Some smart study tips are to:• Create a quiet, neat study area.• Study from good notes. • Use bits of unexpected free time to study.• Make a study schedule to avoid ‘time-drains’. • Take advantage of your peak energy levels.



Student Tips: Effective Study Habits (Cont.)

• Create a study group. • Teach content as a ‘learning check’. • Recite information aloud. • Pose difficult questions. • Don’t forget to review previously learned material.• Avoid cram sessions. • Reward yourself.



Student Tips: Tips to Memorize Content

The best way to remember information from your notes or reading is to set aside enough time to study it well. Some tips for memorizing information are to:• Read and review using SQ3R : (1) Survey the chapter, (2)

Create Questions based on chapter headings(3) Read through the chapter (4) Recite the questions and answer aloud; (5) Review your answers.

• Make up flashcards.



Student Tips: Tips to Memorize Content (Cont.)

• Create acronyms or acrostics: e.g.,Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet =ROY G. BIV.

• Use visualization tricks: Chaining. • Use visualization tricks: Familiar places.



Student Tips: Reducing Test Anxiety

A little nervousness before a test can be good—but when we become too anxious that anxiety can undermine our confidence and interfere with our ability to solve problems. Some tips to reduce test anxiety are to:• Remember to take care of yourself first. • Take practice exams. • Come prepared.



Student Tips: Reducing Test Anxiety (Cont.)

• Make an effort to relax periodically during the test.

1. Take several deep breaths.

2. Tense your muscles, hold, relax.

3. Think of a peaceful, quiet setting (e.g., the beach). • Engage in positive self-talk.



Student Tips: Test-Taking Strategies

Become familiar with the test that you are about to take and have a mental plan for how you will spend your time most productively during the examination. Here are some useful test-taking strategies: • Listen carefully to directions. • Perform a ‘brain dump’. • Preview the test. • Multiple-choice: Don’t get sidetracked looking for patterns of

answers.



Student Tips: Test-Taking Strategies (Cont.)

• Multiple-choice: Don’t rush. • Essay questions: Underline key terms. • Essay questions: Outline your answer before you write it. • When in doubt…guess! • Skip difficult items until last. • Use leftover time to check answers.



1. Brainstorm with students their best ideas for (a) studying, (b) memorizing course content, (c) handling test anxiety, and (d) savvy test-taking. Write down these ideas.

2. Using class-generated ideas and test-tips handout, have students write up their own ‘test-readiness’ plan.

3. When a test is coming up, remind the students to use their personal test-prep strategies. Debrief after the test about the effectiveness of various approaches.

Teacher Ideas for Introducing ‘Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students’



Homework Contract Intended Purpose:

This homework contract intervention (adapted from Miller & Kelly, 1994) uses goal-setting, a written contract, and rewards to boost student completion (and accuracy) of homework. Students also learn the valuable skills of breaking down academic assignments into smaller, more manageable subtasks and setting priorities for work completion.



Homework Contract: Form



Homework Contract

1. Parents are trained to be supportive ‘homework coaches’.

2. The parent creates a homework reward system for the child.

3. The parent negotiates the homework contract program with the child.

4. The parent and child fill out the Daily Homework Contract.

5. The parent checks the child’s homework completion, delivers nightly & weekly rewards.



Homework Contract: Tips & Troubleshooting

• If the parent finds the Homework Contract program too burdensome, have an afterschool program implement it.

• The teacher may choose to monitor homework completion and send a note home to the parent, who provides the reward.



Academic Interventions & Related Terms: Definitions



Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out

• Core Instruction. Those instructional strategies that are used routinely with all students in a general-education setting are considered ‘core instruction’. 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).




• Accommodation. An accommodation is intended to help the student to fully access and participate in the general-education curriculum without changing the instructional content and without reducing the student’s rate of learning (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005). An accommodation is intended to remove barriers to learning while still expecting that students will master the same instructional content as their typical peers. – Accommodation example 1: Students are allowed to supplement

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

instructor breaks larger assignments into smaller ‘chunks’ and providing students with 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—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



Definitions: Activity

• Discuss the definitions of core instruction, intervention, accommodation, and modification shared at this workshop.

• How might your building share these definitions with your teachers?

• How might you support your teachers to avoid use of modifications for general-education students?



MathematicsInterventions Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



The Elements of Mathematical Proficiency: What the Experts Say…



Source: National Research Council. (2002). Helping children learn mathematics. Mathematics Learning Study Committee, J. Kilpatrick & J. Swafford, Editors, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

5 Strands of Mathematical Proficiency

1. Understanding

2. Computing

3. Applying

4. Reasoning

5. Engagement

5 Big Ideas in Beginning Reading

1. Phonemic Awareness

2. Alphabetic Principle

3. Fluency with Text

4. Vocabulary

5. ComprehensionSource: Big ideas in beginning reading. University of Oregon. Retrieved September 23, 2007, from http://reading.uoregon.edu/index.php



Five Strands of Mathematical Proficiency1. Understanding: Comprehending mathematical concepts,

operations, and relations--knowing what mathematical symbols, diagrams, and procedures mean.

2. Computing: Carrying out mathematical procedures, such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing numbers flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately.

3. Applying: Being able to formulate problems mathematically and to devise strategies for solving them using concepts and procedures appropriately.




Five Strands of Mathematical Proficiency (Cont.)

4. Reasoning: Using logic to explain and justify a solution to a problem or to extend from something known to something less known.

5. Engaging: Seeing mathematics as sensible, useful, and doable—if you work at it—and being willing to do the work.




Math Intervention: Tier I or II: Elementary & Secondary: Self-Administered Arithmetic Combination Drills With Performance

Self-Monitoring & Incentives

1. The student is given a math computation worksheet of a specific problem type, along with an answer key [Academic Opportunity to Respond].

2. The student consults his or her performance chart and notes previous performance. The student is encouraged to try to ‘beat’ his or her most recent score.

3. The student is given a pre-selected amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes) to complete as many problems as possible. The student sets a timer and works on the computation sheet until the timer rings. [Active Student Responding]

4. The student checks his or her work, giving credit for each correct digit (digit of correct value appearing in the correct place-position in the answer). [Performance Feedback]

5. The student records the day’s score of TOTAL number of correct digits on his or her personal performance chart.

6. The student receives praise or a reward if he or she exceeds the most recently posted number of correct digits.

Application of ‘Learn Unit’ framework from : Heward, W.L. (1996). Three low-tech strategies for increasing the frequency of active student response during group instruction. In R. Gardner, D. M.S ainato, J. O. Cooper, T. E. Heron, W. L. Heward, J. W. Eshleman,& T. A. Grossi (Eds.), Behavior analysis in education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp.283-320). Pacific Grove, CA:Brooks/Cole.



Self-Administered Arithmetic Combination Drills…

No Reward

Reward GivenReward GivenReward Given

No RewardNo Reward

Reward Given



Potential ‘Blockers’ of Higher-Level Math Problem-Solving: A Sampler

Limited reading skills Failure to master--or develop automaticity in– basic math operations Lack of knowledge of specialized math vocabulary (e.g., ‘quotient’) Lack of familiarity with the specialized use of known words (e.g.,

‘product’) Inability to interpret specialized math symbols

(e.g., ‘4 < 2’) Difficulty ‘extracting’ underlying math operations from word/story

problems Difficulty identifying and ignoring extraneous information included in

word/story problems



Developing Student Metacognitive Abilities



Importance of Metacognitive Strategy Use…“Metacognitive processes focus on self-awareness of cognitive knowledge that is presumed to be necessary for effective problem solving, and they direct and regulate cognitive processes and strategies during problem solving…That is, successful problem solvers, consciously or unconsciously (depending on task demands), use self-instruction, self-questioning, and self-monitoring to gain access to strategic knowledge, guide execution of strategies, and regulate use of strategies and problem-solving performance.” p. 231

Source: Montague, M. (1992). The effects of cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction on the mathematical problem solving of middle school students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 25, 230-248.



Elements of Metacognitive Processes

“Self-instruction helps students to identify and direct the problem-solving strategies prior to execution. Self-questioning promotes internal dialogue for systematically analyzing problem information and regulating execution of cognitive strategies. Self-monitoring promotes appropriate use of specific strategies and encourages students to monitor general performance. [Emphasis added].” p. 231

Source: Montague, M. (1992). The effects of cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction on the mathematical problem solving of middle school students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 25, 230-248.



Combining Cognitive & Metacognitive Strategies to Assist Students With Mathematical Problem Solving p. 44

Solving an advanced math problem independently requires the coordination of a number of complex skills. The following strategies combine both cognitive and metacognitive elements (Montague, 1992; Montague & Dietz, 2009). First, the student is taught a 7-step process for attacking a math word problem (cognitive strategy). Second, the instructor trains the student to use a three-part self-coaching routine for each of the seven problem-solving steps (metacognitive strategy).



Cognitive Portion of Combined Problem Solving Approach

In the cognitive part of this multi-strategy intervention, the student learns an explicit series of steps to analyze and solve a math problem. Those steps include:

1. Reading the problem. The student reads the problem carefully, noting and attempting to clear up any areas of uncertainly or confusion (e.g., unknown vocabulary terms).

2. Paraphrasing the problem. The student restates the problem in his or her own words.3. ‘Drawing’ the problem. The student creates a drawing of the problem, creating a

visual representation of the word problem.4. Creating a plan to solve the problem. The student decides on the best way to solve

the problem and develops a plan to do so.5. Predicting/Estimating the answer. The student estimates or predicts what the answer

to the problem will be. The student may compute a quick approximation of the answer, using rounding or other shortcuts.

6. Computing the answer. The student follows the plan developed earlier to compute the answer to the problem.

7. Checking the answer. The student methodically checks the calculations for each step of the problem. The student also compares the actual answer to the estimated answer calculated in a previous step to ensure that there is general agreement between the two values.



Metacognitive Portion of Combined Problem Solving Approach

The metacognitive component of the intervention is a three-part routine that follows a sequence of ‘Say’, ‘Ask, ‘Check’. For each of the 7 problem-solving steps reviewed above:

• The student first self-instructs by stating, or ‘saying’, the purpose of the step (‘Say’).

• The student next self-questions by ‘asking’ what he or she intends to do to complete the step (‘Ask’).

• The student concludes the step by self-monitoring, or ‘checking’, the successful completion of the step (‘Check’).



Combined Cognitive & Metacognitive Elements of Strategy



Applied Problems: Pop QuizQ: “To move their armies, the Romans built over 50,000 miles of roads. Imagine driving all those miles! Now imagine driving those miles in the first gasoline-driven car that has only three wheels and could reach a top speed of about 10 miles per hour. For safety's sake, let's bring along a spare tire. As you drive the 50,000 miles, you rotate the spare with the other tires so that all four tires get the same amount of wear. Can you figure out how many miles of wear each tire accumulates?”

Source: The Math Forum @ Drexel: Critical Thinking Puzzles/Spare My Brain. Retrieved from http://mathforum.org/k12/k12puzzles/critical.thinking/puzz2.html

7-Step Problem-Solving:Process

1. Reading the problem. 2. Paraphrasing the

problem.3. ‘Drawing’ the

problem. 4. Creating a plan to

solve the problem.5. Predicting/Estimat-

ing the answer.6. Computing the

answer. 7. Checking the answer.

A: “Since the four wheels of the three-wheeled car share the journey equally, simply take three-fourths of the total distance (50,000 miles) and you'll get 37,500 miles for each tire.”

Directions: As a team, read the following problem. At your tables, apply the 7-step problem-solving (cognitive) strategy to complete the problem. As you complete each step of the problem, apply the ‘Say-Ask-Check’ metacognitive sequence. Try to complete the entire 7 steps within the time allocated for this exercise.



Building Teacher Capacity to Deliver Tier 1 Interventions: An 8-Step Checklist Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



The Key Role of Classroom Teachers 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 ‘evidence-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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Team Activity: Building Tier 1 Capacity

At your tables:

• Consider the eight steps to building Tier 1 teacher capacity to deliver effective classroom interventions.

• Discuss the strengths and challenges that your school or district presents in promoting classroom teachers’ appropriate and effective use of Tier 1 interventions.

• Be prepared to share your discussion with the larger group!



• Review the main elements of today’s workshop.

• Come up with 2-3 concrete ‘next steps’ for how you plan to make use of specific ideas from the training in your class, grade, school, or district.

Team Activity: Select ‘Next Steps’ to UseContent from This Workshop

Topics:• Defining core instruction,

intervention, accommodation, modification

• Academic Interventions: Critical Components

• Sample academic interventions: reading, writing, study skills

• 8-Step Process for Defining Classroom (Tier 1) Interventions

• Ideas for Organizing Tier 2/3 Interventions

response to intervention rti lab for secondary schools: effective academic interventions for...

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