Stuart Greenberg, Deputy Director

Eastern Regional Reading First Technical Assistance Center

The Florida Center for Reading Research

FSU

Planning, Scheduling and Supporting Intensive Interventions

for Struggling Readers:Their critical role within a whole school program

The ERRFTAC Team, Joe Torgesen, Pat Howard, Marcia Grek, Edward Kame'enui,The FCRR staff, The NRFTAC staff, and all of the great

educators in this room and throughout the United States.

A Special Thank You

Teaching Reading is Urgent

“No time is as precious or as fleeting as the first years of formal schooling. Research consistently shows that children who get off to a good start in reading rarely stumble. Those who fall behind tend to stay behind for the rest of their academic lives.”

(Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999, p. 61)

Learning to Read

Educational Timeline

PreK K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Infinity

Reading to Learn

Transitioning

Children must be given the opportunity and the support to become successful readers by third grade.

Teaching Reading is Urgent

Reading First’s model for preventing reading failure in grades K-3: Three big ideas

1. Increase the quality and consistency of instruction in every K-3 classroom. Provide initial instruction that is appropriate to the needs of the majority of students in the class

2. Conduct timely and valid assessments of reading growth to identify struggling readers

3. Provide high quality, intensive interventions to help struggling readers catch up with their peers

How Do I Teach the BIG IDEAS in Beginning Reading?

"Teaching Reading is Rocket Science.“ Moats, 1999

The Problem and Context:

•20% of students have significant reading problems.

•Most reading failure is unnecessary.

•Teaching Reading is a job for an expert.

The Scope of the Reading Problem in America

•"17.5 percent of the nation's children--about 10 million children--will encounter reading problems in the crucial first three years of their schooling" (National Reading Panel Progress Report, 2000;

•Approximately 75% of students identified with reading problems in the third grade are still reading disabled in the 9th grade. (Shaywitz, et al., 1993; Francis et al., 1996;

•Juel found the probability of being a poor reader in fourth grade given you were a poor reader in first grade was 88%.

The Solution to the Problem:

Quality Initial Instruction and Immediate Intensive Intervention

•Identify early and intervene strategically.

•Focus on the vital signs.

•Teach "less" more thoroughly.

•Hold instructional time sacred.

•Expect and plan for "different" levels of instruction (e.g., small groups, double dose).

•Monitor progress to determine if children are learning enough.

1. Earlier rather than later: Prevention and early intervention are supremely more effective and efficient than later intervention and remediation for ensuring reading success.

2. Schools, not just programs: Prevention and early intervention must be anchored to the school as the host environment and the primary context for improving student reading performance.

3. Evidence, not opinion: Prevention and early intervention pedagogy, programs, and procedures should be based on trustworthy scientific evidence.

Three Organizing Principles for Reading Success

1. What do we know and what guidance can we gain from scientifically based reading research?2. What outcomes do we want for our students in our state, district, and schools?3. How are we doing? What is our current level of performance as a school? As a grade? As a class? As an individual student?4. How far do we need to go to reach our goals and outcomes?5. What are the critical components that need to be in place to reach our goals?6. What more do we need to do and what instructional adjustments need to be made?

A Schoolwide Reading Improvement Model

Five critical components:

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Fluency

Vocabulary

Comprehension strategies

Identifying words accurately and fluently

Constructing meaning once words are identified

Research indicates that students need to acquire skills and knowledge in at least five main areas in

order to become proficient readers

Phonemic Awareness

• Research– PA improves word reading, spelling, and

comprehension– Poor readers who enter first grade with

weak PA are most likely to be the poor readers in fourth grade

• Instruction– Auditory Activities– Needs to follow the developmental

hierarchy of phonological awareness

Phonics Research

• “Systematic and explicit phonics instruction is more effective than non-systematic or no phonics instruction” (Put Reading First, p. 13).

• “Systematic and explicit phonics instruction significantly improves children’s reading comprehension” (Put Reading First, p. 14).

Fluency Research

• “Repeated and monitored oral reading improves reading fluency and overall reading achievement” (Put Reading First, p. 24).

Fluency Instruction• Articulate the importance & provide

modeling

• Reading Levels

• Monitor fluency progress

• Oral reading with feedback

• Variety of research based strategies– Repeated Readings, Timed, Partner

Vocabulary Research & Instruction

• Can be developed – directly (teach important, difficult, and useful words)– indirectly

• Teach word learning strategies– How to use dictionaries and reference aids– How to use word parts to determine meaning of words– How to use context clues to determine meaning

• Provide multiple exposures to words • Read aloud to students• Encourage independent wide reading

Comprehension Research

• “Text comprehension can be improved by instruction that helps readers use specific comprehension strategies.”

• “Effective comprehension strategy instruction is explicit, or direct.”

Put Reading First, pp. 49, 53

Comprehension Instruction

• Monitoring comprehension (promoting metacognition)

• Using graphic and semantic organizers– e.g., teaching the use of a Venn diagram

to compare and contrast 2 characters from a story

• Main Idea

• Summarizing

• Text Structure

Teaching Reading is Urgent• A student in the 20th

percentile reads books ______ minutes a day.

• This adds up to _________words read per year.

• A student in the 80th percentile reads books ______ minutes a day.

• This adds up to __________ words read per year.

WHAT READING DOES FOR THE MIND

BY ANNE E.CUNNINGHAM AND KEITH E. STANOVICH.1998

.7

21,000

1,146,000

14.2

Hart and Risley (1995) conducted

a longitudinal study of children and families from

three groups:•Professional families•Working-class families•Families on welfare

Hart & Risley compared the mean number of interactions initiated per hour in each of the three groups.

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Welfare Working Professional

InteractionsInteractions

InteractionsInteractionsHart & Risley also compared the mean number of minutes of interaction per hour in the three groups.

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Welfare Working Professional

Cumulative Language Cumulative Language ExperiencesExperiences

Cumulative Words Per Hour

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Welfare Working Professional

Cumulative Language Cumulative Language ExperiencesExperiences

Different words used per hour

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Welfare Working Professional

Cumulative Language Cumulative Language ExperiencesExperiences

Cumulative Words Spoken to Child (in millions)

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0 12 24 36 48

Age of child (in months)

Professional

Working

Welfare

Hart and Risley’s Study

• Observed parent-child interaction in 42 families who differed in terms of income

• They found:• Children in professional families heard, on average,

2,150 words per hour, whereas children in working class (1,250) and welfare (620) families were exposed to many less words.

• The cumulative language experience for children by age 3 differed in amount and kind, and these differences were highly correlated with children’s reading/language performance at ages 9-10.

Do the relatively specific instructional program recommendations mean that “one size fits all” approach to instruction?

Absolutely Not!

How to distinguish different groups of students

who failed to meet the standards

Current research on student profiles. “Not all poor readers are alike.

How do we differentiate for instruction?” (Holly Lane, 2004)

•We all know that children vary enormously from one another in their instructional needs.

•To be most effective, instruction must be adapted to the needs of individual children.

Reading Programs PLUS

EFFECTIVEINSTRUCTION

PROFESSIONALDEVELOPMENTASSESSMENT

LEADERSHIP

SCIENTIFICALLY BASEDREADING PROGRAMS

The consensus view of most important instructional features for interventions

Provide systematic and explicit instruction on whatever component skills are deficient: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension strategies

Interventions are more effective when they:

The logic of instructional intensity

Many children are already behind in vocabulary and print knowledge when they enter school.

To achieve grade level standards by third grade, poor children must learn vocabulary words at a faster rate than their middle class peers in grades K-3

The most direct way to increase learning rate is by increasing the number of positive, or successful, instructional interactions (pii) per school day.

There are a variety of ways to increase the number of positive instructional interactions per school day

The consensus view of most important The consensus view of most important instructional features for interventionsinstructional features for interventions

Provide ample opportunities for guided practice of new skills

Provide a significant increase in intensity of instruction

Provide systematic cueing of appropriate strategies in context

Provide systematic and explicit instruction on whatever component skills are deficient: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading comprehension strategies

Interventions are more effective when they:Interventions are more effective when they:

Provide appropriate levels of scaffolding as children learn to apply new skills

Instructional adaptations for individual children will be made primarily in terms varying amounts and intensity of instruction and practice on the five components

If children have difficulties learning “phonics” they should not be switched to a “sight word” approach. This will not build the necessary alphabetic reading skills that are necessary to achieve high levels of reading ability

Children who experience reading difficulties must be helped to acquire adequate skills in all five components. If any one of these does not develop properly, the child is unlikely to attain grade level reading skills.

•One child may require extra instruction in phonemic awareness and phonics to get a good

start in reading•Another child might require extra instruction in vocabulary

•Another child may come to school with strong phonemic awareness and letter knowledge, and may require very little instruction in phonics to begin reading to build fluency

•Another child may know very little about letters and sounds upon school entry, and may require special instructional support in this area for some time•Still other children will require extended practice to develop reading fluency

Who Is At Risk?

Screening + Placement Test + The Results of Science

What Tools Do We Use To DetermineWho Is At-Risk

Schedules

How can immediate, intensive interventions be scheduled and delivered?

1. Delivered by regular classroom teacher during the “uninterrupted reading period”

2. Delivered by additional resource personnel during the “uninterrupted reading period”, or at other times during day

3. Delivered by classroom and resource personnel during after school or before school programs

5. Delivered by peers during “uninterrupted reading period”

6. Delivered by computers throughout the day

4. Delivered by well-trained and supervised paraprofessionals during the “uninterrupted reading period” or other times

How can we insure that interventions are How can we insure that interventions are delivered consistently with high quality? delivered consistently with high quality?

Professional development to provide knowledge of Professional development to provide knowledge of instructional strategies, content (scope and sequence instructional strategies, content (scope and sequence and selection of materials), and appropriate and selection of materials), and appropriate practice/skill building activities -- use of assessment practice/skill building activities -- use of assessment data to identify who should receive interventions and data to identify who should receive interventions and what their focus should bewhat their focus should be

Identification of high quality intervention Identification of high quality intervention programs/materials and professional development in programs/materials and professional development in their use and individualization.their use and individualization.

What does it take to manage a successful interventions in a RF school?

1. Well trained teachers who understand the process of learning to read and how to identify children lagging behind in development.

2. Systematic and reliable assessments to monitor the growth of critical reading skills

3. Leadership within the school to allocate intervention resources appropriately, and to monitor the use of those resources

4. Appropriate materials available to help structure the interventions and provide instruction and practice activities at the appropriate level of difficulty

5. Personnel to assist the classroom teacher in providing intensive interventions to the students most in need

Sample Schedule

8:00 Whole Group Reading

8:30 Group 1

9:00 Group 2

9:30 Group 3

10:00 Flex Group

10:30 Flex Group

11:00 Lunch

11:30 Writing Workshop

12:00 Writing Workshop

12:30 Math

1:00 Math

1:30 PE

2:00 Reading Review Rotations

2:30 Science/Social Studies

3:15 Evaluation/Dismissal

Using Data to Schedule Instruction

• Establish a process for routinely analyzing data at the student, classroom, grade level, school, and district levels

• Think about a few things:• All students receive instruction through the core to

the degree that it meets their instructional needs• The iii is taught by the classroom teacher• The iii is taught by a “push-in” teacher• The iii is done through a “ walk and read” model• Share innovative practices with others

Tier Tier Tier Tier Tier

Instructional Recommendations

Instructional Recommendations

Instructional Recomm

Instructional Implication

One Benchmark/Low

Risk/Established

Core Reading

Two Strategic/Some

Risk/Emergent

Core Program + Additional Teaching

Three Intensive/At Risk/

Deficit

Core Reading + iii

Early Screening Identifies Children Who Need Additional Intervention

• 201 randomly selected children from five elementary schools serving children from mixed SES and ethnic backgrounds were followed from the beginning of first grade to the end of fourth grade.

• Children who scored low on phonemic awareness and letter knowledge at the beginning of first grade– Started with lower skills– Made less progress– Fell further and further below grade level as they progressed from

first through fourth grade.

For example, in one longitudinal study:

The top five myths about interventions for struggling readers

1. If a child is a “visual” learner, they should be taught to read using a visual, not an auditory strategy

2. If a child has not learned “phonics” by the end of first grade, they need to be taught to read in some other way

3. Children who struggle with phonemic awareness, vocabulary, or phonics in kindergarten and first grade will frequently “catch up” if given time.

4. We should take guidance from theories of “multiple intelligences” or “learning styles” to help us adapt our reading instruction for different children

5. A little quality time with an enthusiastic volunteer tutor can solve most children’s reading problems

Grade level corresponding to age 1 2 3 4

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At Risk on Early Screening

Early Screening Identifies Children At Risk of Reading Difficulty

Low Risk on Early Screening

Additional Instructional InterventionChanges Reading Outcomes

• Four years later, the researchers went back to the same school. Two major changes were implemented:

• First, a research-based comprehensive reading program was implemented for all students, and

• Second, children at risk for reading difficulty were randomly assigned to a control group or to a group receiving substantial instructional intervention.

Grade level corresponding to age 1 2 3 4

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Early Intervention Changes Reading Outcomes

At Risk on Early Screening

Low Risk on Early Screening

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Control

With research-based core but without extra instructional intervention

4.9

Interventio

n

With substantial instructional intervention

Research-Based, Comprehensive Reading Program and Substantial Instructional

Intervention

Both a research-based comprehensive reading program and substantial instructional intervention were needed for children at risk of reading difficulty. Children receiving substantial additional instructional intervention beyond an effective comprehensive reading program:

– Progressed more rapidly than control students,– Had reading skills more like the low risk group than the

at risk group, and– Were reading about at grade level.

Immediate Intensive Intervention (iii)• iii should be implemented with children as soon as we

know, based on assessment data, they are falling behind in the development of critical reading skills.

• iii involves children in receiving instruction in reading that is more intensive than what they have been receiving.

This can be accomplished by:

• reducing the student/teacher ratio

• providing more instructional time

Both include providing more supports (instructional opportunity, time, resources, materials and/or personnel)

Resources to Implement iii1. Intervention program that

accompanies the core reading program

2. Research based program that– targets specific skills, – is implemented explicitly and

systematically,– is coordinated and consistent

with the work that is being done during initial instruction.

http://www.fcrr.org/FCRRreports/reportslist.htmhttp://oregonreadingfirst.uoregon.edu/

A high-quality intervention program can provide a A high-quality intervention program can provide a kind of on-going professional development for kind of on-going professional development for teachers in the critical teachers in the critical elements and methods of and methods of instruction for phonemic awareness, phonics, instruction for phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategiesfluency, vocabulary, and comprehension strategies

A Window of OpportunityA Window of Opportunity

To every complex problem, there is a simple solution…

that doesn’t workMark Twain

that doesn’t work.

We know what to do to ensure that virtually every child learns to read early and well.

Whether or not we do it will ultimately depend upon how we feel about the

fact we haven’t done it so far.

We can do this.

We have to do this.

We have the knowledge.

We have the research.

Now, we even have the resources.

Three Definitions of Schools

A series of autonomous classrooms that are connected by a common parking lot.

A place where the relatively young watch the relatively old work.

A complex organization that is built upon relationships that require individuals to work interdependently.

Thank Thank YouYou