Planning, Scheduling and Supporting Intensive Interventions for Struggling Readers

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• Planning, Scheduling and Supporting Intensive
  Interventions for Struggling Readers
• Eastern Regional Reading First Technical
  Assistance Center, Florida State University, and
• The Florida Center for Reading Research
• Stuart Greenberg

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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)
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Teaching Reading is Complex

• Simple Observation Teaching beginning reading
  is important.
• Harsh Reality Three Complex Systems
• Symbolic System Alphabetic writing system
• Organizational System Schools as complex host
  environments
• Expert Knowledge System High quality
  professional development

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The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled
Reading (Scarborough, 2001)
LANGUAGE COMPREHENSION
Skilled Reading- fluent coordination of word
reading and comprehension processes
BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE VOCABULARY KNOWLEDGE
LANGUAGE STRUCTURES VERBAL
REASONING LITERACY KNOWLEDGE
SKILLED READING fluent execution and
coordination of word recognition and text
comprehension.
increasingly strategic
WORD RECOGNITION
PHON. AWARENESS DECODING (and
SPELLING) SIGHT RECOGNITION
increasingly automatic
Reading is a multifaceted skill, gradually
acquired over years of instruction and practice.
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The basic problem that brings us together...
Children are enormously diverse in their talent
and preparation for learning to read
A central problem in reading instruction arises,
not from the absolute level of childrens
preparation for learning to read, but from the
diversity in their levels of preparation. (Olson,
1998)
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What are the most important ways children are
diverse-when it comes to learning to read?
1. They are diverse in their talent and their
preparation for learning to read words accurately
and fluently
2. They are diverse in their oral language
knowledge and abilities-vocabulary and world
knowledge
3. They are diverse in their abilities to manage
their learning behaviors and their motivation to
apply themselves to learning to read
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What are the most important ways children are
diverse-when it comes to learning to read?
1. They are diverse in their talent and their
preparation for learning to read words accurately
and fluently
Specifically, children are very diverse in their
sensitivity to the phonological features of
language. This causes differences in

• Early growth of phonemic awareness

• Ability to learn letter/sound relationships

• Skill in applying phonemic decoding strategies to
  support accurate reading of text

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Talent and preparation in phonological skills
varies widely in the population
Percentile Ranks
50th
16th
84th
2nd
98th
100
85
70
130
115
Standard Scores
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Talent and preparation in phonological skills
varies widely in the population
Percentile Ranks
50th
16th
84th
2nd
98th
100
85
70
130
115
Standard Scores
10
Talent and preparation in phonological skills
varies widely in the population
Percentile Ranks
50th
16th
84th
2nd
98th
100
85
70
130
115
Standard Scores
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(No Transcript)
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Whats Happening in the Brain?
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5 Year Olds Before Learning To Read
Right
Left
Right
Left
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Good Intervention Normalized Brain Activation
Patterns
Left
Right
Before Intervention
normalized
After Intervention
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First-Grade
Seventh-Grade
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Quote for the day

• Whether we enter the best of times is dependent
  on whether or not we use the gifts research has
  provided wisely or foolishly.
• Robert J Marzano (2003)

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Reading First K-3 The Big Ideas
1. Increase the quality, consistency, and reach
of instruction in every K-3 classroom
2. Conduct timely and valid assessments of
reading growth
3. Provide more intensive interventions to catch
up the struggling readers
The prevention of reading difficulties is a
school-level challenge.
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If you could be granted one wish to help us do
even better, what would it be?
Greater funding?
Greater parental support?
Better prepared teachers?
How about less diversity among our students in
their talent and preparation for learning to read?
Better prepared principals?
More hours in the day?
Fewer hours in the day?
Better physical facilities?
Higher pay for teachers, principals, and coaches?
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Two definitions of reading that summarize the
challenges we face in helping students become
proficient readers by 3rd grade
Reading is translating between oral and written
language. (Perfetti, 1985)
Reading is thinking guided by print.
(Perfetti, 1985)
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Focus on Reading
Adapted from Walker, H. M., Horner, R., Sugai,
G, Bullis, M., Sprague, J., Bricker, D,
Kaufman, M. (1996).
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Quality Initial Instruction
Program/CurriculumCore curriculum explicitly
teach 5 Big Ideas. If needed, use extension of
the core program add examples Time90 minutes
of daily reading instruction with a minimum of 30
minutes small group GroupingCombination of
whole and small group instruction
Adapted from Good, R., Kame'enui, E., Simmons, D.
Chard, D. (In preparation).
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Three opportunities must be in place and
integrated in the classroom!

• Explicit alphabetic instruction
• Reading for meaning
• Active engagement
• NRC, 1998

• Word recognition
• Comprehension
• Fluency

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Optimizing Use of Time (Building)Using
Days/Hours/Minutes Effectively
Those who succeed and those who do not all have
the same amount of time in which to do so.

• Effective school use of time for reading results
  includes
• scheduled time (reading first!) (90)
• orchestrating time (making it work)
• assuring time (fidelity to schedule)
• principal/coach supervise for
• time within instructional tasks
• (engaged, on-level, opportunity to respond)
• time between instructional tasks (transition
  times)
• students are motivated to read at home daily

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Increasing the quality and power of teacher-led,
small-group, differentiated instruction
Instruction should be differentiated to meet the
needs of individual students in at least four ways
Frequency and duration of meeting in small groups
every day, five times per week, with
differentiated corrections
Size of instructional group 3 students, 6
students, 8 students, etc.
Focus of instruction work in phonemic awareness
in phonics, work in fluency and comprehension,
etc.
Lesson format focused lessons
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Remember . . .

• Small-group instruction is particularly crucial
  for the struggling reader, who often needs a
  second or third try at learning the reading
  strategies. . . . Small similar-needs groups
  allow teachers to tailor instruction. . . to
  monitor childrens reading behaviors and adjust
  instruction accordingly.
• -Strickland, 2002, p. 79

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A mistake we often make in education is to plan
the curriculum materials very carefully, arrange
all the instructional materials wall to wall,
open the doors of the school, and then find to
our dismay that theyve sent us the wrong kids.
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Screening or Progress monitoring assessment in
2nd Grade
96
80
64
Correct words per minute
48
32
16
Sept Dec Feb
May
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Supplemental Instruction
Program/CurriculumSupplement core with
re-teaching or intervention components of the
core. TimeCore additional daily supplemental
instruction (based upon need) GroupingSupplement
al small group no larger than a 1 to 7 ratio
Adapted from Good, R., Kame'enui, E., Simmons, D.
Chard, D. (In preparation).
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Optimizing Use of Time (Classroom)Using
Days/Hours/Minutes Effectively

• schedule 90 minutes for reading
• find additional instructional time for students
  who are at risk for reading failure
• follow the schedule (start, stop on time)
• manage time within instruction
• manage transitions efficiently
• capture out-of-school time for reading
• 15-20 20-30 minutes/day makes a world of
  difference

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What are the areas most likely to require
intensive intervention for students in RF
schools?
Three main reasons children struggle in learning
to read (NRC report)
1. Lack of preparation, or lack of talent that
interferes with ability to understand the
alphabetic principal (phonics) and learn to read
words accurately and fluently
2. Lack of preparation, or lack of talent in the
general verbal domain (i.e. vocabulary) that
limits comprehension of written material
3. Low motivation to learn or behavior problems
that interfere with learning in the classroom
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Immediate Intensive Intervention
Program/CurriculumImplement specially designed
program TimeSchedule two sessions daily (core
intervention) GroupingIntensive small group
no larger than a 1 to 4 ratio
Adapted from Good, R., Kame'enui, E., Simmons, D.
Chard, D. (In preparation).
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The Logic of Instructional Intensity
If a child performs below grade level targets on
a screening or progress monitoring measure, they
are already substantially behind in required
development.
To achieve the grade level standard by the end of
the year, these students must learn critical
skills faster than their grade level classmates
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Screening or Progress monitoring assessment
96
80
64
Correct words per minute
48
32
16
Sept Dec Feb
May
34
The Logic of Instructional Intensity
If a child performs below grade level targets on
a screening or progress monitoring measure, they
are already substantially behind in required
development.
To achieve the grade level standard by the end of
the year, these students must learn critical
skills faster than their grade level classmates
The most direct way to increase learning rate is
by increasing the number of positive, or
successful, instructional interactions (pii) per
school day.
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Features of Scientifically Based Reading
Interventions
Intervention is MORE -Explicit and
Systematic -Intensive -Supportive
How does intervention differ from core reading
Instruction?
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Explicit

• Nothing is left to chance all skills are taught
  directly.
• This is particularly helpful to students with
  weak phonological skills.
• Provides examples to lead to generalization.

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Systematic

• Instructional is purposeful and sequential.
• Programmatic Scaffolding
• The program of instruction is carefully sequenced
  so that students are explicitly taught the skills
  and knowledge they need for each new task they
  are asked to perform

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Programmatic Scaffolding

• Oral blending skills before blending printed
  words

Awareness of phonemes before learning how they
are represented in print
Grapheme-phoneme knowledge before decoding
Vocabulary instruction before reading for meaning
Strategies for oral language comprehension that
support reading comprehension
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Intensive

• At-risk/struggling readers must improve their
  reading skills at a faster pace than typically
  achieving peers to make up for gaps.
• Intensity can be accomplished in two ways
• decreasing group size
• Increasing the amount of time in instruction

The most direct way to increase learning rate is
by increasing the number of positive, or
successful, instructional interactions (pii) per
school day.
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What is a Positive Instructional Interaction (Pii)
Teacher explains a concept clearly at the right
level, and the child is actually
attending-processing the information
Teacher models a correct response and the child
attends to the model
Teacher corrects students error in a way that
increases the chance for the student to respond
correctly the next time
Teacher reinforces a correct response in way that
increases probability child will respond
correctly on future occasions
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Supportive

• At-risk/struggling readers benefit from a
  supportive environment, both emotionally and
  cognitively.
• Students need encouragement, feedback and
  positive reinforcement.
• Responsive Scaffolding
• After an error, or inadequate response, the
  teacher provides responsive support to assist the
  child in making a more adequate, or correct
  response
• Through appropriate questioning or provision of
  information, the teacher supports the child in
  doing a task they cannot immediately do on their
  own

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What are the critical elements of effective
interventions?
Ways that instruction must be made more powerful
for students at-risk for reading difficulties.
More powerful instruction involves
More instructional time
Smaller instructional groups
More precisely targeted at right level
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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 childrens reading
problems
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An Example of an Effective Intervention
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Design of Study
1. Most at risk first graders from five
elementary schoolsPPVT above 70
2. Instruction provided in 45 min. sessions every
day from October through May in groups of 3 or 5
by experienced teachers or well-trained
paraprofessionals
3. Used a structured (scripted) reading program
that contained instruction and practice in
phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, and
comprehension
4. Used a number of methods to achieve fidelity
of implementation
3 days of initial training
Weekly supervisory visits
Monthly inservice (3 hours)
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Programmatic Scaffolding
Instructional sequences organized so that
students have the knowledge and skills they need
to respond before they are asked to respond
Micro level within lessons
Modeling of correct responses
Complete and clear explanations
Embedded in the instructional sequence

• Oral blending skills before blending printed
  words

Awareness of phonemes before learning how they
are represented in print
Grapheme-phoneme knowledge before decoding
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Responsive Scaffolding
Teacher follows an error with a question or
comment that directs the child to do the thinking
necessary to correct the response a Pii
Teacher notices error stretches word slim
Asks questionwhats the last sound you hear in
slim?
Child responds -- /m/
Teacher asks, pointing to spelling, does that
match?
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Growth in Word Reading Ability
75th 50th 25th
National Percentile
October January May
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How long should interventions last for struggling
readers?
Keep in Mind

• Students with the quickest improvements are more
• likely to maintain improvements over time

• Students with slower rate of improvement are
  more
• likely to need ongoing support

• There is a strong link between the maintenance
  of
• gains and appropriate follow up instruction

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What does research tell us about the success of
our most effective interventions in terms of
preventing reading difficulties?
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Effectiveness
Percent of children scoring below the 30th
percentile
Study Amt. of instruction delayed overall
Foorman 174 hrs.- classroom 35 6
Felton 340 hrs. - groups of 8 32 5
Vellutino 35- 65 hrs. 11 tutoring 46 7
Torgesen 88 hrs. 11 tutoring 30 4
Torgesen 80 hrs. 13 tutoring 11 2
Torgesen 91 hrs. 13 or 15 tutoring 8 1.6
Mathes 80 hrs. 13 tutoring 1 0.02
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These are likely to be overestimates of our
success in preventing reading difficulties in all
children
Problems with comprehension will become more
pronounced as comprehension tests become more
complex

There is a strong link between maintenance of
gains and appropriate follow-up instruction
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What are the critical elements of effective
interventions?
Ways that instruction must be made more powerful
for students at-risk for reading difficulties.
More powerful instruction involves
More instructional time
Smaller instructional groups
More precisely targeted at right level
Clearer and more detailed explanations
More systematic instructional sequences
More extensive opportunities for guided practice
More opportunities for error correction and
feedback
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As we work to solve this problem, we will need to
try some new things
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Delivering Instruction

• Monitor and reinforce learning

- Monitor progress during instruction
- Make necessary instructional adjustments
- Provide corrective and encouraging feedback
Be responsive to students needs
- Break tasks into smaller steps
- Use, and then fade, prompts and cues
- Extend the length of the task
- Reteach when necessary
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Models/Examples of Intervention for
Kindergarten and First Grade

• Kindergarten

First Grade
15-20 minutes
30 - 40 minutes
Time

• Phonemic awareness

• Phonemic awareness

Focus

• Alphabetic Principles

• Phonics

• Fluency 2nd semester

• Vocabulary

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Models/Examples of Intervention Second and Third
Grade

• Second

Third
30-50 minutes
30-50 minutes
Time

• Phonics

• Advanced Phonics

Focus

• Fluency

• Fluency

• Vocabulary

• Vocabulary

• Comprehension

• Comprehension

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Who Provides the Intervention?

• Depending on the budgetary allocations for
  personnel,
• the intervention can be provided by

• Classroom teacher
• Specialized reading teacher
• Special Education teacher
• Specially trained support person

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How can immediate, intensive interventions be
scheduled and delivered?

• 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
4. Delivered by well-trained and supervised
paraprofessionals during the uninterrupted
reading period or other times
5. Supported by computers throughout the day
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Four Second Grade Classes
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22
22
22
Orderly movement between classes
15
25
24
24
Intervention teacher
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Some Research Findings

• Many instructional approaches are effective for
  struggling readers
• Vary size of instructional unit classroom, small
  group, individual
• Preventive and remedial approaches comparable in
  terms of effect sizes in many reading domains
• Differences reflect degree of development at
  initiation

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The Interventions

• Enhanced Classroom Instruction
• District provided extensive professional
  development and new materials
• Children identified as at-risk
• Progress monitored with feedback to principal,
  teachers and parents
• Professional development of classroom teachers
  in strategies for accommodating academic
  diversity and linking assessment to instructional
  planning for struggling readers

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How can we insure that interventions are
delivered consistently with high quality?
Professional development to provide knowledge of
instructional strategies, content (scope and
sequence and selection of materials), and
appropriate practice/skill building activities
-- use of assessment data to identify who should
receive interventions and what their focus should
be
Identification of high quality intervention
programs/materials and professional development
in their use and individualization
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What does it take to manage 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
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Research-based Instructional Practices
Teach explicitly and systematically, including
modeling and scaffolding. Children learn what
they are taught explicitly. Teach students to
segment words into sounds and to match sounds to
letters. Phonemic awareness and decoding provide
an essential foundation for learning. Provide
opportunities for students to read many words
each day. The number of words read correlates
with progress in reading. Share how much
connected text you see students reading each day.
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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.

.7
21,000
14.2
1,146,000
(Anderson, R. C., 1992)
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Research-based Instructional Practices

• Teach and practice processes and strategies in
  authentic contexts.
• Strategies, skills, and concepts that are not
  applied are easily forgotten.
• Expect students to ask for clarification and
  apply critical analysis.
• Information that is deeply processed is more
  likely to be understood and applied.
• Provide rubrics and constructive feedback.
• Use of rubrics and feedback scaffolds students
  understanding of how to perform tasks.

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Research-based Instructional Practices
Provide engaging thinking skills activities with
explicit feedback. Time engaged in thinking
skills activities correlates with
progress. Attend to individual data throughout
the reading block. Students should be engaged in
meaningful reading activities throughout the
reading block. Provide opportunities for
interaction, transaction, and collaboration. Lear
ning requires active involvement.
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Research-based Instructional Practices

• Pace instruction and provide repeated practice
  in relation to each students rate of learning
  and level of proficiency in skills and
  strategies.
• When instruction is too difficult, children
  struggle and fail.
• Link what is to be read to what students know.
• Linking what is already known to what is being
  learned enhances understanding and remembering.
• Teach students how to organize what they read.
• Organized knowledge is easier to recall and use
  than random information.
• Provide repeated practice.
• Achieving automaticity and expertise requires
  practice.

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A three pronged plan for meeting the needs of all
students
1. Increase the quality, consistency, and reach
of instruction in every K-3 classroom
2. Conduct timely and valid assessments of
reading growth to identify struggling readers
3. Provide more intensive interventions to catch
up the struggling readers
The prevention of reading difficulties is a
school-level challenge
72
The complete package.
Improved initial instruction to the whole class
from the classroom teacher
More powerfully differentiated small group
instruction, responsive to differences in student
need, from the classroom teacher
Regular and reliable assessments that measure
student growth in critical reading skills
Additional instructional resources so that
intensity of instruction may be dramatically
increased for our most struggling readers
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Continued Improvement
Great leaders are never satisfied with current
levels of performance. They are restlessly driven
by possibilities and potential achievements.
--Donna Harrison
Excellence is not a point you reach. It is a
commitment you make to keep improving.
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A Window of Opportunity
that doesnt work.