Organizing Schools and Classrooms to Teach Every Child to Read: The Big Ideas

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Organizing Schools and Classrooms toTeach Every
Child to Read The Big Ideas
Immediate Intensive Interventions
National Reading First Conference New
Orleans July 2005

• Stuart Greenberg, Deputy Director
• Eastern Regional Reading First Technical
  Assistance Center
• Florida State University and The Florida Center
  for Reading Research
• www.fcrr.org

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Reading Firsts 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
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Goals Will Drive Plans

• At least 80 of Kindergarten students achieve
  benchmark status
• At least 80 of First Grade students achieve
  benchmark status
• At least a 50 movement in grades 2 3 of
  students who were strategic to benchmark status
• At least a 50 movement of students in grades 2
  3 for those students who were intensive to at
  least the strategic status

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Why dont we have more effective interventions in
our schools right now?
1. We may not have a conviction that doing the
extra work interventions require will produce the
effects we want
2. We need support to schedule more intensive
interventions during the school day
3. We need to reallocate the resources to hire
the extra personnel required to do the
interventions
4. We need the personnel trained and skillful in
the delivery of effective interventions
5. We need to match the intervention(s) to the
needs of students based upon data
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Three Organizing Principles for Reading Success

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.

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Six Big Ideas about interventions for struggling
readers
1. They should be offered as soon as it is clear
the student is lagging behind in development of
skills or knowledge critical to reading growth
the practice problem
2. To be effective, they must increase the
intensity of instruction and practice they
should be available in a range of intensity
3. They must provide the opportunity for explicit
(direct) and systematic instruction and practice
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Six Big Ideas about interventions for struggling
readers
4. They must provide skillful instruction
including good error correction procedures
5. They must be guided by, and responsive to,
data on student performance.
6. They must be motivating, engaging, and
supportivepositive atmosphere
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Two important Ideas about the value and nature of
effective interventions in Reading First Schools

• Getting to 100 requires going through the data
• student by student

The student who is deficient will require a very
different kind of effort in both the short and
long run.
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Components of Effective Intervention Instruction

• Effective reading instruction for all students.
• Early identification of students at risk for
  reading problems.
• Immediate intensive interventions for students at
  risk of reading problems.
• Efficient, effective use of school resources to
  sustain interventions.

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Why do we need interventions?
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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Current difficulties in reading largely
originate from rising demands for literacy, not
from declining absolute levels of literacy
Increasing demands for higher levels of literacy
in the workforce require that we do better than
we have ever done before in teaching all children
to read well.
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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 lean or behavior problems
that interfere with learning in the classroom
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Start With The End In Mind
Reading Is Thinking Guided By Print
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In other words, students reading comprehension
depends on
How well they read the words on the page
How much knowledge they have, and how well
they think
How motivated they are to do the work of
comprehension
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The Many Strands that are Woven into Skilled
Reading (Scarborough, 2001)
Reading is a multifaceted skill, gradually
acquired over years of instruction and practice.
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Three potential stumbling blocks to becoming a
good reader (NRC Report, 1998)

• Difficulty learning to read words accurately and
• fluently

2. Insufficient vocabulary, general knowledge,
and reasoning skills to support comprehension of
written language
3. Absence or loss of initial motivation to
read, or failure to develop a mature
appreciation of the rewards of reading.
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The nature of the underlying difficulty for most
children who have difficulty in learning to read
Weaknesses in the phonological area of language
ability
inherent, or intrinsic, disability
Expressed primarily by delays in the development
of phonemic awareness and phonics skills
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• Extreme difficulties mastering the use of
  phonics skills as an aid to early, independent
  reading
• difficulties with the skills of blending and
  analyzing the sounds in words (phonemic
  awareness).
• difficulties learning letter-sound
  correspondences

• Slow development of sight vocabulary arising
  from
• limited exposure to text
• lack of strategies to reliably identify words in
  text

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Important fact about talent in the phonological
language domain
It is like most other talents in that it is
distributed normally in the population
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Phonological talent is normally distributed in
the population
Percentile Ranks
50th
16th
84th
2nd
98th
100
85
70
130
115
Standard Scores
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Phonological ability is normally distributed in
the population
Percentile Ranks
50th
16th
84th
2nd
98th
100
85
70
130
115
Standard Scores
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Each of these kinds of weakness is normally
distributed in the population
Serious difficulties-probably require special
interventions and a lot of extra support
Percentile Ranks
50th
16th
84th
2nd
98th
100
85
70
130
115
Standard Scores
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Special work to develop phonemic awareness
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Learning letter-sound relationships
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Motivational
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From a recent multi-disciplinary scientific
review of the research
From all these different perspectives, two
inescapable conclusions emerge. The first is
that mastering the alphabetic principle is
essential to becoming proficient in the skill of
reading.
and the second is that instructional techniques
(namely phonics) that teach this principle
directly are more effective than those that do
not.
Raynor, K., Foorman, B.R., Perfetti, C.A.,
Pesetsky, D., Seidenberg, M.S. 2001. How
psychological science informs the teaching of
reading. Psychological Science in the Public
Interest, 2 31-73.
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Three potential stumbling blocks to becoming a
good reader (NRC Report, 1998)

• Difficulty learning to read words accurately and
• fluently

2. Insufficient vocabulary, general knowledge,
and reasoning skills to support comprehension of
written language

• Absence or loss of initial motivation to read, or
  
• failure to develop a mature appreciation of the
• rewards of reading.

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Language
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Hart and Risley (1995) conducted a longitudinal
study of children and families from three groups

• Professional families
• Working-class families
• Families on welfare

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Meaningful Differences
By the time the children were 3 years old,
parents in less economically favored
circumstances had said fewer different words in
their cumulative monthly vocabularies than the
children in the most economically advantaged
families in the same period of time (Hart
Risley, 1995).
Cumulative Vocabulary Children from
professional families 1100
words Children from working class families 700
words Children from welfare families 500 words
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Instructional reach

• Children enter school with a listening vocabulary
  ranging between 2500 to 5000.
• First graders from higher SES groups know twice
  as many words as lower SES children (Graves
  Slater, 1987)
• Vocabulary differences at grade 2 may last
  throughout elementary school (Biemiller Slonim,
  in press)
• College entrants need about 11 to 14,000 root
  words (meter in thermometer or centimeter)

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The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on
Reading Growth (Hirsch, 1996)
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5
High Oral Language in Kindergarten
5.2 years difference
Reading Age Level
Low Oral Language in Kindergarten
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
Chronological Age
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Four Critical Elements for More Robust Vocabulary
Instruction
Select the right words to teach Tier 2 words
absurd
fortunate
ridiculous
Develop child-friendly definitions for these words
Engage children in interesting, challenging,
playful activities in which they learn to access
the meanings of words in multiple contexts
Find a way to devote more time during the day to
vocabulary instruction
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Three potential stumbling blocks to becoming a
good reader (NRC Report, 1998)

• Difficulty learning to read words accurately and
• fluently

2. Insufficient vocabulary, general knowledge,
and reasoning skills to support comprehension of
written language

• Absence or loss of initial motivation to read, or
  
• failure to develop a mature appreciation of the
• rewards of reading.

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The circular relationship between skill and
motivation in reading
If we want children to learn to read well, we
must find a way to induce them to read lots.
If we want to induce children to read lots, we
must teach them to read well.
Marilyn Jager Adams
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The consensus view of most important
instructional features for interventions
Interventions are more effective when they
Provide systematic and explicit instruction on
whatever component skills are deficient phonemic
awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, reading
comprehension strategies
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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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Start With The End In Mind
Reading Is Thinking Guided By Print
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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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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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Progress Monitoring - The Teachers Map

• Whoops! Time to make a change!

Aimline
Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
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Progress Monitoring The Teachers Map
Aimline
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Progress Monitoring Assessment

• Purpose Frequent, timely measures to determine
  whether students are learning enough of critical
  skills.
• When At minimum 3 times per year at critical
  decision making points.
• Who All students
• Relation to Instruction Indicates students who
  require additional assessment and intervention.

Discuss how you are using the data from progress
monitoring as it relates to students who are
being taught through immediate intensive
interventions.
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What does it take to effectively manage
interventions?
Regular meetings in which student progress is
discussed-grade level team meetings
Regular observations to be sure that instruction
is being delivered in an effective manner coach
and principal
Well trained teachers or paraprofessionals who
receive regular inservice support
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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 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. Delivered by computers throughout the day
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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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How to choose evidence based programs to guide
instruction
Why choose a well-developed intervention
program to guide instruction?
It acts as a scaffold for good teaching behaviors
It insures a well-organized scope and sequence
It insures coordinated and aligned practice
materials and activities
It should help with proper pacing and movement of
instruction
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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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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
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Teaching Reading is Both Essential and Urgent

• Getting to 100 requires going through the bottom
  20.
• Children who are at reading risk face the
  tyranny of time (Kameenui, 1998).
• Assuming students will catch up with practice
  as usual is not wise. Catching up is a low
  probability occurrence.
• The bottom 20 will require a very different kind
  of effort in both the short and long run.

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Instructional Adjustments
Instructional Adjustments Made in Response to
Student Progress and Instructional Need

• Instructional programs, grouping, and time are
  adjusted and intensified according to learner
  performance and needs.
• Making instruction more responsive to student
  learning

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Modifying Instruction Time
Adequate, Prioritized, and Protected Time for
Reading Instruction and Practice

• Schoolwide plan established to allocate
  sufficient reading time and coordinate resources
• Additional time allocated for students not making
  adequate progress (supplemental intervention
  programs)
• Reading time prioritized and protected
• from interruption

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Modifying Instruction Grouping
Instruction, Grouping, and Scheduling That
Optimizes Learning

• Differentiated instruction aligned with student
  needs
• Students the furthest behind need smaller
  grouping arrangements
• Creative and flexible grouping used to maximize
  performance
• Cross classroom and grade grouping

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Creative and Flexible Grouping Used to Maximize
Performance
Grouping Options Students Within class, across
class, across grade Size Whole class, small
group, three-on-one (less if needed) Organization
Teacher led, staff supported, cooperative
learning Location In classroom, outside of
classroom
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A final concluding thought.
There is no question but that leaving no child
behind in reading is going to be a significant
challenge
It will involve professional development for
teachers, school reorganization, careful
assessments, and a relentless focus on the
individual needs of every child
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Many things can wait the child cannot. Now is
the time his bones are being formed and his mind
is being developed. To him, we cannot say
tomorrow his name is today!
Gabriel Mistral
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• Questions
• Thank you!