Title: The Targeted Reading Intervention: How Early Reading Intervention for Rural Kindergarten and First-Grade Students Affects Teachers
1The Targeted Reading Intervention How Early
Reading Intervention for Rural Kindergarten and
First-Grade Students Affects Teachers Ratings of
Students Literacy Skills
Targeting instructional match in every
interaction
- Steve Amendum
- Marnie C. Ginsberg
- University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
- National Reading Conference, 2007
2Purpose
- The purpose of the current research-in-progress
study was to evaluate the effects of the Targeted
Reading Intervention (TRI) on struggling rural
kindergarten and first-grade students reading
achievement. - The TRI was designed and is currently being
evaluated as part of a multiyear randomized
clinical trial.
3Research Question
- Do struggling rural kindergarten and first-grade
students who receive the Targeted Reading
Intervention (TRI) with adequate implementation
make greater gains in teachers ratings of
literacy ability across one year than struggling
rural kindergarten and first-grade students who
receive TRI with lower implementation or than
students who do not receive TRI, when controlling
for SES?
4Rationale/Theoretical Framework
- Importance of early intervention (e.g., Snow,
Burns, Griffin, 1998) - What is less well-established efficient and
effective reading interventions - TRI designed and conceptualized from several key
reading theories/current reading research - Focus on the needs of schools
5Transactional model of early reading development
Motivation Guthries Reading as Engagement
CognitionShares Self-Teaching Hypothesis
Child
Explaining Cumulative EffectsStanovichs
Matthew Effects
Teacher
The RelationalLiteracy via the teacher-child
relationship (Pianta)
6MethodsDesign
- One year pre-post two-group randomized
experimental design - Three rural schools
- One intervention school, two control schools
- Intervention school TRI materials, TRI
professional development, and ongoing TRI
consultation - Control schools business as usual
7MethodsTeacher Participants
- 10 kindergarten, 10 first-grade
- 8 experimental, 12 control
- All 20 teachers held state teaching certification
- two held temporary certificates (one
experimental, one control) - All 20 were female
- Ethnicities
- 13 Caucasian of European descent
- 3 African-American
- 1 Native American
- Ages ranged 24 to 60 years
- Prior experience .5 years to 33 years
- average 16.83 years of experience
- 14 undergraduate degree, 6 masters degree or
higher
8MethodsStudent Participants
- All students likely to struggle with reading
identified - 5 focal students were randomly selected per
classroom - Total of 90 students
- 41 intervention, 49 control
- 29 females, 61 males
- Ethnicities
- 45.6 African-American
- 34.4 European Caucasian
- 14.4 Native American
- 5.6 other races
- Students in control schools
- mothers with higher levels of education
- lower subsidized lunch levels (78.5 vs. 98)
9Targeted Reading Intervention
- The Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI)
(Ginsberg, Amendum, Vernon-Feagans) - Dual-level intervention
- Targets both K-1 teachers and their struggling
readers - The TRI helps teachers
- acquire essential knowledge of early reading
development and efficient instructional
strategies - develop skills in matching instruction to
informal assessment - apply these knowledge sources and skills
particularly for the benefit of struggling readers
10Targeted Reading Intervention
- Daily
- One-on-one ? small groups
- Efficient, evidence-based reading strategies
- Reading strategies integrate multiple essential
early reading abilities - Context of real words and books
- Diagnostic thinking
- TRI materials are low-cost, commonly available
11Data Sources
- Modified version of the Academic Rating Scale
(ARS) for Language and Literacy (Academic Rating
Scale, 2001) - Completed fall and spring
- Example items
- rxx .87 and .91 for fall and spring,
respectively - TRI intervention fidelity rating scale
- Rated the duration and quality of the TRI
instruction for each student - Completed spring
12Variables
- Teachers Rating of Literacy Ability Gain.
- From modified ARS
- difference scores were computed between spring
and fall ARS scores - TRI Implementation Status
- From TRI intervention fidelity rating scale
- First, computed Total Fidelity score (the mean of
the duration and quality of TRI instruction) - Second, Total Fidelity scores divided into two
groups - Adequate fidelity (Total Fidelity gt 3)
- Inadequate fidelity (Total Fidelity 3)
- Third, students scores categorized into three
levels of TRI Implementation Status - TRI with adequate implementation (n 14)
- TRI with inadequate implementation (n 17)
- No TRI (n 43)
13Analyses/Results
- An analysis of covariance
- DV Teachers Rating of Literacy Ability Gain
- IV TRI Implementation Status
- Cov maternal education in years
- Planned contrasts for TRI Implementation Status
- Participants with missing ARS scores (n 16)
excluded from analyses
14Analyses/Results
- Main effect for TRI Implementation Status
- F(2, 67) 5.836, p lt .006, ?2 0.142
- Indicated significant differences among the three
groups.
15Results of Planned Contrasts
16Main Conclusion
- Struggling K-1 students who received TRI
instruction with adequate implementation made
greater teachers rating of literacy ability
gains than students who received the TRI with
inadequate implementation or did not receive the
TRI. - Preliminary findings revealed positive effects of
the TRI, when implemented with adequate
implementation, for students gains on Teachers
Rating of Literacy Ability
17Limits
- Teachers ratings vs. student assessments
- Short intervention period
- Analyses
18Discussion/Implications
- Effective reading intervention for struggling
readers - Effect of TRI on students gains on reading
assessments (Ginsberg, 2006 Vernon-Feagans,
2007). - Importance of implementation
- Support for the dynamic interplay between
internal (child) and external (teacher
instruction) factors - Additional research
- impact on other student populations
- teacher-student interactions
- additional outcomes at teacher and student levels
- long term effects of the TRI