Effective Intervention for Children with Literacy Difficulties Findings from 4 years of action research in Waterford Dr Mary Nugent, NEPS, Waterford

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Effective Intervention for Children with Literacy
DifficultiesFindings from 4 years of action
research in WaterfordDr Mary Nugent, NEPS,
Waterford
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An Overview

• What do we know about teaching literacy to
  struggling readers?
• Evidence from the Waterford Projects
• Teaching Traveller children to read

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Which children are we talking about?

• School-going children (6-19 years)
• With literacy difficulties
• Includes children with specific learning
  difficulties / dyslexia
• Includes children with generally poor progress in
  reading (who may or may not have additional
  general learning difficulties)
• Includes children from disadvantaged communities

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Literature review

• Swanson and Hoskyn (1998)
• Vaughan, Gersten Chard (2000)
• National Reading Panel (2000)
• Solity (2002)
• MacKay (2006)
• Scammaca, Vaughn, Roberts (2007)
• Slavin, Cheung, Groff, Lake (2008)
• Singleton (2009)
• The Rose Report (2009)
• Kennedy (2010)

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Key Text

• What Works for Children with Literacy
  Difficulties-
• The Effectiveness of Intervention Schemes
• By Greg Brooks National Foundation for
  Educational Research (Nfer) (2007)
• Published by the Department for Children, Schools
  and Families. Ref 00688-2007 BKT-EN

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Key findings

• Ordinary teaching is not enough
• Not all interventions are equal
• Need for evidence-based interventions
• The best interventions can make a significant
  difference

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How?

• Individualised or small group teaching (Swanson
  and Hoskyn, Vaughn et al, Scammaca et al
• Structured, specialist tuition (Swanson and
  Hoskyn, Singleton, Rose)
• Frequency of teaching with daily or near daily
  tuition (Solity 2002, Scammaca et al )
• A declaration of the intention to achieve (McKay
  2007)
• Intensive interventions of relatively short
  duration can be highly effective (Brooks 2007)
• The significance of the first 12 hours of tuition
  (Singleton 2009)
• Early intervention and on-going assessment and
  (Solity, Scammaca, Singleton, Rose)

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What?

• Systematic, structured teaching of phonics
  (National Reading Panel)
• Systematic, cumulative, sequenced (Rose)
• Multi-sensory approaches (Singelton)
• Synthetic (or small unit) approaches to phonics
  are preferable to analytic (or large unit)
  approaches (Macmillan 1997, McGuinness 1997, NRP)
• Large scale schemes, which are expensive and
  require teacher training, can give good value for
  money (Phono-Graphix, Reading Recovery) (Brooks)
• Both direct instruction and strategy instruction
  are valuable- use of mixed methods (Swanson and
  Hoskyn, Slavin et al)

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What?

• Phonemic awareness
• Phonological skills
• Comprehension strategies
• Guided and independent reading
• Writing activities integrated
• Teaching to the point of fluency
• ICT, only if precisely targeted

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Who?

• Teachers (and non teachers) who are well trained
  and have on-going support (McKay, NRP, Slavin et
  al, Kennedy)
• Efficacy of low-cost implementers (Scammacca et
  al, Singleton)
• Cooperative learning (particularly with older
  students), including peer tuition (Swanson and
  Hoskyn, Slavin et al, Brooks)

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Whats happening here? Primary, sample 54
children
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3 components of Evidence Based Practice

• The aim of evidence based practice is to help
  professionals to base their practice on best
  current evidence Fox 2003
• Research should provide the evidence on which
  professional practice is based
• Professionals will change and adapt their
  practice on best available research evidence
• By keeping accurate outcome measures, services
  can monitor the effects of their interventions

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How much progress should we expect?

• Good Impact- sufficient to at least double the
  standard rate of progress- can be achieved and it
  is reasonable to expect it
• Brooks (2007)

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Ratio Gains

• The gain in reading during a chronological time
  span, expressed as a ratio of that time span
• A ratio gain of 1.0 is exactly standard progress
• Brooks (2002) set a ratio gain of 1.4 as
  educationally significant
• By 2007, Brooks stated that a ratio gain of 2.0
  should be expected as many schemes now produce
  impacts of this order or more (p30)
• Note, it is easier to achieve high ratio gains
  over a short period of intervention, than over a
  longer period

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Waterford Reading ProjectsPhase I, Primary
2006-7Phase II, Secondary 2007-8 Phase III,
Primary Secondary 2008-9Traveller Project 1,
2008-9Traveller Project 2, 2009-10
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West Dunbartonshire Literacy Initiative

• McKay (2007)
• A 10 year project
• In the second most disadvantaged local authority
  in Scotland
• Something that has never been done before
• the eradication of illiteracy from an entire
  education authority

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Overview of Action Research

• Lasted 3-4 months
• Explored the effectiveness of reading
  interventions
• Implementation of named programmes
• Pre and post intervention reading data
• Logs and review data from teachers
• 249 students (131 boys, 103 girls, 15 no data)
• 50 teachers, 36 schools
• Valid data collected for 230 students

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Intervention Programmes

• The Big Five
• Acceleread/ Accelewrite
• Paired Reading
• SNIP/ Precision Teaching (sight vocabulary)
• Toe by Toe
• ARROW

• Other interventions tried
• Barton-Gillingham
• Sound Linkage
• Lexia
• Mixed methods
• Newell literacy

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Toe by Toe, suitable for

• An individualised approach
• Suitable for children from the age of 6, but more
  appealing to older primary/ secondary students
• Has been used effectively in the prison service
• Use of one workbook, provides both teacher
  direction and student programme
• Each book costs approx. 40

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Toe by Toe

• Highly structured phonics programme
• Involves teaching skills to a level of fluency
• Use on non-words puts focus on underlying skills
  of decoding
• Considerable emphasis on recording progress

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Toe by Toe- Research Evidence

• Pre- and post data over one year
• 24 secondary aged pupils
• Matched pairs
• Experimental group- Toe by Toe
• Control Group- normal learning support
• Toe by Toe group were taught individually for 20
  minutes per day, five days per week, for average
  of 3 months

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Toe by Toe research findings cont.

• The results were definitive. The experimental
  group made average gains of three and a half
  years. The control group made average gains of
  five months
• MacKay Cowling
• Literacy Today, March (2004)

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Toe by Toe-research evidence

• Brooks (2007) reports on work with 21 primary
  schools, where after 18 months of intervention,
  student made ratio gains of 2.7
• Mackay (2006) used in 32 primary schools, with 91
  students in 6th class. After 6 months of
  intervention, ratio gains were of 2.3

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Paired Reading

• Largely based on the work of Keith Topping,
  Centre for Paired Learning, University of Dundee
• PAL-Peer Assisted Learning
• It is clear that PAL is not a diluted and
  inferior substitute for direct professional
  teaching- it has quite different strengths and
  weaknesses and to deploy it to maximum effect
  teachers need to be aware of these. Topping
  (2001)

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Paired Reading

• A range of formalised approaches
• Considered cost-effective
• Needs on-going organisation including
• Training of tutors
• Monitoring of progress
• Maintenance
• (some form of reward system?)

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Paired reading-research findings

• Brooks (2007) reports studies involving 2,372
  children in 155 projects in 71 schools
• Ratio Gains of 3.3 in reading and
• 4.3 in comprehension
• (effect sizes of .87 for reading and .77 for
  comprehension)
• Social gains also widely reported

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Paired reading/ Duolog Reading

• The general picture in published studies is that
  Paired readers progress at about 4.2 times
  normal rates in reading accuracy during the
  initial period of commitment. Follow-up studies
  indicate that gains are sustained and do not
  wash out over time.
• Topping 2004

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Peer Reading in Ireland

• The Reading Partners Programme in a special
  school (See Nugent 2001, British Journal of
  Special Education)
• Helpers made 17.4 months progress (control
  group made 7.16 months progress)
• Learners made 6.55 months progress
• (compared to typical gains of 3 months progress)

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Acceleread/ Accelewrite

• An individual approach
• Requires 11 teaching, 20 minutes per day for 4
  weeks (some teachers find they can manage 2-3 in
  a group)
• Uses computer and voice feedback
• Suitable for ages 7-18 (but best progress is made
  with those of 10 years plus)

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Acc/Acc Research

• In the age group 10-14, average gains of 37
  months reading progress have been reported after
  6 months of intervention (see dyslexic.com)
• In a study of 30 children, using the programme
  for 4 weeks, the average gains were of 16
  standard score points in reading and 10 in
  spelling, representing ratio gains of 16.0 in
  reading and 9.8 in spelling (Martin Miles/ Devon
  Study)

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Acc/ Acc research cont

• Brooks (2007) reported on the Jersey Project,
  involving 61 students in 15 primary schools and 4
  secondary schools
• After 4 week intervention students made ratio
  gains of 8.3 in reading and 4.0 in spelling with
  further increases reported over time.
• The Bristol Study (Sue Derrington) involved 60
  children in 13 primary schools.
• After 8 weeks of intervention students made ratio
  gains of 2.3 in reading accuracy, 2.9 in
  comprehension and 2.0 in spelling.

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Acc/ Acc research cont.

• Research by Theresa Tierney of NEPS (2004) found
  that, after an average of just 14 sessions,
  students made an average of 10 months progress
  with reading
• Research by Pat Devanney (2007) showed that class
  teachers could deliver the programme and after 4
  weeks, the 7 participants had made 5 standard
  score points progress (about 9 months progress)
  while the control group (who received learning
  support) made no progress

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Precision Teaching

• Precision teaching is based on rigorous research
  in the area of instructional psychology
• Precision teaching emphasises the importance of
  fluency
• Precision teaching techniques can be used to
  teach sight words, phonics (or other skills)
• Puts the focus of learning failure on
  instructional methods and not on students
• Outcomes suggest at least twice the normal rate
  of progress

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SNIP

• This is a precision teaching package
• It can be downloaded free!
• It is suited to upper primary/ secondary students
• This approach is best suited to students whose
  literacy difficulties are more mild (learning
  support rather than resource)
• Ref www.snip-newsletter.co.uk

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SNIP

• Contains lists of word to be learnt as sight
  vocabulary
• Includes essential curriculum words
• Plus irregular words that often confuse students
• Emphasises fluency
• Daily practice of 5 minutes
• The reading aloud of word lists is timed

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SNIP cont.

• Using this pack we have achieved measurable
  gains of three years in an academic year with
  some of our pupils
• Carol and Phil Smart
• What do you do when data is inadequate?

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Precision teaching cont.

• The same precision teaching techniques can be
  used to teach sight words
• Free prompt sheets can be made up using the
  website johnandgwyn.co.uk
• Probe sheets can have anything from 4 to 24 words
  on them

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ARROW

• Aural-Read-Respond-Oral-Write, by Dr Colin Lane
• Works on the principle that hearing ones own
  voice may be the key to much language
  comprehension
• Involves individual computer based work
• One teacher can supervise 5 students at a time
• Suitable right across the age range

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ARROW-procedures

• Children listen to text (through headphones)
• They record themselves reading the text
• They listen to their own recording
• They write out what they have read

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ARROW Research

• Brooks (2007) evaluated ARROW and noted the
  ratio gains show that this amount of progresswas
  remarkable, if not spectacular (p133).
• 91 children made average gains of 7 months in
  reading and 6 months in spelling after just 1.5
  weeks of intervention
• Further data provided by Dr Lane involved 445
  children in 20 schools. Typically after 2-3 hours
  of ARROW, children made average gains of 9.5
  months in reading. (Those doing 8 to 10 hours
  made average gains of 14 months)

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What about PAT?

• Daily 10 minute intensive phonics work
• Identifying sounds
• Blending phonemes together
• Segmenting or isolating sounds in words
• Worksheet based, with specific rimes, reading
  lists and sentences for dictation

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PAT, research findings

• The results were not clear cut. The children in
  the experimental group did make significantly
  more progress than those in the control group
  but the children in the experimental group made
  scarcely any more progress than would have been
  expected from ordinary classroom teaching and
  development Brooks 2002

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PAT

• 24 children in 3 schools
• 20 week intervention
• Ratio Gains of 0.16 for experimental group

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A word of caution

• Research cited here indicates that some
  interventions work for some children in some
  settings and we need to be cautious about
  interpreting findings. Some interventions were
  not shown to be highly effective, but may need
  further analysis.

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West Dunbartonshire

• In 2007 only 3 children left secondary school who
  were not functionally literate

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Pre-intervention

• The average word reading standard score was 81
  (range 55-106)
• The average comprehension standard score was 83
  (range 55-116)
• Mean age of participants was 11 years, 6 months
  (range 5 years, 9 months- 17 years, 1 month)

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Waterford Projects- Progress in 3 months
Average word reading age at pre-intervention Average word reading age at the end of the project. 8 years, 3 months 9 years, 3 months (12 months)
Average sentence reading age at pre-intervention Average sentence reading age at the end of the project 8 years, 9 months 9 years, 9 months (12 months)
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Reading Gains in Waterford

• In Waterford, the average gains for participants
  after 3 months using an evidence-based
  intervention was 1 year, representing ratio gains
  of 4.0 (standard score gains of 4.5 in word
  reading and 4 in reading comprehension)
• Post-intervention standard scores in word reading
  were 85 and in comprehension were 86 (16th - 18th
  percentile)

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Comparing interventions (N200)
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Learning time
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Teaching time
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Traveller Literacy

• 369 primary aged children, standardised test
  results
• More than two thirds of pupils scored at or below
  the 20th percentile, with 47.5 per cent scoring
  below the 10th percentile
• But no data available for almost 25 of the
  Traveller children (due to absences, inability to
  complete the test)
• Survey of Traveller Education Provision, DES 2005

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Results for Traveller Projects N52
Standard score gains Ratio gains (1.4) Reading age gains
Word reading 6.0 4.0 1 year
Comprehension 7.5 5.0 14-15 months
Spelling 5.4 2.1 7 months
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Exceptional gains

• Participant 14- Age 10, Shared reading
• Basic reading
• 6 Years, 8 months
• 8 years, 9 months
• Comprehension
• 9 years, 7 months
• 11 years 4 months
• Spelling
• 8 years
• 8 years, 7 months

• Participant 26- Age 12, ARROW
• Basic reading
• 11 Years, 2 months
• 16 years
• Comprehension
• 12 years, 6 months
• 14 years, 1 months

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Figure 1. Comparing Traveller progress with
typical progress (Travellers and all children)
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Support Pack for Schools

• List of resources for assessing literacy
• List of evidence based interventions, with
  contact details and costs, including information
  on free downloads
• Rough Guide to Precision Teaching, with SNIP
  references and supporting checklists
• Rough Guide to Reading Partners, with supporting
  templates
• 3 progress review cards
• Declarations guidance
• All are available on ILSA website www.ilsa.ie

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• we already know enough to take action, to use
  what we know now to improve reading outcomes for
  students with reading difficulties
• Slavin et al (2008)

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Thanks

• With thanks to my colleagues, Dr Feargal ONeill,
  Shirley Murphy, Aurelia Bridges and Niamh Walsh.
  Also, sincere thanks to the children, parents
  and teachers who have informed this presentation
  in so many ways.