Students Responding to Instructional and Behavioral Interventions in Local School Buildings

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Students Responding to Instructional and
Behavioral Interventions in Local School
BuildingsMaking It WorkJim Wrightwww.intervent
ioncentral.orgMarch 2007 
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Workshop Goals

• In this training, we will review ideas to
• Identify the driver(s) or functions of the
  students academic problems
• Organize intervention ideas into packaged scripts
  for ease of use
• Assess the intensity of (work needed to
  implement) the student intervention plan
• Evaluate the degree to which educators have
  successfully carried out the intervention plan
  (intervention follow-through or treatment
  integrity)

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RTI Essential Elements for Intervention Planning
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How can a school restructure to support RTI?

• The school can organize its intervention efforts
  into 3 levels, or Tiers, that represent a
  continuum of increasing intensity of support.
  (Kovaleski, 2003 Vaughn, 2003). Tier I is the
  lowest level of intervention and Tier III is the
  most intensive intervention level.

Universal intervention Available to all
students Example Additional classroom literacy
instruction
Tier I
Individualized Intervention Students who need
additional support than peers are given
individual intervention plans. Example
Supplemental peer tutoring in reading to increase
reading fluency
Tier II
Intensive Intervention Students whose
intervention needs are greater than general
education can meet may be referred for more
intensive services. Example Special Education
Tier III
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RTI School-Wide Three-Tier Framework
(Kovaleski, 2003 Vaughn, 2003)
Tier III Long-Term Programming for Students Who
Fail to Respond to Tier II Interventions (e.g.,
Special Education)
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Target Student
Dual-Discrepancy RTI Model of Learning
Disability (Fuchs 2003)
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Discussion Read the quote below and discuss in
pairs
How sloppy can we be in doing RTI and still be
effective?
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Writing Quality Problem Identification
Statements
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Writing Quality Problem Identification
Statements

• A frequent problem at RTI Team meetings is that
  teacher referral concerns are written in vague
  terms. If the referral concern is not written in
  explicit, observable, measurable terms, it will
  be very difficult to write clear goals for
  improvement or select appropriate interventions.
• Use this test for evaluating the quality of a
  problem-identification (teacher-concern)
  statement Can a third party enter a classroom
  with the problem definition in hand and know when
  they see the behavior and when they dont?

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Writing Quality Problem-Identification
Statements Template
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Writing Quality Teacher Referral Concern
Statements Examples

• Needs Work The student is disruptive.
• Better During independent seatwork , the student
  is out of her seat frequently and talking with
  other students.
• Needs Work The student doesnt do his math.
• Better When math homework is assigned, the
  student turns in math homework only about 20
  percent of the time. Assignments turned in are
  often not fully completed.

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Identifying the Driver(s) or Cause(s) of
Student Academic Concerns
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Identifying the Cause of the Students Academic
Deficit

• Possible Explanations
• Skill Deficit Student needs to be taught the
  skills
• Fragile Skill Student possesses the skill but
  has not yet mastered to automaticity
• Performance Deficit Student can do the skill but
  lacks incentive to perform it (motivation issue)

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Instructional Hierarchy Four Stages of Learning

• Acquisition
• Fluency
• Generalization
• Adaptation

Source Haring, N.G., Lovitt, T.C., Eaton, M.D.,
Hansen, C.L. (1978). The fourth R Research in
the classroom. Columbus, OH Charles E. Merrill
Publishing Co.
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Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978) Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978) Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978)
Learning Stage Student Look-Fors What strategies are effective
Acquisition Exit Goal The student can perform the skill accurately with little adult support. Is just beginning to learn skill Not yet able to perform learning task reliably or with high level of accuracy Teacher actively demonstrates target skill Teacher uses think-aloud strategy-- especially for thinking skills that are otherwise covert Student has models of correct performance to consult as needed (e.g., correctly completed math problems on board) Student gets feedback about correct performance Student receives praise, encouragement for effort
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Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978) Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978) Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978)
Learning Stage Student Look-Fors What strategies are effective
Fluency Exit Goals The student (a) has learned skill well enough to retain (b) has learned skill well enough to combine with other skills, (c) is as fluent as peers. Gives accurate responses to learning task Performs learning task slowly, haltingly Teacher structures learning activities to give student opportunity for active (observable) responding Student has frequent opportunities to drill (direct repetition of target skill) and practice (blending target skill with other skills to solve problems) Student gets feedback on fluency and accuracy of performance Student receives praise, encouragement for increased fluency
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Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978) Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978) Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978)
Learning Stage Student Look-Fors What strategies are effective
Generalization Exit Goals The student (a) uses the skill across settings, situations (b) does not confuse target skill with similar skills Is accurate and fluent in responding May fail to apply skill to new situations, settings May confuse target skill with similar skills (e.g., confusing and x number operation signs) Teacher structures academic tasks to require that the student use the target skill regularly in assignments. Student receives encouragement, praise, reinforcers for using skill in new settings, situations If student confuses target skill with similar skill(s), the student is given practice items that force him/her to correctly discriminate between similar skills Teacher works with parents to identify tasks that the student can do outside of school to practice target skill Student gets periodic opportunities to review, practice target skill to ensure maintenance
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Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978) Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978) Instructional Hierarchy Matching Interventions to Student Learning Stage (Haring, et al., 1978)
Learning Stage Student Look-Fors What strategies are effective
Adaptation Exit Goal The Adaptation phase is continuous and has no exit criteria. Is fluent and accurate in skill Applies skill in novel situations, settings without prompting Does not yet modify skill as needed to fit new situations (e.g., child says Thank you in all situations, does not use modified, equivalent phrases such as I appreciate your help.) Teacher helps student to articulate the big ideas or core element(s) of target skill that the student can modify to face novel tasks, situations (e.g., fractions, ratios, and percentages link to the big idea of the part in relation to the whole Thank you is part of a larger class of polite speech) Train for adaptation Student gets opportunities to practice the target skill with modest modifications in new situations, settings with encouragement, corrective feedback, praise, other reinforcers. Encourage student to set own goals for adapting skill to new and challenging situations.
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How Do We Know Whether Motivation is a Barrier to
Learning? Student Motivation Assessment
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• "People say I don't take criticism well, but I
  say, what the hell do they know?"
• Groucho Marx

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7
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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7
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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 1 Assemble an Incentive menu
• Step 2 Create two versions of a timed worksheet
• Step 3 Administer the first timed worksheet to
  the student WITHOUT incentives.
• Step 4 Compute an improvement goal.
• 5 Have the student select an incentive for
  improved performance.
• Step 6 Administer the second timed worksheet to
  the student WITH incentives.
• Step 7 Interpret the results of the academic
  motivation assessment to select appropriate
  interventions.

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 1 Assemble an Incentive menuCreate a 4-5
  item menu of modest incentives or rewards that
  students in the class are most likely to find
  motivating.

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 2 Create two versions of a timed
  worksheetMake up two versions of custom student
  worksheets. The worksheets should be at the same
  level of difficulty, but each worksheet should
  have different items or content to avoid a
  practice effect. NOTE If possible, the
  worksheets should contain standardized
  short-answer items (e.g., matching vocabulary
  words to their definitions) to allow you to
  calculate the students rate of work completion.

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 3 Administer the first timed worksheet to
  the student WITHOUT incentives. In a quiet,
  non-distracting location, administer the first
  worksheet or CBM probe under timed, standardized
  conditions. Collect the probe or worksheet and
  score.

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 4 Compute an improvement goal. After you
  have scored the first CBM probe or worksheet,
  compute a 20 percent improvement goal. Multiply
  the students score on the worksheet by 1.2. This
  product represents the students minimum goal for
  improvement.Example A student who completed 20
  correct items on a timed worksheet will have an
  improvement goal of 24 (20 x 1.2 24).

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 5 Have the student select an incentive for
  improved performance. Tell the student that if
  he or she can attain a score on the second
  worksheet that meets or exceeds your goal for
  improvement (Step 3), the student can earn an
  incentive. Show the student the reward menu. Ask
  the student to select the incentive that he or
  she will earn if the student makes or exceeds the
  goal.

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 6 Administer the second timed worksheet to
  the student WITH incentives. Give the student
  the second CBM probe. Collect and score. If the
  student meets or exceeds the pre-set improvement
  goal, award the student the incentive.

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 7 Interpret the results of the academic
  motivation assessment to select appropriate
  interventions. ACADEMIC INTERVENTIONS ONLY. If
  the student fails to meet or exceed the
  improvement goal, an academic intervention should
  be selected to teach the appropriate skills or to
  provide the student with drill and practice
  opportunities to build fluency in the targeted
  academic area(s).

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 7(Cont) Interpret the results of the
  academic motivation assessment to select
  appropriate interventions. COMBINED ACADEMIC
  AND PERFORMANCE INTERVENTIONS. If the student
  meets or exceeds the improvement goal but
  continues to function significantly below the
  level of classmates, an intervention should be
  tailored that includes strategies to both improve
  academic performance and to increase the
  students work motivation.

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Schoolwork Motivation Assessment 2.26-7

• Step 7(Cont) Interpret the results of the
  academic motivation assessment to select
  appropriate interventions. PERFORMANCE
  INTERVENTIONS ONLY. If the student meets or
  exceeds the improvement goal with an incentive
  and shows academic skills that fall within the
  range of typical classmates, the intervention
  should target only student work performance or
  motivation.

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Identifying Barriers to More Sophisticated
Academic Tasks Reading Comprehension and Written
Expression
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Reading Comprehension Skills Checklist 2.30
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Writing Skills Checklist 2.31-2
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Creating an Intervention Script
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Why Create Intervention Scripts?

• Intervention scripts are simple for educators to
  implement
• Scripting interventions prevents RTI Teams from
  overlooking essential elements of the
  intervention (e.g., training needs)
• A scripted intervention can be easily monitored
  because each element is clearly delineated.

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Intervention Script Builder 2.33
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Judging the Intensity of Interventions Tier I,
II, or III?
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Why Attempt to Judge the Intensity of
Interventions?

• Judging the intensity of interventions in
  advance ensures that intervention plans match the
  RTI Tier in which they are being used.

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Avoiding the Intervention Trap

• When planning Tier II (individualized)
  interventions, RTI Teams should take care to
  ensure that those plans are feasible and
  maintainable in general-education settings. If
  a Tier II intervention is so ambitious as to
  resemble a Special Education (Tier III) program,
  the team may find that the student responds well
  to the plan but would still lack information
  about whether the student requires more support
  than general education can offer. And the plan
  may not be maintainable!

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Intervention Intensity Rating Form2.35
2.On a per-pupil basis, the cost to purchase or effort needed to create intervention materials Intervention materials not needed or do not entail significant expense or effort Intervention materials required but can be obtained at a modest cost or with reasonable effort Intervention materials per pupil are costly or require substantial effort to create
4. Amount of preparation required for each session of the intervention Little or no preparation is needed Some preparation is needed (up to 15 minutes per session) Substantial preparation is needed (more than 15 minutes per session)
9. Potential of the intervention to distract other students or disrupt their learning Intervention can be implemented with little or no distraction of other students or disruption to their learning Intervention is likely to result in mild distraction of other students or disruption to their learning Intervention is likely to result in significant distraction of other students or disruption to their learning
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Intervention Intensity Rating Form2.35
Guidelines for Interpreting Results If 7 or more
of your ratings on this 10-item form fall under
any single Tier, it is likely that the
intervention has a level of intensity matching
that Tier as well. An intervention with 8 checks
under the Tier II column, for example, should be
considered a Tier II intervention. If you have
a mixed pattern of ratingswith no single column
containing 7 or more checkscount up the number
of checks in each column. The intervention should
be considered equivalent in intensity to the
highest column that contains 3 or more checks.
(Tier I is the lowest column. Tier III is the
highest.) An intervention with more than 3
checks under the Tier III column, for example,
would be considered a Tier III intervention.
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Evaluating Intervention Follow-Through
(Treatment Integrity)
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Why Monitor Intervention Follow-Through?

• If the RTI Team does not monitor the quality of
  the intervention follow-through, it will not know
  how to explain a students failure to respond to
  intervention.
• Do qualities within the student explain the lack
  of academic or behavioral progress?
• Did problems with implementing the intervention
  prevent the student from making progress?

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What Are Potential Barriers to Assessing
Intervention Follow-Through?

• Direct observation of interventions is the gold
  standard for evaluating the quality of their
  implementation. However
• Teachers being observed may feel that they are
  being evaluated for global job performance
• Non-administrative staff may be uncomfortable
  observing a fellow educator to evaluate
  intervention follow-through
• It can be difficult for staff to find time to
  observe and evaluate interventions as they are
  being carried out

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Intervention Script Builder 2.33
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Teacher Intervention Evaluation Log 2.37
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Sample Writing Interventions
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• "If all the grammarians in the world were placed
  end to end, it would be a good thing."
• Oscar Wilde

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Interventionist TIP Dont Forget ThatWriting
Interventions Are Embedded in a Larger Web of
Potential Academic Intervention Strategies
Writing
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• "Success comes before work only in the
  dictionary."
• Anonymous

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Reading Writing Performance Time-Line
Sources Pressley, M., Wharton-McDonald, R.
(1997). Skilled comprehension and its development
through instruction. School Psychology Review,
26(3), 448-467. Gersten, R., Baker, S.,
Edwards, L. (1999). Teaching expressive writing
to students with learning disabilities A
meta-analysis. New York National Center for
Learning Disabilities.
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Cover-Copy-Compare (Murphy, Hern, Williams,
McLaughlin, 1990)

• Students increase their spelling knowledge by
  copying a spelling word from a correct model and
  then recopying the same word from memory. Give
  students a list of 10-20 spelling words, an index
  card, and a blank sheet of paper. For each word
  on the spelling list, the student
• copies the spelling list item onto a sheet of
  paper,
• covers the newly copied word with the index card,
  
• writes the spelling word again on the sheet
  (spelling it from memory), and
• uncovers the copied word and checks to ensure
  that the word copied from memory is spelled
  correctly. Repeat as necessary.

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Monitoring to Increase Writing Fluency (Rathvon,
1999)

• Students gain motivation to write through daily
  monitoring and charting of their own and
  classwide rates of writing fluency.
• Assign timed freewriting several times per week.
• After each freewriting period, direct each
  student to count up the number of words he or she
  has written in their daily journal entry (whether
  spelled correctly or not).
• Have students to record their personal
  writing-fluency score in their journal and also
  chart the score on their own time-series graph
  for visual feedback.
• Collect the days writing-fluency scores of all
  students in the class, sum those scores, and
  chart the results on a large time-series graph
  posted at the front of the room.
• Raise the class goal by five percent per week.

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Student Monitoring Chart
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A Memory Device for Proofreading (Bos Vaughn,
2002)

• When students regularly use a simple, portable,
  easily memorized plan for proofreading, the
  quality of their writing improves significantly.
• Create and have students refer to a classroom
  with the SCOPE proofreading elements Spelling
  Are my words spelled correctly Capitalization
  Have I capitalized all appropriate words,
  including first words of sentences, proper nouns,
  and proper names? Order of words Is my word
  order (syntax) correct? Punctuation Did I use
  end punctuation and other punctuation marks
  appropriately? Expression of complete thoughts
  Do all of my sentences contain a noun and verb to
  convey a complete thought?

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Stimulate Writing Interest With an Autobiography
Assignment (Bos Vaughn, 2002)

• Assigning the class to write their own
  autobiographies can motivate hard-to-reach
  students who seem uninterested in most writing
  assignments. Have students read a series of
  autobiographies of people who interest them.
  Discuss these biographies with the class. Then
  assign students to write their own
  autobiographies. (With the class, create a short
  questionnaire that students can use to interview
  their parents and other family members to collect
  information about their past.) Allow students to
  read their autobiographies for the class.

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• "The worst thing you write is better than the
  best thing you didn't write."
• Anonymous

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Use Selective Proofreading With Highlighting of
Errors

• To prevent struggling writers from becoming
  overwhelmed by teacher proofreading corrections,
  select only 1 or 2 proofreading areas when
  correcting a writing assignment.
• Create a student writing skills checklist that
  inventories key writing competencies (e.g.,
  grammar/syntax, spelling, vocabulary, etc.).
• For each writing assignment, announce to students
  that you will grade the assignment for overall
  content but will make proofreading corrections on
  only 1-2 areas chosen from the writing skills
  checklist. (Select different proofreading targets
  for each assignment matched to common writing
  weaknesses in your classroom.)

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Use Selective Proofreading With Highlighting of
Errors Cont.

• To prevent cluttering the students paper with
  potentially discouraging teacher comments and
  editing marks
• underline problems in the student text with a
  highlighter and
• number the highlighted errors sequentially at the
  left margin of the student paper.
• write teacher comments on a separate feedback
  sheet to explain the writing errors. Identify
  each comment with the matching error-number from
  the left margin of the students worksheet.
• TIP Have students use this method when
  proofreading their own text.

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Selective Proofreading With Highlighting of
Errors
Tommy Ridgeway
Dec 1, 2006
Mrs. Richman
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• "A ratio of failures is built into the process
  of writing. The wastebasket has evolved for a
  reason."
• Margaret Atwood

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Integrated Writing Instruction (MacArthur,
Graham, Schwarz, 1993 )

• The instructor follows a uniform daily
  instructional framework for writing instruction.
• Status-checking. At the start of the writing
  session, the instructor quickly goes around the
  room, asking each student what writing goal(s) he
  or she plans to accomplish that day. The
  instructor records these responses for all to
  see.
• Mini-Lesson. The instructor teaches a mini-lesson
  relevant to the writing process. Mini-lessons are
  a useful means to present explicit writing
  strategies (e.g., an outline for drafting an
  opinion essay) as well as a forum for reviewing
  the conventions of writing. Mini-lessons should
  be kept short (e.g.,5-10 minutes) to hold the
  attention of the class.

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Integrated Writing Instruction Cont. (MacArthur,
Graham, Schwarz, 1993 )

• Student Writing. During the session, substantial
  time is set aside for students to write. Their
  writing assignment might be one handed out that
  day or part of a longer composition (e.g., story,
  extended essay) that the student is writing and
  editing across multiple days. When possible,
  student writers are encouraged to use computers
  as aids in composing and editing their work.
• Peer Teacher Conferences. At the end of the
  daily writing block, the student may sit with a
  classmate to review each other's work, using a
  structured peer editing strategy. During this
  discussion time, the teacher also holds brief
  individual conferences with students to review
  their work, have students evaluate how
  successfully they completed their writing goals
  for the day, and hear writers' thoughts about how
  they might plan to further develop a writing
  assignment.

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Integrated Writing Instruction Cont. (MacArthur,
Graham, Schwarz, 1993 )

• Group Sharing or Publishing. At the end of each
  session, writing produced that day is shared with
  the whole class. Students might volunteer to read
  passages aloud from their compositions. Students
  are encouraged to choose more polished work and
  post it on the classroom wall or bulletin board,
  have their work displayed in a public area of the
  school, publish the work in an anthology of
  school writings, read it aloud at school
  assemblies, or publish it on a school Internet
  site.

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END