Barbara A. Marinak Mount St. Mary's University. [email protected] [email protected].

Barbara A. MarinakMount St. Mary's University

[email protected]

[email protected]

Intervention or Instruction?

• Origins - President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education (2002) oChildren with LD should first be

considered general education students; oSpecial education should embrace a

model of prevention as opposed to failure.

Background

126597%40-50%

IDEIA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act: 2004) mandates the use of early intervening services) to:

Identify children who are members of a disaggregated subgroup with a specific learning disability whereby the discrepancy model could result in over identification.

Provide intervention to all children at risk for school failure.

Response to Intervention- not in the legislation

Early Intervening Services- is legislative language

“Early intervening services” will likely migrate to regular education legislation (ESEA)Focus on core instructionMore flexible tiersMore regular education funding for systemic RTI

Intervention or Instruction?

Intervention or Instruction?

Redefinition of Instruction

Perception of Teacher Preparation Programs

Value of Collaboration

While catalyzed by special education legislation, RTI is essentially a model of school reform with widespread implications for how all school personnel are prepared, acculturated to the school environment, and how they implement instruction.

(Richards, Pavri, Golez, & Canges, Murphy, 2007).

Requires:

A shift towards a more "individualized" look at individual learning needs

Utilization of evidence-based methods to address these needs

Expertise in data-based decision making

Where? Core reading Intervention

How? Whole class Small group One-one

Whom? Classroom teacher Interventionists Paraprofessional

“ We need to stop thinking about kids in silos and focus our efforts on effective reading instruction…everywhere. “

Ellen Fogelberg, Literacy Director

Evanston District 65 Evanston, Illinois

Intervention cannot be considered effective unless it provides for greater levels of proficiency in core.

American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) national survey- An Emerging Picture of the Teacher Preparation Pipeline (2010) queries deans/chairs and public school administrators.

Two of the attributes critical in RTI efforts - engaging families in supporting their children’s education and working with children of varying abilities - revealed disparate views.

Deans/chairs indicated that 9% of their teacher candidates are not well prepared to effectively engage families.

Public school administrators indicated that 31% of their new hires are not well prepared to effectively engage families.

Deans/chairs reported that 2% of their candidates are not well prepared to teach children of varying abilities.

.

Public school administrators reported that 25% of their new teachers are not well prepared to teach children of varying abilities.

Linda Dorn A Comprehensive Intervention Model: A Systems Approach to RTI

Scanlon and Anderson Using the Interactive Strategies Approach to Prevent Reading Difficulties in an RTI Context

Define and redefine excellent reading instruction for our current and future candidates in collaboration with our school partners.

So now what?

Infuse Principles of RTI Into:

KnowledgeSkills Dispositions

Knowledge of Guiding Principles

Knowledge of Effective RTI Models

Knowledge of Evidence-Based Methods

1. Instruction2. Responsive Teaching

& Differentiation

3. Assessment

4. Collaboration

5. Systemic & Comprehensive

6. Expertise

Guiding Principles

1. Problem Solving 2. Standard Treatment Protocol

Both approaches utilize universal screening, multiple tiers, early intervening services, validated interventions, and student progress monitoring to inform decision.

Which assessments are valued?

How instructional decisions are made?

Nature of intervention?

Focuses on providing a specific research based intervention for students with similar difficulties in a standardized format to ensure fidelity of implementation.

Intervention

Standard Treatment Protocol

Narrowly focused assessment determines intervention

Students receiving 3-5 intervention programs in a single marking period

Tiers of RTI become gate keepers

3-10 Tier models

Focuses on a team making instructional decisions based on multiple data points and interventions being response to students’ needs.

Intervention/Instruction

Diagnostic

Problem Solving Model

Evidence-Based

High Leverage

Hall, Sabey, and McClellan (2005) and Williams (2005) found that text structure

instruction promotes informational textcomprehension.

• Text structure awareness has also been linked to accurate recall and retelling(Richgels, McGee, Lomax & Sheard,1987).

Students should engage in field experiences where RTI is being implemented.

Field offers experience with critical RTI attributes -- long term goals, outcomes for instruction, assessments, organization and scheduling, methods, materials and tasks, and context.

Numerous studies suggest that teacher beliefs play a critical role in educators’ ability and willingness to differentiate (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Rosenfeld & Rosenfeld, 2008).

Effective teachers act on their belief that all students can learn.

Believe that teachers can intervene and make a difference in the achievement of their students (Darling-Hammond, 2000).

Rosenfeld and Rosenfeld (2008) found an increase in teachers’ ability/willingness to consider individual learning differences after exploring their own beliefs.

Study demonstrates the impact such discussions can have on teacher beliefs and practices thereby underscoring the importance of including such topics in pre-service instruction.

Figure 1 contains the attributes critical for planning and delivering excellent reading instruction.

Each attribute is paired with a series of reflection questions.

Taken together, the attributes and questions can be used by teachers (all) and teams when planning lessons and by administrators and literacy coaches when observing reading instruction.

Good teaching is forever being on the cutting edge of a child’s competence.

Jerome Bruner