Students Responding to Instructional and Behavioral Interventions in Local School Buildings—Making It Work Jim Wright w

1. Students Responding to Instructional and Behavioral Interventions in Local School Buildings—Making It WorkJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.orgMarch 2007 

2. Workshop Goals… • In this training, we will review ideas to: • Identify the ‘driver(s)’ or functions of the student’s 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’)

3. RTI: Essential Elements for Intervention Planning

4. 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

5. Tier I‘School-Wide Screening & Group Intervention’ Tier II ‘Non-Responders’ to Tier I Are Identified & Given ‘Individually Tailored’ Interventions (e.g., peer tutoring/fluency) 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)

6. Avg Classroom Academic Performance Level Discrepancy 1: Skill Gap (Current Performance Level) Discrepancy 2: Gap in Rate of Learning (‘Slope of Improvement’) Target Student ‘Dual-Discrepancy’: RTI Model of Learning Disability(Fuchs 2003)

7. Discussion: Read the quote below and discuss in pairs: How sloppy can we be in doing RTI and still be effective?

8. Writing Quality ‘Problem Identification’ Statements

9. 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 don’t?

10. Format for Writing RTI Team Teacher Concerns Conditions when the behavior is observed or absent Description of behavior in concrete, measurable, observable terms During large-group instruction The student calls out comments that do not relate to the content being taught. When reading aloud The student decodes at a rate much slower than classmates. When sent from the classroom with a pass to perform an errand or take a bathroom break The student often wanders the building instead of returning promptly to class. Writing Quality ‘Problem-Identification’ Statements: Template

11. 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 doesn’t 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.

12. Identifying the ‘Driver(s)’ or Cause(s) of Student Academic Concerns

13. Identifying the Cause of the Student’s 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)

14. 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.

19. How Do We Know Whether Motivation is a Barrier to Learning?: Student Motivation Assessment

20. "People say I don't take criticism well, but I say, what the hell do they know?" • Groucho Marx

21. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment:2.26-7

22. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment:2.26-7

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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 student’s rate of work completion.

26. 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.

27. 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 student’s score on the worksheet by 1.2. This product represents the student’s 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).

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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).

31. 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 student’s work motivation.

32. 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.

33. Identifying Barriers to More Sophisticated Academic Tasks Reading Comprehension and Written Expression

34. Reading Comprehension Skills Checklist:2.30

35. Writing Skills Checklist:2.31-2

36. Creating an Intervention Script

37. 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.

38. Intervention Script Builder:2.33

39. Judging the Intensity of Interventions: Tier I, II, or III?

40. 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.

41. 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!

42. Intervention Intensity Rating Form:2.35

43. Intervention Intensity Rating Form:2.35 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 ratings—with no single column containing 7 or more checks—count 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.

44. Evaluating ‘Intervention Follow-Through’ (Treatment Integrity)

45. 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 student’s 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?

46. 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

47. Intervention Script Builder:2.33

48. Teacher Intervention Evaluation Log:2.37

49. Sample Writing Interventions

50. "If all the grammarians in the world were placed end to end, it would be a good thing." • Oscar Wilde