Implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) at the Secondary Level: A Tool in Necessary Service Delivery Reform

1. Implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) at the Secondary Level:A Tool in Necessary Service Delivery Reform • Mark R. Shinn, Ph.D.National Louis University • 847-275-7200 • markshinn@mac.com • http://markshinn.org

2. Look..Why Don’t You Give Yourself Up Quietly or This Could Turn Into a Feeding Frenzy and No One Wants That!

3. I’m Presuming We’re Here to Chase Windmills: Seriously Attempting to Build and Sustain a Secondary Problem-Solving Service Delivery System

4. So...WHAT is RTI (Response to Intervention)? • 1. An eligibility process for determining if a student has a learning disability? • 2. An opportunity to redress years of dissatisfaction with both special education and general education?

5. RTI is Legally ONLY an Eligibility Process--and Only for Learning Disabilities • `(6) SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES- • `(A) IN GENERAL- Notwithstanding section 607(b), when determining whether a child has a specific learning disability as defined in section 602, the local educational agency shall not be required to take into consideration whether the child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skill, reading comprehension, mathematical calculation, or mathematical reasoning. • `(B) ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY- In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, a local educational agency may use a process which determines if a child responds to scientific, research-based interventionas a part of the evaluation procedures in paragraphs (2) and (3).

6. RTI as Eligibility Statement is Important, But So are Other Legal ElementsIndividuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 (IDEIA) Eligibility Determination • (5) SPECIAL RULE FOR ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION- In making a determination of eligibility under paragraph (4)(A), a child shall not be determined to be a child with a disability if the determinant factor for such determination is-- • `(A) lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including in the essential components of reading instruction (as defined in section 1208(3) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965); • `(B) lack of instruction in math; or • `(C) limited English proficiency.

7. And Not Just Reading and Math:ProposedRegulations • (b) For a child suspected of having a specific learning disability, the group must consider, as part of the evaluation described in §§300.304 through 300.306, data that demonstrates that-- • (1) Prior to, or as a part of the referral process, the child was • provided appropriate high-quality, research-based instruction in regular education settings, consistent with section 1111(b)(8)(D) and (E) of the ESEA, including that the instruction was delivered by qualified personnel; and

8. RTI Becomes the “Thin Edge of the Wedge” to Fix Some Broken Things Batsche, G. M., Elliott, J., Graden, J., Grimes, J., Kovaleski, J. F., Prasse, D., et al. (2005). Response to intervention: Policy considerations and implementation. Alexandria, VA: National Association of State Directors of Special Education, Inc.

9. What’s Broken?Secondary Education for Many Students • High Expectations for Student Achievement--And Always Increasing • Students w Moderate to Severe Educational and/or Behavioral Needs--Big Prerequisite Skill Deficits • Students with a Long History of Failure--Poor Motivation and Lots of Escape Driven Behavior • General Education Teachers with Limited Pedagogical and Behavior Support Skill and Poorly Designed-If Any--Instructional Materials • Students’ Programs Being Driven by Graduation Requirements Rather Than Instructional Needs

10. Signs?Secondary Education for Many Students • Never Ending Referrals for Special Education--In Some Ways, There Shouldn’t Be RTI at the Secondary Level • Lots of 504 Plans-A Cry for Required Range of Teaching Skills • General Education “Representatives” at Team Meetings--Turned Off and Not Meaningfully Required • School Psychologists Who Do Mostly Re-Evaluations and Initial Referrals

11. Administrator Interviews • All administrators state that they want to help students with disabilities succeed (17 of 17) • Administrators do not have method for evaluating the outcomes of special education programs (8 of 9 schools) • Administrators do not have a plan for the improvement of special education programs (8 of 9 schools) from Don Deshler, Ph.D. University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. Presentation to Long Island Association of Special Education Administrators; January 16-17, 2003

12. Administrator Interviews • Schools generally don’t have a written policy related to inclusion (8 of 9) • Special education administrators aren’t familiar with standards-based instruction (8 of 8) • Special education administrators aren’t familiar with the academic paths available within general education (7 of 8) from Don Deshler, Ph.D. University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. Presentation to Long Island Association of Special Education Administrators; January 16-17, 2003

13. Administrator Interviews • General education teachers and special education teachers are two separate camps (7 of 9 schools) • Budgets are separate • Staff development is separate • General education teachers do not get training related to students with disabilities and other at-risk students • Planning time is separate • Roles are separate, and responsibilities are not shared related to students with disabilities and other at-risk students • Hostility is apparent bilaterally from Don Deshler, Ph.D. University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning. Presentation to Long Island Association of Special Education Administrators; January 16-17, 2003

14. Type A Courses taught by SPED teachers for SPED students Type B Courses for low achievers and at-risk students Type C Rigorous courses with heterogeneous groups of students with supports Type D Advanced Placement courses Type E Other courses (e.g., vo tech electives) Current Service Options for Students With Disabilities Taught by general education teachers

15. A t___ came al___ the r________. “Frog, tell that t______ to go away,” said Toad. “I do not want him to see me in my b____ing s_____ when I come out of the r_____.” Frog swam over to the t_____. An Illustration of the Problem: Reading From Lobel A. (1970). Frog and Toad are Friends. New York: Harper-Trophy.

16. 2. Students with Some (Limited) Reading Skills These are in______and cHallinGinG times for anyone whose pRoFEshuNle res________ are ________in any way to liTiRucY outcomes among school children. For, in sport of all our new NaWLEGe about reading and reading iNstRukshun, there is a wide-speeded con______ that public EdgUkAshuN is not as eFfEktIve as it shood be in tEecHiNg all children to read.

17. These are interesting and challenging times for anyone whose professional responsibilities are related in any way to literacy outcomes among school children. For, in spite of all our new knowledge about reading and reading instruction, there is a wide-spread concern that public Education is not as effective as it should be in teaching all children to read.

18. 3. Students with Basic Reading Skills Who Are Faced with Reading Tasks Like ThisText Characteristics • 139 Word Passage • 22.8 Words per Sentence • 4.7 Characters Per Word • Flesch-Kincaid Readability 9.1

19. Let’s Read • Publius Servillius Vatia Isauricus was a quiet man. Loyalty ran in the family; his father, a great plebian aristocrat, had cleaved to Sulla and remained one of Sulla’s greatest supporters until that difficult, contrary man died. But because the father was a quiet man, he adjusted to life in a post-Sullan Rome with grace and some style, did not lose the massive clout which an old name and a huge fortune brought with it. Probably seeing something of Sulla in Caesar, the father before his death had liked him; the son simply carried on the family tradition. He had been a praetor in the year Appius Claudius Censor and Ahenobarbus were consuls, and had soothed boni fears by prosecuting one of Caesar’s legates. Not an aberration but a deliberate ploy; Gaius Messius was not important to Caesar.

20. Answer These Questions • Who was Publius Serviliius Vatia Isauricus and why was he so important to Caesar? • Who was his father? • What was it he might have seen in Caesar that reminded him of Sulla? • How long ago had he been praetor? • Why might his father have lost his clout and fortune after Sulla? • Why was it important to soothe the boni’s fears?

21. Sum of Squares and Cross Products In the univariate analysis of variance, the total sum of squares of the dependent variable is partitioned into two components: pooled within-groups sum of squares and between-groups sum of squares. With multiple dependent variables it is, of course, possible to calculate the within and between sums of squares for each of them. In addition, the total sum of cross products between any two variables can be partitioned into pooled within-groups sum of products and between-groups sum of products.

22. The procedure is actually quite simple. First, you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run, this may not seem important, but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually, they will be used once more and the whole cycle will have to be repeated. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another fact of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one can never tell.

23. Doing the Laundry The procedure is actually quite simple. First, you arrange things into different groups. Of course, one pile may be sufficient depending on how much there is to do. If you have to go somewhere else due to lack of facilities that is the next step, otherwise you are pretty well set. It is important not to overdo things. That is, it is better to do too few things at once than too many. In the short run, this may not seem important, but complications can easily arise. A mistake can be expensive as well. After the procedure is completed, one arranges the materials into different groups again. Then they can be put into their appropriate places. Eventually, they will be used once more and the whole cycle will have to be repeated. At first, the whole procedure will seem complicated. Soon, however, it will become just another fact of life. It is difficult to foresee any end to the necessity for this task in the immediate future, but then one can never tell.

24. What’s the Good News? • People Who Work at Secondary Care • Secondary Personnel Know Things Are Broken • Secondary Personnel Know They Weren’t Prepared to Meet the Needs of Diverse Students • Secondary Personnel Are Eager to Learn, IF LEARNING IS SUPPORTED • We Have a Better Model • We Can Match Student Programs with their Needs Better • We Have Better Tools and Skills

25. We Have an Improved, Integrated Service Delivery Model

26. The Secondary Problem: If All You Have is a Hammer, Everything Starts to Look Like a Nail ~5% ~15% If the Only Supports for General Education Teachers with Students WITHOUT • Prerequisites, Especially Reading • Study and Organizational Skills • Interest and Motivation and WITH Negative and Disruptive Behavior is Special Education, Every Student Will Look SE ~80% of Students

27. Using a 3-Tier Model The Middle School Problem: Only TIER 3 Programs (SE) and Often with Little Use of Evidence-Based Programs ~5% ~15% Tutoring Weak, Time Limited (1 Period Per Day) Reading Interventions ~80% of Students

28. The High School Problem: ONLY TIER 3 Programs That Often Don’t Provide What Students Need ~5% ~15% Content Area Tutoring Help with Homework Alternative Content Area Courses (Often Taught by Non-Credentialed Persons) Little Attention to Tier I Improvement of Teacher Effectiveness ~80% of Students

29. The Path Use Scientifically Based Tools that are Best Practices at the Elementary Level to Identify Students’ Educational Needs Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM)

30. CBM Measures Have Been Reviewed Most Positivelyby NCSPM • www.studentprogress.org

31. Reliability Quality of Good Test Validity Quality of Good Test Sufficient Number of Alternate Forms and of Equal Difficulty Essential for Progress Monitoring Evidence of Sensitivity to Improvement or to Effects of intervention Critical for Progress Monitoring Benchmarks of Adequate Progress and Goal Setting Critical for Progress Monitoring Rates of Improvement are Specified Critical for Progress Monitoring Evidence of Impact on Teacher Decision Making instruction or Student Achievement; Critical for Formative Evaluation Evidence of Improved Instruction and Student Achievement; Gold Standard for Progress Monitoring Logistically Feasible--Low Cost, Efficient, Accurate, Critical for IMPLEMENTATION Scientific Standards for Progress Monitoring

32. Phonemic Awareness Alphabetic Understanding Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension What Does R-CBM Measure? ALL These Skills General Reading Skill OR

33. Area Measure Comment Reading Reading Curriculum-Based Measurement (R-CBM); 1 Min Sample of Oral Reading from Standard Passages Words Read Correctly Errors Best Single Measure; Most Sensitive to Between Person Differences and Among Persons Reading Maze CBM; 3 minute silent reading multiple-choice cloze test using from Standard Passages No. of Items Correct Best for Intermediate Grades and Older; Corroborative Tool Written Expression Written Expression CBM- WE CBM; 3 minutes writing, given a standard story starter Total Words Written; CorrectWriting Sequences Useful for Screening and Progress Monitoring of Basic Writing Skills Spelling Spelling CBM S-CBM; 2 minutes writing orally dictated words from standard grade-level spelling lists Correct Letter Sequences Very Sensitive to Between Person Differences and Among Persons Math Math Computation CBM (M-CBM) Students write answers to standard computational problems for 2-4 minutes Correct Digits Useful for Screening and Progress Monitoring of Basic Math Computation Skills Math Math Application CBM (CBM-Apps) Students write answers to standard application problems for 4 minutes Correct Problems Useful for Screening and Progress Monitoring of Math Application Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) of Basic Skills

34. A Simple, Economical Way of Identifying Educational Need

35. Billy, Universal Screening Educational Need?

36. Written Expression

37. Conduct a Survey Level Assessment to Estimate Basic Skill Discrepancy

38. Indirect Special Education inGE Classrooms Mainstream Consultation Agreements Instruction in Content Area Knowledge Instruction in Basic or Literacy Skills Direct Service in Special Education Master Content Area Knowledge Master Basic or Literacy Skills Basic Skill Discrepancy? CBM YES NO What Service? How? Goal? Evaluation Tool?

39. • Motivation & Engagement • Active Reading Strategies • Monitoring Strategies • Fix-Up Strategies •Life Experience • Content Knowledge • Activation of Prior Knowledge • Knowledge about Texts • Oral Language Skills • Knowledge of Language Structures • Vocabulary • Cultural Influences Language Fluency* We Refer to It as General Reading Skills Reading Comprehension Metacognition Knowledge • Prosody • Automaticity/Rate • Accuracy • Decoding • Phonemic Awareness *modified slightly from presentations by Joe Torgeson, Ph.D. Co-Director, Florida Center for Reading Research; www.fcrr.org

40. First Things First! The High School and Middle School Solution EFFECTIVE TIER 3 Programs Using Evidence-Based Programs Corrective Reading (SRA) Reading Mastery (SRA) REWARDS (Sopris West) Read Naturally Wilson For Student Who Need Them ~5% ~15% ~80% of Students

41. First Things FirstWhen Needs Are Clear, Write Scientifically Based IEP Goals and Monitor Progress--The Most Solvable Problem in Special Education • Fewer Goals and ShorterIEPs • Shorter IEP Meetings • Better Communication and Understanding w Parents • Greater Awareness of What is Expected by Students • More Frequent Progress Monitoring • More Changes in Intervention When Progress is Less Than Expected • Greater Student Achievement

42. The Problem? • Unfortunately, the IEP process operates poorly in many places (e.g., McDonnell et al., l997). For years, IEPs have been based on a mastery measurement framework, which creates • lengthy, • unmanageable documents, and • onerous paper work. • These mastery measurement IEPs, with their long lists of short-term objectives, also fail to provide a basis for quantifying outcomes. • For these reasons and more, IEPs promote, at best, procedural compliance without accounting for individual student learning or describing special education effectiveness. • Lynn S. Fuchs and Douglas Fuchs, Vanderbilt University • Testimony to the President’s Commission on • Excellence in Special Education, • Progress Monitoring, Accountability, and LD Identification • April 18, 2002

43. Tier 3: Better Goals

44. Using SLA to Prioritize How Can Can Be Managed: Can We Provide Interventions to Allow Student to Benefit from General Education?

45. Expected Rate of Progress is Clearly Specified

46. First Things First: Provide Interventions Matched to Students’ Needs Effective TIER 3 Evidence-Based Programs For Those That Need Them ~5% ~15% Corrective Reading (SRA) Language! (Sopris West) Wilson Reading System Reading Mastery Great Leaps/ Read Naturally (Fluency) REWARDS (Fluency, Comprehension and Vocabulary in Plus Program) Soar to Success (Comprehension) ~80% of Students

47. The Middle School Solution EFFECTIVE TIER 2 Programs Using Evidence-Based Programs Reading Mastery (SRA) Early Reading Intervention (Scott Foresman) Great Leaps (Diamuid, Inc.) REWARDS (Sopris West) Read Naturally Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) ~5% ~15% ~80% of Students