West Virginia Middle Level Leaders Emerge

1. West Virginia Middle Level Leaders Emerge Structures and Strategies for Establishing and Implementing RTI at Grades 4-12 West Virginia Department of Education

2. Onward at the middle level! July 1, 2011 timeline for middle school implementation West Virginia Department of Education

3. Enough is already known about adolescent reading – both the nature of the problems of struggling readers and the types of interventions and approaches to address these needs – in order to act immediately on a broad scale. Biancarosa & Snow (2006) West Virginia Department of Education

4. Where should middle schools be with their RTI implementations? West Virginia Department of Education

5. Middle Level Implementation Checklist • Literacy Leadership Teams are established • Vocabulary and comprehension strategies are used in content classes • Student achievement data are reviewed to determine need for Tier II or Tier III support • Master schedule discussions/decisions are occurring • Staff are designated to provide intervention • Tier III intervention programs have been reviewed/selected/purchased • Professional development is planned to focused on what students and teachers need West Virginia Department of Education

6. Supporting Adolescent Literacy Provide access to the resources! • Teach 21 Adolescent Literacy website (Gr. 4-12) • Adolescents and Literacy: Reading for the 21st Century (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2003) • Academic Literacy Instruction for Adolescents: a Guidance Document from the Centers on Instruction (2007) • Interventions for Adolescent Struggling Readers: A Meta-analysis with Implications for Practice (2007) • Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas: Getting to the Core of Middle and High School Improvement (2007) • Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices: A Practice Guide (2008) West Virginia Department of Education

7. WVDE RTI Specialists • RESA I Jane Meador • RESA II Paula Brown • RESA III Rachelle Williams • RESA IV Sarah Lee • RESA V Rhonda Jelich • RESA 6 Nancy Richmond • RESA VII Darlene Crane • RESA VIII Wendy Lochner West Virginia Department of Education

8. Table Talk • Discuss how your middle schools are establishing and implementing their RTI frameworks. • Are their processes clearly defined? • What challenges and needs still exist? • How are you addressing the schools’ needs? Funding? Professional development? West Virginia Department of Education

9. Tiered Instruction at the Middle Level Defining Characteristics West Virginia Department of Education

10. Definitions for K-3 and 4-12 RTI implementation are the same… • Providing high-quality instruction and intervention matched to student needs and • Using learning rate over time and level of performance to • Make important educational decisions. (NASDSE, 2005)

11. Purposes are the same… West Virginia Department of Education • Provides an academic support system for all students through tiered instruction, progress monitoring, and teaming Is used as a method for identifying students with specific learning disabilities

12. “Non-negotiables” are the same… • Tiered Instruction Model • Universal Screening • Progress Monitoring • Teaming & Collaboration • Data-based Decision Making • Professional Development West Virginia Department of Education

13. And there are a few differences… • K-3 focuses on learning to read • 4-12 focuses on reading to learn West Virginia Department of Education

14. A few differences… • K-3 instruction focuses on acquisition of basic reading skills such as phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension • 4-12 focuses on the development of literacy skills students need to access school, work and daily living. Vocabulary and comprehension skills are critical. West Virginia Department of Education

15. A few differences… • K-3 assessment focuses on proficiency in basic reading skills. Oral reading fluency measures are predictive of reading success. • 4-12 assessment focuses on measuring growth of comprehension skills. Measures of oral reading fluency may not be the best indicator of reading growth. West Virginia Department of Education

16. A few differences… • Middle school students struggle differently than elementary students • 90% struggle with comprehension • 10% struggle with word-level (decoding) skills (Biancarosa & Snow, 2006) • Deshler (2007) suggests the percentage of students who struggle with word level difficulties may be 50% IT’S IMPORTANT TO KNOW EACH SCHOOL’S STUDENTS’ NEEDS West Virginia Department of Education

17. Middle Level Tiers • Represent broad categories not concrete designations • General guidelines (not rules): • Within two years of grade level, Tier 2 • Two or more years below grade level, Tier 3 • Historically have not responded to Tiers 1 & 2 • Students within each tier need different instructional focal points • Develop a system for making these decisions West Virginia Department of Education

18. Effective Instruction and Intervention Practices Recommendations for Strengthening Adolescent Literacy in the Middle Grades West Virginia Department of Education

19. We know what we need to do to address adolescent literacy… West Virginia Department of Education

20. IES Practice Guide http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/pdf/practiceguides/adlit_pg_082608.pdf West Virginia Department of Education

21. Key Recommendations from IES • Provide explicit vocabulary instruction • Provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction • Provide opportunities for extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation • Increase student motivation and engagement in literacy learning • Make available intensive and individualized interventions for struggling readers that can be provided by trained specialists West Virginia Department of Education

22. LRP Publication $39.50 Denise P. Gibbs http://www.shoplrp.com/product/p-300286.html West Virginia Department of Education

23. A few research-based intervention programs… • Corrective Reading (SRA) • LANGUAGE! (4th ed. 2009) • Wilson Reading System • Read 180 Enterprise Edition • System 44 • Voyager Passport Reading Journeys • Jamestown Navigator • Literacy Navigator • AMP Achieving Maximum Potential West Virginia Department of Education

24. Using Data to Make Decisions West Virginia Department of Education

25. West Virginia NAEP West Virginia Department of Education

26. AIM Pilot Schools Achievement West Virginia Department of Education

27. History is important! A middle level student’s cumulative academic performance recordis essential for decision making. West Virginia Department of Education

28. Assessment to Determine Intervention Needs • For older students, there are two basic categories of intervention needs: • Word-level skills • Comprehension skills • Timed assessments provide a starting pointing for determining an intervention category West Virginia Department of Education

29. EXAMPLE Assessment Battery WESTEST WESTEST 2 Acuity Lexiles Mazes CBM passages TOWRE for sight words, decoding & fluency TOSCRF for silent reading DRP for comprehension West Virginia Department of Education

30. Questions? West Virginia Department of Education

31. Contact Information Linda Palenchar RTI Coordinator Office of Special Programs lpalench@access.k12.wv.us West Virginia Department of Education