1. The Targeted Reading Intervention Measuring the Match between Teacher Literacy Instruction and Child Literacy Skills: The Importance of Individualized Instruction Mary Bratsch-Hines, Justin Garwood, Cheryl Varghese, & Lynne Vernon-Feagans LRA December 4, 2013

2. Symposium Purpose Provide context: o Why we should capture instructional match o The Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI) Describe TRI’s IM measure: o How we collected data o How we coded data Provide a video example of an actual IM task Break into small groups to discuss our measure and IM more generally www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

3. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE Teachers and Their Struggling Readers Early reading achievement is critical for children’s later schooling success (Juel, 1988; Foorman et al., 1998). Yet, 74% of fourth-graders who scored below the 25 th percentile in reading came from low-income families (NAEP, 2011). Classroom teachers are the professionals who deliver most of the reading instruction and are on the front line of the tiered system of intervention (Haager et al, 2007). Yet, studies show that the classroom teacher may not be very effective in helping struggling readers (Al Otaiba & Fuchs, 2006; Garet et al., 2008).

4. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE The Importance of Individualizing Instruction Growing evidence supports individualizing instruction and ongoing literacy support as key ways to help classroom teachers deliver better instruction to struggling readers (Scanlon et al., 2008). We define this as Instructional Match (IM): Teacher’s individualized instruction matched to children’s reading skill level. The concept of IM moves teachers beyond scripted instruction to differentiated instruction.

5. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE Benefits of Instructional Match Why IM is important: o Within a classroom, children have a range of skills and respond differently to different types of instruction (Connor et al., 2009). o Child skill level accelerates at different rates across the year, and effective teachers differentially respond to that growth (Juel & Minden-Cupp, 2000; Connor et al., 2009). Global measures of IM have demonstrated strong literacy gains in young children (Connor et al., 2009; Juel & Minden-Cupp, 2000). IM may be especially beneficial for children living in poverty or for children who have lower skill levels (McCartney et al., 2009).

6. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE Challenges of Instructional Match As a field, we don’t fully understand teacher’s use and effectiveness of IM strategies: o Few reliable measures of instructional match are available. o Capturing IM is challenging.

7. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE Research Questions 1.Does the implementation of TRI reading strategies in experimental classrooms improve the instructional match strategies that teachers use in working one-on-one with struggling readers compared to control teachers over a one year period? 2.Do gains in child reading correlate with gains observed in the teacher’s instructional match (Garet et al., 2008; Guskey, 1986; Risko et al., 2008)?

8. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE The Targeted Reading Intervention The Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI) is a Tier II professional development program for classroom teachers that uses biweekly literacy coaching to promote optimal literacy growth for individual struggling readers (Vernon-Feagans & Ginsberg, 2011). TRI coaching is delivered via webcam technology, where the coach can see and hear the teacher working with an individual struggling reader and give the teacher real-time feedback on her teaching. A series of TRI randomized controlled trials have shown dramatic gains for struggling readers (Amendum et al., 2011; Vernon- Feagans et al., 2010, 2012, 2013).

9. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE TRI Participants Ten schools in the rural Southeastern United States Randomized into treatment and control classrooms at the classroom level Teacher participants: o Year 1: First grade teachers o Year 2: First grade and kindergarten teachers o Year 3 (ongoing): Kindergarten teachers o Each teacher was asked to complete task at 5 time points  First time point was pre-randomization Student participants: o 3 struggling readers, 3 non-struggling readers per year o 2 non-identified students selected to do IM at each time point

10. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE IM Part 1: Preparation Research assistants with TRI asked teachers to identify 3-4 struggling readers not in the study Administered DIBELS to these children Two children chosen based in part on the DIBELS Teachers provided with DIBELS scores

11. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE IM Part 1, Continued Teachers were told TRI was interested in how they “teach word identification strategies for this particular student and help the student read and understand a book.” Research assistants provided materials: o Letter cards o White board o Markers o Leveled books

12. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE IM Materials

13. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE IM Part 2: Videotaping Conducted at least 3 days after Part 1 to allow teacher to prepare Laptops used to video-record the IM session Research assistant monitored class if needed

14. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE IM Session 15 minutes o Word study o Book reading

15. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE IM Measure Coded desired and undesired teacher and student behaviors as relevant to teacher instructional match: 1.Frequency codes (whether or not behaviors were observed every 15 seconds 2.Binary codes (whether or not behaviors were observed at all during the session) 3.Global codes (degree of match, distraction, and attention)

16. Frequency of Behaviors CodeDescription Type Teacher Talks Teacher verbalizations outside of reading Frequency Student Talks Student verbalizations outside of reading Frequency Manipulation Student physically engages with books or letter tiles Frequency Student Writes Student is engaged in any type of writing activity Frequency Reading Words Any reading by the student outside of fluent reading Frequency Reading Text Student fluently reads a book on their own Frequency Teacher Reads Any reading done by the teacher to the student Frequency IrrelevantAnything not related to Word Study or Book Reading Frequency

17. Undesired Behaviors CodeDescription Type Letter Names Teacher does not connect letter names to sounds Undesired Binary Ignores Errors Teacher does not intervene as student struggles Undesired Binary Does the Work Teacher completes a task asked of the student Undesired Binary Relies on Context Teacher uses pictures or sight words to help decode Undesired Binary Book WalkThe child takes a book walk before reading Undesired Binary

18. Desired Behaviors CodeDescription Type Fluency Time Teacher gives the student a chance to practice reading Desired Binary Multi-Sensory At least two of audio, visual, and tactile are present Desired Binary Teacher Defines Teacher defines or elaborates on word meanings Desired Binary Summary The student is requested to summarize the book Desired Binary Questions Comprehension questions are asked during reading Desired Binary Letter SoundsThe sounds of letters are emphasized by the teacher Desired Binary

19. Level of Match CodeDescription Type Word Study Challenge Degree to which teacher matches lesson to child ability Global Book Reading Challenge Degree to which teacher matches lesson to child ability Global 1.Frustration/Too Difficult 2.Instructional/Just Right 3.Independent/Too Easy

20. Level of Distraction CodeDescription Type Interruption or Distraction Degree to which teacher attention is taken away from the lesson Global Child AttentionHow focused and on-task the student is throughout the lesson Global 1.None/Low (0-1 occurrences) 2.Medium (2-3 occurrences) 3.High (4 or more occurrences)

21. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE Process of Coding Master coder with 2 other coders Used a project-developed computer program (Snapshot) Cohen’s Kappa used to determine reliability o Reliability checks for 15% of videos o Minimum Kappa levels of 0.70

24. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE Audience Discussion Questions – Instructional Match Measure 1.Of the codes in our measure, which do you think are most important in capturing IM? 2.Do you see any pattern of how individual codes may fit together to support the concept of instructional match?

25. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE Audience Discussion Questions – Instructional Match 1.Is there any construct or behavior relevant to individualized instruction that we have not included? 2.What are the most important child variables to consider when differentiating instruction (e.g., test scores, behaviors)? 3.Is it possible to fully individualize instruction to meet student needs? Why or why not?

26. www.targetedreadingintervention.org Targeted Reading Intervention UNC FPG CHILD DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE Audience Discussion Questions – Instructional Quality 1.Do you think this measure captures high-quality teacher instruction in reading? If so, which components? If not, why not? What would you add? 2.How do you think this measure accounts for teacher responsiveness toward an individual child? 3.How do you think this measure can help understand student-teacher relationships within the context of high quality reading instruction?

27. The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant # R305A100654-11 to Lynne Vernon- Feagans, PI, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education. Thank you! Questions or comments, contact bratsch@email.unc.edu