3.0 Matching Instruction to Student Need Trainer Notes: This section is designed to focus on the difficult task of how to sift through screening data and match students to interventions. Typically this process occurs through the grade level problem solving process. Unlike other sections, this section has 13 slides and 1 team time.

Start with Student Need(s) How do you determine student need? Consider: Screening data Critical reading skill (what and by when) Other formative assessment data or classroom observation Some students may need additional diagnostic information to develop a hypothesis Trainer Notes: The first step is to start with student need. Look at the grade level screening data combined with the “what and by when” slide (see next two slides). As teams examine the data, what other formative assessment data do you have (e.g Running Records, etc.) What are teachers observing in the classroom? Start with screening data and then layer on the other data. For some students, you will need more information in order to match the student to the right intervention. We don’t want to get this wrong and waste time. The rest of this module will examine types of low level diagnostic tools and allow teams to consider their use.

Start with your screening data Trainer Notes: This is triage or the first initial sort at the grade level. This can be used to start the discussion on who needs what, as well as which students need more diagnostic information.

What? By When? K-3 What and By When? Phonemic Awareness End of Kindergarten Alphabetic Principle & Basic Phonics Advanced Phonics Middle of First Grade Continues to be improved and has grade level “benchmarks” – begins to be measured typically by mid-first grade Fluency of Connected Text Continues to be improved and has grade level “benchmarks” relative to appropriate rate for student in grade level – begins to be measured typically by mid-first grade Vocabulary Continues to improve throughout educational career and beyond Comprehension The information on this slide, the “What” and “By When” for grades K to 3 is crucial information that all educators need to know. The intent of this slide is to emphasize the specific critical skills (left column) and when they need to be mastered (right column). We have often found schools and grade level teams that get the critical skills but either don’t know or lose sight of the “by when” component resulting in students who are mastering the skills but often a semester to a year behind when the established benchmarks are (e.g., first grade teachers who do not fully recognize that the phonemic awareness skills should be established by the end of kindergarten).

Need more intensive instruction? Consider diagnostic assessments Five “Big Ideas” of Early Reading: Phonemic Awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Relatively easy to assess and there are good diagnostic assessment options available for each of these Trainer Notes: This is an animated slide. What we know about diagnostic assessments is that the first three, phonemic awareness, phonics & decoding, and fluency are relatively easy to assess and that there are good diagnostic assessment options available for each of these three skill areas. The question for the leadership team is whether or not there is a system that ensures this type of assessment is happening and that there are staff that know how to do this well. Finally, you may get the question, why don’t we have diagnostic tools for vocabulary and comprehension? We do have those and the CORE Source book on Assessing Multiple Measures covers these ideas. Vocabulary and especially comprehension are much more difficult to assess. We start with the foundation skills are many times that is an issue with students who struggle with reading skills at the strategic and intensive levels. See Assessing Reading Multiple Measures (2008), Consortium on Reading Excellence (CORE) www.corelearn.com. Hasbrouk, J. & Wilson, J.R. (2010). Educators as physicians.  Wellesley Hills, MA: Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates. Hasbrouck & Wilson, 2010.

Diagnostic Assessment Examples: Phonemic Awareness DIBELS Deep Phonemic Awarenesshttp://www.voyagersopris.com Test of Phonological Awareness – Kindergarten http://www.proedinc.com Assessing Reading Multiple Measures (2008) Consortium on Reading Excellence (CORE) www.corelearn.com Trainer Notes: This slide is hidden. It is here in case there are questions about example diagnostic assessments. Only go here if the questions come up. Here are some examples of diagnostic assessments for phonemic awareness. These are just examples and not an exhaustive list. DIBELS recently released DIBELS Deep via Sopris West. You do not have to use DIBEL Next in order to use DIBELS Deep. Hasbrouk, J. & Wilson, J.R. (2010). Educators as physicians.  Wellesley Hills, MA: Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates. Hasbrouck & Wilson, 2010.

Trainer Notes: To emphasize the importance of having someone who can complete diagnostics and use the data to tie to instructional needs, we’ve include this chart that breaks down phonological awareness – blending and segmentation skills across levels, to emphasize the complexity of the work and the need to have someone who can do this well.

Diagnostic Assessments: Phonics & Decoding Considerations It is possible to gain quality information from examining the error patterns when a student reads a passage aloud, such as when using an Informal Reading Inventory (IRI) However, IRI’s are not constructed for the purpose of providing enough words with specific phonic patterns (CVC, CVCC, CCVC, CVC-e, etc.) to allow an adequate interpretation of errors Trainer Notes: This is hidden just in case the question of IRI comes up. Hasbrouk, J. & Wilson, J.R. (2010). Educators as physicians.  Wellesley Hills, MA: Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates. Hasbrouck & Wilson, 2010.

Diagnostic Assessments: Phonics & Decoding Considerations Stand alone assessments of phonics and decoding typically have a short assessment of a specific phonics or decoding skill including letter names, letter sounds, and decoding of specific word patterns Assessors of phonics skills must know the correct pronunciation of each letter sound or letter combination (see workbook) Good phonics diagnostic assessment includes real and nonsense words and word reading in isolation – need to know a student’s phonics skills devoid of context Trainer Notes: Just another quick “plug” for the importance of having someone or multiple people who know this “stuff” well in order to be able to best identify a student’s needs, prioritize where to being and link to the best intervention supports. Hasbrouk, J. & Wilson, J.R. (2010). Educators as physicians.  Wellesley Hills, MA: Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates. Hasbrouck & Wilson, 2010.

Trainer Notes: Participants have this full sheet in their participant workbook. It lists simple regular words listed according to difficulty.

Diagnostic Assessment Examples: Phonics & Decoding DIBELS Deep Word Reading & Decoding http://www.voyagersopris.com Diagnostic Decoding Survey (Beginning & Advanced) - www.rgrco.com Quick Phonics Screener – www.readnaturaly.com/products Trainer Notes: This slide is also hidden and available just in case someone asks about diagnostics for phonics & decoding. Here are some examples of diagnostic assessments for phonemic awareness. These are just examples and not an exhaustive list. The Diagnostic Decoding Survey can be downloaded for free. Hasbrouk, J. & Wilson, J.R. (2010). Educators as physicians.  Wellesley Hills, MA: Gibson Hasbrouck & Associates. Hasbrouck & Wilson, 2010.

Intervention Placement Tests Use the intervention placement test to Ensure that the match is the right instructional “fit” Obtain more diagnostic information Trainer Notes:

Placement Test Example REWARDS Trainer Notes: http://voyagersopris.com/curriculum/subject/literacy/rewards

Team Time Who on your staff can complete reading diagnostic assessments or placement tests to help identify specific instructional needs for students with intensive needs? Is that process in place? How does it work? If not, what changes need to be made? What support does your staff need in order to routinely use the sorting sheets to initially group students for instruction during the core and during intervention? Trainer Notes: NOTE: This was also covered in Grade Level Problem solving. Remind the group that the DIBELS sorting or grouping sheets can be used for planning small group differentiated instruction during core time About 35 minutes.