West Virginia Department of Education

July 1, 2011 timeline for middle school implementation West Virginia Department of Education

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 Where should middle schools be with their RTI implementations?

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

Provide access to the resources! Teach 21 Adolescent Literacy website (Gr. 4-12) Adolescents and Literacy: Reading for the 21 st 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

RESA IJane Meador RESA IIPaula Brown RESA IIIRachelle Williams RESA IVSarah Lee RESA VRhonda Jelich RESA 6Nancy Richmond RESA VIIDarlene Crane RESA VIIIWendy Lochner West Virginia Department of Education

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

Defining Characteristics

1. Providing high-quality instruction and intervention matched to student needs and 2. Using learning rate over time and level of performance to 3. Make important educational decisions. (NASDSE, 2005)

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

1. Tiered Instruction Model 2. Universal Screening 3. Progress Monitoring 4. Teaming & Collaboration 5. Data-based Decision Making 6. Professional Development West Virginia Department of Education

K-3 focuses on learning to read 4-12 focuses on reading to learn West Virginia Department of Education

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

K-3 assessment focuses on proficiency in basic reading skills. Oral reading fluency measures are predictive of reading success 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

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% West Virginia Department of Education ITS IMPORTANT TO KNOW EACH SCHOOLS STUDENTS NEEDS

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

Recommendations for Strengthening Adolescent Literacy in the Middle Grades

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

West Virginia Department of Education IES Practice Guide

1) Provide explicit vocabulary instruction 2) Provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction 3) Provide opportunities for extended discussion of text meaning and interpretation 4) Increase student motivation and engagement in literacy learning 5) Make available intensive and individualized interventions for struggling readers that can be provided by trained specialists West Virginia Department of Education

Denise P. Gibbs LRP Publication $39.50

Corrective Reading (SRA) LANGUAGE! (4 th 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

A middle level students cumulative academic performance record is essential for decision making.

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

Cumulative Data Screening Data Additional Diagnostic Data 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 Questions?

Linda Palenchar RTI Coordinator Office of Special Programs West Virginia Department of Education