Tailoring Literacy Instruction to Special Education Populations Sylvia Linan-Thompson Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and Language Arts The University of Texas, Austin

Current Situation More than 8 million students in grades 4-12 struggle with reading (U. S. DOE, 2003). Only 32% of 8th graders are proficient readers (NCSE, 2003). 8.7 million 4-12 graders are unable to read and comprehend texts American 11th graders placed very close to the bottom in international comparisons (2002)

In addition to academic problems, student that struggle with reading are –more likely to be inattentive in class (Imai, et al. 1992) and –more likely to exhibit antisocial behavior (Vanderstay,2006)

Students that struggle are not all alike Lowest performing students Two or more grades behind Less than two grade levels behind

Why do students struggle? They –have a learning disability –entered school poorly prepared to learn to read –have attended school sporadically –gave general low learning ability and the instruction they have received has not been sufficiently powerful!

Most interventions for struggling students are of insufficient intensity are weak in word study skills offer little or no direct instruction in comprehension strategies

These students are not unaware of their challenges. I’m not good at reading. It takes me a while and when I am reading a book, it takes me more than six times and then I still forget what I’ve read. It’s very hard to keep focused and remember where I was. Even when I remember, I read so slow that I never finish my work. There are still lots of words I cannot pronounce. I can’t remember how to sound out the words. (McCray, Vaughn, Neal, 2001)

Given that, the current IDEA definition includes in its criteria for determining that a child has a SLD “The child does not achieve commensurate with his or her age and ability levels in one or more of the areas listed in paragraph (a)(2) or this section, if provided with learning experience appropriate for the child’s age and ability…”

and does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of environmental, cultural,or economic disadvantages, the focus must be on the quality of instruction that students receive.

What do states have to do? Provide students intensive, focused, literacy instruction and tutoring. Instruction should teach students: –The knowledge and skills required to read unknown words in text –How to accurately read words by sight –How to understand the meaning of the words they will be encountering –How to “think about meaning” or comprehend

Students that receive this type of instruction, graduate from high school and attend college in significantly greater numbers than those that do not.

How do you accomplish this? Institute policy that will ensure that students that are performing below level receive the instruction that they need.

Response to Intervention The “practice of providing high-quality instruction or intervention matched to student need, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals and applying child response data to educational decisions. (Response to Intervention: Policy considerations and implementation, 2005)

RTI Is a comprehensive, multi-tiered school- wide instruction model that is applied to decisions in general, remedial, and special education.

Basic Components Use of scientifically based instruction –Instruction and intervention Use of on-going monitoring of student progress Access and participation in the general curriculum

Policy Considerations How will the SEA support the implementation of RTI? What changes to the current state-level infrastructure will be needed to implement RTI?

How will the SEA support the implementation of RTI? Promote Statewide Initiatives –That support school-wide models of RTI –Include professional development

Procedures Organization and leadership –Determine who will be responsible for organizing and coordinating the development of the RTI effort at the state level. –Identify leaders from general and special education to lead the development and implementation.

Procedures Organization and leadership –Identify the language that will be used to communicate the model –Identify field-based advisory groups to guide and support state planning efforts

Policy Determine if any current state policies support any or all of the components of RTI You will need policy to: –Support and evaluate instruction using scientifically based practices –Support the expansion of general education interventions for diverse learners –Support and guide the use of assessments at all levels –Support the use of student data for successive tiers

What changes to the current state-level infrastructure will be needed to implement RTI? Establish infrastructure to support the development of a plan of action with timelines and personnel to rollout the process. Identify additional resources needed to build or refine an infrastructure.

Procedures Identify universal interventions that already exist. Identify current structures within general education support the implementation of interventions in Tiers 1 and 2. Identify support structures for decision making by special education personnel.

Procedures Plan for the fiscal, personnel, training, and evaluation support at the local level. Identify information and knowledge that will be incorporated in pre-service programs. Establish research and evaluation processes to examine initiative.

Bottom Line All educators in an educational setting need to share responsibility for the literacy acquisition of all students.