1. Enhancing RtI: Instruction and Intervention
Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey

2. Traditional View of Learning
When time and instruction are held constant…
LEARNING
… learning outcomes
vary.
Adapted from Buffum, Mattos, & Weber, 2009

3. A New View of Learning When time and instruction are variable…
… learning is
held constant.
Adapted from Buffum, Mattos, & Weber, 2009

4. “Big RTI” Purpose of RtI
An alternative way to identify students as having learning disabilities, making sure that students who struggle were not misidentified as disabled when different and/or more intensive instruction addressed their needs.
“Big RTI”
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 identified Response to Intervention (RTI) as an alternative way to identify students as having learning disabilities, making sure that students who struggle were not misidentified as disabled when different and/or more intensive instruction addressed their needs.

5. A school improvement process designed to ensure that students receive the instruction, intervention, and support necessary to be successful.
“little rti”

6. Response to Instruction and Intervention (RtI2)
Tier 1: Quality core instruction
Tier 2: Supplemental intervention
Tier 3: Intensive intervention
Tier 2:
20-30%
Tier 1: 70+%
Tier 3:
5-15%
Manipulate variables…

7. What Variables Can You Control?
Frequency (time)
Duration (time)
Assessment (instruction)
Group size (instruction)
Access to expertise (instruction)
Staff collaboration (instruction)
Student Monitoring Team (instruction)
Others?

8. Tier 1: Quality Core Instruction
Based on a Gradual Release of Responsibility
Formative assessments (feed forward, not just feedback)
Push-in supports and incidental benefits

9. TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
“I do it”
Focus Lesson
Guided Instruction
“We do it”
“You do it
together”
Collaborative
“You do it
alone”
Independent
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
A Structure for Instruction that Works

10. Band-Aid… Tiers 2 and 3 intervention are not a
…for ineffective Tier 1 instruction.

11. The Role of
Assessment
in RtI2

12. Screening Tools Progress Monitoring Diagnostic
Three purposes for assessment in rti
Diagnostic

13. Screening Tools DIBELS Oral fluency SAM SALLI Writing sample
Spelling inventory
Screening Tools

14. Are they working for you?
Which do you use?
Are they working for you?
pp. 97-

15. Curriculum-based
measures (CBM):
mostly skills-based

16. Curriculum-based
assessments (CBA):
course curriculum

17. Both are needed for progress monitoring

18. Progress Monitoring Checklists Rubrics Self-assessments Observations
Competencies
p. 106

19. Are they working for you?
Which do you use?
Are they working for you?
pp. 97-

20. a progress monitoring tool!
Homework is NOT
a progress monitoring tool!

21. Traditional homework occurs too soon
in the instructional cycle.

22. Cleavers
Slackers
Cheaters
Bewildered

23. Goals of Homework Fluency building Application Spiral review Extension
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Homework and the gradual release of responsibility: Making responsibility
possible. English Journal, 98(2),

24. This was the schoolwide essential question for 9 weeks.

25. Spiral Review Homework: Opinionnaire
What’s your opinion? SA A D SD
A patriot is heroic.
Sometimes the only thing left to do is fight for what you believe in.
The American Revolutionary War could have been avoided if both sides had compromised on taxes.
All the colonists were in support of the war.
The teacher wanted to get a “general read” on the entire class--find out about their impressions of this time period in general--so she administers a short opinionnaire that contains four statements.] She assured them that there were no “right” answers.(The code in the columns is as follows: SA=Strongly Agree; A=Agree; D=Disagree; SD=Strongly Disagree.

26. Extension Homework
In English, students chose a worthy cause and established a Facebook page with information about it. A goal was to get at least 20 people to “Like” it. This provided great feedback to students, especially when asked for more information. Students were able to continue to refine their pages based on what others were commenting on. This assignment was the creative component for the question. Students also wrote a formal essay in response to the question. The next slides are examples from this portion of the assignment.

27. Compare
English language learners to
“true peers”

28. What could Tier 2 look like? Tier 2: 10-15% p. 23
Tier 1: Quality core instruction
Tier 2: Supplemental intervention
Tier 3: Intensive intervention

29. The focus of the monitoring team

30. Manipulate
the variables

31. Access to
Expertise
p. 55
The classroom teacher is the expert--use paraprofessional to support other students, not the ones with the most needs

32. Who provides Tier 2?
Mostly classroom teachers as students work productively
Push-in staff (15% rule)

33. Time and Duration
p. 54

34. Group size
p. 53
2-5 members

35. for progress monitoring
CBMs 2 times per month
for progress monitoring

36. After school tutorials
p LOTS of forms available on these pages
Academic Recovery and
After school tutorials

37. Involve the family

38. Increased guided instruction with smaller groups
Including preteaching and reteaching
Increased guided instruction
with smaller groups

39. Teacher Role
What is the teacher doing while productive group work is occurring?

40. Zone of Proximal Development
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development
“the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers” (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86).
Wood, Bruner, and Ross’s Scaffolding
requires the adult’s “controlling those elements of the task that are initially beyond the learner’s capability, thus permitting him to concentrate upon and complete only those elements that are within his range of competence” (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976, p. 90).
Scaffolding

41. “As easy as learning to ride a bike”
Guided Instruction is analogous to teaching a child to ride a bike. Scaffolds include training wheels, running alongside the bike, calling directions (“Pedal faster!”)
The adult is there to handle the tricky parts, but the child begins to try out the skill or strategy

42. Scaffolds in Classroom Instruction
Robust questions to check for understanding
Prompts that focus on cognitive and metacognitive processes
Cues to shift attention to sources
Direct explanation and modeling to re-teach

43. Check for Understanding
Robust Questions to
Check for Understanding

44. Intention uncovering, not testing Focus is on uncovering, not testing
Looking for anticipated misconceptions or partial understandings
Feed forward to plan subsequent instruction (Fisher & Frey, 2009)

45. Teacher: What is a nocturnal animal
Teacher: What is a nocturnal animal? Student: An animal that stays awake at night. Teacher: Good. What is a diurnal animal?
I-R-E

46. Teacher: What is a nocturnal animal
Teacher: What is a nocturnal animal? Student: An animal that stays awake at night. Teacher: Tell me more about that. Does a nocturnal animal have special characteristics? Student: Well, it doesn’t sleep a lot.
Probe

47. Teacher: What is a nocturnal animal
Teacher: What is a nocturnal animal? Student: An animal that stays awake at night. Teacher: Tell me more about that. Does a nocturnal animal have special characteristics? Student: Well, it doesn’t sleep a lot.
Misconception

48. Prompting for Cognitive and
Metacognitive Thinking

49. Prompts
So the student does the
cognitive work

50. Prompts
can be cognitive or
metacognitive
Note
to elf

51. Background knowledge prompts use what they know invite students to
Includes what has been previously taught and what has been experienced
Can be built directly or indirectly (Marzano, 2004)
invite students to
use what they know
to resolve problems

52. Process or Procedure Prompts specific task To perform a
Addresses the “what” and “how” in learning
Examples: Order of operations (math), peer response (writing), completing a lab (science)
Prompts can be forward chaining (starts the process) and backward chaining (leaves the last step to complete)
To perform a
specific task

53. Reflective prompt “What did you learn today?” knowing about knowing
Trigger metacognitive thinking
“Knowing about knowing”
Includes invitations to set goals, write in an interactive journal, conferencing with a student
“What did you learn today?”
“How did you learn it?
“What do you need to learn next?”
“What did you learn today?”

54. Heuristic prompt Informal and less defined
Informal problem-solving dispositions and technique
Often apply a “rule of thumb”
“Make a graph so I can see it;” “confirm my prediction;” “keep track of the calculations so I don’t get mixed up;” “Make a list of pros and cons”
These are less well-defined techniques than procedural or process knowledge ones, and draw on past experiences and “Eureka moments*
“Make a graph so you can see it.”

55. Teacher: What is a nocturnal animal
Teacher: What is a nocturnal animal? Student: An animal that stays awake at night. Teacher: Tell me more about that. Does a nocturnal animal have special characteristics? Student: Well, it doesn’t sleep a lot. Teacher: I’m thinking of those pictures we saw of the great horned owl and the slow loris in the daytime and at night. Does your answer still work?
PROMPT

56. Cues to Shift Attention

57. Cues Shift attention to sources of information
Can highlight an error
More direct and specific than prompts
Often follow a prompt that did not elicit a correct response
More direct and specific than prompts

58. Attention grows with competence
the expert commentator sees things you don’t
cues do the same for novices
Attention grows with competence

59. 6 Types Visual Physical Gestural Positional Verbal Environmental
Pair for greater impact

60. Using Prompts and Cues
Context: Students are creating a Jeopardy®-style game. The teacher is building the background knowledge of a group of students. He draws their attention to a sentence in the text: “When you eat foods—such as bread, meat, and vegetables—they are not in a form that the body can use as nourishment.” He asks Mauricio to retell it is his own words...

61. Mauricio: So, I think it says that your body can’t use meat like it is meat. It has to be changed. Jessica: But that’s what we eat to live. That’s good eating. Russell: I don’t eat any vegetables. I only like the meat and bread from this, like a hamburger. Mr. Jackson: How does that meat change so that your body can use it? Russell? Russell: It doesn’t change. It’s meat. Mr. Jackson: So let’s think about what we know about nourishment and our food. There’s a process that it goes through, right? [they nod in agreement] What’s the first step? You know this because you do it several times a day. Sarah: The first thing to eat? Is that what you mean? Mr. Jackson: Yeah, the first thing. Sarah: You take a bite. Mr. Jackson: Exactly, right on. So you’ve changed the food, right? Russell: Yeah, but it’s still meat. Mr. Jackson: It sure is. But it’s changed a bit, and will change more. Remember we talked about different kinds of changes. Physical … Chemical Russell: So the first thing, when you bite it, it’s a physical change, right? Mr. Jackson: You know it! And then what happens?

62. Direct Explanation
and Modeling

63. When prompting
and cueing fail,
it’s time for
direct
explanation.

64. Direct Explanation Identify Explain Think aloud Monitor
Explicitly state what is being taught
Tell when and how it will be used
Think aloud to demonstrate reasoning
Monitor application
Check for understanding
Take care not to re-assume responsibility too quickly

65. What could Tier 3 look like? Tier 3: 5-10% p. 23
Tier 1: Quality core instruction
Tier 2: Supplemental intervention
Tier 3: Intensive intervention
Tier 3:
5-10%

66. Tier 3: Intensive Individual 30 minutes at least three times per week
Increase assessment and monitoring frequency
Increase expertise
A whole school focus

67. Keep the teacher
at the center of
communication

68. Daily 1:1 instruction

69. Increased Progress Monitoring
with specialized assessments
Specialized assessments, including tools such as analytic writing samples, vocabulary CBMs for secondary students

70. Every certificated adult
meets with students

71. What is “special” about special education?
Formalized system of support (continuing interventions)
Funding
Goals and objectives
Curriculum accommodations and modifications
Testing support
Assistive technology
Related Services

72. The Takeaway Instruction and Intervention are linked
Manipulate variables (time, assessment, expertise, instruction) to intensify intervention
Build in a feed forward method so that RtI2 results inform classroom instruction and programmatic improvements
Keep the teacher and family at the center of communication