Response to Intervention RTI: Academic Interventions for Difficult- to-Teach Students Jim Wright

Response to Intervention

www.interventioncentral.org

RTI: Academic Interventions for Difficult-to-Teach Students

Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Workshop PPTs and Handout Available at:

http://www.jimwrightonline.com/picayune.php

Additional Intervention and Assessment Resources Available at:

http://www.interventioncentral.org



Workshop Topics1. ‘Big Ideas’ in Academic Interventions for

Difficult-to-Teach Students

2. Reading: Instruction & Interventions for Fluency & Comprehension

3. Writing: Instruction & Interventions

4. Study/Organizational Skills: Interventions

5. Motivating the Reluctant Student

6. Finding Internet Resources to Help Support Middle/High School RTI


www.interventioncentral.org 4

“The quality of a school as a learning community can be measured by how effectively it addresses the needs of struggling students.”--Wright (2005)

Source: Wright, J. (2005, Summer). Five interventions that work. NAESP Leadership Compass, 2(4) pp.1,6.



Secondary Students: Unique Challenges…

Struggling learners in middle and high school may:• Have significant deficits in basic academic skills• Lack higher-level problem-solving strategies and

concepts• Present with issues of school motivation• Show social/emotional concerns that interfere with

academics• Have difficulty with attendance• Are often in a process of disengaging from learning

even as adults in school expect that those students will move toward being ‘self-managing’ learners…



RTI Assumption: Struggling Students Are ‘Typical’ Until Proven Otherwise…

RTI logic assumes that:– A student who begins to struggle in general education is typical,

and that– It is general education’s responsibility to find the instructional

strategies that will unlock the student’s learning potential

Only when the student shows through well-documented interventions that he or she has ‘failed to respond to intervention’ does RTI begin to investigate the possibility that the student may have a learning disability or other special education condition.



School Dropout as a Process, Not an Event

“It is increasingly accepted that dropout is best conceptualized as a long-term process, not an instantaneous event; however, most interventions are administered at a middle or high school level after problems are severe.”

Source: Jimerson, S., Reschly, A.L., & Hess, R. (2008). Best practices in increasing the likelihood of school completion. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds). Best Practices in School Psychology - 5th Ed (pp. 1085-1097). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.. p.1090



K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Rdng Fluency

Rdng-Basic Comprehension

Subject-Area Rdng Comprehension

Remediating Academic Deficits: The Widening Curriculum Gap…

Reading Fluency

Small academic gap (elementary school). Student is only mildly off-level. The building curriculum overlaps the student’s point of ‘instructional match’.



K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Rdng Fluency





Reading Fluency

Widening academic gap (middle school). Student is significantly off-level. The building curriculum barely overlaps the student’s point of ‘instructional match’.



K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12Rdng Fluency




Largest academic gap (high school). Student is significantly off-level. The building curriculum does not overlap the student’s point of ‘instructional match’ at all.




Student Motivation & The Need for Intervention“A common response to students who struggle in sixth grade is to wait and hope they grow out of it or adapt, to attribute early struggles to the natural commotion of early adolescence and to temporary difficulties in adapting to new organizational structures of schooling, more challenging curricula and assessment, and less personalized attention. Our evidence clearly indicates that, at least in high-poverty urban schools, sixth graders who are missing 20% or more of the days, exhibiting poor behavior, or failing math or English do not recover. On the contrary, they drop out. This says that early intervention is not only productive but absolutely essential.”

Source: Balfanz, R., Herzog, L., MacIver, D. J. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping students on the graduation path in urban middle grades schools: Early identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychologist,42, 223–235. .



What Are the ‘Early Warning Flags’ of Student Drop-Out?

A sample of 13,000 students in Philadelphia were tracked for 8 years. These early warning indicators were found to predict student drop-out in the sixth-grade year:

• Failure in English• Failure in math• Missing at least 20% of school days• Receiving an ‘unsatisfactory’ behavior rating from at

least one teacher




What is the Predictive Power of These Early Warning Flags?


Number of ‘Early Warning Flags’ in Student Record

Probability That Student Would Graduate

None 56%

1 36%

2 21%

3 13%

4 7%



Focus on School Factors That We Can Control“Some factors in students’ lives (such as family divorce, moving frequently, drug use, and poor teaching) lower the probability that these students will learn and/or get along with others. These are often referred to as risk factors…Risk factors do not assure student failure. Risk factors simply make the odds of failure greater. Aligning assessment and instruction allows teachers…to introduce new factors into the student’s life that raise the probability of learning. These are often called protective factors since they protect against the risks associated with risk factors…The use of protective factors to raise the probability of learning is often referred to as resilience.”

Source: Hosp, J. L. (2008). Best practices in aligning academic assessment with instruction. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.363-376). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.



1. Academic Interventions: ‘Big Ideas’ and Critical Components



RTI ‘Pyramid of Interventions’

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Tier 1: Universal interventions. Available to all students in a classroom or school. Can consist of whole-group or individual strategies or supports.

Tier 2 Individualized interventions. Subset of students receive interventions targeting specific needs.

Tier 3: Intensive interventions. Students who are ‘non-responders’ to Tiers 1 & 2 are referred to the RTI Team for more intensive interventions.



RTI & Intervention: Key Concepts



Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out

• Core Instruction. Those instructional strategies that are used routinely with all students in a general-education setting are considered ‘core instruction’. High-quality instruction is essential and forms the foundation of RTI academic support. NOTE: While it is important to verify that good core instructional practices are in place for a struggling student, those routine practices do not ‘count’ as individual student interventions.




• Intervention. An academic intervention is a strategy used to teach a new skill, build fluency in a skill, or encourage a child to apply an existing skill to new situations or settings. An intervention can be thought of as “a set of actions that, when taken, have demonstrated ability to change a fixed educational trajectory” (Methe & Riley-Tillman, 2008; p. 37).




• Accommodation. An accommodation is intended to help the student to fully access and participate in the general-education curriculum without changing the instructional content and without reducing the student’s rate of learning (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005). An accommodation is intended to remove barriers to learning while still expecting that students will master the same instructional content as their typical peers. – Accommodation example 1: Students are allowed to supplement

silent reading of a novel by listening to the book on tape. – Accommodation example 2: For unmotivated students, the

instructor breaks larger assignments into smaller ‘chunks’ and providing students with performance feedback and praise for each completed ‘chunk’ of assigned work (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005).



“ ”“Teaching is giving; it isn’t taking away.” (Howell, Hosp & Kurns, 2008; p. 356).

Source: Howell, K. W., Hosp, J. L., & Kurns, S. (2008). Best practices in curriculum-based evaluation. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.349-362). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists..




• Modification. A modification changes the expectations of what a student is expected to know or do—typically by lowering the academic standards against which the student is to be evaluated.

Examples of modifications:– Giving a student five math computation problems for practice

instead of the 20 problems assigned to the rest of the class– Letting the student consult course notes during a test when peers

are not permitted to do so



Big Ideas: The Four Stages of Learning Can Be Summed Up in the ‘Instructional Hierarchy’

(Haring et al., 1978)

Student learning can be thought of as a multi-stage process. The universal stages of learning include:

• Acquisition: The student is just acquiring the skill.• Fluency: The student can perform the skill but

must make that skill ‘automatic’.• Generalization: The student must perform the skill

across situations or settings.• Adaptation: The student confronts novel task

demands that require that the student adapt a current skill to meet new requirements.

Source: Haring, N.G., Lovitt, T.C., Eaton, M.D., & Hansen, C.L. (1978). The fourth R: Research in the classroom. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.



Mini-Skills Moment:

Defining Academic Problems: The Key Step in Matching Students to Effective Interventions



Defining Academic Problems: Recommended StepsThe problem-identification step is the most critical for matching the student to an effective intervention (Bergan, 1995). Problem identification statements should be defined in clear and specific terms sufficient to pass ‘the stranger test’ (Howell, Hosp, & Kurns, 2008): That is, the student problem can be judged as adequately defined if a person with no background knowledge of the case and equipped only with the problem-identification statement can observe the student in the academic setting and know with confidence when the problem behavior is displayed and when it is not.

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Sources: Bergan, J. R. (1995). Evolution of a problem-solving model of consultation. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 6(2), 111-123..

Howell, K. W., Hosp, J. L., & Kurns, S. (2008). Best practices in curriculum-based evaluation. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.349-362). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.



Defining Academic Problems: Write a Clear Descriptive Statement

Write a 3-part description of the academic problem. When describing a student’s academic problem, the teacher includes the following three elements:– Conditions (‘What is the student supposed to do?’). Describe the

environmental conditions or task demands in place when the academic problem is observed.

– Problem Description (‘What does the student actually do?’). Describe the actual observable academic behavior in which the student is engaged. Include rate, accuracy, or other quantitative information of student performance.

– Typical or Expected Level of Performance.(‘What is the performance that you expect from this student?’). Provide a typical or expected performance criterion for this skill or behavior. Typical or expected academic performance can be calculated using a variety of sources.

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Defining Academic Problems: Develop a ‘Best Guess’ About the Reason for the Academic Problem

Develop a hypothesis statement to explain the academic skill or performance problem. The hypothesis states the assumed reason(s) or cause(s) for the student’s academic problems. Once it has been developed, the hypothesis statement acts as a compass needle, pointing toward interventions that most logically address the student academic problems. Listed below are common reasons for academic problems. Note that more than one hypothesis may apply to a particular student (e.g., a student may have both a skill deficit and a motivation deficit).

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Team Activity: What Are Your Students’ Greatest Academic Challenges?

In your groups:• Discuss the greatest academic

problems that your students face and select 2-3 that you believe are the MOST challenging.

• Be prepared to report out.



2. Reading Instruction & Interventions



Savvy Teacher’s Guide: Reading

Interventions That Work

(Wright, 2000)

Available for free from:




Academic Target: Reading Fluency

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• Profile of a Student with This Concern: The student’s rate of decoding text is sufficiently slow to hinder him or her in efficiently reading and understanding the content of assigned reading.




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What the Research Says: National Reading Panel Report (2000): “An extensive review of the literature indicates that classroom practices that encourage repeated oral reading with feedback and guidance leads to meaningful improvements in reading expertise for students—for good readers as well as those who are experiencing difficulties.”-p. 3-3



• Assisted Reading Practice• Listening Passage Preview (‘Listening

While Reading’)• Paired Reading • Repeated Reading

Interventions for…Increasing Reading Fluency




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Sample Intervention: Repeated Reading: 1. The student has a reading selection of 100-200 words. The student reads aloud while the tutor

follows along silently.2. If the student hesitates for longer than 5 seconds, the tutor reads the word aloud and has the

student repeat the word correctly before continuing through the passage. If the student asks for help with any word, the tutor reads the word aloud. If the student requests a word definition, the tutor supplies the definition.

3. REPEATED READING CRITERION: The student continues until he or she (Choice A) has read the passage 4 times or (Choice B) can read the passage at the rate of at least 85 to 100 words per minute.



HELPS Program: www.helpsprogram.org

• HELPS (Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies) is a free tutoring program that targets student reading fluency skills. Developed by Dr. John Begeny of North Carolina State University, the program is an evidence-based intervention package that includes: – adult modeling of fluent reading, – repeated reading of passages by the student, – phrase-drill error correction, – verbal cueing and retell check to encourage student reading

comprehension, – reward procedures to engage and encourage the student reader.

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‘Fifteen Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs’

1. Direct, explicit comprehension instruction

2. Effective instructional principles embedded in content

3. Motivation and self-directed learning

4. Text-based collaborative learning

5. Formative evaluation of reading skills

6. Strategic tutoring7. Diverse texts8. Intensive writing9. Technology component

Source: Biancarosa, C., & Snow, C. E. (2006). Reading next—A vision for action and research in middle and high school literacy: A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York (2nd ed.).Washington, DC: Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/ReadingNext.pdf

10. Extended time for literacy across classes

11. Professional development12. Ongoing summative assessment of

students and programs13. Teacher teams (interdisciplinary

with a student problem-solving focus)

14. Leadership15. Comprehensive and coordinated

literacy program (interdisciplinary, interdepartmental)



Core Instruction: Strategies to Promote Literacy Skills in Content-Area Classrooms



Promoting Literacy in Middle & High School Classrooms: Three Elements

• Explicit vocabulary instruction• Extended discussion• Reading comprehension

Source: Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., & Torgesen, J. (2008). Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices: A practice guide (NCEE #2008-4027). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc.



RTI & Secondary Literacy:Explicit Vocabulary Instruction



Vocabulary: Why This Instructional Goal is Important

As vocabulary terms become more specialized in content area courses, students are less able to derive the meaning of unfamiliar words from context alone. Students must instead learn vocabulary through more direct means, including having opportunities to explicitly memorize words and their definitions.

Students may require 12 to 17 meaningful exposures to a word to learn it.



Differences in Vocabulary Development Between Stronger and Weaker Students

“Vocabulary difficulties are not unique to advanced readers as they typically show up before third grade. At that point, those with high vocabularies know thousands more word meanings and are learning new ones at a much faster rate than those experiencing difficulties.

Biemiller and Slonim (2001), for example, found the highest quartile primary students learned approximately three words a day compared to 1.5 for the lowest quartile students. By high school, top achievers have been shown to know four times the words of lower performing classmates. Perhaps the most disturbing fact about these trends is that they persist.” p. 401

Source: Howell, K. W. (2008). Best practices in curriculum-based evaluation and advanced reading. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 397-413).



Provide Dictionary Training

The student is trained to use an Internet lookup strategy to better understand dictionary or glossary definitions of key vocabulary items.

– The student first looks up the word and its meaning(s) in the dictionary/glossary.

– If necessary, the student isolates the specific word meaning that appears to be the appropriate match for the term as it appears in course texts and discussion.

– The student goes to an Internet search engine (e.g., Google) and locates at least five text samples in which the term is used in context and appears to match the selected dictionary definition.



Promote ‘Wide Reading’

Students read widely in the content area, using texts that supplement and extend information supplied by the textbook. ‘Wide reading’ results in substantial increases in student vocabulary over time due to incidental learning. To strengthen the positive impact of wide reading on vocabulary development, have student texts available that vary in difficulty and that are of high interest. Discuss readings in class. Experiment with ways to document student independent reading and integrate that ‘wide reading’ into an effort grade for the course. If needed, build time into the student’s school schedule for supervised ‘wide reading’ time.



Hold ‘Read-Alouds’

Select texts that supplement the course textbook and that illustrate central concepts and contain important vocabulary covered in the course. Read those texts aloud for 3 to 5 minutes per class session--while students follow along silently. Read-alouds provide students with additional exposure to vocabulary items in context. They can also lower the threshold of difficulty: Students may be more likely to attempt to read an assigned text independently if they have already gotten a start in the text by listening to a more advanced reader read the first few pages aloud. Read-alouds can support other vocabulary-building activities such as guided discussion, vocabulary review, and wide reading.



Provide Regular In-Class Instruction and Review of Vocabulary Terms, Definitions

Present important new vocabulary terms in class, along with student-friendly definitions. Provide ‘example sentences’ to illustrate the use of the term. Assign students to write example sentences employing new vocabulary to illustrate their mastery of the terms.



Generate ‘Possible Sentences’ The teacher selects 6 to 8 challenging new vocabulary terms and 4 to 6 easier, more familiar vocabulary items relevant to the lesson. Introduce the vocabulary terms to the class. Have students write sentences that contain at least two words from the posted vocabulary list. Then write examples of student sentences on the board until all words from the list have been used. After the assigned reading, review the ‘possible sentences’ that were previously generated. Evaluate as a group whether, based on the passage, the sentence is ‘possible’ (true) in its current form. If needed, have the group recommend how to change the sentence to make it ‘possible’.



Enhance Vocabulary Instruction Through Use of Graphic Organizers or Displays: A Sampling

Teachers can use graphic displays to structure their vocabulary discussions and activities (Boardman et al., 2008; Fisher, 2007; Texas Reading Initiative, 2002).



4-Square Graphic Display

The student divides a page into four quadrants. In the upper left section, the student writes the target word. In the lower left section, the student writes the word definition. In the upper right section, the student generates a list of examples that illustrate the term, and in the lower right section, the student writes ‘non-examples’ (e.g., terms that are the opposite of the target vocabulary word).





Semantic Word Definition Map

The graphic display contains sections in which the student writes the word, its definition (‘what is this?’), additional details that extend its meaning (‘What is it like?’), as well as a listing of examples and ‘non-examples’ (e.g., terms that are the opposite of the target vocabulary word).



Word Definition Map Example





Semantic Feature Analysis

A target vocabulary term is selected for analysis in this grid-like graphic display. Possible features or properties of the term appear along the top margin, while examples of the term are listed ion the left margin. The student considers the vocabulary term and its definition. Then the student evaluates each example of the term to determine whether it does or does not match each possible term property or element.



Semantic Feature Analysis Example

• VOCABULARY TERM: TRANSPORTATION





Comparison/Contrast (Venn) Diagram

Two terms are listed and defined. For each term, the student brainstorms qualities or properties or examples that illustrate the term’s meaning. Then the student groups those qualities, properties, and examples into 3 sections:

A. items unique to Term 1B. items unique to Term 2C. items shared by both terms





RTI & Secondary Literacy:Extended Discussion



Extended Discussions: Why This Instructional Goal is Important

Extended, guided group discussion is a powerful means to help students to learn vocabulary and advanced concepts. Discussion can also model for students various ‘thinking processes’ and cognitive strategies (Kamil et al. 2008, p. 22). To be effective, guided discussion should go beyond students answering a series of factual questions posed by the teacher: Quality discussions are typically open-ended and exploratory in nature, allowing for multiple points of view (Kamil et al., 2008).

When group discussion is used regularly and well in instruction, students show increased growth in literacy skills. Content-area teachers can use it to demonstrate the ‘habits of mind’ and patterns of thinking of experts in various their discipline: e.g., historians, mathematicians, chemists, engineers, literacy critics, etc.



Use a ‘Standard Protocol’ to Structure Extended Discussions

Good extended classwide discussions elicit a wide range of student opinions, subject individual viewpoints to critical scrutiny in a supportive manner, put forth alternative views, and bring closure by summarizing the main points of the discussion. Teachers can use a simple structure to effectively and reliably organize their discussions…



‘Standard Protocol’ Discussion FormatA. Pose questions to the class that require students to explain their

positions and their reasoning .B. When needed, ‘think aloud’ as the discussion leader to model

good reasoning practices (e.g., taking a clear stand on a topic).C. Supportively challenge student views by offering possible

counter arguments.D. Single out and mention examples of effective student reasoning.E. Avoid being overly directive; the purpose of extended

discussions is to more fully investigate and think about complex topics.

F. Sum up the general ground covered in the discussion and highlight the main ideas covered.



RTI & Secondary Literacy:Reading Comprehension



Reading Comprehension: Why This Instructional Goal is Important

Students require strong reading comprehension skills to succeed in challenging content-area classes.

At present, there is no clear evidence that any one reading comprehension instructional technique is clearly superior to others. In fact, it appears that students benefit from being taught any self-directed practice that prompts them to engage more actively in understanding the meaning of text (Kamil et al., 2008).



Assist Students in Setting ‘Content Goals’ for Reading

Students are more likely to be motivated to read--and to read more closely—if they have specific content-related reading goals in mind. At the start of a reading assignment, for example, the instructor has students state what questions they might seek to answer or what topics they would like to learn more about in their reading. The student or teacher writes down these questions. After students have completed the assignee reading, they review their original questions and share what they have learned (e.g., through discussion in large group or cooperative learning group, or even as a written assignment).



Academic Target: Reading Comprehension

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• Profile of a Student with This Concern: The student lacks strategies to help him or her to focus on essential information from assigned readings. (NOTE: Additional factors such as limited vocabulary can contribute to the reading comprehension problem.)




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What the Research Says: “…intermediate and secondary grade students who are not proficient with beginning reading skills most often have learned an array of “misrules” or ineffective reading tactics that need to be corrected or unlearned as they acquire advance reading skills. Thus, the content of corrective reading instruction can differ in important ways from beginning and even from remedial reading instruction...”




Sample Interventions

• ‘Click or Clunk?’ Self-Check• Keywords: A Memorization Strategy• Main Idea Maps• Mental Imagery: Improving Text Recall• Oral Recitation Lesson• Prior Knowledge: Activating the ‘Known’• Question-Generation• Reciprocal Teaching: A Reading Comprehension Package• Story Map• Text Lookback




Main Idea Maps

This simple strategy teaches students to generate a graphic organizer containing the main ideas and supporting details of each paragraph in an expository passage.



Main Idea Maps: Sample Graphic

Organizer



Mental Imagery: Improving Text

Recall

By constructing “mental pictures” of what they are reading and closely studying text illustrations, students increase their reading comprehension.



Characteristics of the Middle or High School Reader (Cont.)

“…because students who have trouble reading read less material (even if they have read for the same total amount of time), they will have encountered fewer words and ideas by the time they read the upper grades….

This limited pool of background (i.e., prior) knowledge will make it more difficult for them to learn new information from text, even if the reading problem is magically corrected over night. In many instances, this lack of prior/background knowledge is the most significant learning characteristic of this group of students.” p. 400




Prior Knowledge: Activating the

‘Known’

Through a series of guided questions, the instructor helps students activate their prior knowledge of a specific topic to help them comprehend the content of a story or article on the same topic. Linking new facts to prior knowledge increases a student’s inferential comprehension (ability to place novel information in a meaningful context by comparing it to already-learned information).



Activating Prior Knowledge:

Student Exercise



Text Lookback

Text lookback is a simple strategy that students can use to boost their recall of expository prose by looking back in the text for important information.



“ ”“…One way I have used the Maze in the past at the secondary level, is as a targeted screener to determine an instructional match between the student and the text materials. By screening all students on one to three Maze samples from the text and/or books that were planned for the course, we could find the students who could not handle the materials without support (study guides, highlighted texts, alternative reading material). …This assessment is efficient and it seems quite reliable in identifying the potential underachievers, achievers, and overachievers. The real pay back is that success can be built into the courses from the beginning, by providing learning materials and supports at the students' instructional levels.”

Lynn Pennington, Executive Director, SSTAGE

(Student Support Team Association for Georgia Educators)



Promoting Student Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills




Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit

Good readers continuously monitor their understanding of informational text. When necessary, they also take steps to improve their understanding of text through use of reading comprehension ‘fix-up’ skills. Presented here are a series of fix-up skill strategies that can help struggling students to better understand difficult reading assignments…

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Core Instruction] Providing Main Idea Practice through

‘Partner Retell’ (Carnine & Carnine, 2004). Students in a group or class are assigned a text selection to read silently. Students are then paired off, with one student assigned the role of ‘reteller’ and the other appointed as ‘listener’. The reteller recounts the main idea to the listener, who can comment or ask questions. The teacher then states the main idea to the class. Next, the reteller locates two key details from the reading that support the main idea and shares these with the listener. At the end of the activity, the teacher does a spot check by randomly calling on one or more students in the listener role and asking them to recap what information was shared by the reteller.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Promoting Understanding & Building

Endurance through Reading-Reflection Pauses (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student decides on a reading interval (e.g., every four sentences; every 3 minutes; at the end of each paragraph). At the end of each interval, the student pauses briefly to recall the main points of the reading. If the student has questions or is uncertain about the content, the student rereads part or all of the section just read. This strategy is useful both for students who need to monitor their understanding as well as those who benefit from brief breaks when engaging in intensive reading as a means to build up endurance as attentive readers.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Identifying or Constructing Main Idea

Sentences (Davey & McBride, 1986; Rosenshine, Meister & Chapman, 1996). For each paragraph in an assigned reading, the student either (a) highlights the main idea sentence or (b) highlights key details and uses them to write a ‘gist’ sentence. The student then writes the main idea of that paragraph on an index card. On the other side of the card, the student writes a question whose answer is that paragraph’s main idea sentence. This stack of ‘main idea’ cards becomes a useful tool to review assigned readings.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Restructuring Paragraphs with Main Idea

First to Strengthen ‘Rereads’ (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student highlights or creates a main idea sentence for each paragraph in the assigned reading. When rereading each paragraph of the selection, the student (1) reads the main idea sentence or student-generated ‘gist’ sentence first (irrespective of where that sentence actually falls in the paragraph); (2) reads the remainder of the paragraph, and (3) reflects on how the main idea relates to the paragraph content.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Summarizing Readings (Boardman et al.,

2008). The student is taught to summarize readings into main ideas and essential details--stripped of superfluous content. The act of summarizing longer readings can promote understanding and retention of content while the summarized text itself can be a useful study tool.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Linking Pronouns to Referents (Hedin &

Conderman, 2010). Some readers lose the connection between pronouns and the nouns that they refer to (known as ‘referents’)—especially when reading challenging text. The student is encouraged to circle pronouns in the reading, to explicitly identify each pronoun’s referent, and (optionally) to write next to the pronoun the name of its referent. For example, the student may add the referent to a pronoun in this sentence from a biology text: “The Cambrian Period is the first geological age that has large numbers of multi-celled organisms associated with it Cambrian Period.”

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• Student Strategy] Apply Vocabulary ‘Fix-Up’ Skills for

Unknown Words (Klingner & Vaughn, 1999). When confronting an unknown word in a reading selection, the student applies the following vocabulary ‘fix-up’ skills:1. Read the sentence again. 2. Read the sentences before and after the problem

sentence for clues to the word’s meaning.3. See if there are prefixes or suffixes in the word that can

give clues to meaning. 4. Break the word up by syllables and look for ‘smaller words’

within.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Compiling a Vocabulary Journal from

Course Readings (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). The student highlights new or unfamiliar vocabulary from course readings. The student writes each term into a vocabulary journal, using a standard ‘sentence-stem’ format: e.g., “Mitosis means…” or “A chloroplast is…”. If the student is unable to generate a definition for a vocabulary term based on the course reading, he or she writes the term into the vocabulary journal without definition and then applies other strategies to define the term: e.g., look up the term in a dictionary; use Google to locate two examples of the term being used correctly in context; ask the instructor, etc.).

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Encouraging Student Use of Text

Enhancements (Hedin & Conderman, 2010). Text enhancements can be used to tag important vocabulary terms, key ideas, or other reading content. If working with photocopied material, the student can use a highlighter to note key ideas or vocabulary. Another enhancement strategy is the ‘lasso and rope’ technique—using a pen or pencil to circle a vocabulary term and then drawing a line that connects that term to its underlined definition. If working from a textbook, the student can cut sticky notes into strips. These strips can be inserted in the book as pointers to text of interest. They can also be used as temporary labels—e.g., for writing a vocabulary term and its definition.

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Reading Comprehension ‘Fix-Up’ Skills: A Toolkit (Cont.)• [Student Strategy] Reading Actively Through Text

Annotation (Harris, 1990; Sarkisian et al., 2003). Students are likely to increase their retention of information when they interact actively with their reading by jotting comments in the margin of the text. Using photocopies, the student is taught to engage in an ongoing 'conversation' with the writer by recording a running series of brief comments in the margins of the text. The student may write annotations to record opinions about points raised by the writer, questions triggered by the reading, or unknown vocabulary words.

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Discussion: Making Interventions Happen…

There are a number of ways that instructional and intervention strategies can be delivered, such as through: Teacher-delivered (uniformly in all classrooms) Teacher-delivered (taught to the entire class in

one course as a ‘module’) Reading lab or other pull-out setting Student peer tutoring Use of non-instructional staff (e.g., support

staff, paraprofessionals, etc.) Parents Adult volunteers/tutors Student (self-administered)

Review the reading comprehension strategies listed on the next screen.

In your groups, discuss how your school might use one or more of the ‘delivery options’ listed here to implement those interventions where needed.



Discussion: Making Interventions Happen…

Reading Comprehension Scripts• Main Idea Maps• Mental Imagery• Activating the Known• Text LookbackReading Comprehension Fix-Up

Skills (pp. 7-8):• Promoting Understanding & Building

Endurance through Reading-Reflection Pauses

• Identifying or Constructing Main Idea Sentences

• Restructuring Paragraphs with Main Idea First to Strengthen ‘Rereads’

• Summarizing Readings • Linking Pronouns to Referents • Apply Vocabulary ‘Fix-Up’ Skills for

Unknown Words• Compiling a Vocabulary Journal

from Course Readings• Encouraging Student Use of Text

Enhancements • Reading Actively Through Text

Annotation



3. Writing Instruction & Interventions



"If all the grammarians in the world were placed end to end, it would be a good thing."– Oscar Wilde



Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/WritingNext.pdf



The Effect of Grammar Instruction as an Independent Activity“Grammar instruction in the studies reviewed [for the Writing Next report] involved the explicit and systematic teaching of the parts of speech and structure of sentences. The meta-analysis found an effect for this type of instruction for students across the full range of ability, but …surprisingly, this effect was negative…Such findings raise serious questions about some educators’ enthusiasm for traditional grammar instruction as a focus of writing instruction for adolescents….Overall, the findings on grammar instruction suggest that, although teaching grammar is important, alternative procedures, such as sentence combining, are more effective than traditional approaches for improving the quality of students’ writing.” p. 21

Source: Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC Alliance for Excellent Education.



Elements of effective writing instruction for adolescents:

1. Writing Process (Effect Size = 0.82): Students are taught a process for planning, revising, and editing.

2. Summarizing (Effect Size = 0.82): Students are taught methods to identify key points, main ideas from readings to write summaries of source texts.

3. Cooperative Learning Activities (‘Collaborative Writing’) (Effect Size = 0.75): Students are placed in pairs or groups with learning activities that focus on collaborative use of the writing process.

4. Goal-Setting (Effect Size = 0.70): Students set specific ‘product goals’ for their writing and then check their attainment of those self-generated goals.

Source: Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next: Effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools – A report to Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington, DC Alliance for Excellent Education. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/WritingNext.pdf




5. Writing Processors (Effect Size = 0.55): Students have access to computers/word processors in the writing process.

6. Sentence Combining (Effect Size = 0.50): Students take part in instructional activities that require the combination or embedding of simpler sentences (e.g., Noun-Verb-Object) to generate more advanced, complex sentences.

7. Prewriting (Effect Size = 0.32): Students learn to select, develop, or organize ideas to incorporate into their writing by participating in structured ‘pre-writing’ activities.

8. Inquiry Activities (Effect Size = 0.32): Students become actively engaged researchers, collecting and analyzing information to guide the ideas and content for writing assignments.





9. Process Writing (Effect Size = 0.32): Writing instruction is taught in a ‘workshop’ format that “ stresses extended writing opportunities, writing for authentic audiences, personalized instruction, and cycles of writing” (Graham & Perin, 2007; p. 4).

10. Use of Writing Models (Effect Size = 0.25): Students read and discuss models of good writing and use them as exemplars for their own writing.

11. Writing to Learn Content (Effect Size = 0.23): The instructor incorporates writing activities as a means to have students learn content material.




"The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug."– Mark Twain



"Your manuscript is both good and original. But the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good."– Samuel Johnson



Sentence CombiningStudents with poor writing skills often write sentences that lack ‘syntactic maturity’. Their sentences often follow a simple, stereotyped format. A promising approach to teach students use of diverse sentence structures is through sentence combining.

In sentence combining, students are presented with kernel sentences and given explicit instruction in how to weld these kernel sentences into more diverse sentence types either – by using connecting words to combine multiple sentences into one

or – by isolating key information from an otherwise superfluous

sentence and embedding that important information into the base sentence.

Sources: Saddler, B. (2005). Sentence combining: A sentence-level writing intervention. The Reading Teacher, 58, 468-471.

Strong, W. (1986). Creative approaches to sentence combining. Urbana, OL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Reading and Communication Skill & National Council of Teachers of English.



Formatting Sentence Combining Examples









3. Math Instruction & Interventions



National Mathematics Advisory Panel Report13 March 2008



Math Advisory Panel Report at:

http://www.ed.gov/mathpanel



2008 National Math Advisory Panel Report: Recommendations• “The areas to be studied in mathematics from pre-kindergarten through

eighth grade should be streamlined and a well-defined set of the most important topics should be emphasized in the early grades. Any approach that revisits topics year after year without bringing them to closure should be avoided.”

• “Proficiency with whole numbers, fractions, and certain aspects of geometry and measurement are the foundations for algebra. Of these, knowledge of fractions is the most important foundational skill not developed among American students.”

• “Conceptual understanding, computational and procedural fluency, and problem solving skills are equally important and mutually reinforce each other. Debates regarding the relative importance of each of these components of mathematics are misguided.”

• “Students should develop immediate recall of arithmetic facts to free the “working memory” for solving more complex problems.”

Source: National Math Panel Fact Sheet. (March 2008). Retrieved on March 14, 2008, from http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/report/final-factsheet.html



An RTI Challenge: Limited Research to Support Evidence-Based Math Interventions

“… in contrast to reading, core math programs that are supported by research, or that have been constructed according to clear research-based principles, are not easy to identify. Not only have exemplary core programs not been identified, but also there are no tools available that we know of that will help schools analyze core math programs to determine their alignment with clear research-based principles.” p. 459

Source: Clarke, B., Baker, S., & Chard, D. (2008). Best practices in mathematics assessment and intervention with elementary students. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 453-463).



Profile of Students With Significant Math Difficulties 1. Spatial organization. The student commits errors such as misaligning numbers in

columns in a multiplication problem or confusing directionality in a subtraction problem (and subtracting the original number—minuend—from the figure to be subtracted (subtrahend).

2. Visual detail. The student misreads a mathematical sign or leaves out a decimal or dollar sign in the answer.

3. Procedural errors. The student skips or adds a step in a computation sequence. Or the student misapplies a learned rule from one arithmetic procedure when completing another, different arithmetic procedure.

4. Inability to ‘shift psychological set’. The student does not shift from one operation type (e.g., addition) to another (e.g., multiplication) when warranted.

5. Graphomotor. The student’s poor handwriting can cause him or her to misread handwritten numbers, leading to errors in computation.

6. Memory. The student fails to remember a specific math fact needed to solve a problem. (The student may KNOW the math fact but not be able to recall it at ‘point of performance’.)

7. Judgment and reasoning. The student comes up with solutions to problems that are clearly unreasonable. However, the student is not able adequately to evaluate those responses to gauge whether they actually make sense in context.

Source: Rourke, B. P. (1993). Arithmetic disabilities, specific & otherwise: A neuropsychological perspective. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 26, 214-226.



Who is At Risk for Poor Math Performance?: A Proactive Stance

“…we use the term mathematics difficulties rather than mathematics disabilities. Children who exhibit mathematics difficulties include those performing in the low average range (e.g., at or below the 35th percentile) as well as those performing well below average…Using higher percentile cutoffs increases the likelihood that young children who go on to have serious math problems will be picked up in the screening.” p. 295

Source: Gersten, R., Jordan, N. C., & Flojo, J. R. (2005). Early identification and interventions for students with mathematics difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38, 293-304.



Profile of Students with Math Difficulties (Kroesbergen & Van Luit, 2003)

[Although the group of students with difficulties in learning math is very heterogeneous], in general, these students have memory deficits leading to difficulties in the acquisition and remembering of math knowledge.

Moreover, they often show inadequate use of strategies for solving math tasks, caused by problems with the acquisition and the application of both cognitive and metacognitive strategies.

Because of these problems, they also show deficits in generalization and transfer of learned knowledge to new and unknown tasks.

Source: Kroesbergen, E., & Van Luit, J. E. H. (2003). Mathematics interventions for children with special educational needs. Remedial and Special Education, 24, 97-114..



The Elements of Mathematical Proficiency: What the Experts Say…



Source: National Research Council. (2002). Helping children learn mathematics. Mathematics Learning Study Committee, J. Kilpatrick & J. Swafford, Editors, Center for Education, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

5 Strands of Mathematical Proficiency

1. Understanding

2. Computing

3. Applying

4. Reasoning

5. Engagement

5 Big Ideas in Beginning Reading

1. Phonemic Awareness

2. Alphabetic Principle

3. Fluency with Text

4. Vocabulary

5. ComprehensionSource: Big ideas in beginning reading. University of Oregon. Retrieved September 23, 2007, from http://reading.uoregon.edu/index.php



Five Strands of Mathematical Proficiency1. Understanding: Comprehending mathematical concepts,

operations, and relations--knowing what mathematical symbols, diagrams, and procedures mean.

2. Computing: Carrying out mathematical procedures, such as adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing numbers flexibly, accurately, efficiently, and appropriately.

3. Applying: Being able to formulate problems mathematically and to devise strategies for solving them using concepts and procedures appropriately.




Five Strands of Mathematical Proficiency (Cont.)

4. Reasoning: Using logic to explain and justify a solution to a problem or to extend from something known to something less known.

5. Engaging: Seeing mathematics as sensible, useful, and doable—if you work at it—and being willing to do the work.




Five Strands of Mathematical

Proficiency (NRC, 2002)1. Understanding: Comprehending mathematical concepts,

operations, and relations--knowing what mathematical symbols, diagrams, and procedures mean.





Table Activity: Evaluate Your School’s Math Proficiency…

• As a group, review the National Research Council ‘Strands of Math Proficiency’.

• Which strand do you feel that your school / curriculum does the best job of helping students to attain proficiency?

• Which strand do you feel that your school / curriculum should put the greatest effort to figure out how to help students to attain proficiency?

• Be prepared to share your results.



Three General Levels of Math Skill Development (Kroesbergen & Van Luit, 2003)

As students move from lower to higher grades, they move through levels of acquisition of math skills, to include:

• Number sense• Basic math operations (i.e., addition, subtraction,

multiplication, division)• Problem-solving skills: “The solution of both verbal

and nonverbal problems through the application of previously acquired information” (Kroesbergen & Van Luit, 2003, p. 98)

Source: Kroesbergen, E., & Van Luit, J. E. H. (2003). Mathematics interventions for children with special educational needs. Remedial and Special Education, 24, 97-114..



Development of ‘Number Sense’



What is ‘Number Sense’? (Clarke & Shinn, 2004)

“… the ability to understand the meaning of numbers and define different relationships among numbers.

Children with number sense can recognize the relative size of numbers, use referents for measuring objects and events, and think and work with numbers in a flexible manner that treats numbers as a sensible system.” p. 236

Source: Clarke, B., & Shinn, M. (2004). A preliminary investigation into the identification and development of early mathematics curriculum-based measurement. School Psychology Review, 33, 234–248.



What Are Stages of ‘Number Sense’?

(Berch, 2005, p. 336)

1. Innate Number Sense. Children appear to possess ‘hard-wired’ ability (neurological ‘foundation structures’) to acquire number sense. Children’s innate capabilities appear also to include the ability to ‘represent general amounts’, not specific quantities. This innate number sense seems to be characterized by skills at estimation (‘approximate numerical judgments’) and a counting system that can be described loosely as ‘1, 2, 3, 4, … a lot’.

2. Acquired Number Sense. Young students learn through indirect and direct instruction to count specific objects beyond four and to internalize a number line as a mental representation of those precise number values.

Source: Berch, D. B. (2005). Making sense of number sense: Implications for children with mathematical disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38, 333-339...



Task Analysis of Number Sense & Operations (Methe & Riley-Tillman, 2008)

“Knowing the fundamental subject matter of early mathematics is critical, given the relatively young stage of its development and application…, as well as the large numbers of students at risk for failure in mathematics. Evidence from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study confirms the Matthew effect phenomenon, where students with early skills continue to prosper over the course of their education while children who struggle at kindergarten entry tend to experience great degrees of problems in mathematics. Given that assessment is the core of effective problem solving in foundational subject matter, much less is known about the specific building blocks and pinpoint subskills that lead to a numeric literacy, early numeracy, or number sense…” p. 30

Source: Methe, S. A., & Riley-Tillman, T. C. (2008). An informed approach to selecting and designing early mathematics interventions. School Psychology Forum: Research into Practice, 2, 29-41.



Task Analysis of Number Sense & Operations (Methe & Riley-Tillman, 2008)

1. Counting

2. Comparing and Ordering: Ability to compare relative amounts e.g., more or less than; ordinal numbers: e.g., first, second, third)

3. Equal partitioning: Dividing larger set of objects into ‘equal parts’4. Composing and decomposing: Able to create different subgroupings

of larger sets (for example, stating that a group of 10 objects can be broken down into 6 objects and 4 objects or 3 objects and 7 objects)

5. Grouping and place value: “abstractly grouping objects into sets of 10” (p. 32) in base-10 counting system.

6. Adding to/taking away: Ability to add and subtract amounts from sets “by using accurate strategies that do not rely on laborious enumeration, counting, or equal partitioning.” P. 32

Source: Methe, S. A., & Riley-Tillman, T. C. (2008). An informed approach to selecting and designing early mathematics interventions. School Psychology Forum: Research into Practice, 2, 29-41.



Children’s Understanding of Counting RulesThe development of children’s counting ability depends upon the development of:

• One-to-one correspondence: “one and only one word tag, e.g., ‘one,’ ‘two,’ is assigned to each counted object”.

• Stable order: “the order of the word tags must be invariant across counted sets”.

• Cardinality: “the value of the final word tag represents the quantity of items in the counted set”.

• Abstraction: “objects of any kind can be collected together and counted”.

• Order irrelevance: “items within a given set can be tagged in any sequence”.

Source: Geary, D. C. (2004). Mathematics and learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 37, 4-15.



Math Computation: Building FluencyJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Benefits of Automaticity of ‘Arithmetic Combinations’ (Gersten, Jordan, & Flojo, 2005)

• There is a strong correlation between poor retrieval of arithmetic combinations (‘math facts’) and global math delays

• Automatic recall of arithmetic combinations frees up student ‘cognitive capacity’ to allow for understanding of higher-level problem-solving

• By internalizing numbers as mental constructs, students can manipulate those numbers in their head, allowing for the intuitive understanding of arithmetic properties, such as associative property and commutative property

Source: Gersten, R., Jordan, N. C., & Flojo, J. R. (2005). Early identification and interventions for students with mathematics difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38, 293-304.



How Do We Reach Low-Performing Math Students?: Instructional Recommendations

Important elements of math instruction for low-performing students:

– “Providing teachers and students with data on student performance”

– “Using peers as tutors or instructional guides”– “Providing clear, specific feedback to parents on their children’s

mathematics success”– “Using principles of explicit instruction in teaching math concepts

and procedures.” p. 51

Source: Baker, S., Gersten, R., & Lee, D. (2002).A synthesis of empirical research on teaching mathematics to low-achieving students. The Elementary School Journal, 103(1), 51-73..



Team Activity: How Do Schools Implement Strategies to Reach Low-Performing Math Students?

At your table, review the instructional recommendations (Baker et al., 2002) for low-performing math students. How can your school promote implementation of these recommendations?

1. “Providing teachers and students with data on student performance”

2. “Using peers as tutors or instructional guides”3. “Providing clear, specific feedback to parents on

their children’s mathematics success”4. “Using principles of explicit instruction in teaching

math concepts and procedures.”



Big Ideas: Learn Unit p. 3 (Heward, 1996)

The three essential elements of effective student learning include:1. Academic Opportunity to Respond. The student is presented with

a meaningful opportunity to respond to an academic task. A question posed by the teacher, a math word problem, and a spelling item on an educational computer ‘Word Gobbler’ game could all be considered academic opportunities to respond.

2. Active Student Response. The student answers the item, solves the problem presented, or completes the academic task. Answering the teacher’s question, computing the answer to a math word problem (and showing all work), and typing in the correct spelling of an item when playing an educational computer game are all examples of active student responding.

3. Performance Feedback. The student receives timely feedback about whether his or her response is correct—often with praise and encouragement. A teacher exclaiming ‘Right! Good job!’ when a student gives an response in class, a student using an answer key to check her answer to a math word problem, and a computer message that says ‘Congratulations! You get 2 points for correctly spelling this word!” are all examples of performance feedback.

Source: Heward, W.L. (1996). Three low-tech strategies for increasing the frequency of active student response during group instruction. In R. Gardner, D. M.S ainato, J. O. Cooper, T. E. Heron, W. L. Heward, J. W. Eshleman,& T. A. Grossi (Eds.), Behavior analysis in education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp.283-320). Pacific Grove, CA:Brooks/Cole.



Math Intervention: Tier I or II: Elementary & Secondary: Self-Administered Arithmetic Combination Drills With Performance

Self-Monitoring & Incentives (p. 55)

1. The student is given a math computation worksheet of a specific problem type, along with an answer key [Academic Opportunity to Respond].

2. The student consults his or her performance chart and notes previous performance. The student is encouraged to try to ‘beat’ his or her most recent score.

3. The student is given a pre-selected amount of time (e.g., 5 minutes) to complete as many problems as possible. The student sets a timer and works on the computation sheet until the timer rings. [Active Student Responding]

4. The student checks his or her work, giving credit for each correct digit (digit of correct value appearing in the correct place-position in the answer). [Performance Feedback]

5. The student records the day’s score of TOTAL number of correct digits on his or her personal performance chart.

6. The student receives praise or a reward if he or she exceeds the most recently posted number of correct digits.

Application of ‘Learn Unit’ framework from : Heward, W.L. (1996). Three low-tech strategies for increasing the frequency of active student response during group instruction. In R. Gardner, D. M.S ainato, J. O. Cooper, T. E. Heron, W. L. Heward, J. W. Eshleman,& T. A. Grossi (Eds.), Behavior analysis in education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp.283-320). Pacific Grove, CA:Brooks/Cole.



Self-Administered Arithmetic Combination Drills:Examples of Student Worksheet and Answer Key

Worksheets created using Math Worksheet Generator. Available online at:http://www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/tools/mathprobe/addsing.php



Self-Administered Arithmetic Combination Drills…

No Reward

Reward GivenReward GivenReward Given

No RewardNo Reward

Reward Given



Cover-Copy-Compare: Math Computational Fluency-Building Intervention

The student is given sheet with correctly completed math problems in left column and index card.

For each problem, the student:– studies the model– covers the model with index card– copies the problem from memory– solves the problem– uncovers the correctly completed model to check answer

Source: Skinner, C.H., Turco, T.L., Beatty, K.L., & Rasavage, C. (1989). Cover, copy, and compare: A method for increasing multiplication performance. School Psychology Review, 18, 412-420.



Math Computation: Problem Interspersal Technique p. 50• The teacher first identifies the range of ‘challenging’ problem-types

(number problems appropriately matched to the student’s current instructional level) that are to appear on the worksheet.

• Then the teacher creates a series of ‘easy’ problems that the students can complete very quickly (e.g., adding or subtracting two 1-digit numbers). The teacher next prepares a series of student math computation worksheets with ‘easy’ computation problems interspersed at a fixed rate among the ‘challenging’ problems.

• If the student is expected to complete the worksheet independently, ‘challenging’ and ‘easy’ problems should be interspersed at a 1:1 ratio (that is, every ‘challenging’ problem in the worksheet is preceded and/or followed by an ‘easy’ problem).

• If the student is to have the problems read aloud and then asked to solve the problems mentally and write down only the answer, the items should appear on the worksheet at a ratio of 3 ‘challenging’ problems for every ‘easy’ one (that is, every 3 ‘challenging’ problems are preceded and/or followed by an ‘easy’ one).

Source: Hawkins, J., Skinner, C. H., & Oliver, R. (2005). The effects of task demands and additive interspersal ratios on fifth-grade students’ mathematics accuracy. School Psychology Review, 34, 543-555..



Peer Tutoring in Math Computation with

Constant Time Delay



Peer Tutoring in Math Computation with Constant Time Delay

• DESCRIPTION: This intervention employs students as reciprocal peer tutors to target acquisition of basic math facts (math computation) using constant time delay (Menesses & Gresham, 2009; Telecsan, Slaton, & Stevens, 1999). Each tutoring ‘session’ is brief and includes its own progress-monitoring component--making this a convenient and time-efficient math intervention for busy classrooms.




MATERIALS: Student Packet: A work folder is created for each tutor pair. The

folder contains:

10 math fact cards with equations written on the front and correct answer appearing on the back. NOTE: The set of cards is replenished and updated regularly as tutoring pairs master their math facts.

Progress-monitoring form for each student. Pencils.



PREPARATION: To prepare for the tutoring program, the teacher selects students to participate and trains them to serve as tutors.

Select Student Participants. Students being considered for the reciprocal peer tutor program should at minimum meet these criteria (Telecsan, Slaton, & Stevens, 1999, Menesses & Gresham, 2009):

Is able and willing to follow directions; Shows generally appropriate classroom behavior;Can attend to a lesson or learning activity for at least 20

minutes.




Peer Tutoring in Math Computation with Constant Time DelaySelect Student Participants (Cont.). Students being considered for the reciprocal

peer tutor program should at minimum meet these criteria (Telecsan, Slaton, & Stevens, 1999, Menesses & Gresham, 2009):

Is able to name all numbers from 0 to 18 (if tutoring in addition or subtraction math facts) and name all numbers from 0 to 81 (if tutoring in multiplication or division math facts).

• Can correctly read aloud a sampling of 10 math-facts (equation plus answer) that will be used in the tutoring sessions. (NOTE: The student does not need to have memorized or otherwise mastered these math facts to participate—just be able to read them aloud from cards without errors).

• [To document a deficit in math computation] When given a two-minute math computation probe to complete independently, computes fewer than 20 correct digits (Grades 1-3) or fewer than 40 correct digits (Grades 4 and up) (Deno & Mirkin, 1977).



Peer Tutoring in Math Computation: Teacher

Nomination Form



Tutoring Activity. Each tutoring ‘session’ last for 3 minutes. The tutor: – Presents Cards. The tutor presents each card to the tutee for 3

seconds. – Provides Tutor Feedback. [When the tutee responds correctly] The

tutor acknowledges the correct answer and presents the next card.

[When the tutee does not respond within 3 seconds or responds incorrectly] The tutor states the correct answer and has the tutee repeat the correct answer. The tutor then presents the next card.

– Provides Praise. The tutor praises the tutee immediately following correct answers.

– Shuffles Cards. When the tutor and tutee have reviewed all of the math-fact carts, the tutor shuffles them before again presenting cards.




Progress-Monitoring Activity. The tutor concludes each 3-minute tutoring session by assessing the number of math facts mastered by the tutee. The tutor follows this sequence:– Presents Cards. The tutor presents each card to the tutee for 3

seconds.– Remains Silent. The tutor does not provide performance feedback or

praise to the tutee, or otherwise talk during the assessment phase.– Sorts Cards. Based on the tutee’s responses, the tutor sorts the

math-fact cards into ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ piles.– Counts Cards and Records Totals. The tutor counts the number of

cards in the ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ piles and records the totals on the tutee’s progress-monitoring chart.




Tutoring Integrity Checks. As the student pairs complete the tutoring activities, the supervising adult monitors the integrity with which the intervention is carried out. At the conclusion of the tutoring session, the adult gives feedback to the student pairs, praising successful implementation and providing corrective feedback to students as needed. NOTE: Teachers can use the attached form Peer Tutoring in Math Computation with Constant Time Delay: Integrity Checklist to conduct integrity checks of the intervention and student progress-monitoring components of the math peer tutoring.




Peer Tutoring in Math

Computation: Intervention

Integrity Sheet:(Part 1:

Tutoring Activity)




Computation: Intervention

Integrity Sheet(Part 2:

Progress-Monitoring)




Computation: Score Sheet



Team Activity: Peer Tutoring in Math Computation with Constant Time Delay

Elementary Groups: At your table:

• Discuss how you might use or adapt this math computation tutoring intervention in your school.

Secondary Groups: At your table:

• Discuss the concept of ‘math computation fluency’. How important is it to provide students in interventions in this skill? How might your school deliver math computation interventions?



Additional Math InterventionsJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Math Review: Incremental Rehearsal of ‘Math Facts’ p. 48

2 x 6 =__Step 1: The tutor writes down on a series of index cards the math facts that the student needs to learn. The problems are written without the answers.

3 x 8 =__

9 x 2 =__

4 x 7 =__

7 x 6 =__

5 x 5 =__

5 x 3 =__

3 x 6 =__

8 x 4 =__

3 x 5 =__

4 x 5 =__

3 x 2 =__

6 x 5 =__

8 x 2 =__

9 x 7 =__



Math Review: Incremental Rehearsal of ‘Math Facts’

2 x 6 =__Step 2: The tutor reviews the ‘math fact’ cards with the student. Any card that the student can answer within 2 seconds is sorted into the ‘KNOWN’ pile. Any card that the student cannot answer within two seconds—or answers incorrectly—is sorted into the ‘UNKNOWN’ pile.

3 x 8 =__

4 x 7 =__

7 x 6 =__

5 x 3 =__

3 x 6 =__ 8 x 4 =__

4 x 5 =__

3 x 2 =__

6 x 5 =__

9 x 7 =__

9 x 2 =__

3 x 5 =__

8 x 2 =__

5 x 5 =__

‘KNOWN’ Facts ‘UNKNOWN’ Facts



Math Review: Incremental Rehearsal of ‘Math Facts’Step 3: The tutor is now ready to follow a nine-step incremental-rehearsal sequence: First, the tutor presents the student with a single index card containing an ‘unknown’ math fact. The tutor reads the problem aloud, gives the answer, then prompts the student to read off the same unknown problem and provide the correct answer.

3 x 8 =__ 2 x 6 =__

4 x 7 =__

5 x 3 =__3 x 6 =__

8 x 4 =__

3 x 2 =__

6 x 5 =__

4 x 5 =__

Step 3: Next the tutor takes a math fact from the ‘known’ pile and pairs it with the unknown problem. When shown each of the two problems, the student is asked to read off the problem and answer it.

3 x 8 =__ 4 x 5 =__

Step 3: The tutor then repeats the sequence--adding yet another known problem to the growing deck of index cards being reviewed and each time prompting the student to answer the whole series of math facts—until the review deck contains a total of one ‘unknown’ math fact and nine ‘known’ math facts (a ratio of 90 percent ‘known’ to 10 percent ‘unknown’ material )

3 x 8 =__



Math Review: Incremental Rehearsal of ‘Math Facts’Step 4: The student is then presented with a new ‘unknown’ math fact to answer--and the review sequence is once again repeated each time until the ‘unknown’ math fact is grouped with nine ‘known’ math facts—and on and on. Daily review sessions are discontinued either when time runs out or when the student answers an ‘unknown’ math fact incorrectly three times.

2 x 6 =__

5 x 3 =__

3 x 6 =__

8 x 4 =__

3 x 2 =__

6 x 5 =__

4 x 5 =__3 x 8 =__9 x 2 =__ 2 x 6 =__

4 x 7 =__

5 x 3 =__3 x 6 =__

8 x 4 =__

3 x 2 =__

6 x 5 =__

4 x 5 =__3 x 8 =__

Step 4: At this point, the last ‘known’ math fact that had been added to the student’s review deck is discarded (placed back into the original pile of ‘known’ problems) and the previously ‘unknown’ math fact is now treated as the first ‘known’ math fact in new student review deck for future drills.



Interpreting Math Graphics: A Reading Comprehension Intervention p. 52



Housing Bubble Graphic:

New York Times23 September 2007

Housing Price Index = 100 in 1987

Housing Price Index = 171 in 2005



Classroom Challenges in Interpreting Math Graphics

When encountering math graphics, students may :

• expect the answer to be easily accessible when in fact the graphic may expect the reader to interpret and draw conclusions

• be inattentive to details of the graphic• treat irrelevant data as ‘relevant’• not pay close attention to questions before turning to

graphics to find the answer• fail to use their prior knowledge both to extend the

information on the graphic and to act as a possible ‘check’ on the information that it presents.

Source: Mesmer, H.A.E., & Hutchins, E.J. (2002). Using QARs with charts and graphs. The Reading Teacher, 56, 21–27.



Using Question-Answer Relationships (QARs) to Interpret Information from Math Graphics

Students can be more savvy interpreters of graphics in applied math problems by applying the Question-Answer Relationship (QAR) strategy. Four Kinds of QAR Questions:

• RIGHT THERE questions are fact-based and can be found in a single sentence, often accompanied by 'clue' words that also appear in the question.

• THINK AND SEARCH questions can be answered by information in the text but require the scanning of text and making connections between different pieces of factual information.

• AUTHOR AND YOU questions require that students take information or opinions that appear in the text and combine them with the reader's own experiences or opinions to formulate an answer.

• ON MY OWN questions are based on the students' own experiences and do not require knowledge of the text to answer.




Using Question-Answer Relationships (QARs) to Interpret Information from Math Graphics: 4-Step Teaching Sequence

1. DISTINGUISHING DIFFERENT KINDS OF GRAPHICS. Students are taught to differentiate between common types of graphics: e.g., table (grid with information contained in cells), chart (boxes with possible connecting lines or arrows), picture (figure with labels), line graph, bar graph.

Students note significant differences between the various graphics, while the teacher records those observations on a wall chart. Next students are given examples of graphics and asked to identify which general kind of graphic each is.

Finally, students are assigned to go on a ‘graphics hunt’, locating graphics in magazines and newspapers, labeling them, and bringing to class to review.





2. INTERPRETING INFORMATION IN GRAPHICS. Students are paired off, with stronger students matched with less strong ones. The teacher spends at least one session presenting students with examples from each of the graphics categories.

The presentation sequence is ordered so that students begin with examples of the most concrete graphics and move toward the more abstract: Pictures > tables > bar graphs > charts > line graphs.

At each session, student pairs examine graphics and discuss questions such as: “What information does this graphic present? What are strengths of this graphic for presenting data? What are possible weaknesses?”





3. LINKING THE USE OF QARS TO GRAPHICS. Students are given a series of data questions and correct answers, with each question accompanied by a graphic that contains information needed to formulate the answer.

Students are also each given index cards with titles and descriptions of each of the 4 QAR questions: RIGHT THERE, THINK AND SEARCH, AUTHOR AND YOU, ON MY OWN.

Working in small groups and then individually, students read the questions, study the matching graphics, and ‘verify’ the answers as correct. They then identify the type question being asked using their QAR index cards.





4. USING QARS WITH GRAPHICS INDEPENDENTLY. When students are ready to use the QAR strategy independently to read graphics, they are given a laminated card as a reference with 6 steps to follow:

A. Read the question,

B. Review the graphic,

C. Reread the question,

D. Choose a QAR,

E. Answer the question, and

F. Locate the answer derived from the graphic in the answer choices offered.

Students are strongly encouraged NOT to read the answer choices offered until they have first derived their own answer, so that those choices don’t short-circuit their inquiry.




Developing Student Metacognitive Abilities



Importance of Metacognitive Strategy Use…“Metacognitive processes focus on self-awareness of cognitive knowledge that is presumed to be necessary for effective problem solving, and they direct and regulate cognitive processes and strategies during problem solving…That is, successful problem solvers, consciously or unconsciously (depending on task demands), use self-instruction, self-questioning, and self-monitoring to gain access to strategic knowledge, guide execution of strategies, and regulate use of strategies and problem-solving performance.” p. 231

Source: Montague, M. (1992). The effects of cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction on the mathematical problem solving of middle school students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 25, 230-248.



Elements of Metacognitive Processes

“Self-instruction helps students to identify and direct the problem-solving strategies prior to execution. Self-questioning promotes internal dialogue for systematically analyzing problem information and regulating execution of cognitive strategies. Self-monitoring promotes appropriate use of specific strategies and encourages students to monitor general performance. [Emphasis added].” p. 231

Source: Montague, M. (1992). The effects of cognitive and metacognitive strategy instruction on the mathematical problem solving of middle school students with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 25, 230-248.



Combining Cognitive & Metacognitive Strategies to Assist Students With Mathematical Problem Solving p. 57

Solving an advanced math problem independently requires the coordination of a number of complex skills. The following strategies combine both cognitive and metacognitive elements (Montague, 1992; Montague & Dietz, 2009). First, the student is taught a 7-step process for attacking a math word problem (cognitive strategy). Second, the instructor trains the student to use a three-part self-coaching routine for each of the seven problem-solving steps (metacognitive strategy).



Cognitive Portion of Combined Problem Solving Approach

In the cognitive part of this multi-strategy intervention, the student learns an explicit series of steps to analyze and solve a math problem. Those steps include:

1. Reading the problem. The student reads the problem carefully, noting and attempting to clear up any areas of uncertainly or confusion (e.g., unknown vocabulary terms).

2. Paraphrasing the problem. The student restates the problem in his or her own words.3. ‘Drawing’ the problem. The student creates a drawing of the problem, creating a

visual representation of the word problem.4. Creating a plan to solve the problem. The student decides on the best way to solve

the problem and develops a plan to do so.5. Predicting/Estimating the answer. The student estimates or predicts what the answer

to the problem will be. The student may compute a quick approximation of the answer, using rounding or other shortcuts.

6. Computing the answer. The student follows the plan developed earlier to compute the answer to the problem.

7. Checking the answer. The student methodically checks the calculations for each step of the problem. The student also compares the actual answer to the estimated answer calculated in a previous step to ensure that there is general agreement between the two values.



Metacognitive Portion of Combined Problem Solving Approach

The metacognitive component of the intervention is a three-part routine that follows a sequence of ‘Say’, ‘Ask, ‘Check’. For each of the 7 problem-solving steps reviewed above:

• The student first self-instructs by stating, or ‘saying’, the purpose of the step (‘Say’).

• The student next self-questions by ‘asking’ what he or she intends to do to complete the step (‘Ask’).

• The student concludes the step by self-monitoring, or ‘checking’, the successful completion of the step (‘Check’).



Combined Cognitive & Metacognitive Elements of Strategy





















Applied Problems: Pop QuizQ: “To move their armies, the Romans built over 50,000 miles of roads. Imagine driving all those miles! Now imagine driving those miles in the first gasoline-driven car that has only three wheels and could reach a top speed of about 10 miles per hour. For safety's sake, let's bring along a spare tire. As you drive the 50,000 miles, you rotate the spare with the other tires so that all four tires get the same amount of wear. Can you figure out how many miles of wear each tire accumulates?”

Source: The Math Forum @ Drexel: Critical Thinking Puzzles/Spare My Brain. Retrieved from http://mathforum.org/k12/k12puzzles/critical.thinking/puzz2.html

7-Step Problem-Solving:Process

1. Reading the problem. 2. Paraphrasing the

problem.3. ‘Drawing’ the

problem. 4. Creating a plan to

solve the problem.5. Predicting/Estimat-

ing the answer.6. Computing the

answer. 7. Checking the answer.

A: “Since the four wheels of the three-wheeled car share the journey equally, simply take three-fourths of the total distance (50,000 miles) and you'll get 37,500 miles for each tire.”

Directions: As a team, read the following problem. At your tables, apply the 7-step problem-solving (cognitive) strategy to complete the problem. As you complete each step of the problem, apply the ‘Say-Ask-Check’ metacognitive sequence. Try to complete the entire 7 steps within the time allocated for this exercise.



Defining Goals & Challenges in Applied Math



Potential ‘Blockers’ of Higher-Level Math Problem-Solving: A Sampler

Limited reading skills Failure to master--or develop automaticity in– basic math operations Lack of knowledge of specialized math vocabulary (e.g., ‘quotient’) Lack of familiarity with the specialized use of known words (e.g.,

‘product’) Inability to interpret specialized math symbols

(e.g., ‘4 < 2’) Difficulty ‘extracting’ underlying math operations from word/story

problems Difficulty identifying and ignoring extraneous information included in

word/story problems



Math Intervention Ideas for Higher-Level Math ProblemsJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Applied Problems



Applied Math Problems: Rationale

• Applied math problems (also known as ‘story’ or ‘word’ problems) are traditional tools for having students apply math concepts and operations to ‘real-world’ settings.



Applied Problems: Encourage Students to ‘Draw’ the ProblemMaking a drawing of an applied, or ‘word’, problem is one easy heuristic tool that students can use to help them to find the solution and clarify misunderstandings.

• The teacher hands out a worksheet containing at least six word problems. The teacher explains to students that making a picture of a word problem sometimes makes that problem clearer and easier to solve.

• The teacher and students then independently create drawings of each of the problems on the worksheet. Next, the students show their drawings for each problem, explaining each drawing and how it relates to the word problem. The teacher also participates, explaining his or her drawings to the class or group.

• Then students are directed independently to make drawings as an intermediate problem-solving step when they are faced with challenging word problems. NOTE: This strategy appears to be more effective when used in later, rather than earlier, elementary grades.

Source: Hawkins, J., Skinner, C. H., & Oliver, R. (2005). The effects of task demands and additive interspersal ratios on fifth-grade students’ mathematics accuracy. School Psychology Review, 34, 543-555..



Applied Problems: Individualized Self-Correction ChecklistsStudents can improve their accuracy on particular types of word and number problems by using an ‘individualized self-instruction checklist’ that reminds them to pay attention to their own specific error patterns.

• The teacher meets with the student. Together they analyze common error patterns that the student tends to commit on a particular problem type (e.g., ‘On addition problems that require carrying, I don’t always remember to carry the number from the previously added column.’).

• For each type of error identified, the student and teacher together describe the appropriate step to take to prevent the error from occurring (e.g., ‘When adding each column, make sure to carry numbers when needed.’).

• These self-check items are compiled into a single checklist. Students are then encouraged to use their individualized self-instruction checklist whenever they work independently on their number or word problems.

Source: Pólya, G. (1945). How to solve it. Princeton University Press: Princeton, N.J.



Secondary Group-Based Math Intervention

Example



‘Standard Protocol’ Group-Based Treatments: Strengths & Limits in Secondary Settings

• Research indicates that students do well in targeted small-group interventions (4-6 students) when the intervention ‘treatment’ is closely matched to those students’ academic needs (Burns & Gibbons, 2008).

• However, in secondary schools:1. students are sometimes grouped for remediation by

convenience rather than by presenting need. Teachers instruct across a broad range of student skills, diluting the positive impact of the intervention.

2. students often present with a unique profile of concerns that does not lend itself to placement in a group intervention.

Source: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools: Procedures to assure scientific-based practices. New York: Routledge.



Caution About Secondary Standard-Protocol (‘Group-Based’) Interventions: Avoid the ‘Homework Help’ Trap

• Group-based or standard-protocol interventions are an efficient method for certified teachers to deliver targeted academic support to students (Burns & Gibbons, 2008).

• However, students should be matched to specific research-based interventions that address their specific needs.

• RTI intervention support in secondary schools should not take the form of unfocused ‘homework help’.



Math Mentors: Training Students to Independently Use On-Line Math-Help Resources

1. Math mentors are recruited (school personnel, adult volunteers, student teachers, peer tutors) who have a good working knowledge of algebra.

2. The school meets with each math mentor to verify mentor’s algebra knowledge.

3. The school trains math mentors in 30-minute tutoring protocol, to include:

A. Requiring that students keep a math journal detailing questions from notes and homework.

B. Holding the student accountable to bring journal, questions to tutoring session.C. Ensuring that a minimum of 25 minutes of 30 minute session are spent on

tutoring.

4. Mentors are introduced to online algebra resources (e.g., www.algebrahelp.com, www.math.com) and encouraged to browse them and become familiar with the site content and navigation.



5. Mentors are trained during ‘math mentor’ sessions to:A. Examine student math journalB. Answer student algebra questionsC. Direct the student to go online to algebra tutorial websites while mentor

supervises. Student is to find the section(s) of the websites that answer their questions.

6. As the student shows increased confidence with algebra and with navigation of the math-help websites, the mentor directs the student to:

A. Note math homework questions in the math journalB. Attempt to find answers independently on math-help websitesC. Note in the journal any successful or unsuccessful attempts to independently get

answers onlineD. Bring journal and remaining questions to next mentoring meeting.

Math Mentors: Training Students to Independently Use On-Line Math-Help Resources





Group Activity: RTI: Reading& Math: Next Steps

At your tables:• Review the content

discussed today in the workshop.

• What are the key 2-3 next steps that you plan to take to make the best use of these ideas and resources in the coming school year?

Key Workshop Content1. Big ideas in academic interventions2. Reading fluency strategies3. Reading comprehension strategies4. Math computation fluency strategies5. Math word problem strategies6. Internet resources (e.g., HELPS

program, Maze generator, math worksheet generator, FL Center for Reading Research, Free-Read.net)





Secondary-Level Tier 1 Intervention: Case ExamplesJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org





Tier 1 Case Example: Patricia: Reading Comprehension



Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Problem• A student, Patricia, struggled in her social studies class,

particularly in understanding the course readings. Her teacher, Ms. Cardamone, decided that the problem was significant enough that the student required some individualized support.

199



Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Evidence• Student Interview. Ms. Cardamone met with Patricia to ask her

questions about her difficulties with social studies content and assignments. Patricia said that when she reads the course text and other assigned readings, she doesn’t have difficulty with the vocabulary but often realizes after reading half a page that she hasn’t really understood what she has read. Sometimes she has to reread a page several times and that can be frustrating.

200



Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Evidence (Cont.)• Review of Records. Past teacher report card comments suggest that

Patricia has had difficulty with reading comprehension tasks in earlier grades. She had received help in middle school in the reading lab, although there was no record of what specific interventions were tried in that setting.

• Input from Other Teachers. Ms. Cardamone checked with other teachers who have Patricia in their classes. All expressed concern about Patricia’s reading comprehension skills. The English teacher noted that Patricia appears to have difficulty pulling the main idea from a passage, which limits her ability to extract key information from texts and to review that information for tests.

•

201



Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Intervention• Ms. Cardamone decided, based on the evidence collected, that

Patricia would benefit from training in identifying the main idea from a passage, rather than trying to retain all the information presented in the text. She selected two simple interventions: Question Generation and Text Lookback. She arranged to have Patricia meet with her during an open period to review these two strategies. During that meeting, Ms. Cardamone demonstrated how to use these strategies effectively with the social studies course text and other assigned readings.

202



QuestionGeneration

Students are taught to boost their comprehension of expository passages by (1) locating the main idea or key ideas in the passage and (2) generating questions based on that information.

http://www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/interventions/rdngcompr/qgen.php



Text Lookback

Text lookback is a simple strategy that students can use to boost their recall of expository prose by identifying questions that require information from the text and then looking back in the text in a methodical manner to locate that information.

http://www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/interventions/rdngcompr/txtlkbk.php



Case Example: Reading ComprehensionDocumentation and Goal-Setting• Ms Cardamone filled out a Tier 1 intervention plan for the

student. On the plan, she listed interventions to be used, a checkup date (4 instructional weeks), and data to be used to assess student progress.

• Data: Ms. Cardamone decided that she would rate the student’s grasp of text content in two ways: – Student self-rating (1-3 scale; 1=don’t understand; 3 = understand

well)– Quiz grades.

• She collected baseline on both and set a goal for improvement.

205





Case Example: Reading ComprehensionThe Outcome• When the intervention had been in place for 4 weeks, Ms.

Cardamone noted that Patricia appeared to have a somewhat better grasp of course content and expressed a greater understanding of material from the text.

• She shared her intervention ideas with other teachers working with Patricia. Because Patricia’s self-ratings of reading comprehension and quiz grades met the goals after 4 weeks, Ms. Cardamone decided to continue the intervention plan with the student without changes.

207





Group Activity: Big Ideas in Academic InterventionsAt your tables:• Review the big ideas in

academic interventions presented in this workshop.

• Select the ONE idea that you feel is most important for your teachers to understand and keep in mind.

Big Ideas in Academic Interventions1. Definition of terms: Core instruction,

intervention, accommodation, modification (with modifications to be avoided on RTI plans)

2. Learners advance through predictable stages: Acquisition, Fluency, Generalization, Adaptation

3. Intervention as high-quality instruction is research-based if it is correctly targeted, provides explicit instruction in the skill and an appropriate level of challenge, gives the student sufficient opportunities to respond to and practice the skill, and offers immediate feedback on performance.



Clearinghouse for RTI Tier 1-3 Programs• The What Works Clearinghouse (http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/) is a

federally-sponsored website that lists research supporting various Tier 1, 2, and 3 intervention programs.

210



Reading Interventions: ActivityIn your groups…

• Review the reading-related intervention ideas in your handout.

1. Academic & Content-Area Vocabulary p. 122. Extended Classroom Discussion p. 203. Main Idea Maps p. 264. Mental Imagery p. 295. Activating the Known p.316. Question Generation p. 357. Text Lookback p. 37

• Select at least 1 idea that you think that your school could use right away. What kind of classroom or building preparation would be required?







Finding the Right Spark: Strategies for Motivating the Resistant Learner at the Middle and High School Levels




Motivating Students: Agenda…

1. Understanding the Central Role that Motivation Plays in Student Success

2. Defining ‘Motivation’ (and Related Behavioral Principles )

3. Analyzing Why a Student Lacks Motivation and Selecting Appropriate Strategies

4. Helping Teachers to Proactively Manage Instruction and Behaviors to Optimize Student Motivation

5. Motivating Teachers to Want to Use Motivating Strategies With Students

6. Reviewing Additional Internet Resources



Download PowerPoints and Handouts from this Keynote Available at:

http://www.jimwrightonline.com/NASP_Indy.php



“ ”A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.Lao Tzu, Chinese Taoist (600 BC-531 BC)



Motivation Challenge: Understanding the Central Role that Motivation Plays in Student Success



Childhood and Beyond Longitudinal Project

• 3 cohorts of children (about 250 children per cohort) were followed across elementary, middle and high school. (Children were recruited from 4 middle-class school districts in the midwest.)

• In the subject areas of math, language arts, and sports, students were asked each year to rate their competence in the subject and their valuing of it.

Source: Jacobs, J. E., Lanza, S., Osgood, D. W., Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Changes in children’s self-competence and values: Gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve. Child Development, 73, 509-527.



Childhood and Beyond Longitudinal Project: Some Findings

• Ratings of both competence and value declined for all 3 subject areas (math, language arts, and sports) for boys and girls as they grew older.

• Girls rated themselves lower in competence in math throughout school—until grade 12, when boys and girls converged in their ratings (because boys’ ratings declined faster than did girls’ ratings).

• Across all grade levels, boys rated themselves significantly less competent than did girls in language arts.

• Not surprisingly, boys’ and girls’ valuing (enjoyment, liking) of a subject area correlated with perceived ability. Generally, boys and girls who rated themselves as lowest in ability also rated their valuing of the subject area as lowest.




Five Strands of Mathematical Proficiency (NRC, 2002)

1. Understanding: Comprehending mathematical concepts, operations, and relations--knowing what mathematical symbols, diagrams, and procedures mean.








School Dropout as a Process, Not an Event

“It is increasingly accepted that dropout is best conceptualized as a long-term process, not an instantaneous event; however, most interventions are administered at a middle or high school level after problems are severe.”

Source: Jimerson, S., Reschly, A.L., & Hess, R. (2008). Best practices in increasing the likelihood of school completion. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds). Best Practices in School Psychology - 5th Ed (pp. 1085-1097). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.. p.1090



Student Motivation & The Need for Intervention“A common response to students who struggle in sixth grade is to wait and hope they grow out of it or adapt, to attribute early struggles to the natural commotion of early adolescence and to temporary difficulties in adapting to new organizational structures of schooling, more challenging curricula and assessment, and less personalized attention. Our evidence clearly indicates that, at least in high-poverty urban schools, sixth graders who are missing 20% or more of the days, exhibiting poor behavior, or failing math or English do not recover. On the contrary, they drop out. This says that early intervention is not only productive but absolutely essential.”




What Are the ‘Early Warning Flags’ of Student Drop-Out?

A sample of 13,000 students in Philadelphia were tracked for 8 years. These early warning indicators were found to predict student drop-out in the sixth-grade year:

• Failure in English• Failure in math• Missing at least 20% of school days• Receiving an ‘unsatisfactory’ behavior rating from at

least one teacher




What is the Predictive Power of These Early Warning Flags?


Number of ‘Early Warning Flags’ in Student Record

Probability That Student Would Graduate

None 56%

1 36%

2 21%

3 13%

4 7%



Motivation Challenge: Defining Motivation and Related Behavioral Principles



Academic or Behavioral Targets Are Stated as ‘Replacement Behaviors’

“The implementation of successful interventions begins with accurate problem identification. Traditionally, the student problem was stated as a broad, general concern (e.g., impulsive, aggressive, reading below grade level) that a teacher identified. In a competency-based approach, however, the problem identification is stated in terms of the desired replacement behaviors that will increase the student’s probability of successful adaptation to the task demands of the academic setting.” p. 178

Source: Batsche, G. M., Castillo, J. M., Dixon, D. N., & Forde, S. (2008). Best practices in problem analysis. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 177-193).



Big Ideas: Similar Behaviors May Stem from Very Different ‘Root’ Causes

(Kratochwill, Elliott, & Carrington Rotto, 1990)

• Behavior is not random but follows purposeful patterns.

Students who present with the same apparent ‘surface’ behaviors may have very different ‘drivers’ (underlying reasons) that explain why those behaviors occur.

A student’s problem behaviors must be carefully identified and analyzed to determine the drivers that support them.

Source: Kratochwill, T. R., Elliott, S. N., & Carrington Rotto, P. (1990). Best practices in behavioral consultation. In A. Thomas and J. Grimes (Eds.). Best practices in school psychology-II (pp. 147=169). Silver Spring, MD: National Association of School Psychologists..



Inference: Moving Beyond the Margins of the ‘Known’

“An inference is a tentative conclusion without direct or conclusive support from available data. All hypotheses are, by definition, inferences. It is critical that problem analysts make distinctions between what is known and what is inferred or hypothesized….Low-level inferences should be exhausted prior to the use of high-level inferences.” p. 161

Source: Christ, T. (2008). Best practices in problem analysis. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 159-176).



Examples of High vs. Low Inference Hypotheses

High-Inference Hypothesis. The student is ‘just lazy’ and would do better if he would only apply himself.

Known

Unknown

Low-Inference Hypothesis. The student has gaps in academic skills that require (a) mapping out those skill gaps, and (b) providing the student with remedial instruction as needed.

Known

Unknown

An 11th-grade student does poorly on tests and quizzes in math. Homework is often incomplete. He frequently shows up late for class and does not readily participate in group discussions.



Student Motivation Levels Are Strongly Influenced by the Instructional Setting (Lentz & Shapiro, 1986)

• Students with learning or motivation problems do not exist in isolation. Rather, their instructional environment plays an enormously important role in these students’ degree of academic engagement.

Source: Lentz, F. E. & Shapiro, E. S. (1986). Functional assessment of the academic environment. School Psychology Review, 15, 346-57.



“ ”…educators continue to exert change efforts toward the individual, particularly in the form of punitive responses, when academic or behavior problems arise. Yet, a rapidly growing literature base offers evidence that this may not be an altogether effective, expedient, or comprehensive approach to academic and behavioral challenges. Instead, intervention strategies that are likely to have a large impact and sustained effect must duly alter those environmental events that beget student challenges. (Kern & Clemens, 2007)

Source: Kern, L., & Clemens, N. H. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 65-75.



Student academic problems cause many school behavior problems.

“Whether [a student’s] problem is a behavior problem or an academic one, we recommend starting with a functional academic assessment, since often behavior problems occur when students cannot or will not do required academic work.”

Big Ideas: Academic Delays Can Be a Potent Cause of Behavior

Problems (Witt, Daly, & Noell, 2000)

Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Noell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West, p. 13



Defining Motivation: Activity

234

At your table:

• Discuss the term ‘ motivation’.

• Come up with a definition of this term that you feel would be appropriate to share with your teaching staff.



Definitions of ‘Motivation’Motivation “refers to a student's willingness, need, desire and compulsion to participate in, and be successful in, the learning process.”

Source: Bomia, L., Beluzo, L., Demeester, D., Elander, K., Johnson, M., & Sheldon, B. (1997). The impact of teaching strategies on intrinsic motivation. Champaign, IL: ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 418 925)

“Motivation is typically defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior.”

Source: Excerpted from Chapter 11 of Biehler/Snowman, PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO TEACHING, 8/e, Houghton Mifflin, 1997.



Unmotivated Students: What Works

The relationship between the two factors is multiplicative. If EITHER of these factors (the student’s expectation of success on the task OR the student’s valuing of that success) is zero, then the ‘motivation’ product will also be zero.

1. the student’s expectation of success on the task

2. the value that the student places on achieving success on that learning task

Motivation can be thought of as having two dimensions:

Multiplied by

Source: Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. A. Shinn, H. M. Walker & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp.373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

………………10X 0...…………

0

……………… 0X 10...…………

0

………………10X 10...…………

100



Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation

“An intrinsically motivated behavior [is defined as] one for which there exists no recognizable reward except the activity itself (e.g., reading). That is, behavior that cannot be attributed to external controls is usually attributed to intrinsic motivation.”“…an extrinsically motivated behavior refers to behavior controlled by stimuli external to the task.” p. 345

Source: Akin-Little, K. A., Eckert, T. L., Lovett, B. J., & Little, S. G. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom: Bribery or best practice. School Psychology Review, 33, 344-362.



Intrinsic Motivation: Is There Any Utility to This Construct?

By definition, intrinsic motivation is supported by the reinforcing quality of the activity alone. As a construct, ‘intrinsic motivation’ may be untestable, because the reinforcer cannot be directly observed or experimentally manipulated.

Source: Akin-Little, K. A., Eckert, T. L., Lovett, B. J., & Little, S. G. (2004). Extrinsic reinforcement in the classroom: Bribery or best practice. School Psychology Review, 33, 344-362.

“Intrinsic motivation has been defined as behaviors performed in the absence of observable external reinforcement. Defining any construct in terms of what it is not does little to advance the course of science.”p. 358



Big Ideas: The Four Stages of Learning Can Be Summed Up in the ‘Instructional Hierarchy

(Haring et al., 1978)

Student learning can be thought of as a multi-stage process. The universal stages of learning include:

• Acquisition: The student is just acquiring the skill.• Fluency: The student can perform the skill but

must make that skill ‘automatic’.• Generalization: The student must perform the skill

across situations or settings.• Adaptation: The student confronts novel task

demands that require that the student adapt a current skill to meet new requirements.

Source: Haring, N.G., Lovitt, T.C., Eaton, M.D., & Hansen, C.L. (1978). The fourth R: Research in the classroom. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.



Reframing ‘Intrinsic Motivation’ as the Handiwork of Good Teachers

• When a student appears to be ‘intrinsically motivated’ to complete a task, that student has advanced through the stages of the Instructional Hierarchy to independence.

To reach his or her current state of academic competence, however, the student needed to move through the usual stages of learning and required lots of close teacher support, encouragement, and extrinsic reinforcement.

When students are observed who seem to be ‘intrinsically motivated’ by academics, then, we are merely observing the excellent handiwork of past teachers!

240



Motivation in Action: ‘Flow’



Definition of the ‘Flow’ State

“Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost.”--Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Source: Geirland, J. (Septermber, 1996). Go with the flow. Wired Magazine. Retrieved March 19, 2007, from http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.09/czik_pr.html



Qualities of Activities that May Elicit a ‘Flow’ State

• The activity is challenging and requires skill to complete• Goals are clear• Feedback is immediate• There is a ‘merging of action and awareness’. ‘All the attention

is concentrated on the relevant stimuli’ so that individuals are no longer aware of themselves as ‘separate from the actions they are performing’

• The sense of time’s passing is altered: Time may seem slowed or pass very quickly

• ‘Flow’ is not static. As one acquires mastery over an activity, he or she must move to more challenging experiences to continue to achieve ‘flow’Source: Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row



Flow Channel

Source: Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York: Harper & Row

Anxiety

Boredom

(High)

(Low)(High)(Low)

• Student A: Low Skills, Low Challenge

A

• Student B: High Skills, Low Challenge

B

• Student C: Low Skills, High Challenge

C

• Student D: High Skills, High Challenge

D

Chal

leng

es

Skills



The Gordian Knot: A Symbol for an Intractable Problem

Solved Through an Innovative Approach

• The Gordian Knot was a relic kept in an ancient temple in the kingdom of Phrygia. The knot was so intricate and cunningly woven together that no person could untie it.

• One day, the Macedonian military conqueror Alexander the Great visited the temple to view the knot. When told that many had tried without success through the ages to untie it, Alexander studied the knot closely—then pulled out his sword and cut it in two.

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Student Motivation: Cutting the ‘Gordian Knot’ by Reframing the Issue in Observable

(and Fixable) TermsStep 1: Redefine ‘motivation’ as academic engagement: e.g., The student chooses “to engage in active accurate academic responding” (Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005).

Step 2: Build staff support for this mission statement: “When a student appears unmotivated, it is the school’s job to figure out why the student is unmotivated and to find a way to get that student motivated.”

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Source: Skinner, C. H., Pappas, D. N., & Davis, K. A. (2005). Enhancing academic engagement: Providing opportunities for responding and influencing students to choose to respond. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 389-403.



Motivation Challenge: Analyzing Why a Student Lacks Motivation and Selecting Appropriate Strategies



“ ”[An important] assumption of social cognitive models of motivation is that motivation is not a stable trait of an individual, but is more situational, contextual, and domain-specific. In other words, not only are students motivated in multiple ways, but their motivation can vary depending on the situation or context in the classroom or school. …This provides hope for teachers and school psychologists and suggests that instructional efforts and the design of classrooms and schools can make a difference in motivating students for academic achievement. (Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002, p. 314).

Source: Linnenbrink, E. A., & Pintrich, P. R. (2002). Motivation as an enabler for academic success. School Psychology Review, 31, 313-327.



Six Reasons That Students Are Unmotivated (And What Teachers Can Do)

The student is unmotivated because he or she cannot do the assigned work. The student is unmotivated because the ‘response effort’ needed to complete the assigned work seems too great. The student is unmotivated because classroom instruction does not engage.The student is unmotivated because he or she fails to see an adequate pay-off to doing the assigned work.The student is unmotivated because of low self-efficacy—lack of confidence that he or she can do the assigned work.The student is unmotivated because he or she lacks a positive relationship with the teacher.

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Six Reasons Why Students Are Unmotivated (And What Teachers Can Do)

• This handout provides guidance to teachers in identifying why a student lacks motivation and what general strategies are recommended in the research.

• The teacher then has latitude to use the general guidelines and the research that supports them as a starting-point for their own intervention ideas to boost motivation.

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Motivation Deficit 1: The student is unmotivated because he or she cannot do the assigned work.

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• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student lacks essential skills required to do the task.



• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem (Cont.):Areas of deficit might include:

• Basic academic skills. Basic skills have straightforward criteria for correct performance (e.g., the student defines vocabulary words or decodes text or computes ‘math facts’) and comprise the building-blocks of more complex academic tasks (Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009).

• Cognitive strategies. Students employ specific cognitive strategies as “guiding procedures” to complete more complex academic tasks such as reading comprehension or writing (Rosenshine, 1995

• Academic-enabling skills. Skills that are ‘academic enablers’ (DiPerna, 2006) are not tied to specific academic knowledge but rather aid student learning across a wide range of settings and tasks (e.g., organizing work materials, time management).

Motivation Deficit 1: Cannot Do the Work



Motivation Deficit 1: Cannot Do the Work (Cont.)

• What the Research Says: When a student lacks the capability to complete an academic task because of limited or missing basic skills, cognitive strategies, or academic-enabling skills, that student is still in the acquisition stage of learning (Haring et al., 1978). That student cannot be expected to be motivated or to be successful as a learner unless he or she is first explicitly taught these weak or absent essential skills (Daly, Witt, Martens & Dool, 1997).

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• How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher collects information (e.g., through observations of the student engaging in academic tasks; interviews with the student; examination of work products, quizzes, or tests) demonstrating that the student lacks basic skills, cognitive strategies, or academic-enabling skills essential to the academic task.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: Students who are not motivated because they lack essential skills need to be taught those skills.

Direct-Instruction Format. Students learning new material, concepts, or skills benefit from a ‘direct instruction’ approach. (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008; Rosenshine, 1995; Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009).

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:ensures that the lesson content is appropriately

matched to students’ abilities.opens the lesson with a brief review of concepts or

material that were previously presented.states the goals of the current day’s lesson.breaks new material into small, manageable increments,

or steps.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:throughout the lesson, provides adequate explanations

and detailed instructions for all concepts and materials being taught. NOTE: Verbal explanations can include ‘talk-alouds’ (e.g., the teacher describes and explains each step of a cognitive strategy) and ‘think-alouds’ (e.g., the teacher applies a cognitive strategy to a particular problem or task and verbalizes the steps in applying the strategy).

regularly checks for student understanding by posing frequent questions and eliciting group responses.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:verifies that students are experiencing sufficient success

in the lesson content to shape their learning in the desired direction and to maintain student motivation and engagement.

provides timely and regular performance feedback and corrections throughout the lesson as needed to guide student learning.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: When following a direct-instruction format, the teacher:allows students the chance to engage in practice

activities distributed throughout the lesson (e.g., through teacher demonstration; then group practice with teacher supervision and feedback; then independent, individual student practice).

ensures that students have adequate support (e.g., clear and explicit instructions; teacher monitoring) to be successful during independent seatwork practice activities.

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RTI Interventions: What If There is No Commercial Intervention Package or Program Available?

“Although commercially prepared programs and the subsequent manuals and materials are inviting, they are not necessary. … A recent review of research suggests that interventions are research based and likely to be successful, if they are correctly targeted and provide explicit instruction in the skill, an appropriate level of challenge, sufficient opportunities to respond to and practice the skill, and immediate feedback on performance…Thus, these [elements] could be used as criteria with which to judge potential tier 2 interventions.” p. 88

Source: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York.



Motivation Deficit 2: The student is unmotivated because the ‘response effort’ needed to complete the assigned work seems too great.

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• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: Although the student has the required skills to complete the assigned work, he or she perceives the ‘effort’ needed to do so to be so great that the student loses motivation.



Motivation Deficit 2: Response Effort (Cont.)

• What the Research Says: Research indicates that (1) as the perceived effort to complete an academic task or other behavior (‘response effort’) increases, people are less likely to engage in that behavior, while (2) as the effort to complete the same behavior decreases, people are more likely to engage in it (Friman & Poling, 1995).

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• How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher first checks to see that the student has the requisite skills needed for academic success. The teacher then looks for evidence that, in specific situations, the student is reluctant to undertake academic tasks because they are perceived to require too much effort.

Tell-tale signs that a student may be unmotivated because of the required response effort include procrastination, verbal complaining, frequent seeking of teacher help, and other avoidant behaviors.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: Teachers can increase student motivation through any method that reduces the apparent ‘response effort’ of an academic task (Friman & Poling, 1995). - so long as that method does not hold the student to a lesser academic standard than classmates (Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005).

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Motivation Deficit 2: Response Effort (Cont.)Try These Ideas to Improve Motivation by Reducing Response Effort :

• Start Assigned Readings in Class. Whenever the teacher assigns a challenging text for students to read independently (e.g., as homework), the teacher (or perhaps a skilled student reader) reads the first few paragraphs of the assigned reading aloud while the class follows along silently in their own texts. Students are then expected to read the remainder of the text on their own.

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• Begin Challenging Homework Assignments in Class. When assigned challenging homework, students are paired off or divided into groups and given a small amount of class time to begin the homework together, develop a plan for completing the homework, formulate questions about the homework, or engage in other activities that will create the necessary momentum to motivate students then to complete the work independently.

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• ‘Chunk’ Assignments. The teacher breaks a larger student assignment into smaller ‘chunks’. The teacher provides the student with performance feedback and praise for each completed ‘chunk’ of assigned work (Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005).

• Select a Supportive Peer or Adult to Get a Student Started on Assignments. If a student finds it difficult to get organized and begin independent seatwork activities, a supportive peer or adult in the classroom can get the student organized and started on the assignment.

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• Provide a Formal Work Plan. For more complex assignments such as research papers, the teacher gives the student an outline of a work plan for completing those assignments. The plan breaks a larger assignment into appropriate sub-steps (e.g., ‘find five research articles for the paper’, ‘summarize key information from research articles into notes’, etc.). For each sub-step, the plan provides (1) an estimate of the minimum ‘seat time’ required to complete it and (2) sets a calendar-date deadline for completion. The teacher then touches base with the student at least weekly about his or her progress.

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Sequencing of Activities: Precede Low-Probability Items with High-Probability Items

Using High-Probability Sequencing. A ‘low-probability’ problem or item is one that the student is less likely to attempt, perhaps because of poor motivation. However, educators can make use of behavioral momentum to raise the odds that the student will attempt a low-probability challenge problem by first presenting that student with a series of problems that are ‘high probability’ (the student is likely to attempt and to complete them correctly) (Cates et al., 2003). On a spelling test, for example, the instructor may present three easier words in a row before presenting the low-probability challenge word (e.g., ‘specific’). The instructor can experiment with the number of high-probability problems or items that precede each low-probability challenge problem to find the most efficient sequence that still promotes student motivation and learning.

Source: Cates, G. L., Skinner, C. H., Watson, T. S., Meadows, T. J., Weaver, A., & Jackson, B. (2003). Instructional effectiveness and instructional efficiency as considerations for data-based decision making: An evaluation of interspersing procedures. School Psychology Review, 32, 601-616.



Helping the Student Who is ‘Under Water’ With Late Assignments: A Structure for Teacher–Student Conferences



Negotiating Missing Work: Student-Teacher Conference

When students fall behind in their classwork, they can quickly enter a downward spiral. Some students become overwhelmed and simply give up. In such cases, the teacher may want to meet with the student –and if possible, a parent--to help that student to create a work plan to catch up with late work. At the meeting, the teacher and student inventory what work is missing, negotiate a plan to complete that overdue work, and perhaps agree on a reasonable penalty when late work is turned in. All attending then sign off on the work plan. The teacher also ensures that the atmosphere at the meeting is supportive.

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Negotiating Missing Work: Student-Teacher Conference (Cont.)

Here in greater detail are the steps that the teacher and student would follow at a meeting to renegotiate missing work:

1. Inventory All Missing Work. The teacher reviews with the student all late or missing work. The student is given the opportunity to explain why the work has not yet been submitted.

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2. Negotiate a Plan to Complete Missing Work. The teacher and student create a log with entries for all missing assignments. Each entry includes a description of the missing assignment and a due date by which the student pledges to submit that work. This log becomes the student’s work plan. Submission dates for late assignments should be realistic--particularly for students who owe a considerable amount of late work and are also trying to keep caught up with current assignments.

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3. [Optional] Impose a Penalty for Missing Work. The teacher may decide to impose a penalty for the work being submitted late. Examples of possible penalties are a reduction of points (e.g., loss of 10 points per assignment) or the requirement that the student do additional work on the assignment than was required of his or her peers who turned it in on time. If imposed, such penalties would be spelled out at this teacher-student conference. Any penalties should be balanced and fair, permitting the teacher to impose appropriate consequences while allowing the student to still see a path to completing missing work and passing the course.

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4. Periodically Check on the Status of the Missing-Work Plan. If the schedule agreed upon by teacher and student to complete and submit all late work exceeds two weeks, the teacher (or other designated school contact, such as a counselor) should meet with the student weekly while the plan is in effect. At these meetings, the teacher checks in with the student to verify that he or she is attaining the plan milestones on time and still expects to meet the submission deadlines agreed upon. If obstacles to emerge, the teacher and student engage in problem-solving to resolve them.

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Download PowerPoints and Handouts from this Keynote Available at:

http://www.jimwrightonline.com/NASP_Indy.php



Motivating the Reluctant Student: Activity

• Review the two reasons for poor student motivation presented.

• Discuss how your school might identify and support students who lack motivation for these reasons.

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• Motivation Deficit 1: The student is unmotivated because he or she cannot do the assigned work.

• Motivation Deficit 2: The student is unmotivated because the ‘response effort’ needed to complete the assigned work seems too great.



Motivation Deficit 3: The student is unmotivated because classroom instruction does not engage.

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• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student is distracted or off-task because classroom instruction and learning activities are not sufficiently reinforcing to hold his or her attention.



“ ”…researchers [shows] that when provided with a choice of two or more behaviors, with all else held constant, students are more likely to choose to engage in the behavior that results in more immediate reinforcement, higher rate reinforcement, or higher quality reinforcement… Thus, educators can increase the probability of students choosing to engage in assigned work by both enhancing reinforcement for assigned tasks and weakening reinforcement for competing behaviors… (Skinner et al., 2005; p. 396)




Motivation Deficit 3: Instruction Does Not Engage (Cont.)

• What the Research Says: In classroom settings, students can choose to respond to a variety of reinforcing events—for example, watching the teacher, interacting with peers, looking out the window at passing traffic. The fact is that classroom instruction must always compete for student attention with other sources of reinforcement (Billington & DiTommaso, 2003; Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005). There are two ways that the instructor can increase the student’s motivation to attend to classroom instruction: (1) by decreasing the reinforcing power of competing (distracting) stimuli, and/or (2) by increasing the reinforcing power of academic activities.

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• How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher observes that the student is engaged in behaviors other than those related to instruction or is otherwise distracted by non-instructional events occurring in the classroom. Furthermore, the teacher has verified that the student’s lack of attention to instruction is not due primarily to that student’s attempting to escape or avoid difficult classwork.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: The teacher can increase the inattentive student’s focus on instruction and engagement in learning activities by:– Reducing the Reinforcing Power of Non-Instructional

Activities. The teacher identifies any non-instructional activities in the classroom that are competing with instruction for the student’s attention and takes steps to reduce or eliminate them.

– Increasing the Reinforcing Power of Classroom Instruction. The teacher strives to boost the reinforcing quality of academic activities and instruction to better capture and hold the student’s attention.

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Try These Ideas to Improve Motivation by Reducing the Reinforcing Power of Non-Instructional Activities:

• Use Preferential Seating (U.S. Department of Education, 2004). The teacher seats a student who is distracted by peers or other environmental factors in a location where the student is most likely to stay focused on instructional content. All teachers have an 'action zone', a part of the room where they tend to focus most of their instruction; the instructor seats the distractible student somewhere within that zone. The ideal seating location for any particular student will vary, depending on the unique qualities of that student and of the classroom.

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• Create Low-Distraction Work Areas (U.S. Department of Education, 2004. For students who are off-task during independent seatwork, the teacher can set up a study carrel in the corner of the room or other low-distraction work area. The teacher can then either direct the distractible student to use that area whenever independent seatwork is assigned or can permit the student to choose when to use the area.

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• Restrict Student Access to Electronic Devices and Other Potential Distracting Objects. The teacher creates a list of personal possessions that can pose the potential to distract from instruction (e.g., cell phones, personal game devices, etc.). The teacher either completely bans use of these items of student property at any point during a course session or restricts their use to clearly specified times or conditions.

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Try These Ideas to Improve Motivation by Increasing the Reinforcing Power of Classroom Instruction:

• Use Bellringer Activities. The teacher routinely gives students ‘bellringer’ activities to work on as soon as they enter the classroom. The point of this strategy is to capture students’ attention at the outset with academically relevant activities. Ideally, bellringer tasks should be engaging but also should review and reinforce previously taught content or prepare students for the upcoming lesson.

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• Provide Opportunities for Choice (Kern, Bambara, & Fogt, 2002). One efficient way to promote choice in the classroom is for the teacher to create a master menu of options that students can select from in various learning situations. For example, during independent assignment, students might be allowed to (1) choose from at least 2 assignment options, (2) sit where they want in the classroom, and (3) select a peer-buddy to check their work. Student choice then becomes integrated seamlessly into the classroom routine.

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• Structure Lessons around High-Interest or Functional-Learning Goals (Kern, Bambara, & Fogt, 2002; Miller et al., 2003). A student is more likely to be engaged when academic lessons are based on ‘high-interest’ topics that interest the student (e.g., NASCAR racing; fashion) or that have a ‘functional-learning’ pay-off—e.g., job interview skills; money management skills --that the student values and can apply in his or her own life.

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• Incorporate Cooperative Learning Activities into Instruction (Beyda, Zentall, & Ferko, 2002; Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002). Teacher-directed cooperative learning activities can be highly reinforcing for adolescent students, who typically find opportunities to interact with classmates to be a strong motivator. Cooperative learning tasks have the added advantages of promoting active student engagement and allowing the instructor to get real-time feedback through direct observation about the abilities and learning of individual students.

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• Maintain a Brisk Pace of Instruction (Gettinger & Seibert, 2002). Instruction that is well-matched to the abilities of the classroom and moves at a brisk pace is most likely to capture and hold student attention. Additionally, the teacher is careful to avoid ‘dead time’, interruptions of instruction (e.g., time-consuming transitions to other activities; etc.) when students may get off-task and be difficult to redirect back to academic tasks.

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Motivation Deficit 4: The student is unmotivated because he or she fails to see an adequate pay-off to doing the assigned work.

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• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student requires praise, access to rewards, or other reinforcers in the short term as a temporary ‘pay-off’ to encourage her or him to apply greater effort.



Motivation Deficit 4: Insufficient Student Pay-Off (Cont.)

• What the Research Says: The use of external rewards (‘reinforcers’) can serve as a temporary strategy to encourage a reluctant student to become invested in completing school work and demonstrating appropriate behaviors (Akin-Little, Eckert, Lovett, & Little, 2004). As the student puts increased effort into academics and behavior to earn teacher-administered reinforcers, the student may in turn begin to experience such positive natural reinforcers as improved grades, increased peer acceptance, a greater sense of self-efficacy in course content, and higher rates of teacher and parent approval. The teacher can then fade and perhaps fully eliminate the use of rewards.

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• How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: Through direct observation, student interview, and/or other means, the teacher has verified that instruction is effectively delivered and sufficiently engaging for most of the class, that the target student has the academic and related skills required for the academic work, and that the student has failed to be motivated by existing incentives such as grades that are typically available in classrooms. In the teacher’s judgment, the target student needs additional incentives (e.g., praise, rewards) to promote motivation to complete academic tasks.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem:

Praise the Student. The teacher praises the student in clear and specific terms when the student engages in the desired behavior (Kern & Clemens, 2007). The teacher uses praise statements at a rate sufficient to motivate and guide the student toward the behavioral goal.

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Praise: Effective…and Underused

Praise can be an efficient way to raise the compliance level of whole groups or individual students. However, studies show that praise is seldom used with general education students and is used even less often with special-needs students (Kern & Clemens, 2007).

Source: Kern, L. & Clemens, N. H. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 65-75.



• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: Use Rewards. The teacher establishes a reward system to motivate an individual student by implementing these steps (e.g., Kazdin, 1989):

1. Define the Target Behavior. 2. Establish Criteria for Success. 3. Choose Student Incentives. 4. Decide Whether a Point System Will Be Used. 5. Decide How the Reward is to Be Delivered.

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• Motivation Deficit 3: The student is unmotivated because classroom instruction does not engage.

• Motivation Deficit 4: The student is unmotivated because he or she fails to see an adequate pay-off to doing the assigned work.



Motivation Deficit 5: The student is unmotivated because of low self-efficacy—lack of confidence that he or she can do the assigned work.

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• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student has a low sense of self-efficacy in a subject area, activity, or academic task and that lack of confidence reduces the student’s motivation to apply his or her best effort. NOTE: Self-efficacy is the student’s view of his or her own abilities specific to a particular academic area (e.g., mathematics) and should not be confused with self-esteem, which represents the student’s global view of his or her self-worth.



Academic Motivation: ‘Domain-Specific’

“Research on achievement motivation has documented the role of self-competence beliefs as mediators of actual achievement in various domains…According to numerous theories (e.g., attribution theory, self-efficacy theory, self-worth theory), children perform better and are more motivated to select increasingly challenging tasks when they believe that they have the ability to accomplish a particular task….Most current research and theory focuses on the links between domain-specific self-competence beliefs and domain-specific motivation and performance.” p. 509




Motivation Deficit 5: Low Self-Efficacy (Cont.)

• What the Research Says: Students often sabotage their academic performance by engaging in negative self-talk about their abilities and by making faulty attributions to explain poor academic performance (Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002).

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• How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: Teachers can tap students’ impressions of self-efficacy by asking them to ‘think aloud’ about their abilities in the academic area of interest, encouraging the student to: – talk about their perceived strengths and weaknesses as learners in

particular subject areas – give examples (with details) about specific successes and failures that

they have experienced on academic assignments present strategies (if any) that they typically use to

– Discuss how they complete a range of common academic tasks (e.g., undertaking a term paper, completing a chemistry lab exercise, doing homework)

– disclose their routine for preparing for quizzes and tests.

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• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: Challenge Faulty Student Attributions about Ability. As a student articulates attitudes toward learning and describes techniques that he or she uses as an independent learner, the teacher can use this information to identify whether a low sense of academic self-efficacy may be holding the student back.

A useful framework for analyzing student views about their academic abilities is presented by Linnenbrink & Pintrich (2002). The authors analyze student attributions along three dimensions: internal/external; stable/unstable; and controllable/uncontrollable.

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How Attributions About Learning Contribute to Academic Outcomes

Attribution Theory: Dimensions Affecting Student Interpretation of Academic Successes & Failures (Linnenbrink & Pintrich, 2002)

The situation or event is…

Unstable (changes often) Stable (can be counted on to remain relatively unchanged)

Internal (within the student) External (occurring in the surrounding environment)

Uncontrollable (beyond the ability of the student to influence)

Controllable (within the student’s ability to influence)



How Attributions About Learning Contribute to Academic Outcomes

The situation or event is…

Unstable (changes often) Stable (can be counted on to remain relatively unchanged)

Internal (within the student) External (occurring in the surrounding environment)

Uncontrollable (beyond the ability of the student to influence)

Controllable (within the student’s ability to influence)

Some people are born mathematicians. I was born to watch TV.This teacher always springs pop quizzes on us—and picks questions that are impossible to study for!



• Examples of Faulty Student Attributions and ‘Teacher Corrections’: External vs. Internal

A student blames the teacher for giving unannounced quizzes that catch the student unprepared (external explanation of the problem).

In response, the instructor points out that the student has the option to review course content regularly and thus always be prepared for quizzes (shifting the focus by tying the internal explanation of student preparation to the goal of improving academic performance).

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• Examples of Faulty Student Attributions and ‘Teacher Corrections’: Stable vs. Unstable

A student laments to her math teacher that her difficulty in grasping concepts relating to negative numbers shows that she ‘will never get a good grade in math’ (a view that the problem is long-term and therefore stable).

The teacher helps the student to reframe the problem as unstable and likely to improve soon by noting that many students struggle with negative-number concepts but that the student should find upcoming math instructional modules to be much easier to comprehend.

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• Examples of Faulty Student Attributions and ‘Teacher Corrections’: Controllable vs. Uncontrollable

A teacher points out to a student who complains about the requirements of a particular course as arbitrary and unfair (uncontrollable) that the student was given a syllabus at the start of the semester spelling out all academic requirements to be used as a roadmap for the course, that the syllabus will allow the student to complete assignments ahead of time if he wishes, and that furthermore the student is welcome to seek help from the teacher whenever he chooses (controllable factors).

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Challenging ‘Faulty’ Student Attributions: Example A student says ‘I am just not wired to be a writer” (faulty attribution: stable, internal, uncontrollable). The teacher shows the student evidence to disconfirm her attribution: examples of the student’s own writing from a portfolio that are of high quality because the topic had interested the student. The instructor demonstrates that when the student puts effort into her writing, the product is reliably and predictably improved--reframe: unstable/changeable (quality of the writing product depends on student effort), internal (the student has the necessary skill set to produce good writing), controllable (student effort is the key factor in producing a quality writing product).

Source: Linnenbrink, E. A., & Pintrich, P. R. (2002). Motivation as an enabler for academic success. School Psychology Review, 31, 313-327.



Motivation Deficit 6: The student is unmotivated because he or she lacks a positive relationship with the teacher.

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• Profile of a Student with This Motivation Problem: The student appears indifferent or even hostile toward the instructor and thus may lack motivation to follow teacher requests or to produce work.



Motivation Deficit 6: Lack of Positive Relationship (Cont.)• What the Research Says: Because humans are highly

social beings, positive teacher attention can be a very powerful motivator for students (e.g., Kazdin, 1989).

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Motivation Deficit 6: Lack of Positive Relationship (Cont.)• What the Research Says (Cont.): At times, however, instructors

and students can fall into a ‘negative reinforcement trap’ (Maag, 2001; p. 176) that actively undercuts positive relationships: A student who has difficulty with the classwork misbehaves and is then sent by the teacher to the principal’s office. Both teacher and student are reinforced by the student’s exclusion from the classroom: The teacher is negatively reinforced by having a difficult student removed from the room and the student is also negatively reinforced by being allowed to escape the challenging classwork. Because this scenario is reinforcing to both parties, it is very likely to be repeated with increasing frequency unless the teacher intervenes to break the negative cycle.

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• How to Verify the Presence of This Motivation Problem: The teacher looks for evidence that the student lacks a positive relationship with the teacher, such as:– the student’s apparent avoidance of opportunities to talk to the

teacher– a lack of eye contact, sarcastic or defiant student comments– a general pattern of defiant or non-compliant behavior.

NOTE: Because teachers as well as students are social beings, an instructor’s impression of whether a student ‘likes’ them or not can often be a good predictor of the actual state of the teacher-student relationship.

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Motivation Deficit 6: Lack of Positive Relationship (Cont.)



• How to Fix This Motivation Problem: The teacher provides the student with increased doses of positive attention at times when the student is engaging in appropriate behavior. (At the same time, the teacher keeps interactions with the student brief and neutral when that student misbehaves—although the student otherwise is held to the same behavioral expectations as his or her peers.)

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Try These Ideas to Improve the Student-Teacher Relationship:

• Strive for a High Ratio of Positive Interactions with Students (Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002). A general, proactive rule of thumb to promote positive teacher-student relationships is for instructors to maintain a ratio of at least three positive interactions with any student for every negative (disciplinary) interaction that they have that student.

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• Commit to a Short Series of Positive ‘Micro-Conversations’ (Mendler, 2000). The teacher selects a student with whom that instructor wants to build a more positive relationship. The instructor makes a commitment to spend 2 minutes per day for ten consecutive days engaging the student in a positive conversation about topics of interest to that student. NOTE: During those two-minute daily conversations, the teacher maintains a positive tone and avoids talking about the student’s problem behaviors or poor academic performance.

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• Emphasize the Positive in Teacher Requests (Braithwaite, 2001). The teacher avoids using negative phrasing (e.g., "If you don't return to your seat, I can’t help you with your assignment") when making a request of a student. Instead, the teacher request is stated in positive terms (e.g., "I will be over to help you on the assignment just as soon as you return to your seat"). When a request has a positive 'spin', that teacher is less likely to trigger a power struggle and more likely to gain student compliance.

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• Motivation Deficit 5: The student is unmotivated because of low self-efficacy—lack of confidence that he or she can do the assigned work.

• Motivation Deficit 6: The student is unmotivated because he or she lacks a positive relationship with the teacher.



Motivation Challenge: Helping Teachers to Proactively Manage Instruction and Behaviors to Optimize Student Motivation



ABC: The Core of Behavior Management“....at the core of behavioral interventions is the three-term contingency consisting of an antecedent, behavior, and consequence.”

Source: Kern, L., Choutka, C. M., & Sokol, N. G. (2002). Assessment-based antecedent interventions used in natural settings to reduce challenging behaviors: An analysis of the literature. Education & Treatment of Children, 25, 113-130. p. 113.

A B C

“That is, most behavior is believed to occur…”

“… subsequent to some type of environmental event (i.e., an antecedent) …”

“…which then may be maintained if it is followed by an event that is pleasurable or reinforcing (i.e., consequence).”



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ABC: Events as Antecedents

A B C

The student stares at the paper for a moment—then

tears it up.Example: A student is given

a math computation worksheet to complete.

The student is sent to the office-allowing escape from

the task.


‘Discriminative Stimulus’: An antecedent can become associated with certain desired outcomes and thus ‘trigger’ problem behaviors.

If the consequence associated with the behavior is reinforcing for the student, then the antecedent or trigger can serve to signal (discriminate) that reinforcement is coming.



Antecedent Strategies to Manage Behavior: Proactive Changes to the Environment

“Antecedent interventions typically involve some type of environmental rearrangement. ”




Advantages of Antecedent Strategies vs. ‘Reactive Approaches’

1. Can prevent behavior problems from occurring2. Are typically ‘quick acting’3. Can result in an instructional environment that

better promotes student learning

Source: Kern, L. & Clemens, N. H. (2007). Antecedent strategies to promote appropriate classroom behavior. Psychology in the Schools, 44, 65-75.



Anticipating the Unmotivated Student


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Teachers can proactively use the checklist of reasons for poor motivation (and related strategies to address them).

The teacher reviews each motivation blocker and verifies that he or she has procedures in place at the group level to address them.



“ ”“…One way I have used the Maze in the past at the secondary level, is as a targeted screener to determine an instructional match between the student and the text materials. By screening all students on one to three Maze samples from the text and/or books that were planned for the course, we could find the students who could not handle the materials without support (study guides, highlighted texts, alternative reading material). …This assessment is efficient and it seems quite reliable in identifying the potential underachievers, achievers, and overachievers. The real pay back is that success can be built into the courses from the beginning, by providing learning materials and supports at the students' instructional levels.”

Lynn Pennington, Executive Director, SSTAGE

(Student Support Team Association for Georgia Educators)



Preventing Students from Falling Behind Through Proactive Teacher Communication



What is the Advantage of ‘Proactive Teacher Communication’?

Struggling students benefit greatly when the teacher provides a clear explanation of course requirements, and offers regularly updated information about upcoming assignments, missing work, and students’ current standing in the course. When the teacher makes a proactive effort to keep students fully and continually informed about course expectations and their own performance, the instructor substantially reduces the likelihood that students will fall behind in their work and be at risk for underperformance or failure in the course.

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The Elements of ‘Proactive Teacher Communication’

1. Prepare a Course Syllabus. At the start of the semester, the teacher hands out a syllabus listing all major course assignments, their descriptions, and due dates, as well as dates of quizzes and tests. This syllabus provides the student with a comprehensive map of all of the work to be done in the course for the semester. It also gives a clear explanation of the grading system, including the relative weight toward the final grade of tests, quizzes, homework, classwork, and student participation. Additionally, the syllabus spells out any penalties for submission of late work.

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2. Hand Out Weekly Work Agenda. On Mondays, the teacher gives students a work agenda for the week. The agenda lists any in-class and homework assignments for that week, their descriptions (if necessary), and due dates. [Optional but recommended] The agenda may also include milestone tasks from larger, multi-week projects (e.g., reminding students in a November agenda that they should have their 6 required source documents for a term paper selected by Friday of the current week).

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3. Schedule Weekly Student Conferences. The teacher holds brief meetings with individual students to review their performance in the course to date, note any missing work and get the student to commit to a plan to submit that work, and checks in with the student about upcoming assignments, quizzes, and tests to ensure that the student continues to stay on top of course requirements. NOTE: If time constraints prevent the teacher from being able to conference with the entire class each week, the instructor may instead meet with at-risk students weekly and meet less frequently (e.g., every other week or monthly) with the remainder of the class.

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‘Defensive Behavior Management’: The Power of Teacher Preparation



Defensive Management: A Method to Avoid Power Struggles

‘Defensive management’ (Fields, 2004) is a teacher-friendly six-step approach to avert student-teacher power struggles that emphasizes providing proactive instructional support to the student, elimination of behavioral triggers in the classroom setting, relationship-building, strategic application of defusing techniques when needed, and use of a ‘reconnection’ conference after behavioral incidents to promote student reflection and positive behavior change.

Source: Fields, B. (2004). Breaking the cycle of office referrals and suspensions: Defensive management. Educational Psychology in Practice, 20, 103-115.



Defensive Management: Six Steps1. Understanding the Student Problem and Using

Proactive Strategies to Prevent ‘Triggers’. The teacher collects information--through direct observation and perhaps other means--about specific instances of student problem behavior and the instructional components and other factors surrounding them. The teacher analyzes this information to discover specific ‘trigger’ events that seem to set off the problem behavior(s) (e.g., lack of skills; failure to understand directions).

The instructor then adjusts instruction to provide appropriate student support (e.g., providing the student with additional instruction in a skill; repeating directions and writing them on the board).




Defensive Management: Six Steps

2. Promoting Positive Teacher-Student Interactions. Early in each class session, the teacher has at least one positive verbal interaction with the student. Throughout the class period, the teacher continues to interact in positive ways with the student (e.g., brief conversation, smile, thumbs up, praise comment after a student remark in large-group discussion, etc.). In each interaction, the teacher adopts a genuinely accepting, polite, respectful tone.





3. Scanning for Warning Indicators. During the class session, the teacher monitors the target student’s behavior for any behavioral indicators suggesting that the student is becoming frustrated or angry. Examples of behaviors that precede non-compliance or open defiance may include stopping work; muttering or complaining; becoming argumentative; interrupting others; leaving his or her seat; throwing objects, etc.).





4. Exercising Emotional Restraint. Whenever the student begins to display problematic behaviors, the teacher makes an active effort to remain calm. To actively monitor his or her emotional state, the teacher tracks physiological cues such as increased muscle tension and heart rate, as well as fear, annoyance, anger, or other negative emotions. The teacher also adopts calming or relaxation strategies that work for him or her in the face of provocative student behavior, such as taking a deep breath or counting to 10 before responding.





5. Using Defusing Tactics. If the student begins to escalate to non-compliant, defiant, or confrontational behavior (e.g., arguing, threatening, other intentional verbal interruptions), the teacher draws from a range of possible descalating strategies to defuse the situation. Such strategies can include private conversation with the student while maintaining a calm voice, open-ended questions, paraphrasing the student’s concerns, acknowledging the student’s emotions, etc.





6. Conducting a ‘Reconnection’ Conference. Soon after any in-class incident of student non-compliance, defiance, or confrontation, the teacher makes a point to meet with the student to discuss the behavioral incident, identify the triggers in the classroom environment that led to the problem, and brainstorm with the student to create a written plan to prevent the reoccurrence of such an incident. Throughout this conference, the teacher maintains a supportive, positive, polite, and respectful tone.




Group Activity: How Can the Six-Step Process Be Used in ALL Classrooms?At your tables:• Discuss the 6-step

defensive behavior management approach.

• How can your school encourage teachers in all classrooms to use this approach?

Defensive Behavior Management: 6 Steps1. Understanding the Student Problem

and Using Proactive Strategies to Prevent ‘Triggers’.

2. Promoting Positive Teacher-Student Interactions.

3. Scanning for Warning Indicators. 4. Exercising Emotional Restraint. 5. Using Defusing Tactics.6. Conducting a Student ‘Reconnection’

Conference.



Motivation Challenge: Motivating Teachers to Want to Use Motivating Strategies With Students



Student Motivation: Cutting the ‘Gordian Knot’ by Reframing the Issue in Observable

(and Fixable) TermsStep 1: Redefine ‘motivation’ as academic engagement: e.g., The student chooses “to engage in active accurate academic responding” (Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005).


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Role of ‘School Culture’ in the Acceptability of Interventions “…school staffs are interested in strategies that fit a

group instructional and management template; intensive strategies required by at-risk and poorly motivated students are often viewed as cost ineffective. Treatments and interventions that do not address the primary mission of schooling are seen as a poor match to school priorities and are likely to be rejected. Thus, intervention and management approaches that are universal in nature and that involve a standard dosage that is easy to deliver (e.g., classwide social skills training) have a higher likelihood of making it into routine or standard school practice.”

Source: Walker, H. M. (2004). Use of evidence-based interventions in schools: Where we've been, where we are, and where we need to go. School Psychology Review, 33, 398-407. pp. 400-401



School Intervention Targets: Focus on What Schools Can Change

“Rather than considering a [student] problem to be the result of inalterable student characteristics, [school intervention] teams are compelled to focus on change that can be made to the intervention, curriculum or environment that would result in positive student outcome.

The hypothesis and intervention should focus on those variables that are alterable within the school setting. These alterable variables include learning goals and objectives (what is to be learned), materials, time, student-to-teacher ratio, activities, and motivational strategies.” p. 95

Source: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York.



Focus on School Factors That We Can Control“Some factors in students’ lives (such as family divorce, moving frequently, drug use, and poor teaching) lower the probability that these students will learn and/or get along with others. These are often referred to as risk factors…Risk factors do not assure student failure. Risk factors simply make the odds of failure greater. Aligning assessment and instruction allows teachers…to introduce new factors into the student’s life that raise the probability of learning. These are often called protective factors since they protect against the risks associated with risk factors…The use of protective factors to raise the probability of learning is often referred to as resilience.”

Source: Hosp, J. L. (2008). Best practices in aligning academic assessment with instruction. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.363-376). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.



Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: 7 Reasons Why Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI Interventions (pp. 20-21)




‘Teacher Tolerance’ as an Indicator of RTI Intervention Capacity

“I call the range of students whom [teachers] come to view as adequately responsive – i.e., teachable – as the tolerance; those who are perceived to be outside the tolerance are those for whom teachers seek additional resources. The term “tolerance” is used to indicate that teachers form a permissible boundary on their measurement (judgments) in the same sense as a confidence interval. In this case, the teacher actively measures the distribution of responsiveness in her class by processing information from a series of teaching trials and perceives some range of students as within the tolerance.” (Gerber, 2002)

Source: Gerber, M. M. (2003). Teachers are still the test: Limitations of response to instruction strategies for identifying children with learning disabilities. Paper presented at the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities Responsiveness-to-Intervention Symposium, Kansas City, MO.



RTI & ‘Teacher Reluctance’The willingness of teachers to implement interventions is essential in any school to the success of the RTI model. Yet general-education teachers may not always see themselves as ‘interventionists’ and indeed may even resist the expectation that they will provide individualized interventions as a routine part of their classroom practice (Walker, 2004).

It should be remembered, however, that teachers’ reluctance to accept elements of RTI may be based on very good reasons. Here are some common reasons that teachers might be reluctant to accept their role as RTI intervention ‘first responders’…

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Engaging the Reluctant Teacher: 7 Reasons Why Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI

Interventions• Lack of Skills. Teachers lack the skills necessary to

successfully implement academic or behavioral interventions in their content-area classrooms (Fisher, 2007; Kamil et al., 2008).

• Not My Job. Teachers define their job as providing content-area instruction. They do not believe that providing classwide or individual academic and behavioral interventions falls within their job description (Kamil et al., 2008).




Interventions(Cont.)

• No Time. Teachers do not believe that they have sufficient time available in classroom instruction to implement academic or behavioral interventions (Kamil et al., 2008; Walker, 2004).

• No Payoff. Teachers lack confidence that there will be an adequate instructional pay-off if they put classwide or individual academic or behavioral interventions into place in their content-area classroom (Kamil et al., 2008).




Interventions (Cont.)

• Loss of Classroom Control. Teachers worry that if they depart from their standard instructional practices to adopt new classwide or individual academic or behavior intervention strategies, they may lose behavioral control of the classroom (Kamil et al., 2008).

• ‘Undeserving Students’. Teachers are unwilling to invest the required effort to provide academic or behavioral interventions for unmotivated students (Walker, 2004) because they would rather put that time into providing additional attention to well-behaved, motivated students who are ‘more deserving’.




Interventions (Cont.)

• The Magic of Special Education. Content-area teachers regard special education services as ‘magic’ (Martens, 1993). According to this view, interventions provided to struggling students in the general-education classroom alone will be inadequate, and only special education services have the power to truly benefit those students.



Team Activity: Engaging the Reluctant Teacher…



Challenging Behaviors: Case Examples




Challenging Students: Pick Your Favorite Strategies

Increase 'Reinforcement' Quality of the Classroom

Offer frequent opportunities for choice Select high-interest or functional

learning activities Incorporate cooperative-learning

opportunities into instruction Strategically schedule preferred

student activities Give students frequent feedback about

their classroom performance Make a personal connection to

motivate difficult students Reduce the 'effort' needed to complete

an academic assignment Create in-class incentives or pay-offs

for learning Encourage student input into

classroom routines and learning activities

For the following scenario, pick your TOP THREE ideas for managing this student’s behavior:

Ricky sits quietly in your class but does not participate much. He seems ‘tuned out’--but then really comes alive when the bell rings and he can go join his friends at lunch.

You rarely get homework from Ricky; in fact, he is in danger of failing the course because of incomplete assignments.

But Ricky is generally organized, can be meticulous in his work when he chooses to, and always brings all work materials to class.

When you look through Ricky’s cumulative folder, you find numerous notations on past report cards saying that he ‘needs to apply himself’ and ‘put more effort into his work’.



Keynote Outcomes…



Keynote: Participant Outcomes

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:– Motivate the struggling student through changes in the

instructional environment, social interaction, learning activities, and reinforcement for learning.

– Select intervention strategies that increase the probability that an unmotivated student will engage in academic activities.

– Develop the necessary school supports to encourage students to become self-advocates with a voice in shaping their RTI support.

– Give teachers practical ideas to establish positive connections with all of their students.

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END

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Defining Student Problem Behaviors: A Key to Identifying Effective Interventions (pp. 7-11)Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Defining Problem Student Behaviors…1. Define the problem behavior in clear, observable, measurable

terms (Batsche et al., 2008; Upah, 2008). Write a clear description of the problem behavior. Avoid vague problem identification statements such as “The student is disruptive.”

A well-written problem definition should include three parts:– Conditions. The condition(s) under which the problem is likely to

occur– Problem Description. A specific description of the problem behavior– Contextual information. Information about the frequency, intensity,

duration, or other dimension(s) of the behavior that provide a context for estimating the degree to which the behavior presents a problem in the setting(s) in which it occurs.





Defining Problem Student Behaviors…2. Develop examples and non-examples of the

problem behavior (Upah, 2008). Writing both examples and non-examples of the problem behavior helps to resolve uncertainty about when the student’s conduct should be classified as a problem behavior. Examples should include the most frequent or typical instances of the student problem behavior. Non-examples should include any behaviors that are acceptable conduct but might possibly be confused with the problem behavior.





Defining Problem Student Behaviors…3. Write a behavior hypothesis statement (Batsche et al.,

2008; Upah, 2008). The next step in problem-solving is to develop a hypothesis about why the student is engaging in an undesirable behavior or not engaging in a desired behavior. Teachers can gain information to develop a hypothesis through direct observation, student interview, review of student work products, and other sources. The behavior hypothesis statement is important because (a) it can be tested, and (b) it provides guidance on the type(s) of interventions that might benefit the student.





Defining Problem Student Behaviors…4. Select a replacement behavior (Batsche et al.,

2008). Behavioral interventions should be focused on increasing student skills and capacities, not simply on suppressing problem behaviors. By selecting a positive behavioral goal that is an appropriate replacement for the student’s original problem behavior, the teacher reframes the student concern in a manner that allows for more effective intervention planning.





Defining Problem Student Behaviors…5. Write a prediction statement (Batsche et al., 2008;

Upah, 2008). The prediction statement proposes a strategy (intervention) that is predicted to improve the problem behavior. The importance of the prediction statement is that it spells out specifically the expected outcome if the strategy is successful. The formula for writing a prediction statement is to state that if the proposed strategy (‘Specific Action’) is adopted, then the rate of problem behavior is expected to decrease or increase in the desired direction.







Defining Student Motivation/Behavior Problems: Activity

373

At your table:

• Review the 5-step process described in the workshop for identifying and analyzing student behavior problems.

• Discuss how your school can share this framework with teachers.



Improving the Integrity of Academic Interventions Through a Critical-Components ‘Pre-Flight’ Check (pp. 12-15)




Academic Interventions ‘Critical Components’ Checklist

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Academic Interventions ‘Critical Components’ Checklist

This checklist summarizes the essential components of academic interventions. When preparing a student’s Tier 1, 2, or 3 academic intervention plan, use this document as a ‘pre-flight checklist’ to ensure that the academic intervention is of high quality, is sufficiently strong to address the identified student problem, is fully understood and supported by the teacher, and can be implemented with integrity. NOTE: While the checklist refers to the ‘teacher’ as the interventionist, it can also be used as a guide to ensure the quality of interventions implemented by non-instructional personnel, adult volunteers, parents, and peer (student) tutors.

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Allocating Sufficient Contact Time & Assuring Appropriate Student-Teacher RatioThe cumulative time set aside for an intervention and the amount of direct teacher contact are two factors that help to determine that intervention’s ‘strength’ (Yeaton & Sechrest, 1981).

Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Time Allocated. The time set aside for the intervention is appropriate for the type and level of student problem (Burns & Gibbons, 2008; Kratochwill, Clements & Kalymon, 2007). When evaluating whether the amount of time allocated is adequate, consider:Length of each intervention session.Frequency of sessions (e.g.., daily, 3 times per week)Duration of intervention period (e.g., 6 instructional weeks)

Student-Teacher Ratio. The student receives sufficient contact from the teacher or other person delivering the intervention to make that intervention effective. NOTE: Generally, supplemental intervention groups should be limited to 6-7 students (Burns & Gibbons, 2008).



Matching the Intervention to the Student ProblemAcademic interventions are not selected at random. First, the student academic problem(s) is defined clearly and in detail. Then, the likely explanations for the academic problem(s) are identified to understand which intervention(s) are likely to help—and which should be avoided.Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Problem Definition. The student academic problem(s) to be addressed in the intervention are defined in clear, specific, measureable terms (Bergan, 1995; Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004). The full problem definition describes:Conditions. Describe the environmental conditions or task demands in place when the academic problem is observed. Problem Description. Describe the actual observable academic behavior in which the student is engaged. Include rate, accuracy, or other quantitative information of student performance.Typical or Expected Level of Performance. Provide a typical or expected performance criterion for this skill or behavior. Typical or expected academic performance can be calculated using a variety of sources,





Matching the Intervention to the Student Problem (Cont.)Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Appropriate Target. Selected intervention(s) are appropriate for the identified student problem(s) (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008). TIP: Use the Instructional Hierarchy (Haring et al., 1978) to select academic interventions according to the four stages of learning:Acquisition. The student has begun to learn how to complete the target skill correctly but is not yet accurate in the skill. Interventions should improve accuracy.Fluency. The student is able to complete the target skill accurately but works slowly. Interventions should increase the student’s speed of responding (fluency) as well as to maintain accuracy.Generalization. The student may have acquired the target skill but does not typically use it in the full range of appropriate situations or settings. Or the student may confuse the target skill with ‘similar’ skills. Interventions should get the student to use the skill in the widest possible range of settings and situations, or to accurately discriminate between the target skill and ‘similar’ skills.Adaptation. The student is not yet able to modify or adapt an existing skill to fit novel task-demands or situations. Interventions should help the student to identify key concepts or elements from previously learned skills that can be adapted to the new demands or situations.



Matching the Intervention to the Student Problem (Cont.)Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

‘Can’t Do/Won’t Do’ Check. The teacher has determined whether the student problem is primarily a skill or knowledge deficit (‘can’t do’) or whether student motivation plays a main or supporting role in academic underperformance (‘wont do’). If motivation appears to be a significant factor contributing to the problem, the intervention plan includes strategies to engage the student (e.g., high interest learning activities; rewards/incentives; increased student choice in academic assignments, etc.) (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005; Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004).



Incorporating Effective Instructional ElementsThese effective ‘building blocks’ of instruction are well-known and well-supported by the research. They should be considered when selecting or creating any academic intervention.Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Explicit Instruction. Student skills have been broken down “into manageable and deliberately sequenced steps” and the teacher provided“ overt strategies for students to learn and practice new skills” (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008, p.1153).

Appropriate Level of Challenge. The student experienced sufficient success in the academic task(s) to shape learning in the desired direction as well as to maintain student motivation (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008).

Active Engagement. The intervention ensures that the student is engaged in ‘active accurate responding’ (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005).at a rate frequent enough to capture student attention and to optimize effective learning.

Performance Feedback. The student receives prompt performance feedback about the work completed (Burns, VanDerHeyden & Boice, 2008).

Maintenance of Academic Standards. If the intervention includes any accommodations to better support the struggling learner (e.g., preferential seating, breaking a longer assignment into smaller chunks), those accommodations do not substantially lower the academic standards against which the student is to be evaluated and are not likely to reduce the student’s rate of learning (Skinner, Pappas & Davis, 2005).



Verifying Teacher Understanding & Providing Teacher SupportThe teacher is an active agent in the intervention, with primary responsibility for putting it into practice in a busy classroom. It is important, then, that the teacher fully understands how to do the intervention, believes that he or she can do it, and knows whom to seek out if there are problems with the intervention.Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Teacher Responsibility. The teacher understands his or her responsibility to implement the academic intervention(s) with integrity.

Teacher Acceptability. The teacher states that he or she finds the academic intervention feasible and acceptable for the identified student problem.

Step-by-Step Intervention Script. The essential steps of the intervention are written as an ‘intervention script’--a series of clearly described steps—to ensure teacher understanding and make implementation easier (Hawkins, Morrison, Musti-Rao & Hawkins, 2008).

Intervention Training. If the teacher requires training to carry out the intervention, that training has been arranged.

Intervention Elements: Negotiable vs. Non-Negotiable. The teacher knows all of the steps of the intervention. Additionally, the teacher knows which of the intervention steps are ‘non-negotiable’ (they must be completed exactly as designed) and which are ‘negotiable’ (the teacher has some latitude in how to carry out those steps) (Hawkins, Morrison, Musti-Rao & Hawkins, 2008).

Assistance With the Intervention. If the intervention cannot be implemented as designed for any reason (e.g., student absence, lack of materials, etc.), the teacher knows how to get assistance quickly to either fix the problem(s) to the current intervention or to change the intervention.



Documenting the Intervention & Collecting DataInterventions only have meaning if they are done within a larger data-based context. For example, interventions that lack baseline data, goal(s) for improvement, and a progress-monitoring plan are ‘fatally flawed’ (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004).Critical Item? Intervention Element Notes

Intervention Documentation. The teacher understands and can manage all documentation required for this intervention (e.g., maintaining a log of intervention sessions, etc.).

Checkup Date. Before the intervention begins, a future checkup date is selected to review the intervention to determine if it is successful. Time elapsing between the start of the intervention and the checkup date should be short enough to allow a timely review of the intervention but long enough to give the school sufficient time to judge with confidence whether the intervention worked.

Baseline. Before the intervention begins, the teacher has collected information about the student’s baseline level of performance in the identified area(s) of academic concern (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004).

Goal. Before the intervention begins, the teacher has set a specific goal for predicted student improvement to use as a minimum standard for success (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004). The goal is the expected student outcome by the checkup date if the intervention is successful.

Progress-Monitoring. During the intervention, the teacher collects progress-monitoring data of sufficient quality and at a sufficient frequency to determine at the checkup date whether that intervention is successful (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004).



References

• Bergan, J. R. (1995). Evolution of a problem-solving model of consultation. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 6(2), 111-123.

• Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York.

• Burns, M. K., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Boice, C. H. (2008). Best practices in intensive academic interventions. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp.1151-1162). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

• Haring, N.G., Lovitt, T.C., Eaton, M.D., & Hansen, C.L. (1978). The fourth R: Research in the classroom. Columbus, OH: Charles E. Merrill Publishing Co.

• Hawkins, R. O., Morrison, J. Q., Musti-Rao, S., & Hawkins, J. A. (2008). Treatment integrity for academic interventions in real- world settings. School Psychology Forum, 2(3), 1-15.

• Kratochwill, T. R., Clements, M. A., & Kalymon, K. M. (2007). Response to intervention: Conceptual and methodological issues in implementation. In Jimerson, S. R., Burns, M. K., & VanDerHeyden, A. M. (Eds.), Handbook of response to intervention: The science and practice of assessment and intervention. New York: Springer.

• Skinner, C. H., Pappas, D. N., & Davis, K. A. (2005). Enhancing academic engagement: Providing opportunities for responding and influencing students to choose to respond. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 389-403.

• Witt, J. C., VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Gilbertson, D. (2004). Troubleshooting behavioral interventions. A systematic process for finding and eliminating problems. School Psychology Review, 33, 363-383.

• Yeaton, W. M. & Sechrest, L. (1981). Critical dimensions in the choice and maintenance of successful treatments: Strength, integrity, and effectiveness. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 49, 156-167.

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Motivation Intervention: Case Example




Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Problem

• Justin showed a pattern from the start of the school year of not complying with teacher requests in his English class. His teacher, Mr. Steubin, noted that – when given a teacher directive—Justin would sometimes fail to comply. Justin would show no obvious signs of opposition but would sit passively or remain engaged in his current activity, as if ignoring the instructor.

When no task demands were made on him, Justin was typically a quiet and somewhat distant student but otherwise appeared to fit into the class and show appropriate behavior.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Evidence• Student Interview. Mr. Steubin felt that he did not have a strong

relationship with the student, so he asked the counselor to talk with Justin about why he might be non-compliant in English class. Justin told the counselor that he was bored in the class and just didn’t like to write. When pressed by the counselor, Justin admitted that he could do the work in the class but chose not to.

• Direct Observation. Mr. Steubin noted that Justin was less likely to comply with writing assignments than other in-class tasks. The likelihood that Justin would be non-compliant tended to go up if Mr. Steubin pushed him to comply in the presence of Justin’s peers. The odds that Justin would comply also appeared to increase when Mr. Steubin stated his request and walked away, rather than continuing to ‘nag’ Justin to comply.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Evidence (Cont.)• Work Products. Mr. Steubin knew from the assignments that he did

receive from Justin that the student had adequate writing skills. However, Justin’s compositions tended to be short, and ideas were not always as fully developed as they could be—as Justin was doing the minimum to get by.

• Input from Other Teachers. Mr. Steubin checked with other teachers who had Justin in their classes. The Spanish teacher had similar problems in getting Justin to comply but the science teacher generally found Justin to be a compliant and pleasant student. She noted that Justin seemed to really like hands-on activities and that, when potentially non-compliant, he responded well to gentle humor.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Intervention• Mr. Steubin realized that he tended to focus most of his attention on

Justin’s non-compliance. So the student’s non compliance might be supported by teacher attention. OR the student’s compliant behaviors might be extinguished because Mr. Steubin did not pay attention to them.

• The teacher decided instead that Justin needed to have appropriate consequences for non-compliance, balanced with incentives to engage in learning tasks. Additionally, Mr. Steubin elected to give the student attention at times that were NOT linked to non-compliance.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Intervention (Cont.)• Appropriate Consequences for Non-Compliance. Mr. Steubin adopted a

new strategy to deal with Justin’s episodes of non-compliance. Mr. Steubin got agreement from Justin’s parents that the student could get access to privileges at home each day only if he had a good report from the teacher about complying with classroom requests.

Whenever the student failed to comply within a reasonable time (1 minute) to a teacher request, Mr. Steubin would approach Justin’s desk and quietly restate the request as a two-part ‘choice’ statement. He kept his verbal interactions brief and neutral in tone. As part of the ‘choice’ statement, the teacher told Justin that if he did not comply, his parents would be emailed a negative report. If Justin still did not comply, Mr. Steubin would follow through later that day in sending the report of non-compliance to the parents.

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Teacher Command Sequence: Two-Part Choice Statement

1. Make the request. Use simple, clear language that the student understands.

If possible, phrase the request as a positive (do) statement, rather than a negative (don’t) statement. (E.g., “Justin, please start your writing assignment now.”) Wait a reasonable time for the student to comply (e.g., 1 minute)




2. [If the student fails to comply] Repeat the request as a 2-part choice. Give the student two clear choices with clear consequences. Order the choices so that the student hears negative consequence as the first choice and the teacher request as the second choice. (E.g., “Justin, I can email your parents to say that you won’t do the class assignment or you can start the assignment now and not have a negative report go home. It’s your choice.”) Give the student a reasonable time to comply (e.g., 1 minute).




3. [If the student fails to comply] Impose the pre-selected negative consequence. As you impose the consequence, ignore student questions or complaints that appear intended to entangle you in a power struggle.



Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Intervention (Cont.)• Active Student Engagement. Mr. Steubin reasoned that he could probably

better motivate the entire class by making sure that lessons were engaging.

He made an extra effort to build lessons around topics of high interest to students, built in cooperative learning opportunities to engage students, and moved the lesson along at a brisk pace. The teacher also made ‘real-world’ connections whenever he could between what was being taught in a lesson and ways that students could apply that knowledge or skill outside of school or in future situations.

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Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Intervention (Cont.)• Teacher Attention (Non-Contingent). Mr. Steubin adopted the two-by-ten

intervention (A. Mendler, 2000) as a way to jumpstart a connection with Justin. The total time required for this strategy was 20 minutes across ten school days.

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Sample Ideas to Improve Relationships With Students: The Two-By-Ten Intervention (Mendler, 2000)

• Make a commitment to spend 2 minutes per day for 10 consecutive days in building a relationship with the student…by talking about topics of interest to the student.

Avoid discussing problems with the student’s behaviors or schoolwork during these times.

Source: Mendler, A. N. (2000). Motivating students who don’t care. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.



Sample Ideas to Improve Relationships With Students: The Three-to-One Intervention

(Sprick, Borgmeier, & Nolet, 2002)

• Give positive attention or praise to problem students at least three times more frequently than you reprimand them. Give the student the attention or praise during moments when that student is acting appropriately. Keep track of how frequently you give positive attention and reprimands to the student.

Source: Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. A. Shinn, H. M. Walker & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp.373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.



Case Example: Non-ComplianceThe Outcome• The strategies adopted by Mr. Steubin did not improve Justin’s level of

compliance right away. Once the teacher had gone through the full ten days of the ‘two by ten’ intervention, however, Mr. Steubin noticed that Justin made more eye contact with him and even joked occasionally. And the student’s rate of compliance then noticeably improved—but still had a way to go.

• Mr. Steubin kept in regular contact with Justin’s parents, who admitted about 8 days into the intervention that they were not as rigorous as they should be in preventing him from accessing privileges at home when he was non-compliant at school. When the teacher urged them to hold the line at home, they said that they would –and did. Justin’s behavior improved as a result, to the point where his level of compliance was typical for the range of students in Mr. Steubin’s class.

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“ ”A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.Lao Tzu, Chinese Taoist (600 BC-531 BC)



Student Motivation: Two Steps to Reframing the Issue and Empowering Schools

Step 1: Redefine ‘motivation’ as academic engagement: e.g., The student chooses “to engage in active accurate academic responding” (Skinner, Pappas, & Davis, 2005).


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Keynote Outcomes…



Keynote: Participant Outcomes

As a result of attending this workshop, participants will be able to:– Motivate the struggling student through changes in the

instructional environment, social interaction, learning activities, and reinforcement for learning.

– Select intervention strategies that increase the probability that an unmotivated student will engage in academic activities.

– Develop the necessary school supports to encourage students to become self-advocates with a voice in shaping their RTI support.

– Give teachers practical ideas to establish positive connections with all of their students.

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The Unmotivated Student: Possible Reasons: Activity


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At your table:• Review the possible

reasons for lack of student motivation reviewed in this presentation.

• Discuss which of these reasons your school would probably be MOST open to addressing and which might cause some resistance among staff.



RTI Problem-Solving Teams: Promoting Student Involvement (pp. 2-6)Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Intervention Responsibilities: Examples at Teacher, School-Wide, and Student Levels

• Signed agenda• ‘Attention’ prompts• Individual review with

students during free periods

• Lab services (math, reading, etc.)

• Remedial course• Homework club

Teacher School-Wide

• Take agenda to teacher to be reviewed and signed

• Seeking help from teachers during free periods

Student





RTI: Promoting Student Involvement • Schools should strongly consider having middle

and high school students attend and take part in their own RTI Problem-Solving Team meetings for two reasons. First, as students mature, their teachers expect that they will take responsibility in advocating for their own learning needs. Second, students are more likely to fully commit to RTI intervention plans if they attend the RTI Team meeting and have a voice in the creation of those plans.

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RTI: Promoting Student Involvement• Before the RTI Team Meeting. The student should be

adequately prepared to attend the RTI Team meeting by first engaging in a ‘pre-meeting’ with a school staff member whom the student knows and trusts (e.g., school counselor, teacher, administrator). By connecting the student with a trusted mentor figure who can help that student to navigate the RTI process, the school improves the odds that the disengaged or unmotivated student will feel an increased sense of connection and commitment to their own school performance (Bridgeland, DiIulio, & Morison, 2006).

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RTI: Promoting Student Involvement• A student RTI ‘pre-meeting’ can be quite brief, lasting perhaps 15-20

minutes. Here is a simple agenda for the meeting:• Share information about the student problem(s). • Describe the purpose and steps of the RTI Problem-Solving Team

meeting. • Stress the student’s importance in the intervention plan. • Have the student describe his or her learning needs. • Invite the student to attend the RTI Team meeting.

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RTI: Promoting Student Involvement• During the RTI Team Meeting. If the student agrees to attend the RTI Team

meeting, he or she participates fully in the meeting. Teachers and other staff attending the meeting make an effort to keep the atmosphere positive and focused on finding solutions to the student’s presenting concern(s). As each intervention idea is discussed, the team checks in with the student to determine that the student (a) fully understands how to access or participate in the intervention element being proposed and (b) is willing to take part in that intervention element. If the student appears hesitant or resistant, the team should work with the student either to win the student over to the proposed intervention idea or to find an alternative intervention that will accomplish the same goal.

• At the end of the RTI Team meeting, each of the intervention ideas that is dependent on student participation for success is copied into the School Success Intervention Plan.

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RTI: Promoting Student Involvement• After the RTI Team Meeting. If the school discovers that the student is

not carrying out his or her responsibilities as spelled out by the intervention plan, it is recommended that the staff member assigned as the RTI contact meet with the student and parent. At that meeting, the adult contact checks with the student to make sure that:

• the intervention plan continues to be relevant and appropriate for addressing the student’s academic or behavioral needs

• the student understands and call access all intervention elements outlined on the School Success Intervention Plan.

• adults participating in the intervention plan (e.g., classroom teachers) are carrying out their parts of the plan.

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Interventions to Help Study Skills



Intended Purpose:Students may become anxious in testing situations because they have never learned effective note-taking, study, and test-taking skills. This package maps out a comprehensive strategy for any student to follow when preparing for an important examination.

Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students



Doing well on a test starts with careful preparation. Students should have the essential skills to:• Study effectively. • Memorize instructional content.• Reduce test anxiety.• Adopt a ‘smart’ approach to test-taking.

Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students



Student Tips: Effective Study Habits

It is not enough just to schedule lots of study time. You also need to make sure that you use effective study techniques. Some smart study tips are to:• Create a quiet, neat study area.• Study from good notes. • Use bits of unexpected free time to study.• Make a study schedule to avoid ‘time-drains’. • Take advantage of your peak energy levels.



Student Tips: Effective Study Habits (Cont.)

• Create a study group. • Teach content as a ‘learning check’. • Recite information aloud. • Pose difficult questions. • Don’t forget to review previously learned material.• Avoid cram sessions. • Reward yourself.



Student Tips: Tips to Memorize Content

The best way to remember information from your notes or reading is to set aside enough time to study it well. Some tips for memorizing information are to:• Read and review using SQ3R : (1) Survey the chapter, (2)

Create Questions based on chapter headings(3) Read through the chapter (4) Recite the questions and answer aloud; (5) Review your answers.

• Make up flashcards.



Student Tips: Tips to Memorize Content (Cont.)

• Create acronyms or acrostics: e.g.,Red-Orange-Yellow-Green-Blue-Indigo-Violet =ROY G. BIV.

• Use visualization tricks: Chaining. • Use visualization tricks: Familiar places.



Student Tips: Reducing Test Anxiety

A little nervousness before a test can be good—but when we become too anxious that anxiety can undermine our confidence and interfere with our ability to solve problems. Some tips to reduce test anxiety are to:• Remember to take care of yourself first. • Take practice exams. • Come prepared.



Student Tips: Reducing Test Anxiety (Cont.)

• Make an effort to relax periodically during the test.

1. Take several deep breaths.

2. Tense your muscles, hold, relax.

3. Think of a peaceful, quiet setting (e.g., the beach). • Engage in positive self-talk.



Student Tips: Test-Taking Strategies

Become familiar with the test that you are about to take and have a mental plan for how you will spend your time most productively during the examination. Here are some useful test-taking strategies: • Listen carefully to directions. • Perform a ‘brain dump’. • Preview the test. • Multiple-choice: Don’t get sidetracked looking for patterns of

answers.



Student Tips: Test-Taking Strategies (Cont.)

• Multiple-choice: Don’t rush. • Essay questions: Underline key terms. • Essay questions: Outline your answer before you write it. • When in doubt…guess! • Skip difficult items until last. • Use leftover time to check answers.



1. Brainstorm with students their best ideas for (a) studying, (b) memorizing course content, (c) handling test anxiety, and (d) savvy test-taking. Write down these ideas.

2. Using class-generated ideas and test-tips handout, have students write up their own ‘test-readiness’ plan.

3. When a test is coming up, remind the students to use their personal test-prep strategies. Debrief after the test about the effectiveness of various approaches.

Teacher Ideas for Introducing ‘Managing Test Anxiety: Ideas for Students’



Guided Notes: Helping Students to Master Course Content




Guided Notes• Description: The student is given a copy of notes

summarizing content from a class lecture or assigned reading. Blanks are inserted in the notes where key facts or concepts should appear. As information is covered during lecture or in a reading assignment, the student writes missing content into blanks to complete the guided notes. Guided notes promote active engagement during lecture or independent reading, provide full and accurate notes for use as a study guide, and help students to identify the most important information covered (Heward, 2001).

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Guided Notes: Recommendations• Keep guided note entries brief. Shorter guided note entries

promote student understanding of content as well as or better than longer entries (Konrad, Joseph & Eveleigh, 2009). Also, short entries can increase student motivation to write in responses.

• Distribute entry items throughout the guided notes. Guided notes help to promote active student engagement during lecture or reading (Heward, 2001). When entry items are distributed evenly throughout the guided notes, they require higher rates of active student responding (Konrad, Joseph & Eveleigh, 2009), which can both promote mastery of content and increase levels of on-task behavior.

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Guided Notes: Recommendations• Verify student completion of notes. To ensure that students are

actively engaged in completing guided notes, the instructor can occasionally collect and review them for accuracy and completeness (on a random and unpredictable schedule).

• Have students tally notes-review sessions. Guided notes are a powerful tool for reviewing course content. Students can be encouraged to write a checkmark on the cover of a set of completed guided notes each time that they review them (Lazarus, 1996). These tallies assist students to monitor whether they have adequately reviewed those notes in preparation for quizzes and tests.

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Guided Notes: Recommendations• Fade the use of guided notes. As the class becomes more proficient

at note-taking, the instructor can gradually 'fade' the use of guided notes by providing less pre-formatted notes-content and requiring that students write a larger share of the notes on their own (Heward, 1996).

• Give students responsibility for creating guided notes. Teachers may discover that they can hand some responsibility to their students to prepare guided-notes. For example, as a cooperative-learning exercise, a group of students might be assigned a chapter-section from a biology text and asked to compose a set of guided notes based on its content. The teacher can then review and edit the notes as needed.

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Homework Contract Intended Purpose:

This homework contract intervention (adapted from Miller & Kelly, 1994) uses goal-setting, a written contract, and rewards to boost student completion (and accuracy) of homework. Students also learn the valuable skills of breaking down academic assignments into smaller, more manageable subtasks and setting priorities for work completion.



Homework Contract: Form



Homework Contract

1. Parents are trained to be supportive ‘homework coaches’.

2. The parent creates a homework reward system for the child.

3. The parent negotiates the homework contract program with the child.

4. The parent and child fill out the Daily Homework Contract.

5. The parent checks the child’s homework completion, delivers nightly & weekly rewards.



Homework Contract: Tips & Troubleshooting

• If the parent finds the Homework Contract program too burdensome, have an afterschool program implement it.

• The teacher may choose to monitor homework completion and send a note home to the parent, who provides the reward.







Mini-Skills Moment:

‘Academic Enabler’ Observational Checklists: Measuring Students’ Ability to Manage Their Own Learning (pp.2-6)



‘Academic Enabler’ Skills: Why Are They Important?

Student academic success requires more than content knowledge or mastery of a collection of cognitive strategies. Academic accomplishment depends also on a set of ancillary skills and attributes called ‘academic enablers’ (DiPerna, 2006). Examples of academic enablers include:– Study skills– Homework completion– Cooperative learning skills– Organization– Independent seatwork

Source: DiPerna, J. C. (2006). Academic enablers and student achievement: Implications for assessment and intervention services in the schools. Psychology in the Schools, 43, 7-17.



‘Academic Enabler’ Skills: Why Are They Important? (Cont.)

Because academic enablers are often described as broad skill sets, however, they can be challenging to define in clear, specific, measureable terms. A useful method for defining a global academic enabling skill is to break it down into a checklist of component sub-skills--a process known as ‘discrete categorization’ (Kazdin, 1989). An observer can then use the checklist to note whether a student successfully displays each of the sub-skills.

Source: Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior modification in applied settings (4th ed.). Pacific Gove, CA: Brooks/Cole.



‘Academic Enabler’ Skills: Why Are They Important? (Cont.)

Observational checklists that define academic enabling skills have several uses in Response to Intervention:– Classroom teachers can use these skills checklists as convenient tools to

assess whether a student possesses the minimum ‘starter set’ of academic enabling skills needed for classroom success.

– Teachers or tutors can share examples of academic-enabler skills checklists with students, training them in each of the sub-skills and encouraging them to use the checklists independently to take greater responsibility for their own learning.

– Teachers or other observers can use the academic enabler checklists periodically to monitor student progress during interventions--assessing formatively whether the student is using more of the sub-skills.

Source: Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior modification in applied settings (4th ed.). Pacific Gove, CA: Brooks/Cole.



‘Academic Enabler’ Skills: Sample Observational Checklists





















Activity: Academic Enablers Observational Checklist

At your tables:Review the ‘Academic Enablers’ Observational Checklists.• What are some uses you might have for checklists that map

out students’ academic-support skills?• How could you use the existing examples or adapt the

general format to create your own observational checklists?

Documents

Response to Intervention RTI: Academic Interventions for Difficult- to-Teach Students Jim Wright