Response to Intervention RTI: Schoolwide Academic Screening Jim Wright

Response to Intervention

www.interventioncentral.org

RTI: Schoolwide Academic Screening

Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org


www.interventioncentral.org 2

RTI Literacy: Assessment & Progress-Monitoring To measure student ‘response to instruction/intervention’ effectively, the RTI model measures students’ academic performance and progress on schedules matched to each student’s risk profile and intervention Tier membership.

• Benchmarking/Universal Screening. All children in a grade level are assessed at least 3 times per year on a common collection of academic assessments.

• Strategic Monitoring. Students placed in Tier 2 (supplemental) reading groups are assessed 1-2 times per month to gauge their progress with this intervention.

• Intensive Monitoring. Students who participate in an intensive, individualized Tier 3 intervention are assessed at least once per week.

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.



Educational Decisions and Corresponding Types of Assessment

• SCREENING/BENCHMARKING DECISIONS: Tier 1: Brief screenings to quickly indicate whether students in the general-education population are academically proficient or at risk.

• PROGRESS-MONITORING DECISIONS: At Tiers and 3, ongoing ‘formative’ assessments to judge whether students on intervention are making adequate progress.

• INSTRUCTIONAL/DIAGNOSTIC DECISIONS: At any Tier, detailed assessment to map out specific academic deficits , discover the root cause(s) of a student’s academic problem.

• OUTCOME DECISIONS: Summative assessment (e.g., state tests) to evaluate the effectiveness of a program.

Source: Hosp, M. K., Hosp, J. L., & Howell, K. W. (2007). The ABCs of CBM: A practical guide to curriculum-based measurement. New York: Guilford Press.



Curriculum-Based Measurement: An Introduction



Curriculum-Based Measurement: Advantages as a Set of Tools to Monitor RTI/Academic Cases

• Aligns with curriculum-goals and materials• Is reliable and valid (has ‘technical adequacy’) • Is criterion-referenced: sets specific performance levels for specific

tasks• Uses standard procedures to prepare materials, administer, and

score• Samples student performance to give objective, observable ‘low-

inference’ information about student performance • Has decision rules to help educators to interpret student data and

make appropriate instructional decisions• Is efficient to implement in schools (e.g., training can be done quickly;

the measures are brief and feasible for classrooms, etc.)• Provides data that can be converted into visual displays for ease of

communicationSource: Hosp, M.K., Hosp, J. L., & Howell, K. W. (2007). The ABCs of CBM. New York: Guilford.



• Reading fluency• Reading comprehension• Math computation• Writing• Spelling• Phonemic awareness skills• Early math skills

Among other areas, CBM Techniques have been developed to assess:



Measuring General vs. Specific Academic Outcomes

General Outcome Measures…• Track the student’s increasing proficiency on

general curriculum goals such as reading fluency. Example: CBM-Oral Reading Fluency (Hintz et al., 2006).

• Are most useful for longer-term measurement (e.g., to set and track IEP goals over the timespan of a school year).

Sources: 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. Hintz, J. M., Christ, T. J., & Methe, S. A. (2006). Curriculum-based assessment. Psychology in the Schools, 43, 45-56.



Measuring General vs. Specific Academic Outcomes

Specific Sub-Skill Mastery Measures…• Track short-term student academic progress

with clear criteria for mastery (Burns & Gibbons, 2008). Example: Letter Identification.

• Are helpful in assessing whether the student has acquired short-term skills whose acquisition may require weeks rather than months.

Sources: 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. Hintz, J. M., Christ, T. J., & Methe, S. A. (2006). Curriculum-based assessment. Psychology in the Schools, 43, 45-56.



CBM: Developing a Process to Screen and Collect Local Norms Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Building-Wide Screening: Assessing All Students (Stewart & Silberglit, 2008)

Screening data in basic academic skills are collected at least 3 times per year (fall, winter, spring).

• Schools should consider using ‘curriculum-linked’ measures such as Curriculum-Based Measurement that will show generalized student growth in response to learning.

• If possible, schools should consider avoiding ‘curriculum-locked’ measures that are tied to a single commercial instructional program.

Source: Stewart, L. H. & Silberglit, B. (2008). Best practices in developing academic local norms. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 225-242). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.



Building-Wide Screening: Using a Wide Variety of Data (Stewart & Silberglit, 2008)

Screenings can be compiled using: • Fluency measures such as Curriculum-Based

Measurement.• Existing data, such as office disciplinary referrals.• Computer-delivered assessments, e.g., Measures of

Academic Progress (MAP) from www.nwea.org




Measures of Academic Progress

(MAP)www.nwea.org



Applications of Screening Data (Stewart & Silberglit, 2008)

Screening data can be used to:• Evaluate and improve the current core instructional

program.• Allocate resources to classrooms, grades, and buildings

where student academic needs are greatest.• Guide the creation of targeted Tier 2 (supplemental

intervention) groups• Set academic goals for improvement for students on

Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions.• Move students across levels of intervention, based on

performance relative to that of peers (local norms).




Screening Data: Supplement With Additional Academic Testing as Needed (Stewart & Silberglit, 2008)

“At the individual student level, local norm data are just the first step toward determining why a student may be experiencing academic difficulty. Because local norms are collected on brief indicators of core academic skills, other sources of information and additional testing using the local norm measures or other tests are needed to validate the problem and determine why the student is having difficulty. … Percentage correct and rate information provide clues regarding automaticity and accuracy of skills. Error types, error patterns, and qualitative data provide clues about how a student approached the task. Patterns of strengths and weaknesses on subtests of an assessment can provide information about the concepts in which a student or group of students may need greater instructional support, provided these subtests are equated and reliable for these purposes.” p. 237




Steps in Creating Process for Local Norming/Screening Using CBM Measures

1. Identify personnel to assist in collecting data. A range of staff and school stakeholders can assist in the school norming, including:• Administrators• Support staff (e.g., school psychologist, school social

worker, specials teachers, paraprofessionals)• Parents and adult volunteers• Field placement students from graduate programs

Source: Harn, B. (2000). Approaches and considerations of collecting schoolwide early literacy and reading performance data. University of Oregon: Retrieved from https://dibels.uoregon.edu/logistics/data_collection.pdf




2. Determine method for screening data collection. The school can have teachers collect data in the classroom or designate a team to conduct the screening:

• In-Class: Teaching staff in the classroom collect the data over a calendar week.

• Schoolwide/Single Day: A trained team of 6-10 sets up a testing area, cycles students through, and collects all data in one school day.

• Schoolwide/Multiple Days: Trained team of 4-8 either goes to classrooms or creates a central testing location, completing the assessment over multiple days.

• Within-Grade: Data collectors at a grade level norm the entire grade, with students kept busy with another activity (e.g., video) when not being screened.





3. Select dates for screening data collection. Data collection should occur at minimum three times per year in fall, winter, and spring. Consider:• Avoiding screening dates within two weeks of a major

student break (e.g., summer or winter break).• Coordinate the screenings to avoid state testing periods

and other major scheduling conflicts.





4. Create Preparation Checklist. Important preparation steps are carried out, including:• Selecting location of screening• Recruiting screening personnel• Ensure that training occurs for all data collectors• Line up data-entry personnel (e.g., for rapid computer

data entry).




Methods of Classroom Data Collection

Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org



Activity: Classroom Methods of Data CollectionIn your teams:

• Review the potential sources of classroom data that can be used to monitor Tier 1 interventions.

• What questions do you have about any of these data sources?

• How can your school make full use of these data sources to ensure that every Tier 1 intervention is monitored?

Classroom Data Sources:• Existing records• Global skills checklist• Rating scales• Behavioral frequency count• Behavioral log• Student work samples• Work performance logs• Timed tasks (e.g., CBM)



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.





Existing Records• Description: The teacher uses information

already being collected in the classroom that is relevant to the identified student problem.

• Examples of existing records that can be used to track student problems include:– Grades– Absences and incidents of tardiness– Homework turned in

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Global Skills Checklists• Description: The teacher selects a global skill.

The teacher then breaks that global skill down into specific, observable ‘subskills’. Each subskill can be verified as ‘done’ or ‘not done’.

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Global Skills Checklists: Example• The teacher selects the global skill ‘organizational skills’.• That global skill is defined as having the following

components, each of which can be observed:arriving to class on time; bringing work materials to class; following teacher directions in a timely manner; knowing how to request teacher assistance when

needed; having an uncluttered desk with only essential work

materials.

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Behavioral Frequency Count• Description: The teacher observes a student behavior

and keeps a cumulative tally of the number of times that the behavior is observed during a given period.

• Behaviors that are best measured using frequency counts have clearly observable beginning and end points—and are of relatively short duration. Examples include:– Student call-outs.– Requests for teacher help during independent

seatwork.– Raising one’s hand to make a contribution to large-

group discussion.

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Behavioral Frequency Count: How to Record

Teachers can collect data on the frequency of student behaviors in several ways:

• Keeping a mental tally of the frequency of target behaviors occurring during a class period.

• Recording behaviors on paper (e.g., simple tally marks) as they occur.

• Using a golf counter, stitch counter, or other mechanical counter device to keep an accurate tally of behaviors.

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Behavioral Frequency Count: How to Compute• If student behaviors are being tallied during a class period, frequency-

count data can be reported as ‘X number of behaviors per class period’.

• If frequency-count data is collected in different spans of time on different days, however, schools can use the following method to standardize frequency count data : – Record the total number of behaviors observed.– Record the number of minutes in the observation period.– Divide the total number of behaviors observed by total minutes in

the observation period. Example: 5 callouts observed during a 10 minute period = 0.5 callouts per minute.

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Behavior Log• Description: The teacher makes a log entry each

time that a behavior is observed. An advantage of behavior logs is that they can provide information about the context within which a behavior occurs.(Disciplinary office referrals are a specialized example of a behavior log.)

• Behavior logs are useful for tracking ‘low-incidence’ problem behaviors.

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Behavior Log: Sample Form

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Rating Scales• Description: A scale is developed that a rater

can use to complete a global rating of a behavior. Often the rating scale is completed at the conclusion of a fixed observation period (e.g., after each class period).

• Daily / Direct Behavior Report Cards are one example of rating scales.

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Daily Behavior

Report Card: Daily

Version

Jim Blalock May 5Mrs. Williams Rm 108



Student Work Samples• Description: Work samples are collected for

information about the student’s basic academic skills, mastery of course content, etc.

• Recommendation: When collecting work samples:– Record the date that the sample was collected– If the work sample was produced in class, note the

amount of time needed to complete the sample (students can calculate and record this information).

– If possible, collect 1-2 work samples from typical students as well to provide a standard of peer comparison.

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Work Performance Logs• Description: Information about student academic

performance is collected to provide insight into growth in student skills or use of skills in appropriate situations.

Example: A teacher implementing a vocabulary-building intervention keeps a cumulative log noting date and vocabulary words mastered.

• Example: A student keeps a journal with dated entries logging books read or the amount of ‘seat time’ that she spends on math homework.

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Timed Tasks (e.g., Curriculum-Based Measurement)

• Description: The teacher administers structured, timed tasks to assess student accuracy and fluency.

• Example: The student completes a 2-minute CBM single-skill math computation probe.

• Example: The student completes a 3-minute CBM writing probe that is scored for total words written.

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Combining Classroom Monitoring Methods• Often, methods of classroom data collection and

progress-monitoring can be combined to track a single student problem.

• Example: A teacher can use a rubric (checklist) to rate the quality of student work samples.

• Example: A teacher may keep a running tally (behavioral frequency count) of student callouts. At the same time, the student may be self-monitoring his rate of callouts on a Daily Behavior Report Card (rating scale).

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Activity: Classroom Methods of Data CollectionIn your teams:

• Review the potential sources of classroom data that can be used to monitor Tier 1 interventions.

• What questions do you have about any of these data sources?

• How can your school make full use of these data sources to ensure that every Tier 1 intervention is monitored?

Classroom Data Sources:• Existing records• Global skills checklist• Rating scales• Behavioral frequency count• Behavioral log• Student work samples• Work performance logs• Timed tasks (e.g., CBM)

Documents

Response to Intervention RTI: Schoolwide Academic Screening Jim Wright