Enhancing RtI: Instruction and Intervention Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey www.fisherandfrey.com

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Role of Assessment in RtI2

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

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

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

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

Curriculum-based assessments (CBA): course curriculum

Both are needed for progress monitoring

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

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

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

Traditional homework occurs too soon in the instructional cycle.

Cleavers Slackers Cheaters Bewildered

Goals of Homework Fluency building Application Spiral review Extension Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Homework and the gradual release of responsibility: Making responsibility possible. English Journal, 98(2), 40-45.

This was the schoolwide essential question for 9 weeks.

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

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

Compare English language learners to “true peers”

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

The focus of the monitoring team

Manipulate the variables

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

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

Time and Duration p. 54

Group size p. 53 2-5 members

for progress monitoring CBMs 2 times per month for progress monitoring

After school tutorials p. 59-67 LOTS of forms available on these pages Academic Recovery and After school tutorials

Involve the family

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

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

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

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

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

Check for Understanding Robust Questions to Check for Understanding

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

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

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

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

Prompting for Cognitive and Metacognitive Thinking

Prompts So the student does the cognitive work

Prompts can be cognitive or metacognitive Note to elf

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

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

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

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

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

Cues to Shift Attention

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

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

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

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

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

Direct Explanation and Modeling

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

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

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

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

Keep the teacher at the center of communication

Daily 1:1 instruction

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

Every certificated adult meets with students

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

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