1. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org What is an Evidence-Based Intervention? Jim Wright www.interventioncentral.org

2. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org Intervention Research & Development: A Work in Progress

3. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 3 Tier 1: What Are the Recommended Elements of ‘Core Curriculum’?: More Research Needed “In essence, we now have a good beginning on the evaluation of Tier 2 and 3 interventions, but no idea about what it will take to get the core curriculum to work at Tier 1. A complicating issue with this potential line of research is that many schools use multiple materials as their core program.” p. 640 Source: Kovaleski, J. F. (2007). Response to intervention: Considerations for research and systems change. School Psychology Review, 36, 638-646.

4. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 4 Limitations of Intervention Research… “…the list of evidence-based interventions is quite small relative to the need [of RTI]…. Thus, limited dissemination of interventions is likely to be a practical problem as individuals move forward in the application of RTI models in applied settings.” p. 33 Source: 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.

5. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 5 There is a lack of agreement about what is meant by ‘scientifically validated’ classroom (Tier I) interventions. Districts should establish a ‘vetting’ process—criteria for judging whether a particular instructional or intervention approach should be considered empirically based. Source: Fuchs, D., & Deshler, D. D. (2007). What we need to know about responsiveness to intervention (and shouldn’t be afraid to ask).. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 22(2), 129–136. Schools Need to Review Tier 1 (Classroom) Interventions to Ensure That They Are Supported By Research

6. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 6 What Are Appropriate Content-Area Tier 1 Universal Interventions for Secondary Schools? “High schools need to determine what constitutes high-quality universal instruction across content areas. In addition, high school teachers need professional development in, for example, differentiated instructional techniques that will help ensure student access to instruction interventions that are effectively implemented.” Source: Duffy, H. (August 2007). Meeting the needs of significantly struggling learners in high school. Washington, DC: National High School Center. Retrieved from http://www.betterhighschools.org/pubs/ p. 9

7. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org RTI & Intervention: Key Concepts

8. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 8 Essential Elements of Any Academic or Behavioral Intervention (‘Treatment’) Strategy: Method of delivery (‘Who or what delivers the treatment?’) Examples include teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, volunteers, computers. Treatment component (‘What makes the intervention effective?’) Examples include activation of prior knowledge to help the student to make meaningful connections between ‘known’ and new material; guide practice (e.g., Paired Reading) to increase reading fluency; periodic review of material to aid student retention.

9. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 9 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.

10. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 10 Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out 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).

11. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 11 Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications: Sorting Them Out 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).

12. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 12 Core Instruction, Interventions, Accommodations & Modifications : Sorting Them Out 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 –Allowing a student to select a much easier book for a book report than would be allowed to his or her classmates.

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14. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 14 ‘Intervention Footprint’: 7-Step Lifecycle of an Intervention Plan… 1.Information about the student’s academic or behavioral concerns is collected. 2.The intervention plan is developed to match student presenting concerns. 3.Preparations are made to implement the plan. 4.The plan begins. 5.The integrity of the plan’s implementation is measured. 6.Formative data is collected to evaluate the plan’s effectiveness. 7.The plan is discontinued, modified, or replaced.

15. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 15 Increasing the Intensity of an Intervention: Key Dimensions Interventions can move up the RTI Tiers through being intensified across several dimensions, including: Type of intervention strategy or materials used Student-teacher ratio Length of intervention sessions Frequency of intervention sessions Duration of the intervention period (e.g., extending an intervention from 5 weeks to 10 weeks) Motivation strategies Source: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York. 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.

16. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 16 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.

17. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 17 Research-Based Elements of Effective Academic Interventions ‘Correctly targeted’ : The intervention is appropriately matched to the student’s academic or behavioral needs. ‘Explicit instruction’ : Student skills have been broken down “into manageable and deliberately sequenced steps and providing overt strategies for students to learn and practice new skills” p.1153 ‘Appropriate level of challenge’ : The student experiences adequate success with the instructional task. ‘High opportunity to respond’: The student actively responds at a rate frequent enough to promote effective learning. ‘Feedback’: The student receives prompt performance feedback about the work completed. Source: 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.

18. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 18 Interventions: Potential ‘Fatal Flaws’ Any intervention must include 4 essential elements. The absence of any one of the elements would be considered a ‘fatal flaw’ (Witt, VanDerHeyden & Gilbertson, 2004) that blocks the school from drawing meaningful conclusions from the student’s response to the intervention: 1.Clearly defined problem. The student’s target concern is stated in specific, observable, measureable terms. This ‘problem identification statement’ is the most important step of the problem-solving model (Bergan, 1995), as a clearly defined problem allows the teacher or RTI Team to select a well-matched intervention to address it. 2.Baseline data. The teacher or RTI Team measures the student’s academic skills in the target concern (e.g., reading fluency, math computation) prior to beginning the intervention. Baseline data becomes the point of comparison throughout the intervention to help the school to determine whether that intervention is effective. 3.Performance goal. The teacher or RTI Team sets a specific, data-based goal for student improvement during the intervention and a checkpoint date by which the goal should be attained. 4.Progress-monitoring plan. The teacher or RTI Team collects student data regularly to determine whether the student is on-track to reach the performance goal. Source: 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.

19. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org Finding a Way Out of the Research Maze 19

20. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 20 Innovations in Education: Efficacy vs. Effectiveness “A useful distinction has recently emerged between efficacy and effectiveness (Schoenwald & Hoagwood, 2001). Efficacy refers to intervention outcomes that are produced by researchers and program developers under ideal conditions of implementation (i.e., adequate resources, close supervision …). In contrast, effectiveness refers to demonstration(s) of socially valid outcomes under normal conditions of usage in the target setting(s) for which the intervention was developed. Demonstrations of effectiveness are far more difficult than demonstrations of efficacy. In fact, numerous promising interventions and approaches fail to bridge the gap between efficacy and effectiveness.” [Emphasis added] 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. p. 400

21. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 21 Finding a Way Out of the ‘Research-Based’ Maze: A Guide for Schools 1.Define the Academic or Behavioral Needs Requiring Intervention in Detail and Using Standard Terminology. Effective interventions cannot be reliably identified and matched to student needs if those needs are loosely or vaguely defined. –Overly broad academic goal statement: a student will “know her letters.” –More focused goal statement: “When shown any letter in uppercase or lowercase form, the student will accurately identify the letter name and its corresponding sound without assistance.” When possible, describe academic behaviors selected as intervention target using standard terminology to make it easier to locate appropriate evidence-based intervention ideas.

22. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 22 Finding a Way Out of the ‘Research-Based’ Maze: A Guide for Schools 2.Develop Consensus in Your School About What is Meant by ‘Evidence-Based’. –Compile a list of trusted professional organizations and journals. Continue to add to this list of trusted organizations and journals over time.

23. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 23 Finding a Way Out of the ‘Research-Based’ Maze: A Guide for Schools 2.Develop Consensus in Your School About What is Meant by ‘Evidence-Based’. –Draft a definition of ‘evidence-based.’ Example: The International Reading Association (2002) provides these guidelines: Produce ‘objective’ data—so that different evaluators should be able to draw similar conclusions when reviewing the data from the studies. Have valid research results that can reasonably be applied to the kinds of real-world reading tasks that children must master in actual classrooms. Yield reliable and replicable findings that would not be expected to change significantly based on such arbitrary factors as the day or time that data on the interventions were collected or who collected them. Employ current best-practice methods in observation or experimentation to reduce the probability that other sources of potential bias crept into the studies and compromised the results. Checked before publication by independent experts, who review the methods, data, and conclusions of the studies.

24. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 24 Finding a Way Out of the ‘Research-Based’ Maze: A Guide for Schools 2.Develop Consensus in Your School About What is Meant by ‘Evidence-Based’. –Adopting a ‘research continuum.’ It can be useful for schools to use a ‘research continuum’ that establishes categories for interventions in descending levels of research quality. The continuum would be used as an aid to judge whether specific instructional practices or interventions are supported by research of sufficient quantity and quality for use in schools.

25. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 25 Research Continuum Example: WWC Practice Guides Source: Kamil, M. L., Borman, G. D., Dole, J., Kral, C. C., Salinger, T., and 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.

26. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 26 Finding a Way Out of the ‘Research-Based’ Maze: A Guide for Schools 3.Use Impartial On-Line Rating Sites to Evaluate Commercial Intervention Products. Cautions to keep in mind when using these sites: –They typically rely on existing research only. –There can potential delays / lag time between the publication of new research and these sites’ evaluation of that research.

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29. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 29 Finding a Way Out of the ‘Research-Based’ Maze: A Guide for Schools 4.Know the Research-Based Components That Are Building Blocks of Effective Interventions. Research indicates (Burns, VanDerHeyden, & Boice, 2008) that, to be maximally effective, interventions should: –be matched to the student’s academic needs –be delivered using explicit instruction –provide the student with adequate success in the instructional task –give the student a high opportunity to respond –provide timely performance feedback.

30. Response to Intervention www.interventioncentral.org 30 Finding a Way Out of the ‘Research-Based’ Maze: A Guide for Schools 5.Keep Up With Emerging Intervention Research Through ‘Knowledge Brokers’. A.Districts first define manageable and sensible intervention topic areas, such as ‘alphabetics’ and ‘reading fluency’. B.Then district or school staff members are selected to serve as ‘knowledge brokers’ based on their training, experience, and/or interest. C.Knowledge brokers regularly read educational research journals and other publications from reputable organizations or government agencies to keep up with emerging research in their intervention topic area. D.They periodically share their expertise with other district RTI planners to ensure that the schools are using the best available intervention strategies.