Norristown Area School District

							    Key Literacy
Strategies for Middle
 and High Schools
   Involved in RTI
   Dr. Denise P. Gibbs
     RTI Consultant
  gibbsdenise@aol.com
Need for Secondary Literacy Improvement

•Approximately two-thirds of eighth- and
twelfth- grade students read at less than
the “proficient” level as described by
NAEP (National Institute for Literacy,
2006).
•Students in lowest 25 percent of their
class in reading are 20 times more likely
to drop out than students not in this
group.
      Some students….
 Read well and are motivated to
  achieve academic success
 Struggle with comprehending
  what they read but can read
  words accurately and fluently
 Struggle to read words
  accurately and fluently
Adolescent Reading Struggles
         (Reading Next, 2004)
 90%   of reading difficulties of
  adolescents are due to
  comprehension difficulties.
 Only about 10% of reading
  difficulties of adolescents are due
  to accuracy, decoding, or word
  level difficulties (dyslexic?).
Adolescent Reading Struggles
            (Deshler, 2007)
 Perhaps as many as 45% of
  adolescent struggling readers
  have word-level deficits!
 Each school will need to
  determine their own
  percentages.
How do we “sell” a secondary literacy program?
•If secondary students don’t have adequate
literacy skills, they won’t be able to meet the
goals of the school’s general education
curriculum.
•Think content area literacy
•Improved content literacy skills = improved
content performance (on high stakes tests!)
•Improved content performance = increased
graduation rates (=AYP!)
Important Adolescent Literacy Documents
        (Research basis for adolescent literacy)

•Adolescent literacy: A position statement.
International Reading Association (1999)
•Adolescent literacy and the achievement gap:
What do we know and where do we go from
here? Carnegie Corporation of New York (2003)
•Adolescent literacy resources: Linking
research and practice. Northeast and Islands
Regional Educational Laboratory at Brown
University (2002).
 Important Adolescent Literacy Documents
         (Research basis for adolescent literacy)

•Adolescents and literacy: Reading for the 21st
century. Alliance for Excellent Education (2003).
•Effective literacy instruction for adolescents.
National Reading Conference (2001).
•Reading at risk: How states can respond to the
crisis in adolescent literacy. National
Association of State Boards of Education
(2005).
 Important Adolescent Literacy Documents
          (Research basis for adolescent literacy)

•Reading for understanding: Toward a research
and development program in reading
comprehension. RAND Corporation (2002).
•Reading next: A vision for action and research
in middle and high school literacy. Alliance for
Excellent Education (2006).
•Reading to achieve: A governor’s guide to
adolescent literacy. National Governors
Association Center for Best Practices (2005).
Important Adolescent Literacy Documents
          (Research basis for adolescent literacy)

•Teaching children to read: An evidence-based
assessment of the scientific research literature on
reading and its implications for reading instruction.
Report of the National Reading Panel. National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development (2000).
•Ten years of research on adolescent literacy: 1994–
2004: A review. Learning Point Associates (2005).
•What should comprehension instruction be the
instruction of? Handbook of reading research. Mahwah,
NJ: Erlbaum (2000
Important Adolescent Literacy Documents
         (Research basis for adolescent literacy)

•Academic literacy instruction for adolescents: A
guidance document from the Centers on
Instruction (2007)
•Interventions for adolescent struggling readers:
A Meta-Analysis with Implications for Practice
Centers on Instruction (2007)
•Literacy instruction in the content areas: Getting
to the core of middle and high school
improvement Alliance for Excellent Education
(2007).
 Consistent Recommendations from
  Adolescent Literacy Documents

1. Focus  upon explicit learning
   strategy instruction and provide
   time for students to practice
   using these strategies in small
   group experiences in daily
   classes.
2. Include this strategy instruction
   in ALL content area classes
     Consistent Recommendations from
       Adolescent Literacy Research

3. Address the need to ensure student
 engagement and motivation by
 providing students appropriate
 materials and meaningful classroom
 activities which allow them to be
 active participants in the learning
 process.
   Consistent Recommendations from
     Adolescent Literacy Research

4. Make  intensive intervention classes
   available for students who need
   them
5. Provide and require participation in
   professional development to equip
   educators to accomplish the mission
Secondary Literacy
can and has been
 done effectively!
      Secondary RTI Framework
    based on 30 years of research!
   Content Literacy Continuum (CLC)
     University  of Kansas Center for Research
      on Learning
     5 levels of literacy instruction and
      intervention
     Aligned with RTI and 3 Tier Model but
      designed for middle and high schools!
     An evolution of the Strategic Instruction
      Model (SIM).
    A “Simple”
  3 Tier Model for
Secondary Students
        (Gibbs, 2009)
              Tier 3
            Intensive
          intervention
           provided to
            students
         as needed in a
        separate literacy
       intervention class
              Tier 2
Literacy assistance/intervention
 provided to struggling readers
          embedded in
English/Language Arts classes
and in ALL content area classes
             Tier 1
      Literacy instruction
    provided to all students
          embedded in
English/Language Arts classes
and in ALL content area classes
             About Each Tier
•Tier 1 = content area comprehension strategy
instruction provided to ALL students in ALL
classes (some daily small group time)
•Tier 2 = classroom teacher works with “weaker
students” during the small group time while “on-
level students work independently in their
groups.
•Tier 3 = intervention classes are provided for
students with word-level deficits and for students
with severe comprehension deficits
    Possible Tier Combinations
•On-level students will be in Tier 1 only.
•Below-level students who have comprehension
skill deficits but who have functional word-level
skills would be in Tier 1 and 2
•Significantly below level students who have
severe comprehension skill deficits and/or
deficits in basic word-level skills would be in
Tiers 1, 2, and 3
     Administrative Issues

 Fidelity
 Professional Development
 Literacy Coaches
 Scheduling
 Intervention Teams
Assessment
   RTI Uses of Assessment
•To determine IF intervention is
needed
•To determine WHAT intervention is
needed
•To monitor the progress of students
in interventions
Assessment to determine IF intervention is needed

 •Begin with reading scores from “high stakes”
 testing
 •Analyze drop-out risk factors (on-track / off-
 track)
    •Absences
    •Courses failed
    •Credits earned
    •Grades
    http://www.betterhighschools.org/pubs/EWStool.xls
Assessment to determine IF intervention is needed

 •Organize/analyze other data
   •most recent benchmark/progress
   monitoring data
   •“intervention history”
 •Determine need for additional information
 to decide WHAT intervention is needed
   •Word-level deficit / or comprehension
   deficit?
Assessment to determine IF intervention is
needed and WHAT intervention is needed
 See Intervention Needs Assessment
 Profile-Secondary (INAPS)
 • Comprehension deficit examples
    • Comprehension Tier 2
    •Comprehension Tier 3
 •Word-level deficit examples (Tier 3)
    •Below 3rd grade skills
    •3rd – 5th grade skills
      What is a maze procedure?
   Use a grade level determined passage with
    every 7th word omitted and replaced with
    three words from which to choose.
   Student has 3 minutes to read the passage
    while circling correct answers as the
    passage is read.
   Score is the number of correct words circled
    within the 3 minutes
   Can be group administered if desired!
Antarctica is the last unspoiled place on Earth, our
last frontier. When I have a busy day or / so / as
am stuck in traffic, knowing Antarctica
heavy / exists / begin makes me more confident
about the ever / slight / future of our natural
places. I imagine the / was / and sheets of ice, the
crunch of snow names / under / large foot. I think
of the light blue of / as / is the sky and the darker
blue of / a / us the encircling ocean. Lately, though,
that / are / sing vision of Antarctica has changed
because is / of / as things my sister has told me.
Knowledge is / to / or a good thing, but it changes
how / the / was we think about a place.
Antarctica is the last unspoiled place on Earth, our
last frontier. When I have a busy day or / so / as
am stuck in traffic, knowing Antarctica
heavy / exists / begin makes me more confident
about the ever / slight / future of our natural
places. I imagine the / was / and sheets of ice, the
crunch of snow names / under / large foot. I think
of the light blue of / as / is the sky and the darker
blue of / a / us the encircling ocean. Lately, though,
that / are / sing vision of Antarctica has changed
because is / of / as things my sister has told me.
Knowledge is / to / or a good thing, but it changes
how / the / was we think about a place.
  Possible Resources for Mazes
Florida Center for Reading Research has
mazes for grades 6-12
  •www.fcrr.org/forf_mazes/mazes.htm
Assessing Reading Multiple Measures, 2nd
ed (2008) has mazes for grades 2-10 with
expected levels of performance
  • www.corelearn.com
Possible sources of additional information
to determine what intervention is needed

  Test   of Word Reading Efficiency
   Orally read sight words and nonsense
    words for 45 seconds each.
   Percentiles and standard scores
   sight words, phonemic decoding, and
    total word reading efficiency (fluency)
    less than 2 minutes per student
    2 equivalent forms
Possible sources of additional information
to determine what intervention is needed
   Test of Silent Contextual Reading Fluency
     AYELLOWBIRDWITHBLUEWINGS
     Percentiles  and standard scores reflect
      students silent reading skills including word
      identification, word meaning, word building,
      sentence structure, comprehension, and
      fluency
     3 minutes per student or can be group
      administered
     4 equivalent forms for progress monitoring
Possible sources of additional information
to determine what intervention is needed
 Degrees of Reading Power (DRP)
   Silently read a nonfiction passage
    completing mazes with multiple choice
    selections.
   Un-timed format
   Determine independent, instruction, and
    frustration levels of text comprehension
   Both criterion referenced and standard
    scores are available
   May be administered three times per year
   May be group administered
Adolescent Literacy Progress Monitoring

   May be included in reading intervention
    program
 AIMSWEB through 8th grade
     CBMs – ORF and accuracy percentage
     Mazes – Reading Comprehension

 STEEP middle school and high school
  mazes (maze sentences-not paragraphs)
 Teacher-made
Adolescent Literacy Progress Monitoring


 See www.studentprogress.org for a list
  of tools available for progress
  monitoring.
 See www.fluentreader.org for free
  digital progress monitoring graphing
  template! (University of Washington
  CBM growth Calculator)
Progress Monitoring Tool Selection
 Selection  of inappropriate progress
  monitoring tool will kill your RTI
  efforts!
 MUST select progress monitoring
  tool that reflects intervention focus
  But   Not mastery testing
 Appropriate progress monitoring tool

•If intervention focus = comprehension
  •Then progress monitoring tool = mazes
    •Commercially available mazes
    •Teacher-made mazes using actual
    textbook passages!
 Appropriate progress monitoring tool

•If intervention focus = word level
decoding skills
  •Then progress monitoring tool =
  decoding probes (real and nonsense
  multisyllabic words representing all 6
  syllable types)
Appropriate progress monitoring tool


 •If intervention focus = increased
 content knowledge
   •Then progress monitoring tool =
   vocabulary matching probes
 About ORF and Adolescent Literacy
 ORF stabilizes at about 150 wcpm at grades 6-8
  and changes very little after that.
 Fluency levels vary according to what is being
  read by adolescents!
   Need increased fluency if topic is unknown or
    uninteresting to the reader.
 If the intervention goal is to improve
  comprehension, asking for faster reading may
  not get you there….we are asking the student
  to read and reflect….not to read faster
About ORF and Adolescent Literacy
 ORF and Mazes BOTH predict reading
  performance and can be used in
  determining IF a student needs
  intervention but…..
 ORF should not be used to determine
  progress in literacy unless ORF is the
  actual focus of the intervention.
  Target fluency only if it is REALLY low
 Appropriate progress monitoring tool
•If intervention focus = gaining minimally
needed fluency level
  •Then progress monitoring tool = oral
  reading fluency probes
    •Look at both rate and accuracy
       •Determine appropriate grade-level
       passages, set intervention goals for
       accuracy and rate, and set target
       ROI needed to reach goal
         Goal Setting and Decision Rules
                       (Dazey Mazey)
   Determine baseline performance on first PM
    probe
   Set expected rate of improvement (ROI)
   How much growth by year’s end and divide by
    number of weeks of intervention to get expected
    weekly ROI.
   If student is making the expected gains (ROI
    meets or exceeds the goal set by the
    intervention team), continue the intervention.
   If student is not making expected ROI after “data
    seems solid” (rule of 4), then consider altering
    the intervention or refer to SPED.
 Intervention
  Principles
and Strategies
  Adolescent Literacy Problems
 Are caused by:
  Limited comprehension
    Tiers   1&2&3
 Limited engagement
    Tier   1&2
 Limited word-level skills
    Tier   3
   Reading Comprehension
    primary causes of reading
 Two
 comprehension problems
 Vocabulary/language limits
    Words in context
    Complex sentence structures

 “passive     reading”
      “Get to the end” vs “make meaning”
Reading Comprehension: Vocabulary

 Tier   1 & 2 vocabulary strategies
  Vocabulary rubric
  Frayer model
  Concept map
     Reading Comprehension: Active
           Reading Strategies
   Before strategies
     Set the stage
     Assess and build content knowledge
   During strategies
     Metacognition
     Support and monitor comprehension
   After strategies
     Review, organize
     Evaluate, extend, and transfer content
      knowledge
    Engagement Strategies
         (Rozzell & Scearce, 2009)

 Tier1 & 2 strategies to get
 students to be active
 participants in classes
  Turn toYour Partner
  Three-way Interview
  Numbered Heads Together
  Jigsaw Modified
Content Literacy Strategy Resources
   Power Tools for Adolescent
    Literacy (2009) by Jan
    Rozzelle & Carol Scearce
   Strategies for engaging
    students
   Comprehension strategies
    (before, during, and after)
   Vocabulary strategies
   Strategic learning
   Website with free
    downloadables
       Go.solutions-tree.com/literacy
Content Literacy Strategy Resources
    Inside Words: Tools for
     Teaching Academic
     Vocabulary Grades 4-
     12 (2007) by Janet
     Allen
    22 vocabulary
     strategies with
     examples for use in
     secondary content
     classes
    Includes a CD with
     graphic organizers.
     Word-level Strategies
 Teach  students to identify and
  break words into syllable types.
 Teach students when and how to
  read multisyllabic words by
  blending the parts together.
 Teach students to recognize
  irregular words that do not follow
  predictable patterns.
       Word-level Strategies
   Teach students the meanings of common
    prefixes, suffixes, inflectional endings, and
    roots. Instruction should include ways in which
    words relate to each other (e.g., trans:
    transfer, translate, transform, transition).
   Teach students how to break words into word
    parts and to combine word parts to create
    words based on their roots, bases, or other
    features.
   Teach students how and when to use structural
    analysis to decode unknown words.
Tier 3 Intensive
  Intervention
   Programs
AMP Reading Program (2006)
   Tier 3 intensive comprehension
    intervention
     Interest level 6-12, reading level 3-5
     Seven comprehension strategies
     Content specific strategy use for
      Science, Math, and Social Studies
     Vocabulary, fluency, and
      comprehension
Corrective Reading (1998 & 2008)
   Tier 3 intensive word-level and/or
    comprehension intervention
    Grades 4-12
    Four levels for decoding and four
      levels for comprehension
    Scripted lessons
    Extensive skill practice
    Outstanding research data on
      efficacy
             LANGUAGE! (4th Ed.)
   Tier 3 intensive word-level and
    comprehension intervention (could be a
    parallel ELA course?)
     Grades 3-12
     phonemic awareness/phonics,
     word recognition/spelling,
     vocabulary/morphology,
     grammar/usage,
     speaking/writing,
     listening/reading comprehension
     90   minute lessons
READ 180 Enterprise Ed. (2006)
   Tier 3 intensive comprehension and word-
    level intervention (best if word-level skills
    are 3rd grade or higher)
     Stages B and C for middle and high school
     9 workshops lasting 4-6 weeks in each stage
     targets decoding, fluency, vocabulary,
      comprehension, and writing skills
     90 minute lessons with whole group and small
      group activities (computer, direct instruction,
      and independent reading)
     Assessments!
     Wilson Reading System (1988)
   Tier 3 intensive word-level intervention
    for students with below 3rd grade level
    word-level skills.
     Orton-Gillingham based, multisensory,
      sequential, process-oriented
     Steps 1-6 focus upon decoding and
      encoding
     Steps 7-12 focus on advanced word
      analysis, vocabulary, and comprehension
     Grades 2-12
     REWARDS (Reading Excellence: Word
      Attack and Rate Development Strategies)

   Tier 3 intensive word-level intervention
    for students with 3rd to 5th grade word-
    level skills (short-term)
     Grades 4-12
     20 lessons 40-50 minutes in length
     Lessons 1-12 focus upon decoding
      multisyllabic words and lessons 13-
      20 focus on fluency
The SSS of Secondary Literacy
We can achieve SUCCESS through RTI
 at the secondary level
 If   we have…..
  efficientStructures
  effective Strategies
  endless STAMINA!
     THANK YOU!
    gibbsdenise@aol.com

RTI for Middle and High School:
 Structures and Strategies for
     Literacy Success (2009)
         www.LRP.com