The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which modifiability ratings and gains in narrative language, made through intervention over time with culturally and linguistically diverse children, aligned with the results of a diagnostic dynamic assessment of language. This study also examined the sensitivity and specificity of the dynamic assessment when response to language intervention was used as the primary indicator of language disorder (LD). A total of 32 culturally and linguistically diverse students from an elementary school in Utah participated in this study, with 17 students with LD and 15 students without LD. Students were administered a dynamic assessment of language and were then provided small group narrative-based language intervention for several weeks. Student progress was monitored each week by collecting narrative language samples. Modifiability ratings were also collected, which provided information on student learning potential. Progress monitoring gain scores from the first intervention session to the last intervention session and mean modifiability ratings were compared between children with and without language disorder. Logistic regression and receiver operator characteristic analyses were conducted to obtain classification accuracy information. The results of this study indicated that growth in narrative language due to intervention did not reflect the results of the dynamic assessment; however, modifiability scores, which measure a student's difficulty in learning language, aligned with the dynamic assessment results. Sensitivity was 94% and specificity was 71%. It is possible that a dynamic assessment of language may be a less biased approach to diagnose LD in culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Only 4% of the teachers at a southeastern grade school met the differentiated instruction standard in the state's teacher evaluation system. A qualitative case study design was used to examine elementary (K-5) teachers' perceptions of individualized differentiated instruction as it relates to planning and preparation, and teaching and professional responsibilities at one school in a southeastern state. Individualized differentiated instruction is altering instruction to fit students' needs; teachers who lack individualized differentiated instruction skills do not meet students' specific instructional needs. Danielson's framework for teaching guided this study. The sample consisted of 12 regular education, reading or math teachers in grades K-5 at the study school. Data were collected through review of lesson plan documents and face-to-face interviews. Transcripts were coded and analyzed thematically, and comparative analysis was used to compare the themes to Danielson's conceptual framework. The findings suggested that teachers' use of individualized differentiated instruction was influenced by the amount of planning time, inadequate professional development, and a sense of professional responsibility regarding teaching using the Danielson framework. Participants' planning and preparation for individualized differentiation did not necessarily lead to teaching using differentiated instruction; therefore, a professional development project on the use of differentiated instruction with students was developed. The study impacts social change by providing recommendations for planning effective professional development that improves individualized differentiated instruction and student learning outcomes.

Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs) encounter challenges in successfully navigating through the United States educational system. With state and federal laws adding to ELLs’ already lower educational outcomes than that of their English-only peers through a reduction of primary language supports and requirement of high stakes testing, consideration is warranted into the evidence-based interventions aimed to support and promote ELLs’ academic success. Within a tiered Response to Intervention (RTI) model, ELLs’ progress can be examined to determine when they demonstrate the need for additional targeted intervention or even referral for special education assessment. Understanding this progress begins by analyzing ELLs’ growth trajectories through progress monitoring of interventions in order to timely identify, through a data driven method, if lack of anticipated ELLs’ progress requires further examination. Results suggested ELLs in this study were able to make positive growth within the same time frame as their English only peers albeit with different patterns of growth for each group.

No description available.

Response to Intervention (RtI) integrates assessment and intervention within a school-wide, multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement. RtI requires that educators collect ongoing information about student progress and provide instruction that aligns with that progress. By providing rigorous interventions prior to students failing and by tracking them as they advance through the grades, students can have successful school careers. A majority of RtI research has been conducted in the elementary grades and while research in middle schools and high schools is emerging, few developments in effective implementations have been made. This study was conducted to address the gap in the educational literature concerning middle school implementation of RtI. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to better understand general middle school teachers’ perceptions of RtI implementation by comparing middle school teacher perceptions to elementary school teacher perceptions using the mean scores on the five variables (i.e., universal design for learning, evidence-based literacy, collaboration, data-driven decision-making, and implementation of interventions) of the Multi-Tiered Instruction Self-Efficacy Survey (MTISES). A causal-comparative design was used for this study. The statistical analysis of data, using the Mann-Whitney test, determined that no significant differences were found for 9 of the 10 pairwise tests calculated. Significances were only found for the implementation of interventions information variable. This significance indicates that middle school teachers have lower self-efficacy than elementary teachers in using print or web-based resources to implement interventions (such as those used in the Tier process) to small groups and individuals. Because teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs are related to the effort teachers invest in teaching, the goals they set, and their persistence when things do not go smoothly, teachers would be less likely to use web-based resources to guide their implementation of intervention to small groups and individuals. Future research should include studies focusing on specific issues within the Tier process that middle school teachers find troublesome. While this research showed concern with intervention implementation, a more descriptive study would assist teacher educators and administrators in developing specific guidelines for implementing small group and individualized interventions in the middle school.

The purpose of this study was to examine the preliminary psychometrics to revisions to the decoding subtest of the Predictive Early Assessment of Reading and Language (PEARL) dynamic assessment and to further examine the predictive validity of the language subtest of the PEARL. Specific aims were to (a) determine if kindergarten students made gains on the PEARL decoding subtest from pretest to a delayed standard posttest and to a delayed novel posttest, indicating that floor effects were mitigated, (b) to examine if there was variance in the delayed standard posttest and novel posttest scores, (c) to determine if there was adequate fidelity of administration and adequate inter-rater reliability of a delayed standard posttest and a delayed novel decoding posttest, and (d) to examine the sensitivity of the language subtest of the PEARL dynamic assessment. The PEARL Dynamic Assessment was administered to 34 kindergarten students from one elementary school who were identified as at-risk from the DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) composite score (Good et al., 2004). Of those 34 students, the PEARL identified seven students at risk for decoding and 11 students at risk for language. The PEARL dynamic assessment contains two brief subtests, a decoding subtest and a language subtest. Both subtests use a pretest, teach, posttest format. Results indicated that the delayed standard posttest correct sounds were significantly different from the pretest correct sounds. The delayed novel posttest correct sounds were significantly different from the pretest correct sounds. For the delayed standard posttest correct words there was a significant difference when compared to the pretest correct words. The delayed posttest novel words were not significantly different from the pretest words. Fidelity of administration was calculated from ten separate administrators, with 100% fidelity of administration for nine of those administrations. The point-to-point interrater reliability of the delayed posttest sounds, and novel sounds was 94% and the point-to-point interrater reliability of the total words read correctly was 94%. Results indicated that the PEARL correctly identified 9/11 students as having language disorder, yielding a sensitivity index of 82%. The findings suggest that the modification to the decoding subtest of the PEARL has preliminary evidence of validity and reliability, and that the language subtest of the PEARL may be a valid tool to identify kindergarten students at risk for language disorder.

Treatment integrity has always had a presence in research, but now more than ever must become a priority owing to the changes in Special Education Law. The present study intends to explore the relationship between factors of implementation, treatment integrity of intervention implementation, and reading fluency. Participants included students in grades 2 through 5 and their teachers enrolled in an urban elementary school in the southwest area of the United States. Participants were chosen for possible inclusion on the basis of their fall performance relative to oral reading fluency on a universal screening measure used as part of the district's Response to Intervention (RTI) plan. Classroom teachers were observed implementing reading interventions and asked to respond to surveys aimed at summarizing their opinions regarding factors related to choice of intervention and implementation. Path analysis was conducted to explore the relationship between two factors of implementation (intervention complexity and acceptability), treatment integrity (adherence to intervention protocol) and student outcomes (oral reading fluency scores). It was hypothesized that low scores for intervention complexity would be inversely related to levels of treatment integrity, which would subsequently be positively related to reading fluency. Moreover, it was hypothesized that intervention acceptability and treatment integrity would be positively related, which would subsequently be positively related to reading fluency. Lastly, it was hypothesized that there would be an inverse relationship between intervention complexity and reading fluency, and a positive relationship between intervention acceptability and reading fluency. Results indicated an inverse relationship between intervention complexity and treatment integrity, suggesting that when complexity was low, treatment integrity was high. A positive relationship was found between intervention acceptability and treatment integrity, suggesting that when acceptability was high, treatment integrity was high. Furthermore, when treatment integrity was high, reading fluency scores were found to be high. An inverse relationship was found between complexity and reading fluency, suggesting that when complexity was low, reading fluency scores were high. Lastly, a positive relationship was found between acceptability and reading fluency, suggesting that when acceptability was high, reading fluency scores were high.

Schools are increasingly challenged to respond to educational initiatives, implement accountability measures, and incorporate standards-driven curriculum changes introduced by laws such as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004. IDEIA signified a shift in the field of education and intensified practitioners’ concerns about the identification and instruction of students with learning disabilities (LD). The revisions to IDEIA proposed alternative models for the evaluation and identification of students with LD, such as response to intervention (RTI). RTI is an educational framework that supports students at-risk for academic failure by focusing on preventative measures. As teachers’ roles evolve in response to innovations such as RTI, teacher preparation programs must adjust their focus and curriculum accordingly. A parallel mixed-methods design was used to explore 100 general education pre-service teachers’ levels of concern regarding the implementation of RTI based on the concerns based adoption model. The sample for the study integrated general education pre-service teachers enrolled in professional development schools (PDS) at two levels of candidacy, PDS1 and PDS2. Data collected was analyzed utilizing canonical correlation analysis (CCA), multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), descriptive statistics, and thematic analysis. Results explain general education pre-service teachers’ levels of knowledge had a negative relationship with the levels of concern, as these appeared to be higher due to teacher candidates’ lack of knowledge. Qualitative findings supported this statement. Contributions to the literature are presented and may guide teacher preparation programs as they assess the readiness of their pre-service teachers to effectively implement RTI.

The purpose of this study was to examine special education populations, special education reading achievement, and regular education reading achievement in relation to the implementation of the Reading First three-tiered model as a response to Intervention platform. The population for this study focused on rural schools with Grades K-3 in attendance. Schools participated in the reading first grant period of the 2003-2009 school years. Forty-seven Texas Reading First schools were compared to 47 campuses having similar populations, socioeconomic makeups, and grade structures. This study utilized quantitative research measures to evaluate the level of special education populations on Reading First campuses using a response to intervention model. Quantitative measures were also used to evaluate those same campuses achievement rates of both special education and regular education students on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills reading tests. The study's outcome data showed little to no statistic significance for the three research questions. However, the inferential statistics showed a decrease in the special education population of the Reading First schools. Inferential statistics also indicated both the special education and the regular education students showed growth on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills reading tests. The use of a response to intervention program can be effective in the reduction of special education students identified on school campuses. Response to intervention programs can boost achievement levels of students receiving special education services. Students not enrolled in special education can benefit from effective response to intervention services.

No description available.