Response-to-Treatment is Multilevel and Contextualized
Instructional environments are sets of nested relations: children within families within communities; students within classrooms within schools within districts. We now have the statistical software to handle multilevel models, but a challenge continues to be that of cross-classification of students within more than one teacher. The good news is that Steve Raudenbush is working on this problem (Raudenbush, 2003). The bad news is that the Three-Tier Model requires a multilevel design today. We have secondary interventions nested within primary, core reading instruction, sometimes with the same teacher and the same curriculum, but more often with a different teacher and different curriculum. Then, we have tertiary intervention, which is a cross-sequential response to treatment at the secondary level.
Putting aside the statistical challenges of multilevel, cross-sequential designs, consider the following conceptualizations of the Three-Tier Model in several of the Flagship Schools in Texas selected because of their high free and reduced lunch percentages yet high scores on the state's third-grade accountability test in reading (Denton, Foorman, & Mathes, 2003; Foorman & Moats, 2003). Note that three-tier models have existed in the area of reading for some time (e.g., Thaddeus Loft and Wesley Elementary), and generally before current emphases on multi-tiered interventions.
Cortez Elementary. The principal at Cortez is a former reading specialist who has a sense of "urgency" about making sure that all students at her school can read and provides multiple "safety nets," including "intensive care" in her office for students who transfer from other schools and are far behind in reading. The core reading program at this school was Project Read (Enfield & Greene, 1998) and is now Open Court (SRA, 2000). The reading/language arts block is 1.5 hours and includes small-group work on Project Read or Open Court strategies and English language development for the many Spanish-speaking students at the school. Assessment occurs every six weeks; students not making adequate progress are provided a second, 45-minute period of reading instruction based on Project Read/Open Court strategies and offered tutoring before school, after school, or during recess. To build home literacy, cassette tapes of English and Spanish literature are sent home.
Willow Bend Elementary. This inner-city school is 94% African American. The principal selected a direct instruction program called Reading Mastery (Engelmann & Bruner, 1995; see sra4kids.com ) and relies on his reading specialist to implement it with quality schoolwide. In this program, students are placed into homogeneously organized instructional groups and regrouped based on curriculum-based assessment. Phonics is taught directly and systematically with highly decodable books and scripted error correction procedures so that all students achieve mastery. In addition to the two-hours daily of uninterrupted core reading instruction, three teachers work use Reading Mastery to work with struggling readers on a pull-out basis in a reading lab.
Ashton Elementary. Ashton Elementary is an urban school that has adopted the comprehensive school reform model Success for All (SFA; Slavin, Madden, Dolan, & Wasik, 1996; see www.successforall.net ). Because 72% of the student population is Spanish-speaking, many classrooms are engaged in a 90-10 late-exit, bilingual program. In addition to the 90-min. reading/language arts block, an English language development block is also provided. Assessment is provided every eight weeks and struggling readers are provided with an additional 90-minutes of small-group instruction or the 20-minute SFA 1:1 tutorial. After-school tutorials are also available for students in Grade 2 or above. The principal at Ashton has a "no excuses" attitude towards reading instruction. She demands high expectations from her teachers and students. She meets weekly with grade-level teams and personally goes into classrooms to model instruction. Teachers also receive instructional support from the SFA facilitator.
Townsend Elementary. Townsend Elementary is a model of what a "balanced" literacy approach can be.Core reading instruction is 90-minutes of guided reading and writer's workshop infused with an emphasis on the alphabetic code through PhonoGraphix (McGuinness & McGuinness, 1998; see www.readamerica.net ). The principal has made literacy instruction a schoolwide priority and funds literacy specialists who support classroom teachers by analyzing assessment data, co-teaching and modeling lessons, and providing materials. These specialists run a literacy lab available to all struggling readers in the school. In one corner of the lab, a teacher works with bilingual students. In another corner, a teacher uses the Lindamood Phoneme Sequencing Program (LiPS; Lindamood & Lindamood, 1998) with students identified with speech and language difficulties. In another corner, a teacher uses Reading Recovery (Clay, 1993) infused with PhonoGraphix to emphasize mastery of the alphabetic principle.
Across these four "beat-the-odds" schools, there are common themes: strong instructional leadership and accountability; knowledgeable teachers and ongoing professional development and coaching; increased amount of time available for reading instruction; targeted, differentiated instruction; and tiers of reading intervention informed by ongoing assessment. From a multi-tier perspective, these examples do not explicitly address the link with special education. However, few students are in special education at these schools and the ones that are have disabilities emanating from sources other than instruction. The key aspect to implementation in these schools is screening for secondary intervention that is integrated with the ongoing assessment of core reading instruction.
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