Early Literary Success: Effective Intervention for Kindergarten Students at Risk

1. Early Literary Success: Effective Intervention for Kindergarten Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties Washington Education Research Association 22nd Annual Washington State Assessment Conference December, 6-8 2006 SeaTac Mike Jacobsen-Assessment & Curriculum Director-White River School District Janel Keating-Director of Student Learning-White River School District Bari Olson-Para-Educator-Mountain Meadow Elementary

2. Early Intervention in Literacy: What do we know • Word recognition skills at the end of first grade were strongly related to reading proficiency a the end of fourth grade- Nine of ten children who were deficient in first grade were also poor readers in fourth grade • Juel (1988) • Eight of ten children with severe reading problems at the end of first grade performed below the average range at the beginning of third grade • Torgeson (1997) • WRSD DIBELS data indicated that poor performing students in kindergarten tended to remain as poor performing students in latter grades and were often referred for LAP/Title or Special Education services

3. Early Intervention in Literacy: What do we know • Felton (1993) Concluded that five elements were critical to a beginning reading program for children at risk of reading failure; • 1. Direct instruction in language analysis • 2. Explicit teaching of the alphabetic code • 3. Reading and spelling must be taught simultaneously • 4. Reading instruction must be sufficiently intense for learning to occur • 5. Use of decodable words and texts enhanced automaticity

4. What Predicts Successful Reading at the Beginning of First Grade? • Fathers occupational status • Amount of reading by parents • Preschool • Parents reading to children • Phonemic awareness • Library membership • Child’s gender • Amount of time watching TV • Oral language (PPVT) • Knowledge of the alphabet • Number of books child owns • Teacher prediction of reading success

5. What Predicts Successful Reading at the Beginning of First Grade? • Phoneme segmentation .62 • Letter names .58 • Kindergarten teacher predictions .50 • Performance on the PPVT .39 • Number of books child owns .25 • Amount that parents read to child .25 • Gender .18 • Amount that parents read .11 • Preschool attendance .05 • Parents occupational status -.30 • Library membership ?

6. Early Reading Intervention Pilot • ERI-Developed through a Federal grant with University of Oregon and Bethel School District, Eugene Oregon. • Purpose is to provide intensive early literacy intervention services to kindergarten students at risk for developing reading difficulties • Initial research indicated that 97% of kindergarten students who were taught with ERI experienced faster achievement rates and sustained these rates into second grade • ERI-30 minutes of daily, explicit instruction • 15 minutes on select phonological awareness skills, alphabet understanding,and word reading • 15 minutes on further development of phonological awareness writing development, and integrating phonologic awareness and orthography ( letter-sound to whole word writing)

7. Early Reading Intervention Pilot • Grant awarded and training January • Pilot Implemented March • 42 students from Foothills/Mountain Meadow • 30 General education kindergarten students- 3x per week-1:5 groups • 4-Special education kindergarten students • 8-General education first grade students • Each experimental group had a matched control group • Summary of outcomes • All experimental groups significantly outgained controls on DIBELS phonemic segmentation winter to spring, • Gen. ed kindergarten=W PS=2.5/S PS=22.5 to W PS=5/S PS=10.5 • Statistically significant • Sped=W PS=4/S PS=11 to W PS=4.5 to S PS=.5 • Gen. Ed. First=W ORF=7/S ORF=20 to W ORF=3 to S PS-12 • One control group outgained the experimental group in DIBELS, letter names. • Gen. Ed. Kindergarten=W L=10/S L 27 to W L=10.5/S L=18

11. Early Reading Intervention Pilot • Teacher evaluations • Five returned, three instructional para’s and two certs • Overall rating 9 on a 1-10 scale, comments on the whole were very positive-”best instructional materials I have ever used for kindergarten students”, very structured, students enjoyed the materials, looking forward to using it next year, takes considerable time for preparation, subs would have a difficult time rapidly picking it up • Summary comments • Strong staff support • Strong empirical support in phonemic segmentation • Less support in growth in letter names • Limited time of pilot March-May • Every other day implementation likely reduced effectiveness • Students were only exposed to less than a 1/4 of the 126 units

12. Early Reading Intervention Pilot • Recommendations • Implement ERI systematically with low performing kindergarten students following September DIBELS screening • Consider use of ERI placement test as the second level test for kindergarten students • Follow ERI pilot students for next year in district CBM assessment system • Identify a new ERI cohort group and implement during the 2004-2005 school year • Implement ERI for special education/LAP/Title students in kindergarten/first grade who are not responding to Read Well intervention

13. Pilot Group Three Years Later • Kindergarten • Experimental Group=76% above 25th PR as third graders in ORF Fall 2006 • Control Group=57% above 25th PR as third graders in ORF Fall 2006 • First Grade • Experimental Group=80% above 25th PR as fourth graders in ORF Fall 2006 • Control Group=0% above 25th PR as fourth graders in ORF Fall 2006

14. Pilot Group Three Years Later • Kindergarten • Experimental Group=30% referred to special education next year as first graders • Control Group=36% referred to special education as first graders • First Grade • Experimental Group=28% referred to special education as second graders • Control Group=60% referred to special education as second graders

21. Description of Current Program • What it looks like district wide • Half day ERI • Full day ERI • Half day non-ERI • Full day non-ERI

22. Description of Current Program • What it looks like district wide • What it looks like at MM