Literacy Intervention Final Report Melissa Stango

1. Literacy Intervention Final ReportMelissa Stango EDU 699 Capstone III Dr.Herrera

2. Abstract * Due to solely using one piece of information in order to implement intervention, there are many students who are slipping through the cracks that would benefit from literacy intervention. • Students were tested at the beginning of the school year based on their fluency score as measured by the DORF on MCLASS.  • Teachers used Fundations scores and strategies to build their intervention groups. • The data will show whether these strategies were effective.

3. There is a problem in how elementary students are identified as needing specific literacy intervention. Lam and McMaster (2014) stress that more research needs to take place in order to conclude which methods will most efficiently identify students in need of intense literacy intervention PROBLEM STATEMENT

4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS The research questions for this project include:1. What is the best way to identify students in need of literacy intervention?2. What should be done once students are placed into tiered intervention?

5. Theme 1-Defining Tiered Instruction and Literacy InterventionLipson and Wixson, 2012 explain, “The term intervention appears to have first been used by Marie Clay in a 1987 article in which she argued that children should not even be consideredfor learning disability designation until high-quality and responsive instruction had been provided and failed to accelerate the child's progress” (p. 112)It is important for teachersto refer students to interventionusing more than one approach.

6. Theme 2- ways in which students can be identified for intervention • Early identification is key in supporting struggling readers. Daunic and Corbett, 2013 explain how social, emotional, or behavioral factors may also be ways in which teachers may identify students for intervention. • Some students need to be encouraged with positive reinforcement, while others choose not to participate and sit quietly throughout lessons.

7. Theme 3-studies on tiered intervention • Goss, 2012 explains that using the Wilson Fundations Program along with intervention strategies will promote academic success within students. • Goss, 2012 states, “The more explicit instruction yields higher gains for students” (p. 8). • Fisher, 2012 explains the importance of implementing reading intervention prior to first grade in order to help at risk students.

8. Research Design and Methodology • The population of learners is twenty five Grade 2 students in an urban school setting. Students are diverse learners with different academic abilities • In order to reach the goal and have questions answered; the mixed method research method will be used. • While using the mixed methods research, I will be able to analyze data as well as observe student behavior in order to determine whether using Fundations data in order to form intervention groups is effective.

11. Evaluation and assessment

12. Product *A clear set of lesson plans was presented for Grade 2 Waterbury Public Schools Teachers. These plans are used as a form of intervention based on the area of instructional focus for each student. Examples of the lessons are: Nonsense Word Fluency Lesson 1: Materials: Plastic spoons with one consonant written on the back in marker. 1 list of nonsense word ‘endings’ Activity: In small group students will take turns holding the spoon in front of the ending nonsense word. Students should begin read each nonsense word with automaticity. Once students read the 20 words with one consonant, students will use another spoon with a different consonant written. Although these are nonsense words, students should still be able to decode using Fundations strategies. Assessment: Teacher will informally assess rate at which students are decoding nonsense words. Observation will determine if students are having trouble with certain spelling patterns such as short or long vowels.

13. Product Trick Words Lesson 1: Materials: Fundations gel boards and magnetic pens Stamp pad and letter stamps Activity: In small groups students will review trick words previously taught in current Fundations unit. Students will practice writing the words in numerous ways in order to promote memorization and instant word recognition. Since trick words are site words, they cannot be sounded out. Teacher will dictate a trick word and students will write using gel boards. After this process students will stamp the same trick word using letter stamps. Throughout the process the teacher will discuss with students why these words are considered trick words. What makes them ‘tricky’?

14. Discussion & reflection • This Capstone Project meets the following Master of Education and Teaching and Learning Concentration Outcomes: • Identify problems of practice and craft effective solutions that demonstrate the application of content knowledge. • Establish and evaluate learning communities that are collaborative, inclusive, and support the needs of a diverse population of learners. • Examine and interpret a variety of educational data, resources, and research to support and inform decision making practices. • Students will be able to use selected advanced instructional strategies appropriate for specific learning outcomes. 

15. Professional growth • The process has given me guidance as to how to look at each student individually as well as how to identify a problem of practice on my own part when there is one. • I am more capable of reflecting on my teaching practice in order to determine what is best for my students. • . My final product allows teachers to identify their students using a program we are all using and then also provides specific lesson plans my colleagues can use with their tiered intervention groups.

16. references • Ary, D., Jacobs, L., Sorensen, C., & Walker, A. (2014). Introduction to research in education, ninth edition. Wadsworth: Cengage Learning. • Daunic, A., Corbett, N., Stephen, S., Barnes, T., Santiago-Poventud, L., Chalfant, P., Pitts, D., & Gleaton, J. (2013). Brief Report: Integrating Social-Emotional Learning with Literacy Instruction: An Intervention for Children at Risk for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders. Behavioral Disorders, 39(1), 43-51. • Fisher, J., (2012). The Observation of a Reading Intervention Program for at Risk Students at a Title 1 School. Review of Higher Education and Self-Learning. 5(16), 31-40. • Gettinger, M. & Stoiber, K. (2012). Curriculum-Based Early Literacy Assessment and Differentiated Instruction with High-Risk Preschoolers. Reading Psychology, 33(1), 11-46. • Gettinger, M., Stoiber, K. (2007). Applying a Response-to-Intervention Model for Early Literacy Development in Low-Income Children. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 27(4), 198-213. • Goss, C. (2012). Tier 2 Reading Interventions: Comparison of Reading Mastery and Fundations Double Dose. Preventing School Failure, 56(1), 65-74. • Greulich, L., Al Otaiba, S., Schatschneider, C., Wanzek, J., Ortiz, M. & Wagner, R. (2014). Understanding Inadequate Response to First-Grade Multi-Tier Intervention: Nomothetic and Ideographic Perspectives. Learning Disability Quarterly, 37(4), 204-217. • Hilbert, D. & Eis, S. (2014). Early Intervention for Emergent Literacy Development in a Collaborative Community Pre-Kindergarten. Early Childhood Education Journal, 42(2), 105-113. • Hill, D., King, S., Lemons, C., & Partanen, J. (2012). Fidelity of Implementation and Instructional Alignment in Response to Intervention Research. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 27(3), 116-124. • Lam, E. & McMaster, K. (2014). Predictors of Responsiveness to Early Literacy Intervention: A 10-Year Update. Learning Disability Quarterly, 37(3), 134-147. • Lipson, M. & Wixson, K. (2012). To What Interventions Are Students Responding? Reading Teacher, 66(2), 111-115. • Lopez, M. & Mendoza, M. (2013). We Need to “Catch Them Before They Fall”: Response to Intervention and Elementary Emergent Bilinguals. Multicultural Perspectives, 15(4), 194-201. • Solari, E., Aceves, T., Higareda, I., Richards-Tutor, C., Filippini, A., Gerber, M., Leafstedt, J. (2014). Longitudinal Prediction of 1st and 2nd Grade English Oral Reading Fluency in English Language Learners: Which Early Reading and Language Skills are Better Predictors? Psychology in the Schools, 51(2), 126-142. • Vernon-Feagans, L., Gallagher, K., Ginsberg, M., Amendum, S., Kainz, K., Rose, J., & Burchinal, M. (2010). A Diagnostic Teaching Intervention for Classroom Teachers: Helping Struggling Readers in Early Elementary School. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice. 25(4), 183-193.