Welcome and Overview

1. Planning a System of Interventions to Prepare Students for College and Careers:Lessons From Research and PracticeMarch 24, 2014Lexington, KentuckyMarch 25, 2014Bowling Green, Kentucky

2. Welcome and Overview Justin Baer Director, REL Appalachia CNA

3. What is a REL? A REL is a Regional Educational Laboratory. There are 10 RELs across the country. The REL program is administered by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES). A REL serves the education needs of a designated region. The REL works in partnership with the region’s school districts, state departments of education, and others to use data and research to improve academic outcomes for students.

4. What is a REL?

5. REL Appalachia’s mission • Meet the applied research and technical assistance needs of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. • Conduct empirical research and analysis. • Bring evidence-based information to policy makers and practitioners: • Inform policy and practice – for states, districts, schools, and other stakeholders. • Focus on high-priority, discrete issues and build a body of knowledge over time. http://RELAappalachia.org/ Follow us! @REL_Appalachia

6. Catching Up to College and Career Readiness:The Importance of Early Learning Chrys Dougherty Senior Research Scientist, ACT, Inc.

7. The Importance of Early Learning Learning gaps emerge early. Learning gaps often widen over time (“Matthew effects”). Learning is cumulative and takes time. Student interests often develop at an early age. Empirical evidence shows the difficulty of catching students up in middle and high school.

8. ACT Kentucky “Catching Up” Study Information on the forthcoming slides is from a not-yet-released ACT analysis of Kentucky student data.

9. Findings of ACT Kentucky “Catching Up” Study A high percentage of students from at-risk groups are far off track at the beginning of middle and high school. Few of these students catch up to college and career readiness benchmarks. Far-off-track students from at-risk groups catch up at lower rates. This is consistent with findings from other analyses in other states.

10. Kentucky Datasets for “Catching Up” Study • Three cohorts, grades 8‒11: • ACT EXPLORE® in grade 8; ACT in grade 11. • 2007‒2010, 2008‒2011, and 2009‒2012. • Approximately 95,300 students. • Two cohorts, grades 4‒8: • KCCT in grade 4; ACT EXPLORE® in grade 8. • 2007‒2011 and 2008‒2012. • Approximately 74,600 students.

11. Academic Measures of Being On Track • Grades 11‒12: Meeting ACT College Readiness Benchmark. • Grade 8: Meeting ACT EXPLORE® College Readiness Benchmark. • Grade 4: On track (based on a longitudinal analysis) to reach the EXPLORE® College Readiness Benchmark in grade 8.

12. Three Student Academic Preparation Groups • On Track: [previous slide] • Off Track: No more than one standard deviation below the On Track level. • Far Off Track: More than one standard deviation below the On Track level (≈ 4 points on ACT EXPLORE®, depending on the subject).

13. Far-Off-Track At-Risk Grade 8 Students in 2007‒2009 Source: Dougherty, C., Hiserote, L., & Shaw, T. (in press). Catching up to college and career readiness in Kentucky. ACT Research Report. Iowa City, IA: ACT.

14. Far-Off-Track At-Risk Grade 4 Students in 2007 and 2008 Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

15. Grade 11 Success Depends on Grade 8 Preparation Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

16. Among Far-Off-Track Grade 8 Students, Low-IncomeStudents Catch Up at Lower Rates in Grades 8‒11 Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

17. Among Far-Off-Track Grade 8 Students, Minority Students Catch Up at Lower Rates in Grades 8‒11 Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

18. Far-Off-Track English Language Learners and Special Ed Students Catch Up at Lower Rates in Grades 8‒11 Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

19. Grade 8 Success Depends on Grade 4 Preparation Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

20. Among Far-Off-Track Grade 4 Students, Low-Income Students Catch Up at Lower Rates in Grades 4‒8 Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

21. Among Far-Off-Track Grade 4 Students, Minority Students Catch Up at Lower Rates in Grades 4‒8 Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

22. Far-Off-Track English Language Learners and Special Ed Students Catch Up at Lower Rates in Grades 4‒8 Source: Dougherty et al., in press.

23. The Importance of Early Learning Learning gaps emerge early. Learning gaps often widen over time (“Matthew effects”). Learning is cumulative and takes time. Student interests often develop at an early age. Empirical evidence shows the difficulty of catching students up in middle and high school.

24. Remedies? Remedies?

25. What Do the Common Core State Standards Recommend? “By reading texts in history/social studies, science, and other disciplines, students build a foundation of knowledge in these fields that will also give them the background to be better readers in all content areas. Students can only gain this foundation when the curriculum is intentionally and coherently structured to develop rich content knowledge within and across grades.” (emphasis added) Source: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, p. 10

26. Interpreting What This Means Teach a broad curriculum in science, history, geography, civics, and the fine arts, as well as reading and mathematics in the early grades. “Curriculum” refers to the specific content that is to be taught and learned in each grade and subject. “Early grades” refers to preschool through grade 5.

27. Are Elementary Schools Teaching a Content-Rich Curriculum? • Study of 780 grade 3 classrooms in 2000 and 2001:* • Percent of observed time devoted to science: 5%** • Percent of observed time devoted to social studies (history, geography, civics, and economics combined): 5%** • Has the situation improved since 2001? * National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. ** Included reading/writing activities where the subject was science or social studies.

28. How Content-Rich Early Education Helps Helps develop students’ interests and curiosity. Encourages reading habits. Develops reading comprehension by building background knowledge and vocabulary.

29. Reading Ability Depends on Decoding and Comprehension Decoding is the ability to identify words based on letter-sound relationships― for example, that the sequence of letters l-y-m-p-h-o-c-y-t-e makes the word lymphocyte. Comprehensionin this example means knowing what a “lymphocyte” is. Students with poor vocabulary and background knowledge often have trouble with comprehension, even if they are good at decoding text.

30. How Vocabulary and Knowledge Affect Reading Comprehension “Lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1) activation plays a vital role in T cell activation through co-stimulation and adhesion. LFA-1 activation involves changes in both affinity and avidity, which affect the T cell activation through LFA-1 regulated intracellular signaling pathways.” Source: Mark Dougherty, “LFA-1 Effects on T-Cell Activation in a Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction,” paper written during summer research internship at M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center. First two sentences of the paper.

31. How Vocabulary and Knowledge Affect Reading Comprehension (cont.) Baseball: “Jones sacrificed and knocked in a run.” Cricket: “Clarke clinically cut and drove to 10 fours in a 134-ball 81, before he stepped out to Kumble to present an easy stumping to Mahendra Singh Dhoni.”

32. An ACT Resource for System-Wide Improvement:The Core Practice Framework • Three levels: district, school, and classroom. • Five areas of focus (themes): • Curriculum and academic goals. • Staff selection, leadership, and capacity building. • Instructional tools: programs and strategies. • Monitoring performance and progress. • Intervention and adjustment. • Rubrics to help educators self-assess their implementation of each detailed practice.

33. An ACT Resource for System-Wide Improvement:The Core Practice Framework • Three levels: district, school, and classroom. • Five areas of focus (themes): • Curriculum and academic goals. • Staff selection, leadership, and capacity building. • Instructional tools: programs and strategies. • Monitoring performance and progress. • Intervention and adjustment. • Rubrics to help educators self-assess their implementation of each detailed practice.

34. Why Create a Student Intervention Database? We lack dose-response information on what interventions or combinations of interventions carry students how far. Interventions may need to last longer than what we are accustomed to.

35. Sample Variables for Student Intervention Database Code for the type of intervention. Codes for the length of the intervention(e.g., hours per week, total number of weeks). Start and end dates of the intervention. Student’s rate of attendance/participation in the intervention.

36. Sample Student Record in Intervention Database Student information: Jane Doe Student ID (links to Jane’s other student data, including interim assessment data) Grade 2 Intervention type: After-school tutoring in decoding skills Number of times per week: 3 Total number of hours per week: 2.25 Number of weeks: 12 Intervention start: 01-14-2014 Intervention end: 05-3-2014 Attendance rate:67%

37. Who Might Create This Database? Most likely, a single district or a consortium of districts. An outside organization or entity may facilitate the creation of the database (e.g., state education agency, university, or independent nonprofit). District personnel may partner with university researchers to analyze the data.

38. Contact Information Research and Policy on the ACT website: http://www.act.org/ (see link to “Research and Policy”) ACT Policy Reports and Issue Briefs: http://www.act.org/research-policy/policy-publications/ Email: chrys.dougherty@act.org

39. Small Group Activity Lydotta Taylor Alliance Lead, REL Appalachia

40. Discussion Questions • What is our district/school doing well? • What are areas for improvement? • What steps can we take to address areas for improvement? • What else do we need to know about this topic?

41. Harrison County Schools: Early Learning Interventions in Practice Jenny Lynn Hatter Chief Academic Officer Melissa Miles Instructional Coach & Math Early Grades Specialist

42. Early Learning Interventions in Practice • Stuck On An Escalator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrSUe_m19FY

43. Early Learning Interventions in Practice 43

44. Early Learning Interventions in Practice • Kentucky System of Interventions Universal screening/frequent data collection and analysis: • Provides information to guide decision making for all students. • Used to determine which students need further support. • Administered, scored, and interpreted in a short timeframe to allow for timely decision making. • Harrison County Schools • Measures of Academic Progress (MAPs). • Administered and analyzed three times during the school year: fall, winter, spring. • Used in monthly reading and math intervention meetings to guide decision making for school-wide RtI time. 44

45. Early Learning Interventions in Practice • Kentucky System of Interventions Progress monitoring/data-based decision making: • Determines whether the intervention is successful in helping the student meet expectations at an appropriate rate. • Informs during the decision-making process. • Given frequently and the data is reviewed/evaluated often. • Harrison County Schools • DIBELS is used for reading progress monitoring. • Math MAPs and fluency assessments are used for math progress monitoring. • Intervention teams (guidance counselors, principals, curriculum coaches, grade-level teachers, Family Resource and Youth Services Centers representatives, and others) meet monthly to discuss struggling learners in both reading and math. 45

46. Early Learning Interventions in Practice • Kentucky System of Interventions Tiered service delivery/evidence-based instruction. • Harrison County Schools • Tiers III, II, and I, with the most intensive support in Tier III. • Tier III (Intensive Support) • DreamBoxwith instruction • Moby Math with instruction • Number Sense/Structuring (KNP website) • Addition (KNP website) • Subtraction (KNP website) • Multiplication (KNP website) • Division (KNP website) • Math MATS 46

47. Early Learning Interventions in Practice • Tier II (Small Group/Strategic Support) • DreamBox • Moby Math • Number Sense/Structuring (KNP website) • Addition (KNP website) • Subtraction (KNP website) • Multiplication (KNP website) • Division (KNP website) • Math MATS • Tier I (Core with Differentiation) • Addition Strategies (Van de Walle) • Subtraction Strategies (Van de Walle) • Multiplication Strategies (Van de Walle) • Division Strategies (Van de Walle) • K-5 Math Resources http://www.k-5mathteachingresources.com/ • Free Resources – DreamBox • Daily Flashbacks • Daily Exit Slips/Formative Assessments with Feedback • Math Intervention Support Site http://www.solonschools.org/mr/Index.asp • Math Graphic Organizers (i.e. Frayer Model) • Vocabulary Practice • Marilyn Burns Materials

48. Early Learning Interventions in Practice • Kentucky System of Interventions Tiered service delivery/evidence-based instruction. • Harrison County Schools Secondary tier service delivery: Tier I: The lowest 20% of students will be identified in reading and math6‒12 and receive Tier I interventions for reading or math. Tier II: Once a student is referred into Tier II services, the Intervention Team (those closely associated with the education of the students) will meet to review student data and determine appropriate interventions to address student needs. Tier III: Once a student is referred into Tier III services, the Intervention Team will meet to review student data and determine appropriate interventions to address student needs. 48

49. Early Learning Interventions in Practice • Kentucky System of Interventions • Fidelity of implementation • Harrison County Schools • Fidelity Check Form 49

50. Early Learning Interventions in Practice • Kentucky System of Interventions • Family involvement • Harrison County Schools • RtI parent brochure, face-to-face meetings, Pre-K College and Career Readiness Nights (two per year, elementary, middle school, and high school principal participation), RtI and Tier Change Letters “I had no idea that you could begin helping your child think about college when they are in preschool! Tonight opened my eyes to what I need to watch for to help my child be successful!” ―Parent after Pre-K CCR Night in 2012 50