The Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI): A powerful intervention for struggling readers

Targeting instructional match in every interaction…

TRI staff at today’s presentation

• Lynne Vernon-Feagans (Principal Investigator) • Marnie Ginsberg (Intervention Director) • Amy Hedrick (Project Director) • Jeanne Gunther (Doctoral student and literacy consultant) • Jackie Cozart (Onsite literacy consultant at Northside in Warren County • Mandy Farber (Teacher at Meadowlark in Nebraska via Webcam)

The Rural Context and Poverty • The Context for this Intervention Study – Why is it important to study Rural Children?

– Why is it important to help struggling readers?

– Who is at risk for reading failure?

– What kinds of interventions are most effective?

• What is the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI) – Why is it different – Why is it appropriate for the low wealth rural schools – Three Studies that show the effectiveness of the TRI

Why is it Important to Study Rural Children?

1. A greater proportion of children in rural areas live below the poverty line 4

• 2. Most of what we know about children’s learning and development come from studies of urban or suburban (college towns) children. • 3. Rural Children have a different context for development that needs to be understood if effective interventions are to be developed.

Understanding Rural Children’s lives:

The Family Life Project:

Lynne Vernon-Feagans Mark Greenberg

* 2PO1HD039667 funded by NICHD with cofunding by NIDA ($30,000,000)

6

4. There are different challenges and assets

Challenges

• Children are poorer • African American families are much poorer than others • Housing is poorer • Distances to services and schools are greater • Jobs are lower paying and in the service sector • Parents work nonstandard work hours • Children attend lower quality childcare • Children have lower pre readiness skills • Bus rides are longer • Teachers are less skilled • Tax base is lower for schools

Assets

• Children are exposed to less random violent crime • Families are more in tact and own their own homes • Families and schools have a sense of place • Geographic isolation is related to better parenting • Teachers know many of the families of the children they teach • Children display more attentive behaviors in school • Teachers have more experience • Families rate teachers and schools more favorably

Why is it important to help young Struggling Readers in the Rural Context?

• Fewer adults are literate and have less education than urban adults • Children’s early success in reading is critical for their later schooling success (Vernon Feagans, 2006) • Research shows that by the end of first grade children’s trajectories are set for school (Alexander & Entwisle, 1988; Juel, 1998

• Teachers have fewer resources to help the children who need it most • Teachers have more struggling students/readers than other places • Teachers have less access to professional development to help them meet the needs of struggling reading students

Who is at Risk for Reading Failure?

• Low income children are least responsive to interventions (Foorman & Torgesen, 2001; Torgesen et al., 2007) • Boys and Boys of color • Children who have phonological processing problems who are often later identified as reading or learning disabled (Foorman & Torgesen, 2001)

What Kinds of Intervention are Effective for Struggling Readers?

(Vernon-Feagans, Gallagher & Kainz, in press) • 1. Explicit Instruction • 2. Early Intervention in first few grades • 3. One on one and small group instruction • 4. Effective classroom teacher/child relationships • 5. Diagnostic Teaching

What is the Targeted Reading Intervention (TRI)?

A set of diagnostically based teaching strategies geared to the specific reading level/needs of each child • Targeting instructional match in every interaction in daily 15 minute one on one sessions between the classroom teacher and the struggling reader • Problem solving each day about the child’s greatest needs • Always using strategies in the context of the word and text

Why is the TRI different?

• Diagnostic/problem solving teaching • Teaching is done in the context of the word and text • Classroom teacher delivers the intervention • Teacher/child relationships are stressed • Collaborative Consultation

•

Why is it appropriate for low wealth rural schools?

Can be accomplished without many materials or people resources.

• Can be used with any curricula.

• Geared to the needs of classroom teachers.

• Supports teachers as they work with struggling readers

The TRI Model of Diagnostic Teaching

Our vision for a teacher’s year

• Attend our week long summer institute to learn the strategies for diagnostic teaching • Work with five struggling readers (four days a week for 15 minutes in one to one teaching) • Collaborative consultation biweekly with our literacy consultants and onsite consultants • Problem solving and diagnostic teaching become part of the teaching process for all children

TRI Framework

Re-Reading for Fluency (~2+ minutes) Word Work (~8+ minutes) Guided Oral Reading (~5+ minutes) TRI Extensions

Three Studies: TRI in Rural Low-wealth Schools

• Study 1: TRI intervention in a in non-Reading First schools in kindergarten and first grade.

• Study 2: Is a two semester TRI intervention in Reading First Schools in kindergarten and first grade.

• Study 3: a two semester TRI intervention in Texas and New Mexico, using web-based web cams

The TRI Studies

• Cluster Randomized Clinical Trials to assess the effectiveness of the TRI in a series of 3 research studies • Part of the National Research Center on Rural Education Support (Tom Farmer & Lynne Vernon-Feagans) – www.nrcres.org/TRI.htm

• Funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES)

Research Design

• Randomly assigned schools to the intervention and the control condition. Targeted all kindergarten and first grade classrooms to be part of the study. – 5 focal children in each classroom were randomly selected from those children identified by the teacher as struggling readers – 5 non-focal children in each classroom were randomly selected from those children identified by the teacher as not struggling readers

Study 1: Non-Reading First Schools

168 children in kindergarten and first grade

Five Groups of Children

• 1. Control non-focal • 2. Control focal • 3. Experimental non-focal • 4. Experimental Inadequate Fidelity Focal • 5. Experimental Adequate Fidelity Focal

* *

Non-Focal Exp Group Inadequate Focal Exp

*

PPVT * *

Grade retention

• 10 children were retained in grade. No children from the experimental schools were retained. They were all in the control schools.

Study 2: Reading First

170 children in kindergarten and first grade

Four Groups of Children

• 1. Control non-focal • 2. Control focal • 3. Experimental non-focal • 4. Experimental Focal

WJ - Basic Reading * *

Group

Group Effect sizes are .5 to 1

* *

Study 3: Web cam study in Rural America

440 kindergarten and first grade children?

Web cam consultation in Remote Locations • UNC Consultants can see and hear the teacher working with target children in real time so teachers get feedback immediately. Teachers can also see and hear the consultant in real time.

• Consultants can attend grade level meetings via web cams. Teachers can see the consultant and the consultant can see the teachers. • Teachers can download information and training videos from the web