1

RtI Innovations 16th Anniversary Conference

PM Break out Session 8:

Advanced MTSS/RtI in Early Childhood Settings: Unlocking

Systems’ Strengths to Meet Children’s Needs

Friday, October 11th, 2013 Salt Lake City, Utah

Judith Carta, Ph.D.Co-director Center for the Study of RtI in EC (CRTIEC)

Juniper Gardens Children’s ProjectUniversity of Kansas

Robin Miller Young, Ed.D., NCSPDirector of Early Childhood Education

Rockford University, Rockford, IL

Charlie Greenwood, Ph.D. Professor and Director

Juniper Gardens Children’s ProjectUniversity of Kansas

2

Kelly Justice Regional Coordinator

Florida PS/RtI Project

Corrie MervynEarly Childhood Coordinator

Ingham Intermediate School DistrictMason, MI

Mary Jo WegenkeLiteracy Consultant

Ingham Intermediate School District

Kim St. MartinState/Regional Administrator

MiBLSi, State of Michigan MTSS/RtI Project

3

CENTER FOR RESPONSE TO INTERVENTIONIN EARLY CHILDHOOD

CRTIEC

A Multi-Site Research Center Focused on

Promoting Early Literacy and

Language

Our Goal and Mission

Long-term Goal: Prevention of reading disabilities by reducing the number of young children who enter school below benchmark in language and early literacy skills

Mission: To produce evidence-based tools and resources needed to support the application of RTI in Early Childhood Education

Our Key Partners University of Kansas

Charles Greenwood & Judith Carta

Dynamic Measurement Group; Eugene, OR

Ruth Kaminski University of Minnesota

Scott McConnell Ohio State

University/University of South Florida

Howard Goldstein Division for Early

Childhood-CEC

Who are you? How many of you have been

implementing RTI or MTSS models for many years?

How many of you have been implementing RTI/MTSS models in early childhood settings?

How many have not been implementing in RTI in EC but have that as a goal?

7

Learner Objectives:

Learn how the core features of MTSS/RtI in EC are being implemented in various local, regional and state-wide settings.

Design action steps to ensure a strong program-, school-, district, and/or state-level start-up and procedural adherence to effective and efficient protocols.

8

Learner Objectives

Learn about latest developments with regard to RTI models and its components

9

Some Challenges of Implementing RtI Approaches in Early Education Pre-kindergarten settings are quite variable

(i.e., Head Start, state-funded pre-k, privately funded child care etc.); unclear who would implement measures and higher tier interventions.

Personnel in these settings often lack training and expertise; are underpaid and have high rates of turnover.

Including teacher-directed instruction in pre-kindergarten is often controversial.

Designing interventions that strike the balance between being developmentally appropriate and have the intensity to boost children who might be struggling to acquire early literacy skills.

What are your presumptions about RTI in Early Education?

Can we assume that there programs have a high quality Tier 1 in place?

Can we assume that there are evidence-based Tier 2 and Tier 3 available?

Can we assume that measures are available for universal screening/progress monitoring? 11

Tier 1 Curriculum and Instruction

What do we know from research in preschool?

How do we promote it in practice? Tools and resources for promoting

high quality Tier 1?

What do we know from research? Not many evidence-based curricula exist (those reporting

measurably superior findings PCERs Findings Early Reading First Findings What Works Clearing House

Quality of instruction in typical preschools is low Neuman, S. B., & Dwyer, J. (2009). Missing in action: Vocabulary

instruction in pre-k. The Reading Teacher, 62(5), 384-392. Justice, L. M., Hamre, B., & Pianta, R. (2008). Quality of language and

literacy instruction in preschool classrooms serving at-risk pupils Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 23, 51-68.

Burchinal, M., Howes, C., Pianta, R., Bryant, D., Early, D., & Clifford, R., et al. (2008). Predicting child outcomes at the end of kindergarten from the quality of pre-kindergarten teacher-child interactions and instruction. Applied Development Science, 12, 140-153.

What do we know from research? There are greater numbers of children needing instruction

more intense than Tier 1 in income eligible preschool programs (Pre-K, Title 1, Head Start) than in Tuition-based programs

Tier 1 must be strengthened, made more intense and cover the 4 domains of language and early literacy if MTSS is to work well in these programs

The performance of Tier 1 is first priority in implementation MTSS

Greenwood, C. R., Carta, J. J., Atwater, J., Goldstein, H., Kaminski, R., & McConnell, S. R. (2012). Is a response to intervention (RTI) approach to preschool language and early literacy instruction needed? Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 33(1), 48-64.

16

What do we know about the quality of Tier 1?

Efficacy of Tier 1

Depends on: Evidence-based curriculum Use of evidence-practices and

intentional teaching Fidelity of Implementation Data-based decision making for its

improvement

What We Have Learned So Far? Teacher focus on literacy skills is associated

with a sizeable increase in children’s academic engagement.

But, these teacher behaviors were relatively infrequent in occurrence, highlighting potentially fruitful targets for intervention:

Literacy focus – 15% of the time, or less than 30 minutes during a 3-hour period

How much support did teachers provide students in their classroom?

Low

Mid-range

High

How often did teachers focus on literacy with the children observed?

What was the level of children’s engagement?

Relationship between Teacher Literacy Focus and Student Growth in Language and Literacy Indicators

Pre-K Title 1 Tuition-based Head Start0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

0

5

10

15

20

25

Picture Naming Sound ID Literacy Focus

Program Type

Rate

of

Gro

wth

Perc

en

tag

e L

itera

cy F

ocu

s

Teachers Divergent on Literacy Focus and Students’ Growth in Literacy

Charlie will change graphs that go in here.

Challenges Related to Tier One in Pre-K Finding evidence-based curricula Having the resources to carry out the

ongoing professional development necessary for implementing the curriculum with high fidelity

While everyone wants all children to be successful in kindergarten, we don’t all agree on the path to getting there.

Resources for Evidence-Based Tier One Curriculum in Early Literacy

What Works Clearinghouse: Early Childhood Education http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/reports/Topic.aspx?tid=

13.

Center for Early Literacy and Language: OSEP-funded TA Center

http://www.earlyliteracylearning.org. Preschool Curriculum Evaluation Study: IES funded

study of 14 curricula to promote school readiness http://ies.ed.gov/ncer/pubs/20082009/index.asp

National Early Literacy Panel: NELP Report http://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/NELPReport09.pdf

How do we promote it in practice?

• Strengthen the value of – “Intentional teaching”– Evidence-based practice– Fidelity of implementation– Teacher literacy focus

• Adopt an early childhood MTSS model/framework to guide planning and implementation

• Provide professional development and technical assistance– Practice-based teacher coaching– Measurement and use of data in decision making

• Seek stakeholder and administrative “buy in”

High Quality Curriculum and Instruction

Tools and Resources

30

Primary Grades• reading vocabulary• reading

comprehension

• decoding of words• fluency and spelling

Preschool• oral language• background

knowledge

• phonological processing

• print knowledge

Connect expectations to those that lay ahead…

Early Reading

Link Preschool Skills to Kindergarten Skills

From Landry, 2011

32

What do we know about

universal screening and

progress monitoring measures?

Currently available tools for early literacy screening progress monitoring

My-IGDIs: Tools for screening and progress monitoring in early literacy and language—Scott McConnell and colleagues http://www.myigdis.com/.

• mCLASS CIRCLE: Observational and assessment tools for progress monitoring on handheld devices—Susan Landry• http://www.amplify.com/assessment/mclass-

circle.

• Get Ready to Read (for screening only) • http://www.getreadytoread.org/)

My-IGDIs: Tools for screening and progress monitoring in early literacy and language—Scott McConnell and colleagues http://www.myigdis.com/.

• mCLASS CIRCLE: Observational and assessment tools for progress monitoring on handheld devices—Susan Landry• http://www.amplify.com/assessment/mclass-

circle.

• Get Ready to Read (for screening only) • http://www.getreadytoread.org/)

myIGDIs and Assessment in RTI myIGDIs are designed for two primary

functions of assessment common in RTI Universal screening, where all children in a

class or program are evaluated briefly to identify those individuals who might benefit from more intensive intervention

Progress monitoring, where individuals receiving supplemental or adapted intervention are monitored regularly to determine if intervention services are appropriate for the child

34

Include slide about 5 areas of universal screening for My-IGDIs

Math IGDIs

35

EC RtI Measurement Architecture

Screening

Progress Monitoring

Tie

r O

ne

Tie

r Tw

o

Tie

r Th

ree

+

+

+

-

-

-

Tier One

Tier One

Current or Less-Intensive

TierMore Intensive

Tier

Identification

Primary Functions of Assessment

Screening To efficiently identify subsets of children who might

meet standard(s) for more intensive intervention Identification

To identify whether individual children meet standard(s) for Tier 2 or Tier 3 services in one or more domains

Progress Monitoring To assess whether individual children are

increasing growth rates at rate sufficient to meet general outcome goals

[Diagnostic/Planning Assessment] To identify specific instructional goals and/or

procedures to promote increased development

Psychometric Standards - General

Time- and resource-efficient Reliable across time(?) and examiners/raters Various validity standards

Construct or concurrent validity viz ‘criterion’ measures

Discriminant validity Treatment validity viz T1, T2, and T3

interventions Predictive validity Face validity

The Narrative Language Measures (NLM)

Narrative Language Measures (NLM)

• Three Subtests– Test of Narrative Retell (TNR)– Test of Personal Generation (TPG)– Test of Story Comprehension (TSC; Preschool only)

• Preschool, Kindergarten, First, Second, Third– 25 equivalent stories per grade level

• 9 Benchmark stories (3 Fall, 3 Winter, 3 Spring)• 16 Progress Monitoring stories

Time Efficient, Economical

Brief Administration • Three benchmark TNRs take about 5 minutes • A single TNR for progress monitoring takes less

than 2 minutes.

Reduced Scoring Time• Scoring can be done in real-time while the

child is retelling the story. • Scoring can be done by listening to an audio

recording

Trina D. Spencer & Douglas B. PetersenGraphics & illustrations by Olivia Petersen

LanguageDynamicsGroup.com

How are we setting standards?

One essential of RtI – Assigning Students to Tiers By whatever standard, identify groups of

children most appropriate for intervention in each tier of intervention

Standards and indices vary across RtI models Possible standards

“The Pyramid” – 85% at Tier 1, 10% at Tier 2, 5% at Tier 3

Functional standards – who needs to learn what? Empirical standards – likelihood of meeting

future expectations Early Childhood and the Pyramid Percentages

45

What do we know about

problem-solving in early childhood?

Working Through the RtI(MTSS) Problem Solving

ProcessDefine Problem

Defining Problem/Directly Measuring Behavior

Problem AnalysisValidating Problem

Identify Variables that Contribute to Problem

Develop Plan

Implement PlanImplement As Intended

Progress MonitorModify as Necessary

EvaluateResponse to

Intervention (RtI)

Data-Based Decision-Making

General Principles Try to “triangulate” the data; that is, use

data from one or more types (observation, rating scale, checklist, CBA aligned with instructional units, CBM, GOM, standardized), informants [teacher, related service provider, parent(s)], and settings.

Norms needed; national, local, classroom. For some decisions, group data are best. For some decisions, single subject data are

best. Try to graph data and do visual inspection.

47

Problem-Solving Model

Tilly, 2006

Individual Child Progress Monitoring

Olive had 3 quarterly assessments

Olive was below benchmark

Intervention implemented

Provides ‘before’ and ‘after’ slope estimates

Problem Solving ProcessDefine Problem

Teacher identified students below 25th %ile on IGDIs in January; the local norm

benchmark. Slow rate of progress from September.

Problem AnalysisEight students are at-

risk for developing early literacy learning

difficulties due to limited skill mastery from implicit Tier 1

learning opportunities done in large group.

Implement Plan with IntegrityKeep Tier 1, add Tier 2 for 8 Ss (more intentional

teaching, some small group), and Tier 3 for 5 Ss: (small group “Model, Lead, Test” on Sound Blending)

Evaluate Classroom data were

reviewed.The IGDIs Rhyming

scores increased at a faster rate for 8 “at-risk” students than

for “typical students”Students in Tier 3

demonstrated progress on specific

intervention targets.

Data-Based Decision-Making

Data-Based Decision-Making “Standard Protocol” approach; all students

at or below a given score on some measure all get the same evidence based intervention

“Individualized Problem-Solving” model; every child gets an individualized intervention

Best practice may be a hybrid of the two for EC. If 6/20 students need supplemental phonological awareness for 6 weeks, they get it twice a week as a small group rather than each student receiving it individually.

51

Growth in Rhyming

52

0.000

2.000

4.000

6.000

8.000

10.000

12.000

14.000

16.000

Jan-07 Feb-07 Mar-07 Apr-07 May-07

Nu

mb

er C

orr

ect

PM - Typical PM - At-riskLinear (PM - Typical )

IGDIs: Owl PM class

53

54

What do we know about Higher Tier Interventions?

Common Features to Tier 2

Small groups Focus on critically important

concepts known to predict later success

More explicit instruction More response opportunities

Current approaches being used for Tier 2 and Tier 3Key idea is to supplement children’s

exposure to the content—give them more opportunities to practice skills they are learning.

Children might get individual tutoring in specific content areas.

Children might get additional explicit instruction in small groups

Children might get more learning opportunities embedded across the day.

Children might get more exposure and practice through skill-focused instruction delivered in listening centers.

What are the responses within each tier?

• Tier 2: Explicit small group interventions augmented with embedded interventions

Explicit: structured, teacher-directed, content-specific interventions

Embedded: occur within daily activities, build on children’s strengths & interests, complement explicit interventions

Story Champs - Tiers Large Group Small Group Individual

Intensity increases as group size decreases

More opportunities to respond More explicit and individualized targets More specialized prompting More contingent feedback More frequent sessions Increasing duration More reliance on instructors with

greater expertise

Multi-tiered Language Instruction

Multi-tiered Curriculum Manualized Flexible

Key Features Carefully structured stories Engaging visual materials Explicit teaching procedures Fun and motivating

Multi-tiered Language Instruction

Multi-tiered Curriculum Manualized Flexible

Key Features Carefully structured stories Engaging visual materials Explicit teaching procedures Fun and motivating

Free NLM materials available atLanguageDynamicsGroup.com

For more information, contact:

Doug Petersen: dpeter39@uwyo.eduTrina Spencer: tds95@nau.edu

Teaching Procedures Based on the effective teaching literature and

principles of instruction Frequent opportunities to respond Explicit and individualized targets Systematic scaffolding Corrections Least restrictive prompting Curriculum-based measurement

An Example of a Tier 2 Intervention

Read It Again! (Justice, McGinty, Beckman, & Kilday, 2006)

Language & literacy supplement for pre-k programs: Guidelines for implementing lessons

(before, during, & after reading) Repeated use of storybooks, picture cards,

& other literacy materials Repetition of key concepts Appropriate for small groups

Response to Intervention: EMERGE

Tier 3 Focused

Tutoring & Repeated Readings

Tier 2Daily Teacher-led Small-group

SOAP and Theme-related activities and instruction

Tier 1Scholastic Early Childhood Program Curriculum

Shared Book ReadingTheme-Related Activities

SOAP StrategiesLiteracy-Rich Environment

Stoiber & Gettinger

Tier 1: Core Class InstructionFocus

Program

Interventionist

Setting

Grouping

Time

Assessment

All students

Professional development; SECP curriculum; SBR; SOAP strategies; Small-Group activities; Progress Monitoring; Coaching; Literacy Rich Environment

Classroom teacher(s)

Head Start or other EC classroom

Flexible grouping

Goal: 90 minutes or more per day

Screening at beginning, middle, and end of the academic year

Tier 2: Supplemental Interventions

Focus

Program

Interventionist

Setting

Grouping

Time

Assessment

Students at-risk for early reading difficulties who have not responded to Tier 1 efforts

Classroom teacher(s)

Classroom

Homogeneous small group 20-30 minutes per day in small group in addition to 90 minutes of core reading instruction (50-100 sessions)

Progress monitoring monthly on target skill(s)

Specialized, research-based interventions

Download and make your own

curriculum supplement at the

CLI website:

http://www.childrenslearninginstitute.org/our-programs/program-overview/developing-talkers/default.html

Examples of Tier 2 Instruction

Developing Talkers Curriculum Supplements to promote

oral language that follow a P-RTI framework.

Developed by Children’s Learning Institute-UT Health Science Center-Houston

Teach listening comprehension and vocabulary skills in book reading context.

Make your own kit: after completing a short online training OR

Order pre-made kits

Lesson Plans Available for Tier 1 and Tier 2: 12 wks. Tier 1—Whole Group Read Aloud (15 mins)

Before, during and after reading activities Extension activities that help teachers guide

children in use of target vocabulary or explore science topics in centers

Tier 2-Small Group Targeted Language Activities Review book Find, define, and discuss vocabulary Explicit comprehension or vocabulary

activities Shuffle and review.

70

71

Focus on Rare Words (alongside important basic words)

More Explicit Vocabulary and Comprehension Activities

Assess Tier 2 students’

target vocabulary on

Thursdays

Plan Friday Review Day

lessons using these data

Tier 2 Embedded Storybook Interventions

As part of an RTI model, there is a need for high-quality interventions to improve early language and literacy skills for preschool children who are falling behind.

Oftentimes, there is a scarcity of trained personnel who can provide the additional opportunities for explicit instruction in vocabulary and comprehension.

Story Friends Program

Small groups of children participate in ‘listening centers.’

Prerecorded storybooks and explicit embedded lessons are delivered under headphones.

Intervention Component

Examples

Explicit Teaching

•Vocabulary words are presented with systematic instructional language in which words are emphasized, definitions are stated, information about words’ meanings are provided.

•Responses are provided after a pause for child’s response. ‘Think-aloud’ models of the evidence for the appropriate response are provided.

Enormous. Say enormous. Enormous means really big. Can you think of something that is enormous? What about…. a school bus! A mountain! Or a building! Those are things that are really big.

Why is Ellie happy? [pause for child response] Because she made new friends! I would be happy to have some new friends too.

Intervention Component

Examples

Selection of Appropriate Targets for Instruction

•Challenging vocabulary targets are selected to have high utility for academic achievement.

• Inferential questions are selected to facilitate reading comprehension.

protect, greet, selfish

Do you think the Jungle Friends will go to the beach again?

Why did Suki’s mom take her to the movies?

The Forest Friends are thrilled! They are excited to go to the carnival. Thrilled. Say thrilled. (2) Thrilled means excited. Tell me, what word means excited? (2) Thrilled! Good work! When are you thrilled? (2) What about… when you get a present! …Or your friends come over to play! I bet that makes you feel excited. Now, lift the flap. Look! These boys are at a birthday party. They are excited. They are thrilled! Tell me, what does thrilled mean? (3) Excited! That’s right.

Repeated listening provides many opportunities to respond.

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

82 OH-tier2-progress over time.wmv

Year 4 Results: Vocabulary

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

UT1 Pre UT1 Post UT2 Pre UT2 Post UT3 Pre UT3 Post

Participant Comparison

Places to find Tier 2 and Tier 3 literacy and language interventions

Read it again—Laura Justice-Ohio State U.

Center for Early Literacy and Language (CELL)

Early Childhood Research & Practice Get Ready to Read CRTIEC Developing Talkers--www.ChildrensLearningInstitute.org

For more information

Tricia Zucker, Ph.D.Assistant Professor Tricia.Zucker@uth.tmc.edu

Susan Landry, Ph.D.Professor and Director CLISusan.Landry@uth.tmc.edu

www.ChildrensLearningInstitute.orgUniversity of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Implementing Higher Tier Interventions

What do we know from research?

86

Discussion with Participants

Classroom-level Challenges: How to fit everything into a

preschool day . . . Corrie and Mary Jo Ingham County

ISD

87

 THE SITE ADDRESS IS:

HTTP://EARLY-YEARS-RTI.WIKI.INGHAMISD.ORG/HOME  CINDY ANDERSON ANDERSON@INGHAMISD.ORGCORRIE MERVYN   CMERVYN@INGHAMISD.ORGMARY JO WEGENKE MWEGENKE@INGHAMISD.ORG

88

Discussion with Participants

Classroom-level Challenges Identified by Participants

Break from 2:00 to 2:15

89

Building the Infrastructure in Your Setting

Tools for getting started

Kelly Justice, USF, Florida PS-RtI Initiative

90

Getting Started with RTI

• Strategic planning• Model demonstration sites

• Program evaluation

More on Strategic Planning (at the local level)

Get Support from program administrators

Consider organizational & contextual factors

Engage in long-range planning Develop a plan for communicating

with families

Planning cont… Create core problem-solving team Assess key dimensions of Tier 1 quality/make

necessary improvements Select assessment tools Carry out universal screening and determine

what proportion of children need additional tiers of support

Select Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions Provide intensive, ongoing professional

development Continue to evaluate and make changes

Building an Infrastructure that Supports High Quality

Implementation

Leadership Teams

94

Building an Infrastructure that Supports High Quality

Implementation

Coaching

95

Building an Infrastructure that Supports High Quality

Implementation

Other

96

Scaling up MTSS in EC in a state – Lessons Learned

Kim St. Martin, MiBLSi State/Regional Administrator in Michigan

97

98

Building an Infrastructure that Supports High Quality

Implementation

Other

99

Judy Carta, Ph.D.Juniper Gardens Children’s Project

University of Kansas444 Minnesota AvenueSuite 3Kansas City, KS 66101Phone: 913-321-3143carta@ku.eduwww.crtiec.org.

Planning cont… Create core problem-solving team Assess key dimensions of Tier 1 quality/make

necessary improvements Select assessment tools Carry out universal screening and determine

what proportion of children need additional tiers of support

Select Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions Provide intensive, ongoing professional

development Continue to evaluate and make changes

Building an Action Plan

Where are you now?

Where do you need to go?

Closure to the session; the day

102