Impacting Reading Fluency Through a

Structured Intervention Program

ELA Leadership ProjectPepperdine University

Celene Alvarado

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS George Washington

Carver Elementary

• Located in the Watts-Willowbrook community of Los Angeles, CA

• Compton Unified School District

• A few blocks from King Drew Medical Magnet High School and Charles Drew University

• TK – 6th Grade• 1 Special Day Class• 380 students enrolled• 21 classroom teachers• 1 Curriculum specialist (ELA)• 1 principal

CPSEL 6

SCHOOL DEMOGRAPHICS

African Americans

27%

Latinos73%

CPSEL 6

SCHOOL PERFORMANCE2013 ELA AYP BY GRADE LEVEL

SCHOOL PERFORMANCEOVERALL API FOR THE PAST 5 YEARS

COMPELLING NEED Consistent Language Arts

intervention is a current struggle for Carver teachers

CPSEL 5

PAR TEAM

Damian K. Principal

Vanessa E.

3rd Grade Teacher

Traci B.

4th Grade Teacher

Diana S.

SchoolPsychologi

st

Damian K.

Carver Principal

Diana S.

SchoolPsycholo

gist

Celene A.

PAR Leader

CPSEL 6

EDUCATIONAL VISION

As an educator, I am passionate about supportingthe growth and education of students. I believe in empowerment. I will always strive to encourage, nurture their learning, and have them reach their highest potential in order to attain academic success.

CPSEL 1,2 & 6

PROJECT MISSION

Develop an opportunity within the daily school schedule to provide effective and targeted reading fluency intervention for struggling students.

CPSEL 1 & 2

INQUIRY QUESTION

How will student achievement in fluency be affected when 2nd – 5th grade implement a structured reading intervention program?

CPSEL 2

RESEARCH “We now know that the majority of students can learn to

read irrespective of their backgrounds—if their reading instruction is grounded in the converging scientific evidence about how reading develops and how we can prevent reading failure” (Lyon, 2002; Moats, 1999; Shaywitz, 2003)

“One-on-one targeted instruction may be necessary to produce the frequent and accurate response rate associated with improved results among struggling learners” (McMasters, Fuchs, Fuchs, & Compton, 2005)

CPSEL 5

MIXED METHODOLOGY Qualitative:

Teacher Survey

Quantitative:

AIMS Web fluency HELPS (Helping Early

Literacy with Practice Strategies)

CPSEL 2 & 5

Evidenced based and scientifically validated

Requires no more than

10-12 minutes per

day, 2-3 days per

week

Used with students of all reading

levels

Easily integrated

into a school’s RTI

program

HELPS

CPSEL 2

CYCLES OF THE PAR PROCESS

DiagnoseHow can we

increase reading fluency?

Act Plan and

implement intervention

Measure AIMS Web

HELPS

Reflect Did it work ? Was there significant growth?

CPSEL 1 & 2

TIMELINE

• Identify PAR TEAM

• Develop project Mission and Vision

• Identify struggling students for each grade level

• Train teachers for HELPS intervention

• Create packets for each student in intervention

Fall Winter

Spring

• Analyze AIMS Web fluency results

• Identify fluency growth per grade level

• Continue HELPS training

• Begin teacher incentives for intervention application

• Progress monitor struggling students

• Analyze AIMS Web fluency results

• Make adjustments to small group instruction

• Identify growth of targeted students

• Planning intervention for next school year

CPSEL 1,2,3, 4 & 5

TIER 1 SCREENING : FALL-SPRING

2 ORF 3 ORF 4 ORF 5 ORF0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Tier 1 Movement by Benchmark Period

Tier 1 FTier 1 WTier 1 S

Measure

Perc

enta

ge o

f Stu

dents

CPSEL 2

TIER 2 SCREENING: FALL-SPRING

2 ORF 3 ORF 4 ORF 5 ORF0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Tier 2 Movement by Benchmark Period

Tier 2 F Tier 2 WTier 2 S

Measure

Perc

enta

ge o

f Stu

dents

CPSEL 2

TIER 3 SCREENING: FALL-SPRING

2 ORF 3 ORF 4 ORF 5 ORF0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Tier 3 Movement by Benchmark Period

Tier 3 FTier 3 WTier 3 S

Measures

Perc

enta

ge o

f Stu

dents

CPSEL 2

DATA CONCLUSIONS

• All grade levels had growth in Tier 1

•3rd and 5th grade lost students in Tier 2 from winter to spring screening

•4th grade lowered number of students in Tier 3 from winter to spring screening

CPSEL 2

QUALITATIVE DATA

“Passages were great to use and easy for students to read”

”I saw how my students fluency grew with time”

“I needed more training to implement HELPS”

“I would like one on one training or modeling”

CPSEL 2 & 5

REFLECTIONS

Challenges•100% teacher participation•Planning time•Teacher training•District professional development•Transition to common core

Successes•Began school-wide intervention program•Targeted student intervention•Promote student success•Leadership role

CPSEL 1,2, 3 & 5

NEXT STEPS

Professional Development

Instructional Strategies

Progress Monitoring

CPSEL 2,3 & 4

• Recruited the right teachers• Developed a shared

mission/vision• Led and empowered others• Made data-driven decisions• Inspired teachers to create

and action plan to address the compelling need

Leadership

• Copied student packets• Gathered necessary

materials • Trained teachers in

implementationManageme

nt

Leadership vs. Management

CPSEL 1,2,3 & 5

PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION

Moral

Imperati

ve

School

Culture

Strengths

Servant Leadership

CPSEL 1, 2, 5 & 6

REFERENCES

Fletcher, J. M., & Lyon, G. R. (1998). Reading: A research-based approach. In W. Evers (Ed.), What's gone wrong in America's classrooms (pp. 49–90). Stanford, CA: Hoover Institute Press

Fuchs,D., Fuchs, L., & Compton, D.L. (2004). Identifying reading disability by responsiveness-to-instruction: Specifying measures and criteria. Learning Disability Quarterly, 27, 216-227

Lipson, M. Y., &Wixson, K. K. (2012). To What Interventions Are Students Responding?.Reading Teacher, 66(2), 111-115.

Begeny, J. C. Laugle, K. M., Krouse, H. E., Lynn, A. E., Tayrose, M. P., & Stage, S. A. (2010). A control-group comparison of two reading fluency programs: The Helping Early Literacy with Practice Strategies (HELPS) program and the Great Leaps K–2 reading program. School Psychology Review, 39, 137-155.

Hughes, C.A., Douglas, D.D. (2011) Response to Intervention: A research-based summary.Theory Into Practice, 50:4–11