Monitoring Student Progress at the Secondary Level

1. Monitoring Student Progress at the Secondary LevelJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org

2. “Everybody is entitled to their own opinion but they’re not entitled to their own facts. The data is the data.” Dr. Maria Spiropulu, Physicist New York Times, 30 September 2003 (D. Overbye) Other dimensions? She’s in pursuit. F1, F4

3. “Few agree on an appropriate curriculum for secondary students…; thus it is difficult to determine in what areas student [academic] progress should be measured.”-- Espin & Tindal (1998) Source: Espin, C. A., & Tindal, G. (1998). Curriculum-based measurement for secondary students. In M. R. Shinn (Ed.) Advanced applications of curriculum-based measurement. New York: Guilford Press.

4. RTI: Research Questions Q: What RTI Identification Method Will Best Determine What Students Are ‘Responders’ or ‘Non-Responders’ to Intervention? There are several methods in the research literature to determine ‘non-responders’ to intervention (e.g., dual discrepancy, slope discrepancy). What is the ‘best’ method to reliably differentiate students who do or do not respond to RTI interventions? Source: Fuchs, D., & Deshler, D. D. (2007). What we need to know about responsiveness to intervention (and shouldn’t be afraid to ask).. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 22(2),129–136.

5. Secondary Students: Should Interventions Be ‘Off-Level’ or Focus on Grade-Level Academics? There is a lack of consensus about how to address the academic needs of students with deficits in basic skills in secondary grades (Espin & Tindal, 1998). • Should the student be placed in remedial instruction at a point of ‘instructional match’ to address those basic-skill deficits? (Instruction is adjusted down to the student) • Or is time better spent providing the student with compensatory strategies to learn grade-level content and ‘work around’ those basic-skill deficits? (Student is brought up to current instruction) Source: Espin, C. A., & Tindal, G. (1998). Curriculum-based measurement for secondary students. In M. R. Shinn (Ed.) Advanced applications of curriculum-based measurement. New York: Guilford Press.

6. Widening academic gap (middle school). Student is significantly off-level. The building curriculum barely overlaps the student’s point of ‘instructional match’. Largest academic gap (high school). Student is significantly off-level. The building curriculum does not overlap the student’s point of ‘instructional match’ at all. Small academic gap (elementary school). Student is only mildly off-level. The building curriculum overlaps the student’s point of ‘instructional match’. Reading Fluency Rdng-Basic Comprehension Reading Fluency Rdng-Basic Comprehension K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Remediating Academic Deficits: The Widening Curriculum Gap… Subject-Area Rdng Comprehension Rdng-Basic Comprehension Rdng Fluency

7. Measuring General vs. Specific Academic Outcomes • General Outcome Measures: Track the student’s increasing proficiency on general curriculum goals such as reading fluency. An example is CBM-Oral Reading Fluency (Hintz et al., 2006). • Specific Sub-Skill Mastery Measures: Track short-term student academic progress with clear criteria for mastery. An example is CBA-Math Computation Fluency (Burns & Gibbons, 2008). Sources: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools: Procedures to assure scientific-based practices. New York: Routledge. Hintz, J. M., Christ, T. J., & Methe, S. A. (2006). Curriculum-based assessment. Psychology in the Schools, 43, 45-56.

8. Common Methods for Monitoring Student Progress Toward Behavioral & Academic Goals

9. RTI Team Initial Meeting Form: Secondary Student Progress-Monitoring Page 15

10. RTI Team Initial Meeting Form: Secondary Student Progress-Monitoring Page 16

11. RTI Team Initial Meeting Form: Secondary Student Progress-Monitoring Page 17

12. Making Use of Existing (‘Extant’) Data

13. Extant (Existing) Data (Chafouleas et al., 2007) • Definition: Information that is collected by schools as a matter of course. • Extant data comes in two forms: • Performance summaries (e.g., class grades, teacher summary comments on report cards, state test scores). • Student work products (e.g., research papers, math homework, PowerPoint presentation). Source: Chafouleas, S., Riley-Tillman, T.C., & Sugai, G. (2007). School-based behavioral assessment: Informing intervention and instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

14. Summative data is static information that provides a fixed ‘snapshot’ of the student’s academic performance or behaviors at a particular point in time. School records are one source of data that is often summative in nature—frequently referred to as archival data. Attendance data and office disciplinary referrals are two examples of archival records, data that is routinely collected on all students. In contrast to archival data, background information is collected specifically on the target student. Examples of background information are teacher interviews and student interest surveys, each of which can shed light on a student’s academic or behavioral strengths and weaknesses. Like archival data, background information is usually summative, providing a measurement of the student at a single point in time.

15. Formative assessment measures are those that can be administered or collected frequently—for example, on a weekly or even daily basis. These measures provide a flow of regularly updated information (progress monitoring) about the student’s progress in the identified area(s) of academic or behavioral concern. Formative data provide a ‘moving picture’ of the student; the data unfold through time to tell the story of that student’s response to various classroom instructional and behavior management strategies. Examples of measures that provide formative data are Curriculum-Based Measurement probes in oral reading fluency and Daily Behavior Report Cards.

16. Advantages of Using Extant Data (Chafouleas et al., 2007) • Information is already existing and easy to access. • Students are less likely to show ‘reactive’ effects when data is collected, as the information collected is part of the normal routine of schools. • Extant data is ‘relevant’ to school data consumers (such as classroom teachers, administrators, and members of problem-solving teams). Source: Chafouleas, S., Riley-Tillman, T.C., & Sugai, G. (2007). School-based behavioral assessment: Informing intervention and instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

17. Drawbacks of Using Extant Data (Chafouleas et al., 2007) • Time is required to collate and summarize the data (e.g., summarizing a week’s worth of disciplinary office referrals). • The data may be limited and not reveal the full dimension of the student’s presenting problem(s). • There is no guarantee that school staff are consistent and accurate in how they collect the data (e.g., grading policies can vary across classrooms; instructors may have differing expectations regarding what types of assignments are given a formal grade; standards may fluctuate across teachers for filling out disciplinary referrals). • Little research has been done on the ‘psychometric adequacy’ of extant data sources. Source: Chafouleas, S., Riley-Tillman, T.C., & Sugai, G. (2007). School-based behavioral assessment: Informing intervention and instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

18. ‘Elbow Group’ Activity: What Data Should Be Collected for RTI Team Meetings? What are the ‘essential’ sources of archival data that you would like collected and brought to every RTI Problem-Solving Team meeting?

19. Grades as a Classroom-Based ‘Pulse’ Measure of Academic Performance

20. Grades & Other Teacher Performance Summary Data (Chafouleas et al., 2007) • Teacher test and quiz grades can be useful as a supplemental method for monitoring the impact of student behavioral interventions. • Other data about student academic performance (e.g., homework completion, homework grades, etc.) can also be tracked and graphed to judge intervention effectiveness. Source: Chafouleas, S., Riley-Tillman, T.C., & Sugai, G. (2007). School-based behavioral assessment: Informing intervention and instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

21. 2-Wk 9/23/07 4-Wk 10/07/07 6-Wk 10/21/07 8-Wk 11/03/07 10-Wk 11/20/07 12-Wk 12/05/07 Marc Ripley (From Chafouleas et al., 2007) Source: Chafouleas, S., Riley-Tillman, T.C., & Sugai, G. (2007). School-based behavioral assessment: Informing intervention and instruction. New York: Guilford Press.

22. Online Grading Systems

23. Assessing Basic Academic Skills: Curriculum-Based Measurement

24. Assessing Basic Academic Skills: Curriculum-Based Measurement Reading: These 3 measures all proved ‘adequate predictors’ of student performance on reading content tasks: • Reading aloud (Oral Reading Fluency): Passages from content-area tests: 1 minute. • Maze task (every 7th item replaced with multiple choice/answer plus 2 distracters): Passages from content-area texts: 2 minutes. • Vocabulary matching: 10 vocabulary items and 12 definitions (including 2 distracters): 10 minutes. Source: Espin, C. A., & Tindal, G. (1998). Curriculum-based measurement for secondary students. In M. R. Shinn (Ed.) Advanced applications of curriculum-based measurement. New York: Guilford Press.

25. www.interventioncentral.org • www.superkids.com Assessing Basic Academic Skills: Curriculum-Based Measurement Mathematics: Single-skill basic arithmetic combinations an ‘adequate measure of performance’ for low-achieving middle school students. Websites to create CBM math computation probes: Source: Espin, C. A., & Tindal, G. (1998). Curriculum-based measurement for secondary students. In M. R. Shinn (Ed.) Advanced applications of curriculum-based measurement. New York: Guilford Press.

26. Assessing Basic Academic Skills: Curriculum-Based Measurement Writing: CBM/ Word Sequence is a ‘valid indicator of general writing proficiency’. It evaluates units of writing and their relation to one another. Successive pairs of ‘writing units’ make up each word sequence. The mechanics and conventions of each word sequence must be correct for the student to receive credit for that sequence. CBM/ Word Sequence is the most comprehensive CBM writing measure. Source: Espin, C. A., & Tindal, G. (1998). Curriculum-based measurement for secondary students. In M. R. Shinn (Ed.) Advanced applications of curriculum-based measurement. New York: Guilford Press.

27. A Note About Monitoring Behaviors Through Academic Measures… Academic measures (e.g., grades, CBM data) can be useful as part of the progress-monitoring ‘portfolio’ of data collected on a student because: • Students with problem behaviors often struggle academically, so tracking academics as a target is justified in its own right. • Improved academic performance generally correlates with reduced behavioral problems. • Individualized interventions for misbehaving students frequently contain academic components (as the behavior problems can emerge in response to chronic academic deficits). Academic progress-monitoring data helps the school to track the effectiveness of the academic interventions.

28. Breaking Down Complex Academic Goals into Simpler Sub-Tasks: Discrete Categorization

29. Identifying and Measuring Complex Academic Problems at the Middle and High School Level • Students at the secondary level can present with a range of concerns that interfere with academic success. • One frequent challenge for these students is the need to reduce complex global academic goals into discrete sub-skills that can be individually measured and tracked over time.

30. Discrete Categorization: A Strategy for Assessing Complex, Multi-Step Student Academic Tasks Definition of Discrete Categorization: ‘Listing a number of behaviors and checking off whether they were performed.’ (Kazdin, 1989, p. 59). • Approach allows educators to define a larger ‘behavioral’ goal for a student and to break that goal down into sub-tasks. (Each sub-task should be defined in such a way that it can be scored as ‘successfully accomplished’ or ‘not accomplished’.) • The constituent behaviors that make up the larger behavioral goal need not be directly related to each other. For example, ‘completed homework’ may include as sub-tasks ‘wrote down homework assignment correctly’ and ‘created a work plan before starting homework’ Source: Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior modification in applied settings (4th ed.). Pacific Gove, CA: Brooks/Cole..

31. Discrete Categorization Example: Math Study Skills General Academic Goal: Improve Tina’s Math Study Skills The student Tina: • Approached the teacher at the end of class for a copy of class note. • Checked her daily math notes for completeness against a set of teacher notes in 5th period study hall. • Reviewed her math notes in 5th period study hall. • Started her math homework in 5th period study hall. • Used a highlighter and ‘margin notes’ to mark questions or areas of confusion in her notes or on the daily assignment. • Entered into her ‘homework log’ the amount of time spent that evening doing homework and noted any questions or areas of confusion. • Stopped by the math teacher’s classroom during help periods (T & Th only) to ask highlighted questions (or to verify that Tina understood that week’s instructional content) and to review the homework log.

32. Discrete Categorization Example: Math Study Skills Academic Goal: Improve Tina’s Math Study Skills General measures of the success of this intervention include (1) rate of homework completion and (2) quiz & test grades. To measure treatment fidelity (Tina’s follow-through with sub-tasks of the checklist), the following strategies are used : • Approached the teacher for copy of class notes. Teacher observation. • Checked her daily math notes for completeness; reviewed math notes, started math homework in 5th period study hall. Student work products; random spot check by study hall supervisor. • Used a highlighter and ‘margin notes’ to mark questions or areas of confusion in her notes or on the daily assignment. Review of notes by teacher during T/Th drop-in period. • Entered into her ‘homework log’ the amount of time spent that evening doing homework and noted any questions or areas of confusion. Log reviewed by teacher during T/Th drop-in period. • Stopped by the math teacher’s classroom during help periods (T & Th only) to ask highlighted questions (or to verify that Tina understood that week’s instructional content). Teacher observation; student sign-in.

33. RTI: Additional Assessment Resources

34. Student Independent Work (‘Permanent Products’): Assessing Completion, Accuracy and Overall Quality

35. Steps in Assessing Student Independent Work: pp. 69-70

36. Hypotheses for Poor or Limited Work Completion pp. 70-71

37. Independent Seatwork Observation Formp.72

38. Instructional Setting Rating Sheet

39. Instructional Setting Rating Sheetp. 73

40. How Do We Know Whether Motivation is a Barrier to Learning?: Student Motivation Assessment

41. Schoolwork Motivation Assessmentp. 6 Sources: Witt, J., & Beck, R. (1999). One minure academic functional assessment andinterventions: "Can't" do it…or "won't" do it? Longmont, CO: Sopris West. Witt, J. C., VanDerHeyden, A. M., Gilbertson, D. (2004). Troubleshooting behavioral interventions: A systematic process for finding and eliminating problems. School Psychology Review, 33, 363-381.

42. Schoolwork Motivation Assessmentp. 7

43. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment • Step 1: Assemble an incentive menu • Step 2: Create two versions of a timed worksheet • Step 3: Administer the first timed worksheet to the student WITHOUT incentives. • Step 4: Compute an improvement goal. • 5: Have the student select an incentive for improved performance. • Step 6: Administer the second timed worksheet to the student WITH incentives. • Step 7: Interpret the results of the academic motivation assessment to select appropriate interventions.

44. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment • Step 1: Assemble an Incentive menuCreate a 4-5 item menu of modest incentives or rewards that students in the class are most likely to find motivating.

45. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment • Step 2: Create two versions of a timed worksheetMake up two versions of custom student worksheets. The worksheets should be at the same level of difficulty, but each worksheet should have different items or content to avoid a practice effect. NOTE: If possible, the worksheets should contain standardized short-answer items (e.g., matching vocabulary words to their definitions) to allow you to calculate the student’s rate of work completion.

46. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment • Step 3: Administer the first timed worksheet to the student WITHOUT incentives. In a quiet, non-distracting location, administer the first worksheet or CBM probe under timed, standardized conditions. Collect the probe or worksheet and score.

47. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment • Step 4: Compute an improvement goal. After you have scored the first CBM probe or worksheet, compute a ’20 percent improvement goal’. Multiply the student’s score on the worksheet by 1.2. This product represents the student’s minimum goal for improvement.Example: A student who completed 20 correct items on a timed worksheet will have an improvement goal of 24 (20 x 1.2 = 24).

48. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment • Step 5: Have the student select an incentive for improved performance. Tell the student that if he or she can attain a score on the second worksheet that meets or exceeds your goal for improvement (Step 3), the student can earn an incentive. Show the student the reward menu. Ask the student to select the incentive that he or she will earn if the student makes or exceeds the goal.

49. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment • Step 6: Administer the second timed worksheet to the student WITH incentives. Give the student the second CBM probe. Collect and score. If the student meets or exceeds the pre-set improvement goal, award the student the incentive.

50. Schoolwork Motivation Assessment • Step 7: Interpret the results of the academic motivation assessment to select appropriate interventions. ACADEMIC INTERVENTIONS ONLY. If the student fails to meet or exceed the improvement goal, an academic intervention should be selected to teach the appropriate skills or to provide the student with drill and practice opportunities to build fluency in the targeted academic area(s).