Part II Project PLUS (Promoting Literacy in Urban Schools) Michelle Windmueller, Ph.D.

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Part IIProject PLUS(Promoting Literacy in Urban
Schools)Michelle Windmueller, Ph.D.
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Overview of Project PLUS (Promoting Literacy in
Urban Schools)

• Personnel Preparation Grant
• OSEP funded (H325P990019)
• Partnership between University and K-12 (CSULA
  and LAUSD)
• Specific focus early reading intervention for
  at risk students who are EL and may be identified
  as having LD

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Components of Project PLUS

• Partnership
• Early Reading
• ELD
• Assessment
• Intervention
• Prevention and Early Identification
• Special Education Inclusion Program
• Professional Development
• Family Literacy Support

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Goal Prevention and Early Identification
Through Intervention

• Prevention
• of reading failure
• of need for special education services

• Early identification
• of learning problems
• of learning disabilities

• Intervention
• specific to student needs
• based on diagnostic assessment

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The Building Blocks of Early Reading

• Language Development
• Phonological awareness
• Language experience
• Writing
• Function of written language
• Reading
• Experience with literature
• Concepts of print
• Alphabetic Principle

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Essential Components of Effective Reading
Instruction

• Phonological Awareness
• Alphabetic Principle
• Fluency and comprehension
• Oral language development
• Intensive, instruction for those who need it most

Taken from the California Reading/ Language Arts
Framework
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BIG IDEAS in Early Literacy Skills

• Phonological Awareness.
• The awareness and understanding of the sound
  structure of our language, that cat is composed
  of the sounds /k/ /a/ /t/.
• Alphabetic Principle. Based on two parts
• Alphabetic Understanding. Words are composed of
  sounds that are represented by letters, and
• Phonological Recoding. Using systematic
  relationships between letters and phonemes
  (letter-sound correspondence) to retrieve the
  pronunciation of an unknown printed string or to
  spell.
• Accuracy and Fluency with Connected Text.
• Readers who are not fluent at decoding are not
  able to focus their attentional resources on
  comprehension.

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Big Ideas Drive the TrainBig ideas of early
literacy should drive the curriculum and
instruction. And,Big ideas should drive the
measures we use.
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DIBELS Steppingstones to Literacy
Initial Sound Fluency
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What is DIBELS and what does it do for us?

• Assessment of basic early literacy skills
• Prediction What is likely reading outcome?
• Look for growth Systematic ongoing monitoring
• Data drives instruction Use DIBELS to make
  instructional decisions
• Who?
• What?
• How much?

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Big Idea Phonological Awareness

• Initial Sound Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by mid-K
• Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by end-K

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The Odds of reaching Phonological Awareness
Predicting Phonemic Segmentation Fluency in
Spring of Kindergartenfrom Initial Sound Fluency
in Winter of Kindergarten
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Big Idea Alphabetic Principle

• Initial Sound Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by mid-K
• Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by end-K
• Nonsense Word Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by mid-1st grade

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The Odds of Reaching Alphabetic Principle
Predicting NWF in Winter of First Grade from PSF
in Spring of Kindergarten.
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Big Idea Accuracy and Fluency with Connected
Text

• Initial Sound Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by mid-K
• Phoneme Segmentation Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by end-K
• Nonsense Word Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by mid-1st grade
• Fluency
• Goal Reach benchmark by end-1st grade

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The Odds of Reading Outcomes
Predicting ORF in Spring of First Grade from
Nonsense Word Fluency in Winter of First Grade
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40 on ORF in spring of first grade establishes a
trajectory of growth and progress toward reading
and academic success.
(Good, Simmons, Smith, 1998)
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A Three-Tiered Model of Intervention
Tier 3 Special Education
Project PLUS
Tier 2 Classroom Intervention
Tier 1 Primary Instruction
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Project PLUS Model
Benchmark 1
DIBELS Assessment
Benchmark 2
Benchmark 3
Instruction Whole Group Small Group Individual
Lessons Reteach/Preteach
Instruction Whole Group Small Group Individual
Lessons Reteach/Preteach
Instruction Whole Group Small Group Individual
Lessons Reteach/Preteach
Classroom Teacher
IWT Teacher provides Small Group Individual
Lessons
Project PLUS Intensive Phonologic
al Awareness Alphabetic Principle Oral Reading
Fluency English Language Development
Referral Student Study Team
Intervention
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Kindergarten End of Year DIBELS Results
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First Grade End of Year DIBELS Results
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Second Grade End of Year DIBELS Results
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Professional Development

• Project Schools
• Summer Institute
• Grade Level Meetings
• Staff Meetings
• District Level Meetings
• Paraprofessional Training
• Special Education Assistant Principals

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Project Schools

• 3 Saturdays
• Session 1 DIBELS Training
• Session 2 Intervention in PA AP
• Session 3 Intervention in Fluency ELD

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Grade Level Meetings

• Structured Topics
• Directives from Principal
• Directives from Literacy Coach
• Teachers Questions and Concerns

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Lunch Meetings

• Interpreted DIBELS Data to
• Determined who needed intervention
• Determined intervention groups
• Determined type of intervention

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Staff Meetings

• K- 3 teachers
• Case Studies
• Integrating Interventions with Open Court
• Independent Work Time

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District Level Meetings

• Assistant Superintendent of Special Education
• Local District Superintendent

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Paraprofessional Training

• Big Ideas
• Project PLUS
• Intervention training
• How to work with small groups

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Special Education Assistant Principals

• Interactive Workshops Offered Districtwide
• Data driven instruction
• Data management
• Data interpretation
• Follow-up with teachers

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Data Management

• 3 Benchmarks
• Excel Spreadsheets used with Conditional
  Formatting
• Important to have a data entry person at each
  school site

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Linking Assessment and Instruction Three Types
of Instruction

• Benchmark
• Students are meeting benchmarks and move through
  the regular program
• Strategic
• Students are approaching benchmark and may need
  strategic, focused instruction
• Intervention
• Students are at great risk of reading failure and
  need specific, individualized, intensive
  intervention

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Focus on Students in Need of Intervention
Attitude is Important

• These are students for whom we have not yet
  found the right intervention.
• Roland H. Good, Author of DIBELS
• Dont blame the victim. It is a schools
  responsibility to ensure learning for all. We
  dont get angry with a student because he/she
  does not learn. We determine how to teach him/her.

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Observations

• Areas of student need
• Who provided the intervention
• Activities
• Focused
• Student response
• Student engagement
• Duration

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Student Outcomes - Year 3
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Comparing At-risk, No-risk, LD Students
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Sustainability

• District commitment
• Principals buy-in
• Bull-dog
• Teacher interest
• Needs to be high stakes for teachers
• 100 participation

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What types of student monitoring systems and
programs do you have in place at your school for
early intervention and prevention of
over-identification of at-risk students for
special education?
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How are these results and data driving your
instructional program?
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If you do have data, how have you organized and
used these data for planning of early
intervention and prevention of misdiagnosed
learning problems?