A Nation at Risk

Although the article A Nation at Risk was written in 1983, speaks about things that are of huge concern in our society today.  The main topic of this article is the failing status of America’s educational system and the impact of that failure, “… the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people.”  Basically what this is saying is that not only is our failing education system an issue because children aren’t getting an adequate education, we are also continuously setting our society up to fail.  In not striving to make our students excel, were putting ourselves behind other nations in the development of new ideas and technology.  While this a logical concern, I don’t really know if it is something I agree with.

This article also listened some indicators of risk.  Those included scores on the SAT’s verbal section have dropped 50 points and 40 points on the math section.  Approximately 23 million adult Americans are functionally illiterate.  13 percent of 17-year-olds are functionally illiterate.  Average tested achievements of students graduating from college are also lower.  Not only are these statistics traumatic, they are coming at time when there is a high demand for skilled works, which seems to be growing every day.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, some people feel that school focus too much of academic achievements in reading and computation and not enough on comprehension, analysis, solving problems, and drawing concusions.

I think that America’s have gone in a different direct for a while.  Instead of focusing so much on the things we used to, there has been a bit of a swing into other things.  Pop culture defiantly seems to have taken over a lot of society.   You can see that clearly in the stories on our news station and in our newspapers.  While real news is still reported, something trivial always seems to slip in. 

With the swing to pop culture we have also made a swing away from pushing students to make all of these great accomplishments in schools and then go on and go to college and from there get this great job and come up with all these amazing things in life.  Instead we want children to be happy and comfortable in there own skin.  Clearly this is an important thing that needed to be addressed because before children can focus on learning they need to have some basic needs taken care of.  I think this swing was needed because we started to focus so much on education and accomplishments that we started to neglect child’s wellbeing. 

One thing I really liked about this article is the part where is talks about how it is important to develop the talents of ALL students to their fullest.  I think it’s important to let children realize their own dreams and then help them fulfill those dreams.

In the end, the important take home point is that America’s seem to be falling behind other countries in our education and development of new ideas and technology.  Regardless of what you wish to attribute that to, the facts don’t lie.  Having 23 million adults who are functionally illiterate is NOT okay.  Likewise, have 13% of 17-year-olds also being functionally illiterate is unacceptable.  What this means is that we need to find ways to improve these issues in get students back to a point in which they can be competitive and be able to hold their own in the world.

Helpful Resources:

http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html (Link to A Nation at Risk)

A Tale of Two Schools

A Tale of Two Schools is a movie about two schools, Walton Elementary and Bearden Elementary, that are failing to meet the state set standards for student progress and achievement.

Bearden Elementary is located literally in the middle of a cotton field.  Teachers are low paid and usually don’t stay there for more than a year.  Some students are illiterate.  When we join Bearden Elementary they have just received a grant to help pay for a reading program that should help their students make better progress.  As we follow them through the school year concerns are constantly voiced about the lack of training the teachers have been proved with to implement the new program.  Teachers fear that they are not doing it right.  Added into the concerns about implementation, the supplies for implementing the program are slow to come in.  The justification behind the delay in supplies is that the coordinators wanted to make sure they were spending it on quality supplies and things that were the most needed. 

Walton Elementary is located in the heart of the Fort Worth area in Texas. Walton seems to be the picture of what Bearden could be in a few years.  Although Walton is not located in the best area, near the interstate, they seem to have a found a way to make things work.  In fact, others are coming to their school to see exactly what they are doing and how they are doing it.  The educators at Walton are working to teach reading in a different way.  They are using a structured program to teach students how to read through letters and sounds (phonemic awareness).

The Tale of Two Schools was an extremely moving school.  As silly as it sounds, I actually found myself tearing up slightly towards the end when the schools anxiously waited the results for their school in the statewide test.  Coming from an intercity failing school myself, I can understand the desperation these schools voiced about wanting to find something that works to help their students.  I think that failing schools and passing along students that are illiterate is unacceptable.   Frankly, it’s embarrassing.  But when it comes down to it, some times schools are failing because they just don’t have the ability to make things work.  It might be a money issues, a staffing issues, or a programming issues.  Regardless of what the issue is, it is something that we as a nation need to address.  Although it might be the cheesy line that is always thrown out there when people are fight for education but it’s true, child are our future and if we fail with them then we are setting ourselves up for a future of failure.

Let me step off my soapbox now and address the issues of failing schools.  Obviously failing at anything is not something we want in life, so what can we do it stop failing and start succeeding?  If you goggle “solutions to failing schools” you don’t come up with many suggestions.  So what can you do as a parent or an educator?  There are steps you can take to head in the right directions.  Things like Response to Intervention (RTI) programs that check progress of students and from there help determine in students are falling behind because of poor instruction or some sort of cognitive deficit. You can look into programs like the one that Walton used to help students who continue to struggle.  These programs address the issue of poor instruction and figure out what the things are that need to be focused on for each individual student to be able to grasp concepts.  

Helpful Resources:

http://www.pbs.org/weta/twoschools/ (Link to A Tale of Two Schools)

CBM, CBA, CBE ..... HUH?

CBM’s, CBA’s, and CBE’s.  No there not new television stations. You might have heard these acronyms thrown around by educators but what do they really mean and how are they being used in the classroom?

CBM

CBM stands for curriculum based measurements.  CBM is an assessment tool characterized by certain attributes.  Those attributes are:

•       Alignment.  With CBM’s students are tested on the curriculum they are being taught.

•       Technically adequate which means that they have established reliability and validity. 

•       Criterion-referenced measures as opposed to norm-referenced measures. Criterion referenced measures are measures if a student has learned what was being taught while norm referenced measures compare the child being tested to those at their same age or grade level. (If you want a more in-dept explanation between these two measures refer back to my post on Monday, March 21,2011 titled The Big Match Up: Criterion Referenced Assessments VS. Norm Referenced Assessments.)

•       Standard Procedures are used.

•       Performance sampling.  Correct and incorrect behaviors on clearly defined tasks are counted. Ex. A CBM might tell you that the student reads a grade-level passage at 47 words correct per minute with no error.

•       Decision rules.  These are put in place to provide those who used the date with information about what it means when students score at different leves.

•       Repeated measures.  These can be used to determine progress and provide progress-monitoring data.

•       Efficient.  People can be trained in a short period of time to give the measures.

•       Summarized Efficiently.  Data can be summarized efficiently by using a wide variety of tools such as pencil and paper or web based data management systems.

CBM’s usually composed of a set of standard directions, a timing device, a set of materials, scoring rules, standards for judging performance, and record forms or charts.

CBE

CBE stands for curriculum based evaluations. Curriculum-Based Evaluations are best defined by Deno (1987) as "any set of measurement procedures that use direct observation and recording of a student’s performance in a local curriculum as a basis for gathering information to make instructional decisions" (in Shinn, 1989; p. 62).  CBE measures specific skills that are presently being taught in the classroom, usually in basic skills.

CBA

Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) is an approach to linking instruction with assessment. CBA has three purposes: (1) to determine eligibility, (2) to develop the goals for instruction, and (3) to evaluate the student's progress in the curriculum. CBA is useful because it:

•                Links curriculum and instruction.

•                Helps the teacher determine what to teach.

•                Can be administered frequently.

•                Is sensitive to short-term academic gains.

•                Assists in the evaluation of student progress and program evaluation.

•                Can be reliable and valid.

•                Assists in improving student achievement

Now that we’ve gone over all that information, how about a quick CBA to test what you have learned?!

1. CBA’s are used to link instruction with __________________.

2.CBM’s use _____________ referenced assessments.

3. CBE’s measure _________ __________ that are being currently being taught in the classroom.

Answers:

1) assessment

2) criterion

3) specific skills

Helpful Resources:

http://www.studentprogress.org/families.asp

http://aim.cast.org/learn/historyarchive/backgroundpapers/curriculum-based_evaluations

Myth Busters: Learning Styles

Dr. Willingham is changing things up.  He is presenting a theory and information about how there are actually NOT different types of learners or learning style.  This probably comes as a shock to most people because learning styles is something that is strongly believed among educators.  I personally always believed in learning styles and felt that I learned in a particular way.  What Dr. Willingham is saying is that this thought over learning styles isn’t true.  What most people think of as “learning styles” is actually ability.  So some people might say their not that good at math.  That actually has nothing to do with your learning style but instead your ability.  Some people have a higher ability level for math, meaning they can pick up that information/ it comes easier to them, than others.  Other people think of learning styles as the way they recall information.  So if you’re asked to describe what your favorite shirt looks like, you’re going to visually recall it in your head.  You’ll visualize if it has short sleeves or long sleeves, does it have buttons, what color is it, and does it have a design on it?  All of these help you build a mental picture of what the shirt looks likes.  But that doesn’t mean that you are a visual learner.  That means that you have a stronger visual memory ability.  Meaning that you have a higher ability to retrieve information in your memory by creating a visual picture.

Why is this important to educators?:

 This is important because you no longer need to base your teacher to meet individual learning styles but instead you need to present information the best way possible to get the meaning across.  What that means is that most learning we do in school is meaning based.  That means that you’re asked to remember facts or different items and then understand the meaning and apply that.  So if we are trying to teach students what shape the state of Tennessee is, were not going to describe it to them, were going to show it to them on a map.

So how does this affect your teaching?:

- It’s important to introduce material in the way in which it is best to teach it.  So going back to the state of Tennessee example, it is important to show all students a map and present the information that way.  You don’t need to come up with different ways to teach the information to students.

-Remember that learning styles don’t exist but instead different ability levels exist.  So just because Student A doesn’t understand a math lesson as well as Student B doesn’t mean that Student A needs the information presented differently, it means that Student A’s ability level for math isn’t the same as Student B.  So you don’t need to teach the math lesson differently to Student A, instead you might need to give them more practice and exposure to the information.  This is important to remember with all students.  Everyone has a different ability level in different subjects.  Just because a student is having a problem grasping on to a particular lesson doesn’t mean that they aren’t learning it or even that there is a deeper, cognitive problem, it just means that they have a different ability level and might pick it up a little slower.

-Another thing to remember is that students have different memory recall styles.  So while you don’t need to teach information differently to all students, you might use differently strategies to help them recall the information.  This is something that we all use on a regular occasion. When trying to remember how to spell a tricky word, you might think of how it visually looks.  So that is how we help students recall information.  When we are trying to get them to recall information about the state of Tennessee so they can locate it on a map, it might be helpful for them to remember the other states it surrounded by.

Helpful Resources:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIv9rz2NTUk&feature=player_embedded#at=337 ( A link to Dr. Willingham's YouTube video that explains his theory that learning styles do not exist)

http://www.thepsychfiles.com/2009/03/episode-90-the-learning-styles-myth-an-interview-with-daniel-willingham/ ( A link to the podcast in which Dr. Willingham explains his theory more)

The Timely Transition Game

Name of Intervention: The Timely Transition Game: Reducing Room-to-Room Transition Time

Purpose: To facilitate rapid, disruption-free room-to-room transitions by means of a transition game combining explicit timing, public posting, and a group contingency with randomized elements.

Materials: -Stopwatch or watch with second hand

            -Two plastic containers

-       One labeled “Transitions”.  Place in the container six slips of paper with one of the following phrases written on each slip:

·      Going to Recess

·      Returning from Recess

·      Going to lunch

·      Returning from lunch

·      Going to Specials

·      Returning from Specials

-       Label the second container “What It Takes to Win”.  Place in the container 13 slips of paper with a range of acceptable transition times, using data obtained during the observation period to help select the time criteria.

-       “Timely Transitions Feedback Chart” consisting of a poster with nine columns

·      First column says “Date”

·      The next six columns for each of the targeted transitions

·      The eight column “Randomly Selected Time”

·      The ninth column “P-A-R-T-Y”

-       Brightly colored construction paper letters

-       Materials for a class party

Steps: Introduction/Training: Explain to students that they will be learning a game that will help them get to recess, lunch and specials fasters and they will get the chance to earn a class party.  Then guide them through the following steps:

Step 1: Review Appropriate Transition Behavior

o   Review ready to line up behaviors

-  Clear your desk

-  Sit in your seat quietly

- Wait for your row or table to be called

o   Review appropriate in-line behavior

-  Get in line promptly when your row or table is called

-  Stand quietly, facing forward

-  Keep your hands and feet to yourself

-  Wait for directions

Step 2: Demonstrate the timing procedures and conduct a practice transition

o   Tell students that they will have a chance to practice making effective transitions

o   Display the stopwatch and tell students that you will start it when the transition begins and let it run until they are ready to leave the classroom.

o   Say “It is time to line up now to go to _______” and start the stopwatch.  When all the students are displaying ready to line up behavior class them by tables or rows to line when.  When all students are displaying in-line behavior stop the stopwatch and direct them to leave the classroom.

o   If students misbehave in the hallway stop the class and start the stopwatch again.  When students start displaying appropriate in-line behavior, stop the stopwatch and continue the transition.  The transition ends when the last student is through the door

o   Allow for another practice transition

o   When students are returning to the classroom stop the stopwatch after every student is in their seat and quiet for 5 seconds.

o   Tell students what their transitions times were and record the times on the chart.

Step 3: Explain the group reward

o   Display the “Transitions” and “What It Takes To Win” containers.  Explain that you will write the date and each targeted transition time on the Timely Transition Feedback Chart each day.  At the end of the day you will draw a transition from the “Transitions” container to select the transition time that will be used to determine whether the class meets the criteria for earning the reward

o   Show the students the slips of paper with the criterion times and the list of the times on the poster.  To ensure that students understand the times, write times over 1 minute in minutes and seconds.

o   Explain that you will select a criterion time from the “What It Takes To Win” container and compire it with the students’ actual time for the transition you have drawn.  The class will earn a letter in the work P-A-R-T-Y if their time is less than the criterion time drawn from the container.  If the actual time is greater than the criterion, you will put a dash on the chart to indicate that no letter was earned.  After the class has spelt the word party, they will receive some type of celebration.

Implementation: Remind students about the game at the start of each school day.  Record transition times.  When students return from destination announce the number of seconds required to go to and return from the destination and record the two transition times on the Timely Transition Feedback Chart.  Repeat throughout the school day.  At the end of the day draw a slip from the Transitions container and put a star next to the times on the chart.  Then draw a slip from the What It Takes to Win container if the actual time is less than the criterion, record a letter in the last column and praise the class.  If the actual time is greater than the criterion then put a dash in the last column and encourage students to do better.  Deliver the group reward when the word part is spelt out.

Evaluation: Compare the number of seconds required for students to complete one or more transitions before and after implementation.

Helpful Resources:

Rathvon, N. (2008). Effective school interventions: Evidence-based strategies for improving student outcomes. The Guilford Press: New York.

Class Wide Peer Tutoring

Name of Intervention: Class Wide Peer Tutoring

Purpose: To improve academic productivity and achievement by increasing opportunities for students to respond and receive immediate feedback without increasing the amount of instructional time.

Materials: - Box containing red and blue slips of paper with an equal number of each color and enough for each student in your class           

- Curricular materials appropriate for basic skills practice, one set per student pair

- Point sheets, consisting of sheets of paper or index cards with a list of consecutive numbers, one per student

- Kitchen timer with a bell, stopwatch with an audible signal, or watch

- “Team Points Chart” – poster with teams point totals and daily and weekly winning teams.

- Adhesive stars or stickers

Steps: Pre-intervention/ Discussion:  Explain to students that they are going to take part in a fun activity that also allows them to get more out of each lesson.  Start off by demonstrating what the tutoring will look like, and then have two students practice it and offer praise and corrective feedback. Have students practice these skills.  On Fridays have students draw names and assignment them to one of the two teams for the next week.  Within each team, create random pairs in subjects in which tutors can use a master sheet with the correct answers for checking tutee’s responses, such as spelling, vocabulary, mathematics, and the content areas.  Change tutoring pairs and team assignments each week.

Implementation: The entire procedure takes about 30 minutes.  10 minutes for one student to tutor, 10 minutes for the other student to tutor (for older students shorten times to 5 minutes per student), and 5 to 10 minutes to add up and post team points.  Begin each session by have students go to their designated areas.  Then assign who will tutor first and who will tutor second.  Distribute point sheets and tutoring materials.  Set the timer for the allotted time and have the tutor present the items one at a time and the tutee responds appropriately.  When the timer goes off, have students switch roles.  At the end of the tutoring sessions have each pair report their total points earned.  Add the points up for each team and record the total on the Team Point Chart.  Lead the class in applauding the winning team for the day and also the losing team for their efforts.  On Friday, administer a test on the materials the students have practiced.  Have pairs exchange papers and correct each others papers and award 5 to 10 points foe each correct answer.  Enter these scores on the Team Point Chart and determine a weekly team winner.

Evaluation: Compare percent-correct scores on classwork, quizzes, or end-of-unit tests in the selected subject for the entire class or the target students before and after implementation.

Helpful Resources:

Rathvon, N. (2008). Effective school interventions: Evidence-based strategies for improving student outcomes. The Guilford Press: New York.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__dMTZIL6JQ

Sit and Watch - An Intervention for Teaching Prosocial Behaviors

Intervention Name: Sit and Watch- Teaching Prosocial Behaviors

Purpose: To teach children appropriate social behaviors with guided observation and a brief time-out.

Materials:       - “Sit and Watch chair” placed on the edge of the classroom activities (e.g., in a corner but facing the class rather than the wall) with or without a “Sit and Watch” label affixed to it.

- “Quiet Place” in the classroom, consisting of a comfortable chair or pillow on a rug placed as far away as possible from the center of classroom activity.

- Backup “Quiet Place” in another classroom or school office, consisting of a comfortable chair placed as far away as possible from the center of activity but still observable.

- Poster listing the classroom rules, such as:

o   Follow the teacher’s directions

o   Be polite and kind to others

o   Finish all your work

o   Respect others and their property

Steps: Pre-intervention/ Discussion: Display the chart of rules and discuss the rationale for each rule.  Point out the “Sit and Watch” chair and explain that children who forget to follow the rules will be asked to sit in the chair for a short time and watch the other students in class behave appropriately.  Also point out the “Quiet Place” and explain that it is place for students who have trouble sitting in the “Sit and Watch” chair.  Explain the procedures and then pick a student who typically displays appropriate behavior and have them role-play.  Pick a second student and have them also role-play and include a visit to the “Quiet Place” spot.

Implementation: When inappropriate behavior occurs, firs describe it to the misbehaving student, saying something like “Michael don’t hit other children at your table.”  Then describe what would be an appropriate behavior, saying something like “Keep your hands to yourself when you are doing your work.”  Then tell the student to go to the “Sit and Watch” chair and observe the appropriate social behavior of the other students.  Say something like “Go to the Sit and Watch chair and watch how the other children work with out hitting”.  When the student has been watching quietly (1 minute of pre-schoolers, 3 minutes for older children” ask if he or she is ready to rejoin the activity, say something like “Do you know how to work without hitting now?”  If student indicated that they are ready to return, allow them to return to the activity.  If they indicate that they are not ready to return, allow them to sit for longer.  After they have indicated that they are ready to return, praise positive behaviors.  If the student is unable to sit in the Sit and Watch chair, take them to the Quiet spot and explain why you are removing them from the setting, say something like “Since you can’t sit quietly here, you need to go to the Quiet place and practice sitting quietly.”  Once the child is able to sit quietly in the Quiet place, allow them to return to the Sit and Watch chair and follow procedures for that seat.

Evaluation (pick one of the following):

1) Compare the frequency of disruptive behaviors during the selected instructional period or interval before and after implementation.

2) Compare the frequency of reprimands delivered during the selected instructional period or interval before and after implementation.

Helpful Resources:

Rathvon, N. (2008). Effective school interventions: Evidence-based strategies for improving student outcomes. The Guilford Press: New York.

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/psyc/rileytillmant/Sit-and-Watch-Intervention-Brief.cfm

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/psyc/rileytillmant/Sit-and-Watch-Modeling-Video-1.cfm

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/psyc/rileytillmant/Sit-and-Watch-Modeling-Video-2.cfm

Team up for Homework Success

 Name of Intervention: Team Up for Homework Success

Purpose: To improve daily homework completion and accuracy with peer-mediated self-management procedures and a class wide raffle.

Materials Needed: -     Daily Homework assignment

-       Answer sheets corresponding to homework assignment

-       “Team Scorecards” -3x5 index cards listening team memebers names down the left-hand side, with columns headed “Daily Score” and “Yes/No”

-       Poster listening the duties of each role

-       “League Scorecard” – poster with team names and 5 columns labeled with the days of the school week, for posting “win” stickers

-       Stickers or stars

-       Box labeled “Raffle Tickets” that contains slips of paper with student or team names

-       “Homework Goals” Jar that contains 16 slips of paper listening a variety of accuracy criteria (ex. 4 “80%” slips, 4 “85%” slips)

-       Raffle prizes

Steps: Pre-intervention/Discussion: Explain to students that they will be playing a game to help them get more out of their homework assignments.  Tell them the game has teams and that each player will have a special role.  Explain that each team will have four members: -

Coach: prompts and directs team functions. Assembles the team, reminds members of weekly accuracy goal, and reviews homework completion strategies as needed.  Reminds team members of the goal for the next day’s homework and encourages team members to reach it.

- Scorekeeper: Counts the number of assignments turned in by team members and grades them according to the answer sheet supplied by the teacher.  Determines each member’s homework accuracy score and records it on each member’s paper.  Fills in each member’s homework accuracy score on the team score card and checks “Yes” or “No” to indicate whether or not all members obtained the weekly accuracy goal.

- Manager: Reviews the team score card and declares a  “win” or “loss” depending on whether team performance met or exceeded the weekly accuracy goal.  Posts a “win” sticker on the league scorecard if the team met or exceeded the goal.

- Pinch Hitter: Attend team meetings and take the role of other team members when they are absent.

Implementation: Assign groups and have them pick a team name and role, teams should be changed every 4 weeks and roles should change every 3 days.  After teams and roles have been decided, have students discuss ways that they can increase their homework accuracy.  Each week you will set an accuracy goal.  Team averages for the week should meet or exceed this goal for teams to be eligible for the raffle.  Allow teams to meet for 10-15 minutes each day that homework is due.  After students have checked their homework and charted their results, you should recheck their accuracy just to ensure that they are doing it correctly.  If you find mistakes, remind students of the procedures.  On Fridays, have the manager check to see if the team met the accuracy goal.  Distribute raffle tickets to the teams that have met the goal.  Draw three or four tickets (10-15% of the classroom) and deliver the rewards.  As homework performance improves, gradually raise accuracy criteria or require that all students on the team meet the criterion in order for the team to be eligible for the raffle.

Evaluation:  Compare homework completion rates for students before and after implementation.  If desired, also compare the percentage of students in the entire class whose homework completion rate is below 80% before and after implementation.

Helpful Resources:

Rathvon, N. (2008). Effective school interventions: Evidence-based strategies for improving student outcomes. The Guilford Press: New York.

Self-Monitoring Intevention

Selecting interventions is a key job for a school psychologist.  We look at a problem, gather some important information and then decide on what intervention is going to be the best for each child in each situation.  The important thing to remember is that while one intervention might work great for one child, the same intervention might not work at all for another child.  The main thing is to remember to be patient and hopeful.  Here is an intervention that I like for teaching children to monitor their behavior in order to increase there academic productivity.

Name of Intervention: Self- Monitoring of Academic Productivity

Purpose: To increase academic productivity by teaching students to monitor their own behaviors while performing daily class work assignments.  While this intervention is nice for getting students to be more productive, it also teaches some helpful skills that can be used in just about any situation.  Making lists of the steps you need to complete to be successful or the things you need to keep in mind while doing a task are helpful skills in any situation.  Making a list of the assignments you need to complete this week for school or making a list of tasks you need to complete around the house this weekend.

Materials Needed: -Self-Monitoring Forms

                              - Poster board chart and gold adhesive stars

Steps: 1) Pre-Intervention/ Discussion Time: Start with introducing the intervention to your students.  Explain that they will be learning how to improve their grades by monitoring their own behavior.  Have them discuss what types of behaviors help them be successful in completing their work (e.g. listening to directions, completing the entire assignment, and turning in assignment).  Hand out the self-monitoring form to the students and review the behaviors.  Make sure students are clear on what each behavior looks like; you might even have them act it out.  After everyone is clear as to what is expected of him or her, explain that you are going to provide the students with a few minutes at the end of the period to complete the forms.

2) Implementation: Hand out the forms at the beginning of the period.  5 minutes before the end of the period, instruct students to complete the forms.  While students are filling out their forms, you will want to walk around the room and make sure that students are completing their forms accurately.  If you feel that a student is not providing accurate information, you should speak to them privately.  If you feel that a lot of students are not providing accurate information, you may want to go back to the pre-intervention/discussion step.

Evaluation:  There are a few different ways to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention.

1) Compare the percentage of students with on-task, off-task, and disruptive behavior during the selected period before and after implementation.

2) Compare percent-correct scores on daily class work assignments in the selected subject for a group of target students or the entire class before and after implementation.  If desired, compare the class average percent-correct sore for daily class work assignments in the selected subject before and after implementation.

3) Compare the number of daily assignments completed with 80% accuracy or above in the selected subject for the entire class or the target group before and after implementation.

Helpful Resources:

Rathvon, N. (2008). Effective school interventions: Evidence-based strategies for improving student outcomes. The Guilford Press: New York.

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/psyc/rileytillmant/Error-Monitoring-Strategies-intervention-Brief.cfm

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cas/psyc/rileytillmant/Error-Monitoring-Strategies-Evidence-Brief.cfm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q008yomQGuE

"Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary"

As a graduate student at Indiana University, I was provided with the opportunity to watch the movie “Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary”.  This movie reflects on a school, Hoover Elementary, in Los Angeles, CA.  This movie is shot by Hoover Elementary 4th grade teacher Laura Simon, before and after voting took place on Proposition 187. Proposition 187 was a ballot initiative in California in 1994.  This proposition strove to create a screening system that prohibited illegal immigrants from having access to health care, public education and other social services in California.  Simon showed how diverse of a community Hoover Elementary is, not only it’s students, but also it’s teachers. 

We saw life through the eyes of Mayra, a student of Simons at the time.  She showed us not only how much she truly loved going to school and how receiving an education made her realized her dreams of going to school to become a lawyer, but we also saw Mayra’s life outside of school.  The film showed Mayra spending the day alone in the apartment she lives in with her mother and uncle while everyone was at work.  She was not allowed to leave the apartment to play because her mother felt it was not safe for her.

We also saw life according to third grade teacher Dianne Lee.  She was very open about the fact that was going to vote for Prop. 187.  She felt that the over crowding and needs of immigrant students was bringing Hoover down and that only legal immigrant and citizens of America deserved a public education.

We saw the opposite opinion from first grade teacher Arcelia Hernandez, the daughter of a migrant worker.  Arcelia has the opposite view of Dianne.  She felt that it was right to people to take their frustrations out on the children and blame them for the problems in California. 

Things get heated as the last few days come to an end and the voting begins.  Prop. 187 passed but it was never put into action because it was ruled to be unconstitutional. 

While this might seem like an odd movie for school psychology students to be watching and reflecting on, it truly brings about important issues for everyone working in schools. It would be ignorant to say that immigration is not a hot topic in America these days.  While immigration laws might not seem like they would be an important thing for educators to consider, they truly are.

The movie did make an interesting point that I have never really considered in this issue.  Schools receive money depending on there level of student attendance.  Hoover Elementary frequently lost out of money due to the erratic attendance level of migrant students.  The erratic attendance was explained to be because migrant parents often pull their children out of school when they are able to or because children and their families have been deported.  This clearly made sense and was an issue.  But for me it seemed like something that could possibly be easily resolved after a conversation with parents about the problem there children erratic attendance makes.

Regardless of personal feelings about immigration and how it relates to other issues in the United States, the important issues here is allowing ALL children to receive a free and appropriate education.  Regardless of how children came to be in the United States or their level of skills, we have an obligation to provide them with education. 

One argument that often going hand in hand with immigration is that illegal immigrants create violence in the community.  The librarian at Hoover Elementary even tried to blame messy streets on the migrant children.  But the important thing to see in all of this is that A) Crime is always going to exist in the United States and B) Studies have shown that education tends to decrease ones likelihood of being part of committing crimes.  If these children were allowed to get off the streets and get an education, they would be able to see that there are other alternatives to life and also realize their dreams.

Helpful Resources:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/fearandlearning/film_description.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_187_(1994)

RTI Reports VS. Traditional Reports: What am I looking for?

Depending on the method in which your children is being assessed, you could receive one of two types of reports.  If your child is going to a school in which they are using the Response to Intervention (RTI) method you will receive a RTI style report.  If your child was assessed using a norm-referenced assessment, you will receive a traditional style report.  While these reports might vary in format from practitioner to practitioner, the basics, the meat and potatoes, should always remain the same.  Here are some tips of what to look for when you get either type report and also some RED FLAGS.

What to expect when you receive an RTI Report:

RTI reports are the more simple report of the two.  On the first page of the report you should expect to see general information such as your child’s name, school, grade, age and examiner.  You should also look for information that explains why your child has been referred for a RTI Intervention.  The next thing you should look for is some background information.  In this section you should look for an explanation of past interventions that have been tried with your child.  A red flag of a poorly written report might be lack of this type of section or very vague information about interventions tried such as “I tried everything and nothing seemed to work”.  You should also see a section that included information on the observations and interviews that were conducted.  This information helps paint a complete picture.  If this information was not included it could be a red flag that the examiner did not rule out other variables, such as a chaotic instructional environment.

The next thing that should be included in an RTI report is information on the assessments conducted.  What type of assessment was used and a brief explanation of this assessment.  After that you should look for the assessment results and a brief explanation of what these scores mean.

After reporting the scores, the next section should be a summary and some target areas for interventions.  Following those target areas, there should be more in depth information on what specific interventions were used and an explanation of those interventions.

Finally, you should see recommendations.  This sections might include what you can try with your child and what the teachers can try with your child to help make progress. 

RTI reports have many positives about them.  They provide more in dept information on specific areas.  They also provide a better picture of areas of strengths and weaknesses so that interventions can be suggested.  These reports focus more on the services that a child needs as opposed to if they meet criteria for special education.  The section in the report about interventions tried is also very important because it shows what has been tried, what worked a little bit and what missed the mark completely.  While RTI reports paint a nice picture, there are some drawbacks to them.  They do not provide as much information on the observations done.  Information on observations is important because it is used to ensure that the child has access to all the learning materials.

What to expect when you get a traditional report:

Traditional reports are more in dept type of report.  These reports usually start off just like an RTI report, with the basic information on your child and who examined them.  Following that, there should be a reason for referral.  The next information is the background information.  Here you might see information like what you told the school psychologist your concerns where, what the teachers concerns are, your child’s previous education experience (this might be information on if they were retained or previously placed in special education), developmental information (this might be information on if your child was chronically sick, when they said there first word, or if they were born premature).  This section is intended to paint a basic picture of your child as a whole.  A red flag of a poorly written report might be lack of this section because it might mean that the examiner did not look into every aspect of the child’s history for an explanation.  For example, if you informed the examiner that your child experienced a trauma at a young age, that might be an explanation for certain behavior.  If this piece of information was over-looked, you child could be falsely identified and receive services that they do not need.

The next section of information you should see is information from the interviews done with yourself, your child’s teacher, and possibly your child.  These interviews should provide information on the main concerns of those interviewed and also what they feel the child does well.  There should also be information on observations done of the child.  A red flag might be if one of the observations were not conducted in the area of the referral.  Meaning, if your child is being referred due to concerns in reading, the examiner should be observing the child during reading.  This does not mean that they should solely observe them in that activity, but it should be one of the activities they observe them in.

Following this information there should be a list of assessments done with your child and the results of the assessments.  There should be information on the test it’s self and also what your child did on these tests.  A red flag might be in information is missing on how your child behaved during the assessment and if the examiner feels that the results are an accurate picture of the child’s true abilities.  In this section, there should be information on what your student’s results mean.  Do their scores indicate a strength or weakness in a particular area?

Finally, you should see a section on recommendations.  Recommendations might include stating if the child meets criteria for special education services.  A red flag might be if the examiner states that the student will receive special education services.  That is not the decision to be made by one person, but instead is made by the whole case conference committee and you as the parents have a say in that.  Recommendations might also include specific ways in which learning can be made easier and more meaningful for your student.

The last page of the report is a break down of the scores.  Scores should be listed by individual test and the subtests given from that test.  It should include your child’s score, percentile rank, and what the scores classification is.  This is basically just a summary of the scores that have already been explained in the body of the report.

Like RTI reports, traditional reports have many advantages to them.  They present A LOT of data.  While this might be difficult for you as a parent to interpret, this information is useful for a school psychologist to look at quickly and get a brief picture of the situation.  These reports also cover A LOT of information.  Information ranging from the child’s birth to observations on them in school are provide.  While all of this information is extremely helpful for those who can understand it, most people can’t understand it, it’s basically a school psychologist secret language.  While most school psychologist strive to explain this language to you, it is not always the easiest information to understand.  Once you have mastered the language barrier, there is the issue with information overload.  This type of report gives you so much information that it can often be overwhelming.

What should I do if I feel I’ve been given a “BAD” report?

After reading this information you might begin to wonder why certain information is not included in your child’s report or you might have seen some RED FLAGS.  Instead of marching into the examiners office and demanding answers, a simple conversation might clear up any confusion. 

Try asking the examiner your question calmly. For instance you might say, “I noticed that you didn’t include a section on observations you conducted.  I was just curious why?”  Demanding an answer and accusing the examiner of not doing their job will not get you ANY answers.  In fact, it might negatively influence future relationships.  Allow the examiner to explain themselves. 

Some information might have been left out because it was not provided or available.  Other information might not be provided because it was meaningless.  For example, extensive information on your child’s social ability is required when assessing a child for autism, while that in dept information is not need when assessing a child for a specific learning disability.

Helpful Resources:

http://sophieguellati.com/uploads/Guide_to_understanding_your_psychoeducational_report.pdf

The Big Match Up: Criterion Referenced Assessments VS. Norm Referenced Assessments

To determine the needs for a given child who is struggling, school psychologist assess the children to figure out if their set backs come from a disability to would qualify them for special education or a lack of instruction that meets their needs.   In education children are assessed using one of two types of assessments, Norm-Referenced Assessments and Criterion- Referenced Assessments. 

Norm – Referenced assessment compares the child being tested to there same age or same grade peers.  These tests are useful when you need to measure how a child compares to others.  An example of a norm – referenced assessment is the ACT’s/ SAT’s.  In schools common norm –referenced assessments include the Woodcock Johnson Test of Cognitive Abilities, the Wechsler Intelligent Scale for Children, or the Woodcock Johnson Test of Achievement.  These tests are most often used to determine special education eligibility.

Criterion-Referenced assessments are used to gauge how much a child has learned or what they can do.  These test are useful when you want to measure a children progress or to see if an intervention is effective.  An example of a criterion – referenced assessment is a teacher created math test or a teacher created spelling test.  These tests are most often used to identify strengths and weaknesses in a child.

While both of these types of assessments can be used to make important decisions about a child’s education, they also have a lot of differences.  Norm – referenced assessments often rank children.  This is something that has created some controversies among parents and educators.  I personally feel that if these tests are used properly, in conjunction with classroom observations and thorough investigation into previously tried interventions, these assessments can be the finally step in determining a child who really needs the extra help, is eligible for special education. 

Resources:

http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/assess/purposes.html

http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/measeval/crnmref.html