Indexing Response to Intervention

Abstract

In this study, response to intervention and stability of reading performance of 41 kindergarten children identified as at risk of reading difficulty were evaluated from kindergarten through third grade. All students were assessed in the fall of each academic year to evaluate need for intervention, and students who fell below the 30th percentile on criterion measures received small-group supplemental intervention. Measures included a combination of commercial normative referenced measures and specific skill and construct measures to assess growth or change in reading risk status relative to 30th percentile benchmarks. Results indicated that consistent with the findings of prior research involving students with comparable entry-level performance, the majority of children identified as at risk in the beginning of kindergarten responded early and positively to intervention. On average, absolute performance levels at the end of kindergarten positioned students for trajectories of later reading performance that exceeded the 50th percentile on the majority of measures. Moreover, changes in risk status that occurred early were generally sustained over time. Only oral reading fluency performance failed to exceed the 30th percentile for the majority of students.

Word decoding development in incremental phonics instruction in a transparent orthography

“…Verhoeven and Van Leeuwe (2009) have previously evidenced such stability in reading development in later phases. To our knowledge, however, the current study was the first to show that stability in individual differences of reading development has already been established during, instead of after, the fundamental processes involved in mastering the alphabetic principle (see also Caravolas et al, 2013; Simmons et al, 2008; Steacy et al, 2014). The high relation of the curriculum embedded word decoding assessments with the standardized word decoding measure after 5 months indicates that the curriculum embedded measurement was an adequate way of assessing children’s performances.…”

“…Longitudinal reading studies in both transparent (e.g., Bast & Reitsma, 1998; Verhoeven & Van Leeuwe, 2009) and more opaque orthographies (e.g., Caravolas, Lervåg, Defior, Málkova, & Hulme, 2013; Juel, 1988; Simmons et al, 2008; Steacy, Kirby, Parrila, & Compton, 2014) evidenced high individual stability in reading development over time. However, reported stability in these studies typically refers to the development that was observed after, instead of during, the first months of reading instruction during which fundamental word decoding skills are mastered.…”

Effects of tier 3 intervention for students with persistent reading difficulties and characteristics of inadequate responders.

“…Positive results have been reported by a number of experimental and quasi-experimental studies evaluating outcomes across two or more increasingly intensive tiers of reading intervention (Coyne, Kame’enui, Simmons, & Harn, 2004; Kamps et al, 2008; Mathes et al, 2005; O’Connor, Fulmer, Harty, & Bell, 2005; Simmons et al, 2008; Vadasy, Sanders, Peyton, & Jenkins, 2002; Vaughn et al, 2009). There have been fewer studies evaluating outcomes for primary-grade students who receive intensive intervention (usually Tier 3 in an RTI context) after demonstrating inadequate response in Tiers 1 and 2.…”

Prevalence and nature of late-emerging poor readers.

“…This work has led to the identification of children at risk for reading disabilities (RD) as early as kindergarten or first grade and to the development of effective intervention programs (Denton & Mathes, 2003; Foorman, Francis, Fletcher, Schatschneider & Mehta, 1998; Simmons, Coyne, Kwok, McDonagh, Harm, & Kame'enui, 2008). Despite progress, at least one group of children is routinely missed in this process.…”