WWC Recommendation: Screen for reading problems at the beginning and middle of the year

Summary

The video highlights the importance of universal screening for reading difficulties, emphasizing that struggling readers need immediate support starting from the early grades. Universal screening and progress monitoring form the crux of an effective Response to Intervention (RTI) program. Conducted at both the start and middle of the school year, screenings help educators identify at-risk students early, preventing future reading challenges. The presentation emphasizes the need for a well-coordinated RTI team, careful selection of screening measures with proven validity, and the utilization of multiple measures to increase predictive accuracy. This early intervention approach can significantly aid in resource management while ensuring that all students receive necessary help based on their evolving needs.

Highlights

• Universal screening helps detect reading problems early, ensuring timely assistance to struggling readers 📚.
• RTI (Response to Intervention) is crucial in formulating early detection strategies 💡.
• Screenings are ideally conducted twice annually to capture the true reading abilities of students 📅.
• A diverse RTI team ensures seamless management of the screening process 🌟.
• Using multiple screening measures enhances the accuracy of detecting at-risk students 🕵️‍♀️.

Key Takeaways

• Universal screening for reading difficulties is critical to identifying at-risk students early 🎯.
• Screenings should occur twice a year for timely interventions 🕒.
• An RTI team coordinates staff and resources effectively for screening 📚.
• Multiple screening measures are recommended for accuracy and efficiency ✅.
• Continuous progress monitoring helps tailor interventions to student needs 📝.

Overview

Universal screening is a game-changer when it comes to identifying reading difficulties in young students. By screening all students at the beginning and middle of the year, schools can access vital data that indicate which students are at risk of falling behind. This approach ensures that children who may otherwise be overlooked receive the intervention they need at the right time, setting them up for success.

Implementing an effective screening program requires a well-coordinated effort from the school’s RTI team. This team plays a vital role in organizing logistic components like scheduling and selecting the proper screening measures. By using a mix of screening tools, the risk of false positives or negatives is minimized, allowing schools to focus their resources efficiently.

Screenings are just the start of a proactive strategy. Continuous progress monitoring ensures interventions match students' developing needs. By setting benchmarks and cuto off scores, schools can better determine which students require additional support. This dynamic process not only helps manage resources efficiently but also ensures that students are receiving interventions that keep pace with their academic growth.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction to Universal Screening The chapter introduces the concept of universal screening for all students, emphasizing the importance of early help for beginning readers who are struggling. It highlights a common issue where students don't receive assistance until grade 2 or 3, after being officially diagnosed with a learning disability or falling behind peers. The chapter also introduces Response to Intervention (RTI) as a multi-tier strategy for early detection and prevention of reading difficulties.
• 00:30 - 01:00: Key Components of RTI This chapter discusses the key components of Response to Intervention (RTI), particularly emphasizing the importance of universal screening and monitoring. It highlights that by screening all students, schools can identify those at risk for reading difficulties early on, rather than only focusing on students already exhibiting problems. Universal screening is presented as a crucial initial step to understand and address the reading support required within a school.
• 01:00 - 01:30: Importance of Midyear Screenings The chapter discusses the importance of teacher observation and judgment in monitoring student performance over time, highlighting their role in assessing progress in core and intervention programs. It emphasizes the necessity of conducting screenings for reading difficulty twice a year, specifically at the beginning and middle of the academic year. Midyear screenings are particularly crucial for younger students, as they provide a more accurate representation of student skills compared to initial assessments.
• 01:30 - 02:00: RTI Team Responsibilities The chapter 'RTI Team Responsibilities' highlights the necessity of a universal screening program that involves coordinated efforts across a school. To achieve this, a building-level RTI (Response to Intervention) team should be formed with a diverse group of members, including teachers, special educators, school psychologists, reading coaches, and the principal. The team's responsibilities range from managing basic logistics, such as deciding who will administer assessments and handle scheduling, to addressing more substantive tasks related to the program.
• 02:00 - 02:30: Screening Measure Selection The chapter discusses the selection of screening measures and the establishment of benchmarks to identify at-risk students. It highlights the responsibilities of the building-level team in choosing appropriate measures, emphasizing the importance of efficiency, reliability, and proven validity. The chapter stresses the need for the measures to accurately predict risk and focus on relevant reading skills while considering costs.
• 02:30 - 03:00: Grade-level Screening Focus The chapter 'Grade-level Screening Focus' discusses the appropriate reading skills that should be assessed at each grade level during screenings. For kindergarten, the focus is on assessing letter knowledge, phonemic awareness, and expressive and receptive vocabulary. By grade one, the emphasis shifts to phonemic awareness, decoding, word identification, and text reading. In grade two, the screening focuses on word reading and passage reading. It is noted that using more than one screening measure may be necessary to adequately assess these skills.
• 03:00 - 03:30: Predictive Validity of Screening Measures The chapter discusses the concept of predictive validity in the context of screening measures for reading ability. It explains that predictive validity includes two components: sensitivity, the measure's accuracy in identifying students at risk for reading difficulties, and specificity, its accuracy in identifying students not at risk. The text also advises using at least two screening measures, as relying on a single measure could lead to less accurate predictions.
• 03:30 - 04:00: Cost and Resources of Screening The chapter discusses the importance of using multiple screening measures to enhance accuracy and reduce false positives, which helps in identifying students who truly need additional assistance, thus optimizing resource allocation in schools.
• 04:00 - 04:30: Interpreting Screening Results Interpreting screening results involves understanding and analyzing various indices or measurement outcomes, which can be complex and time-consuming.
• 04:30 - 05:00: Establishing Cut Points The chapter titled 'Establishing Cut Points' discusses the importance of having grade level benchmarks and growth rates to assess children's risk for developing reading difficulties. It emphasizes that benchmarks indicate when a specific reading skill should be acquired. The chapter also mentions the resources available from the federal Office of Special Education Programs, particularly its National Center on Response to Intervention website, for information on benchmark screening and progress monitoring. Furthermore, it highlights the necessity for districts to establish cutoff points once benchmarks are set.
• 05:00 - 05:30: Screening as a Starting Point for Intervention This chapter discusses the importance of using screening as an initial step to identify students who may need further educational intervention. It emphasizes that no screening measure is perfectly reliable, especially when a student's score is borderline at the cutoff threshold. In such cases, it is advisable for schools to carry out additional assessments or monitor the student's progress over a 6 to 8-week period to accurately determine their need for additional help. Schools should also consider defining their criteria for these assessments and interventions.

WWC Recommendation: Screen for reading problems at the beginning and middle of the year Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 welcome to the overview on universal screening for all students beginning readers who are struggling need help right away but they often don't receive it until grade 2 or three after they have been officially diagnosed with a learning disability or have fallen far behind their peers response to intervention or RTI is a multi-tier instructional program that offers a strategy for early detection and prevention of reading
• 00:30 - 01:00 difficulties key components of RTI are the screening of all students and ongoing monitoring of their progress in core reading skills when a school only assesses those students who are already demonstrating problems with reading other students who are at risk for future reading difficulties can be overlooked this is why Universal screening is such a critical first step in determining the scope of reading support a school needs to offer Universal screening provides an objective reading on student skills
• 01:00 - 01:30 this does not mean that teacher observation and judgment is unimportant by monitoring student performance over time teachers will make an important contribution engaging a student's progress in both core and intervention programs screenings for reading difficulty should take place twice a year at the beginning of the school year and again in the middle of the Year these midyear screenings are especially important for younger students as the results are likely to give a more accurate picture of student skills than those obtained at the beginning of the
• 01:30 - 02:00 year a universal screening program requires schoolwide coordination of staff and resources a building level RTI team should be comprised of diverse members with a range of expertise such as teachers special Educators School psychologists reading coaches and the principal the team will be responsible for a number of tasks for managing basic Logistics such as determining who will administer the assessments and handle scheduling to more substantive
• 02:00 - 02:30 responsibilities such as selecting screening measures and establishing benchmarks to identify atrisk students when considering which measures to adopt the building level team should give special attention to each measure's efficiency reliability and proven validity specific factors to consider include ensuring that the appropriate reading skills are being measured how accurately the measure predicts risk and cost screening measures should focus on
• 02:30 - 03:00 appropriate reading skills for each grade level in kindergarten screening should assess letter knowledge pheic awareness and expressive and receptive vocabulary in grade one focus should shift to address pheic awareness decoding word identification and text reading in grade two screening should focus on word reading and passage reading it may be necessary to use more than one screening measure in order to assess all of these
• 03:00 - 03:30 skills the accuracy of Any Given screening measure in predicting future reading ability is referred to as its predictive validity predictive validity has two aspects its sensitivity the degree of accuracy with which it correctly identify students at risk for reading difficulties and its specificity its accuracy in identifying students at low risk for such difficulties use of at least two screening measures is highly recommended as use of a single measure can often
• 03:30 - 04:00 result in false positives such as identifying students as needing additional assistance but who are likely to do fine without it using two screening measures can both enhance the accuracy of the screening process and ensure that schools are not taxing their resources by providing intervention to an inflated percentage of the student population When selecting which screening mechanisms to implement it's important to factor in the various costs involved each additional measure requires more staff time to ad Minister
• 04:00 - 04:30 and made his place instruction moreover interpreting multiple indices or measurement results can be a complex and timec consuming task these factors should be carefully considered When selecting the number and type of screening measures to adopt the team needs to be sure that their school has the capacity to meet the demands of the screening process and to consider alternatives such as training par professionals to conduct screening rather than taking teachers away from classroom instruction interpretation of screening
• 04:30 - 05:00 results requires grade level benchmarks or growth rates to determine which children are at low moderate or high risk for developing reading difficulties grade level benchmarks indicate when a particular reading skill should be achieved the federal office of special education programs offers a good starting point for information on Benchmark screening and progress monitoring through its National Center on response to intervention website once benchmarks have been established the district will need to EST establish cut points or cuto off
• 05:00 - 05:30 scores to identify those students who are likely to reach proficiency without additional assistance it is critical to keep in mind that no measure is perfectly reliable when students scores fall slightly below or above a cuto off score in a benchmark test schools may wish to conduct an additional assessment of those students or monitor their progress for a period of 6 to 8 weeks to determine whether the student does in fact require additional assistance schools may need to Define
• 05:30 - 06:00 initial Benchmark cut points to obtain the right level of accuracy for identifying atrisk students a lenient cut Point can result in false positives that end up being more costly to the school while a more stringent cut Point may miss students at risk for potential reading problems in general it's best to set screening cut points that will identify a pool of children and then follow up with regular progress monitoring to further determine those most at risk remember screening is just the start
• 06:00 - 06:30 progress monitoring ensures that students continue to receive interventions at a level of intensity match to their developing needs