Presentation for:

International Council for Learning Disabilities

October 7-9, 2010 (Myrtle Beach, SC)
Sister Mary Karen Oudeans, Ph.D.
Silver Lake College, Manitowoc, WI
Why Response to Intervention?
Federal Legislation
 No Child Left Behind (2001)
 2004 reauthorization of IDEA
Emphasis on—
 Universally high standards for ALL students (including
those with disabilities)
 Critical role of early intervening services & supports
 Use of data to document students’ responsiveness to
high quality, research-based intervention

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Why Response to Intervention?
The Tyranny of Time!
 Research documents strong positive effects of
preventative instructional interventions for
students in the early grades who are at risk
for serious reading difficulties or disabilities
This means to change outcomes
 We must provide the highest quality
instruction available as early as possible.
 Intervene early to prevent an escalating
pattern of failure
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 RTI Adoption and
Implementation Update
In April 2010, Spectrum K12 School Solutions and leading
education organizations conducted a web-based survey of
K-12 district administrators to gauge the extent to which
Response to Intervention (RTI) has been adopted and
implemented.
(http://www.spectrumk12.com/rti/the_rti_corner/rti_adoption_report)

Organizations represented—
 Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE)
 American Association of School Administrators (AASA)
 National Association of State Directors of Special
Education (NASDSE)

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 RTI Adoption and
Implementation Update
RTI Adoption Survey 2010 Report
 Number of survey respondents—
 1, 101 participants; 761 completed entire survey
 Margin of error for this survey is plus or minus 3.5% at the
95% confidence interval
 Type of community represented—
 Urban 15%; Rural 51%; Suburban 34%
 Geographic location represented—
 West –9%
 Midwest—26%
 South—52%
 Northeast—13%
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 RTI Adoption and
Implementation Update
The survey was designed to determine:
 How widely Response to Intervention (RTI) has been
adopted in U.S. school districts and barriers to
implementation. *
 The effectiveness of RTI implementation. *
 Funding for RTI.

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 RTI Adoption and
Implementation Update
Findings from the RTI Adoption Survey 2010 Report
(SpectrumK12.com)
 Adoption of RTI
 61.2% of respondents are currently either in full
implementation or in the process of district wide
implementation
 Compared with 54% in 2009, 32% in 2008 and 24% in 2007.
 55% of respondents report RTI implementation is being
led through a unified effort between general education
and special education.

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 RTI Adoption and
Implementation Update
Obstacles to implementation
 81% respondents report lack of intervention
resources
 75% report lack of resources for instruction
and/or for progress monitoring;
 90% insufficient teacher training

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 RTI Adoption and
Implementation Update
Effectiveness of implementation
 Where there was sufficient data to determine the
impact of RTI
 76% indicated RTI has led to an improvement in
Adequate Yearly Progress vs. 24% that indicated that it
has not.
 87% indicated RTI has reduced the number of special
education referrals.

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 RTI Adoption and
Implementation Update
What is the district using RTI for?
 49% report using RTI for all students
 60% report using RTI for identifying students for early
intervening supports and services.
For which grades are you implementing RTI
 PreK—55% reading /30% math
 Elementary Schools—100% reading /70% Math

 Across all grade levels, reading remains the predominant

domain area for which RTI has been implemented followed
by Math and then Behavior except in Pre-K where Behavior
is more common than Math.

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 Beginning Reading—
Very Quickly—What We Know…
 Phonemic blending &
segmenting are necessary
pre-requisites but not
sufficient for successful
acquisition of beginning
reading & spelling
 Phonemic segmentation
skills are a strong predictor
of beginning reading ability
 Both Phonemic Awareness
& Alphabetic
Understanding are critical
for learning to read & spell
 Letter-sound knowledge is a
pre-requisite to effective word
identification
 Integrating alphabetic skills (i.e.,
letter-sound correspondences),
with phoneme blending &
segmenting has had a positive
effect on word reading and
spelling
 The primary difference
between good and poor
readers is the ability to use
letter-sound correspondence
to identify words.
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 RTI and Multi-tiered Intervention
RTI systems combine universal screening & high quality
instruction for all students with interventions targeted at
struggling readers.
Tier 1 encompasses general education instruction
Reading instruction provided to ALL students in classroom
Beyond this, no clear consensus on definition of Tier 1
Often referred to as reading instruction that is “evidence-based” or
“high quality,” or an instructional program…with “balanced, explicit,
and systematic reading instruction that fosters both code-based and
text-based strategies for word identification and comprehension.”

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 RTI and Multi-tiered Intervention
 Tier 2 interventions
 Provided to students who are struggling based on
screening measures or weak progress from general
classroom instruction
 Instruction is supplemental, small group reading
instruction aimed at building foundational skills

From: IES Practice Guide—Assisting Students Struggling with Reading:

Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in Primary
Grades (NCEE 2009 , 4045, U. S. Department of Education)

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 Tier 1 Studies 2-4
 Compared two programs that taught beginning reading skills
in kindergarten
 Explicit Phonemic Alphabetic Connections Curriculum
(EPACC) was taught as a COMPLEMENT the core kindergarten
curriculum (CKC)
 Core kindergarten curriculum alone
 Teachers self-selected to participate
 Intact kindergarten classrooms (10-17 students)
 CKC consisted of teacher-designed instruction grounded in
developmentally appropriate practice
 Whole group instruction with approximately same amount
of time spent on early literacy skills.
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Percent of Students Meeting PSF Benchmark
Study 24 (Tier 1) Study 3 (Tier 1) Study 4 (Tier 1)
Group EPACC Non EPACC EPACC Non EPACC EPACC Non EPACC
Group size N=17 N=14 N=12 N=10 N=17 N=17

% students < 10 82% (n=14) 43% 67% 90% 65% 59%

ppm (n=6) (n=8) (n=9) (n=11) (n=10)
Pretest PSF
% Students 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
meeting BM (N = 0 out (N = 0 out (N = 0 out (N = 0 out of (N = 0 out of (N = 0 out of
of 17 of 14) of 12) 10) 17) 17)
Mid-PSF
% Students 80% 36% 58% 0% 71% 35%
meeting BM (N = 14 out (N = 5 out (N = 7 out (N = 0 out of (N = 12 out of (N = 6 out of
of 17) of 14) of 12) 10) 17) 17)
Posttest PSF
% Students 100% 64% 92% 20% 76% 59%
meeting BM (N = 17 out (N = 9 out (N = 11 out (N = 2 out of (N = 13 out of (N = 10 out of
of 17) of 14) of 12) 10) 17) 17)
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 Results of Studies 2-4 (Tier 1)
Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (DIBELS)
100 100
95
Percent Students Meeting PSF Benchmark

90
85
80 82
75
70
65 64
60
55
50 Study 2 EPACC
45 Study 2 NoEPACC
40
35 36
30
25
20 "Established"
15 Benchmark is 35-45
10 phoneme segments
5 per minute
0 0
Fall Winter Spring
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 Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (DIBELS)
100
95
90 92
Percent of Students Meeting PSF Benchmark

85
80
75
70
65
60 58
55
50 Study 3 EPACC
45 Study 3 NoEPACC
40
35
30
25
20 20
15 "Established

10 "Benchmark is
5 35-45 phoneme
0 0 0 segments per
Fall Winter Spring minute

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 Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (DIBELS)
100
95
Percent of Students Meeting PSF Benchmark

90
85
80
75 76
70
65
60 59
55 59
50 Study 4 EPACC
45 Study 4 NoEPACC
40
35 35
30
25
20 "Established

15 "Benchmark is 35-
10 45 phoneme
5 segments per
0 0 minute
Fall Winter Spring
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 Nonsense Words Read—Spring, K
20
Mean # of Nonsense Words Read on

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15
W-J Word Attach Subtest

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10 Untaught "Real" Words Read—
Spring, K
20

Mean # Untaught "Real" Words

5

15

Read per Minute

0
Study 2 EPACC Study 2 9.5
NoEPACC 10

5 4.5

0
Study 2 EPACC Study 2
NoEPACC

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 Nonsense Words Read –Spring, K
Mean # of Nonsense Words Read on 20

15
W-J Word AttachSubtest

10 Untaught "Real" Words—Spring, K

20
6.2

Mean # Untaught "Real" Words

5
15
0.6

Read per Minute

0 10
Study 3 EPACC Study 3 10
NoEPACC

5
2.4

0
Study 3 EPACC Study 3
NoEPACC

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 Nonsense Words Read—Spring, K
20
Mean # of Nonsense Words Read
on W-J Word Attach Subtest

15

10 Untaught "Real" Words –Spring, K

20
6.4

Mean # Untaught "Real" Words

5 3.8
15

Read per Minute

11.8
0
Study 4 EPACC Study 4 10 8.4
NoEPACC

0
Study 4 EPACC Study 4
NoEPACC
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 Tier 2 Study
 Five (5) kindergarten students from intact
kindergarten classroom
 Eligibility for Tier 2 intervention
 Low or low/average in Academic Skills on the Dominie
Literacy Assessment
 5 or less initial phonemes per minute on the Dynamic
Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS)
 Three (3) students assigned to Tier 2 EPACC group
 Two (2) students assigned to Tier 2 Non EPACC group

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 On-Going Assessment in Tier 2 RTI
Curriculum-Based
Assessments
 Assesses how proficient
students are in
demonstrating skills taught
in EPACC
Generalized Outcome
Measures (DIBELS)
 Assesses student
performance on
broad, instructionally
relevant and
empirically-validated
reading skills that are
predictive of later
reading proficiency
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 Letter Naming Fluency (DIBELS)
Number of Correct Letter Names per

100
90
80
Minute

70
EPACC-1
60
EPACC-2
50
EPACC-3
40 36 35 NonEPACC-1
32
27 29
30 23 24 NonEPACC-2
20 17
10
10 Winter
1 3 1 5 3 3
0-14 At risk
0 15-26 Some risk
Fall Winter Spring 27 & > Low risk
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 100 Phonemic Segmentation Fluency (DIBELS)
90
Mid-year K.
Number of Correct Phoneme Segments per

0-18 At risk
80
31 & above low
risk
70

60
54 EPACC-1
49
Minute

50 4646 EPACC-2
40 EPACC-3
40 36
NonEPACC-1
30 NonEPACC-2
23 21
20
13
8 End K.—35-45
10 phoneme
3 4
0 0 0 segments per
0
minute
Fall Winter Spring

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 Nonsense Word Fluency End kindergarten
100 0-7 at risk
8-22 some risk
90 23 & above low risk
Number of Correct Letter Sounds per Minute

80

70

60 EPACC-1
EPACC-2
50
EPACC-3
NonEPACC-1
40 37
NonEPACC-2
30
20 21 20
20
15 17 16

10 6
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0
Fall Winter Spring
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 Next Steps
Based on student progress measured by DIBELS subtests
(e.g., ISF, PSF, LNF, NWF) in January and February—
 Students 1 & 2 in Tier 2 EPACC group returned to Tier 1
instruction in the Core Reading Curriculum only and are
reading Level A books (Guided Reading)
 Student 3 in Tier 3 EPACC group and Students 1 & 2 in Tier
2 Non EPACC group continue with a Tier 2 intervention
that was modified to include Reading Mastery curriculum
4 days per week in addition to CAP and other pre-reading
skills (e.g., Letter names and L-S correspondences.
 Continue with on-going monitoring using DIBELS
subtests ISF, LNF, PSF, & NWF

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What is Explicit Phonemic Alphabetic
Connections Curriculum (EPACC)?

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 What is EPACC?
 Phonemic awareness—the
ability to hear & manipulate
individual sounds in spoken
words
 Research-based  Alphabetic Understanding—
curriculum that the ability to associate sounds
systematically teaches with letters & use these sounds
and integrates the to read words
critical skills for
beginning reading.  Fluency with the Alphabetic
Code—the ability to effortlessly
read words in connected text.

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 EPACC Components
Scope & Sequence
 Systematic introduction, review, and integration of
letter-sound correspondences with phonemic blending
and segmenting skills has been built into the EPACC
design.

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 EPACC Components
 Research-validated curriculum & instructional design
principles

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EPACC Components

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 EPACC Components
Teaching Steps
 Consistent instructional language & explicit strategies.

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EPACC Components

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EPACC Components

Curriculum-Based Assessments

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 EPACC Components
 Instructional “scaffolds” provide concrete, “hands-on”
learning supports to teach phonemic and alphabetic
skills
 Picture & Letter cards
 Sentence strips

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EPACC Components

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EPACC Components
 Graphics_for Pres.
CLD_FA_10\EPACC_watc
hing_wild.pdf
 Graphics_for Pres.
CLD_FA_10\Pass the
Ball.pdf
 Graphics_for Pres.
CLD_FA_10\EPACC_mons
ter_mix.pdf

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39
 EPACC Components

“Stretch”

“Stripe”

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 EPACC “in Action…”
http://www.attainmentcompany.com/product.php?produ
ctid=16677

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