Study 1: How Do We Know the Relative Value of Tier One and Tier Two Interventions in Kindergarten?
Study 1 was designed to address several questions related to the efficacy of two levels of support for kindergarten teachers and their students at-risk for reading problems. Tier Three was not investigated in kindergarten. The first level of support (Tier One) provided professional development to all kindergarten teachers from six elementary schools (n=23 kindergarten teachers). The Tier Two level of support (47-55 small group intervention sessions; 25-30 minutes per session) was provided to a randomly assigned subgroup of students from these same teachers' classes. A third group of comparable kindergarten students had been obtained from these same teachers' classrooms the previous year (prior to Tier One or Tier Two support) to serve as a historical control group. We addressed the following research questions:
- What are the effects for kindergarten students at-risk for reading problems when their teachers participate in professional development designed to enhance instruction and progress monitoring in reading (Tier One) when compared with outcomes for at-risk students the previous year when teachers were not provided professional development (Historical Control)?
- What are the effects for kindergarten students at-risk for reading problems when their teachers participate in Tier One intervention and their at-risk students are provided approximately 50 sessions (25-30 minutes each) of supplemental instruction (Tier Two) when compared with outcomes for at-risk students the previous year when Tier One and Tier Two intervention were not provided (Historical Control)?
- How do at-risk kindergarten students whose teachers received professional development (Tier One) compare with at-risk kindergarteners whose teachers received professional development and the students received supplemental intervention (Tier One plus Tier Two)?
Teacher Participants. The study was conducted in six Title I elementary schools in one near-urban district in the Southwest. Approximately 23 kindergarten teachers participated over a 2-year period (year 1 data collection only for historical control group students; year 2 Tier One intervention for all teachers and Tier Two intervention for a random selection of at-risk kindergarten students).
Student Participants. Year 1 included all kindergarten students (N=436). This group served as the historical control group from which at risk students were drawn using same criteria as for subsequent years.
Year 2 included all kindergarten students (N-450). This group's teachers participated in Tier One and at-risk students were randomly assigned to either: Tier One and Tier Two provided by research team or Tier One only.
Measures. All students received DIBELS Letter Naming Fluency and DIBELS Phoneme Segmentation Fluency in January and May of Kindergarten and then in September of 1st grade. DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency was administered in May of kindergarten and then September of 1st grade. Woodcock Reading Mastery Test Word Identification and Word Attack were administered in January and May of Kindergarten and September of 1st grade.
Findings. Cohort I consists of those students in the historical control condition. Teachers did not participate in Tier One and no Tier Two was provided by the research team though supplemental instruction and tutoring were provided to low performing students by the school. Cohort II consists of those students whose teachers participated in Tier One and whose at risk students were provided intervention (Tier Two) by the research team. Cohort III consists of those students whose teachers participated in Tier One and whose at risk students were not provided intervention by the research team. All students for all three cohorts were identified as at risk using the same criteria.
Although only preliminary findings are available at the time I am submitting this paper, more complete findings will be available for the presentation in December, 2003. In summary, at risk students from Cohort I faired the worst and those from Cohort II faired the best though students from Cohort II also made significantly more progress than those in Cohort I. Preliminary findings suggest that Tier One intervention alone positively influences outcomes for at risk kindergarteners. Tier One and Tier Two at risk students, overall, made the largest gains.
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