Supplemental Case Studies and Resource Review
Welcome to the supplemental case studies and resource review. This training tool is designed to provide
individuals and teens with additional information and support related to the establishment and data
teams, data analysis and interpretation and instructional matching for students. A district model and
supplemental case studies featuring the interpretation of common reading and math measures and
accompanying instructional recommendations for consideration within core and supplemental and
cured supports is provided. The purpose of this tool is to assist educators with the implementation of
structures and processes that facilitate teaming, dialogue and professional learning related to matching
instruction and intervention to student needs. The case studies that follow emphasize the analysis and
interpretation of English as a second language data and math data. The students featured in these case
studies are not associated with the school district featured in this product. These student and dataset
examples were included to provide interdisciplinary data teams with additional professional
development opportunities related to data analysis and instructional matching. Additional resources are
recommended for consideration and have been provided. Matilda is currently a fourth grade student
originally from the Ukraine. She enrolled in the spring of third grade and was administered the WIDA
Access Placement Test or WAPT. The WIDA Access Placement test or WAPT is a required screening
instrument designed to determine eligibility for and placement within English as a second language
program. Please take a moment to review the levels of English language proficiency and their related
descriptors. For a complete overview of descriptors and technical properties of the WAPT, please refer
to the WIDA website on the resource list. Matilda was administered the English Language Proficiency
Placement Test. Her performance indicated that her skills in English were equivalent to a beginning
English language learner. Therefore she was eligible to receive English as a second language
programming and instruction. Access for English language learners or ELLs is administered annually to
students who receive English as a second language programming in order to access student progress in
achieving English language proficiency within and across the domains of listening, speaking, reading and
writing. For abbreviated descriptors of these levels please refer to the previous slide. Based upon
Matilda's performance in the spring of fourth grade and as measured by the annual required access for
English language learners, we get a sense of her mastery of the English language in light of her response
to instruction. Matilda's overall performance in the area of oral language which is the combination of
the listening and speaking subtests, appears to be relatively well-developed or what we call expanding.
Conversely, her performance on the reading and writing subtests or literary composite indicates that her
reading skills are beginning. Beginning means that Matilda has acquired general language related to
content areas and phrases or short sentences. In order to further develop her basic reading skills in
English, Matilda may benefit from instruction in foundational reading skills. It should be noted that
Matilda's writing skills are slightly better developed in comparison to her overall reading skills. This
pattern may be somewhat difficult to understand but it is not atypical for most English language learners
who often develop oral or written expression skills before reading comprehension skills. Matilda's
listening skills are well-developed. Her performance on the literacy and composition composites suggest
that her instructional emphasis should continue to include grade level content and concepts in order to
enhance listening comprehension skills. She should also be provided with direct instruction in basic
reading skills using grade level texts and materials. This instructional focus may be incorporated as part
of her English as a second language programming as she transitions to fifth trade. Let's take a look at her
performance on other measures if it aligns with this measure. Matilda's performance on screening
measures associated with the beginning reading skill development suggests that her phonemic
awareness skills aren't adequately developed. This is consistent with her performance on the oral
language composite of the access for English language learner's measure. In addition, her performance
relative to alphabet principled skill development as measured by DIBELS Nonsense Word Fluency, NWF,
is consistent with her performance on the literacy composite of the access for English language learners.
Matilda has mastered some decodable and-or sight words as measured by her performance on an oral
reading fluency subtest using a first grade passage. On the Burns and Roe individual reading inventory
listening comprehension subtest, Matilda's teacher reported that she was able to understand and
response to oral questions at grade level. However, on the reading portions of the Developmental
Reading Assessment (DRA), she was unable to read passages and therefore evidenced difficulty at
answering questions. Matilda's listening comprehension skills are adequately developed in comparison
to other fourth grade students and she is able to demonstrate her understanding of concepts when
provided with accommodations such as orally read test items by a teacher. Given her performance on
the Access for English Language Learners Measure and subtests that measure the acquisition of basic
reading skills, we would anticipate that Matilda's performance on the foresight measure would fall
below grade level at this time. Matilda's performance on the aforementioned measures suggests that
she has well developed grade level listening comprehension skills and is benefitting from exposure to
core reading and content area instruction. Her English as a second language programming should
include a proportional emphasis on direct instruction in beginning reading and reading comprehension
skills in order to help Matilda access grade level concepts. Until she is able to access grade level
passages with relative speed and accuracy, she may benefit from accommodations such as adapted
materials and emphasis on visuals and graphic organizers, the use of paraphrasing, strategic use of her
native language and structured note taking guides. As indicated by the fourth bullet the instructional
team should consider the administration of additional diagnostic reading and progress monitoring
measures and use of supplemental research-based interventions. In terms of culturally responsive
instruction, the instructional curricular and assessment planning team may review and adopt culturally
responsive instruction and curricula. The purpose is to help all children make connections by seeing
themselves and their life experiences reflected within reading passages, writing prompts and learning
activities. Omar is a first grade English language learner who enrolled in this school in the fall of
kindergarten. Omar's performance on the English Language Proficiency Placement Test indicated that
his skills in English were equivalent to an entering English language learner and non-English speaker.
Students with characteristics of entering learners know and use minimal social and academic language
with visual supports. Therefore, Omar was considered eligible to receive English as a second language
programming and instruction. Based upon Omar's performance as a spring first grader as measured by
the Access for English language learners, his overall performance in the area of oral language, listening
and speaking subtests as measured by the oral language composite is limited at this time. His oral
language skills are consistent with what we call entering. It should be noted that within the area of oral
language Omar's listening skills are better developed in comparison to his expressive language or
productive skills. Therefore, he is able to understand more than he can express to his teacher and-or
peers. As indicated, Omar's performance across all access for English language learners subtests was
relatively consistent across all domains. As a first grade student who has received instruction for two
years, a typical rate of growth on this measure across subtests is 0.6. Therefore, Omar's development of
proficiency in the English language is a concern. Let's take a look at other sources of data that were
collected to see if they are consistent with his performance on this measure. Omar's performance on
literacy screening measures suggests that phonemic awareness skills are insufficiently developed at this
time. This is consistent with his performance on the oral language composite and related subtests from
the access for English language learner's measure. In addition, his performance on DIBELS NWF is
considered at risk and consistent with his status as a beginning reader. Omar has not mastered many
sight words as measured by his inability to identify any words within a first grade reading passage. On
the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), Omar's teacher reported that he was unable to respond
to questions but was able to provide nonverbal responses to yes, no questions through nodding and-or
pointing. Let's look at result from the administration of the Comprehensive Test of Phonological
Processing CTOPP on the next slide. In light of Omar's weaknesses after two years of instruction, the
Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing, CTOPP, was administered in order to determine more
specific weaknesses relative to three types of phonological processing-- phonological awareness-awareness of and access to the sound structure of the English language. Phonological memory-- the
ability to code information phonologically for temporary storage in working or short term memory, and
rapid naming-- the ability to efficiently retrieve the names of objects, colors, digits and letters from longterm memory. It should be noted that this information was deemed important even though CTOPP
norms were based upon the performance of native English speakers. As indicated, Omar demonstrated
significantly below average performance across the three domains of phonological processing. His
performance suggests that he is at risk for developing long-term reading problems and would benefit
from the provision of structured, systematic instruction in both spoken and written language. Because
Omar speaks Spanish, subtests associated with the development of phonological awareness were
administered to determine whether similar skill deficiencies also exist within his native language.
According to his performance on these measures Omar is also evidencing deficiencies in beginning
reading skills in his native language. Because he did not receive beginning reading instruction in Spanish
prior to coming to this school, measures associated with beginning phonic skills in his native language
were not administered. Omar presents as a student who is at risk for long-term reading failure and
language acquisition difficulties. He will require daily intensive supplemental research-based or reading
instruction and intervention. Upon collection and review of additional assessment information, fidelity
checks and interview information from his parents, his response to his instructional program should be
re-evaluated. It is recommended that progress monitoring tools associated with oral language,
phonemic awareness, beginning phonics skills, vocabulary and letter identification be adopted. The
interdisciplinary team should review their current inventory of robust research-based interventions and
determine if there is a sufficient match to Omar's needs. The team will also develop a regular schedule
between Omar's general education, English as a second language and intervention personnel to
generate a plan for continuity and instructional emphasis of effective instructional techniques and to
review research-based protocols that may be added to his program. Please note that the formation of
an interdisciplinary team with complimentary expertise in literacy and language, culture, English as a
second language instruction, and data analysis and instructional matching is imperative. It is
recommended that the planning team review and adopt culturally responsive instruction and
curriculum. These practices help all children make connections by seeing themselves and their life
experiences reflected within reading passages, writing prompts and learning activities. The instructional
plan for Omar should continually revisit this effort and process. We will now review two case studies
featuring the analysis of math data. We will start with Marty who is a first grader. Marty was screened in
the fall. While he scored low in some areas, several students scored in the at risk range. Because this
was the case and because these students were making the transition from a half day kindergarten
program to first grade, the team decided to incorporate as much whole group intervention as possible
within core instruction; and then re-evaluate student performance in the winter. Marty's winter scores
showed minimal growth in the areas of quantity discrimination and missing number. He has fallen well
below benchmark status. Marty's rate of improvement for quantity discrimination is .29. The average
rate of improvement for this timeframe is .64 responses correct per minute. Marty's rate of
improvement for missing number is .14. The average for this timeframe is .43 responses correct per
minute. Number identification is not a concern. His rate of improvement is 1.28 and the average rate of
improvement for this timeframe is 1.07. Marty's classroom data shows similar trends. His teacher has
noted that assignments, homework, quizzes and tests related to addition and subtraction are very
deficient. This includes the completion of input, output boxes, number line activities and the use of
manipulatives to show mathematical relationships between numbers. Because the areas of quantity
discrimination and missing number are so low and show such little progress, the other students in the
class have caught up and are at benchmark or very close in all areas. The team decided to administer the
GMADE, a Group administered Diagnostic Math test. This is Marty's profile from the group diagnostic
analysis by type report. This comes from the concepts and communication portion of the GMADE. We
can see that Marty is very deficient in the areas of sequence, quantity and numeration. All of these areas
rely upon number sense and conceptual and procedural knowledge of the Base 10 number system.
Marty scored 100% on geometry, measurement and time. However, these areas only had one
representative question. We will need to keep an eye on his skills in these areas. It is likely that any
appropriate intervention for this student will help in these areas as well. Marty scored zero percent in
the area of money. However, there was only one question on this topic. Thus, Marty's progress in this
area should continue to be monitored through his response to core math instruction. It is important to
note that the performance of this entire class falls below the national average in all areas except
numeration. In most areas Marty's performance falls below that of his peers. The next slide shows
Marty's error analysis report and the types of errors that he made on the computation-related
questions. As these are first grade items there are no questions related to decimals and re-naming. This
first grade report was pulled from the district report so the fields remain the same throughout each
grade level report. This data indicates that Marty made considerable more number of errors than his
peers. The predominant error types were in the areas of facts and operation. This is consistent with
findings in other areas including the concepts and communications portion of the GMADE, Marty's
classroom performance and his AIMS web results. As Marty is a first grader and the number of concepts
and competencies expected of first grader is somewhat limited, the team can confidently identify the
root cause of Marty's difficulties. Marty demonstrated deficiencies in the areas of quantity,
discrimination and missing number on the AIMS web screening assessments. In addition, he evidenced
deficiencies in the areas of sequence, quantity and numeration on the concepts and communication
subtest of the GMADE. He also made a high number of errors on the computation subtest of the GMADE
especially in the areas of fact and operation. Classroom formative and summative data are consistent
with these findings. It appears that Marty's primary area of deficiency includes the conceptual
understanding of number sense. These interventions may benefit Marty because they include a focus on
number sense, quantity, sequence and numeration. Peer Assisted learning Strategies, PLAS, is a research
validated program that is composed of three lessons per week. This intervention program focuses on
number concepts comparing numbers, addition and subtraction concepts, place value, single digit
addition and subtraction, double digit addition and subtraction and missing add-ins. These are all
concepts and skills identified by assessment data that will assist Marty to develop basic number sense.
Marty will participate in a Peer Assisted Learning Strategy, PLAS, three times per week for forty minutes.
On the other two days he will receive the strategic interventions noted on the slide. Now we will discuss
Kayla's performance in math. She is in fourth grade. Kayla's performance on the third grade PSSA in
math fell within the basic range. Her likelihood of being proficient or above on the fourth grade PSSA in
math is 30%. On the PSSA Kayla demonstrated difficulties with basic multiplication facts identifying the
correct operation to solve word problems representing multiplication as repeated addition, and
matching a symbolic representation of numbers to appropriate whole numbers. We will now review the
fall administration of foresight for fourth grade. Kayla's Foresight scores as well as classroom data
collected so far this school year are consistent with her third grade PSSA score. Her major areas of need
include the concepts of Base 10 and multiplication with the likelihood that her conceptual
understanding of addition is not well-developed. Kayla answered four questions correctly in the
category of numbers and operations. Several of these questions were related to multiplication.
Additionally, she was unable to respond correctly to four of the open-ended problems that required
multiplication skills. Kayla also demonstrated poor performance across other reporting categories. It
should be noted that this is the beginning of the school year and many concepts and competencies have
not yet been taught to students. Kayla's achievement in the areas of measurement, geometry, algebraic
concepts and data analysis and probability were consistent with the achievement of her peers. Based on
the data, the best area of emphasis for intervention is Base 10 and the concepts of addition and
multiplication with an additional work on building her fluency with multiplication facts. This is because
she will be expected to know her multiplication facts this year and to apply strategies to multiply large
numbers. Multiplication fluency is helpful in other areas such as measurement, geometry, algebraic
concepts, data analysis and solving word problems. For success Kayla must conceptually understand the
Base 10 system and multiplication and must become fluent with basic multiplication facts. Last year's
classroom data shows that Kayla was fluent with basic addition and subtraction facts. However, some of
the lessons and activities from this current school year indicate that Kayla may have memorized those
facts without a basis of conceptual understanding. Additionally, the fourth grade teacher noted and
confirmed by the third grade teacher that she also has difficulty in communicating when attempting to
explain her reasoning and thought process. It was recommended that Kayla receive supplemental
instruction using the Knowing Mathematics Program. This program is delivered through small group
instruction, four to eight students, on a daily basis and requires a forty minute time block. The use of
Knowing Mathematics is intended to help Kayla close conceptual gaps that she acquired in core math
instruction. The program consists of three modules-- addition and subtraction, multiplication and
division and place value. While Kayla has a primary need in the area of understanding concepts related
to addition and multiplication, she will benefit from instruction in subtraction and division as these
concepts are inter-related via inverse operations. She will also have the opportunity to further develop
mathematical reasoning and communication skills. Kayla's response to supplemental math information
may be monitored using the tools that are available through this program. Information on obtaining
recommended resources such as data analysis and instructional matching, data analysis teaming
processes and data analysis protocols can be found on the following slides.