Please Note:
• This version of the presentation slides is
updated as of 8/10/07.
• Participants in the actual breakout session at
the Midwest Summit will receive hard copies
that may contain additional updates added
after 8/10/07. If you would like the most
updated version, contact your team member
who attended this breakout session or email
the presenters.
Best Practices for Selecting
and Implementing Evidence
Based Instruction
Brad Niebling, Deb Lyons, & Ed
O’Connor
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
• Political and social pressures
– “A Nation at Risk” (1983)
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/index.html
– TIMSS (late 90s and beyond)
http://nces.ed.gov/timss/
– NAEP (80s-90s)
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/nde/statecomp/
• Political and social pressures intersect with
existing Federal policies
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
Original Name of
Federal Policy
Elementary and
Secondary Education
Act of 1965
Current Name of
Federal Policy
“No Child Left Behind”
of 2001 (“NCLB”)
Education for All
Handicapped Children
Act of 1975
Individuals with
Disabilities Education
Act of 2004 (“IDEA”)
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
• Some points worth noting about NCLB
and IDEA
– Both are FUNDING policies (e.g., Title I)
– Both are intended to help provide EXTRA
ASSISTANCE to students AT RISK for
ACADEMIC and/or SOCIAL FAILURE
– Both existed BEFORE the previously
mentioned political and social pressures
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
• NCLB
– Known as a “standards-based reform” policy
• Set high learning and performance standards
• Requires alignment between curriculum, instruction, and
assessment (opportunity to learn)
– Increased focus on evidence/research-based
practices (e.g., Reading First), including
responding to National Reading Panel findings
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
• IDEA
– Increased alignment with ESEA/NCLB
– Codified the use of “response to
intervention” (RTI)
– That “response” is to research-based
interventions
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
• Combined, both policies have shifted
focus
– From access to outcomes
– From “education” to “evidence-based
practices”
• Shift is due in large part to previous and
current political and social pressures
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
• The fallout of this “perfect storm”
– The “bad”
• Old responses to new situations and demands become
exaggerated
• Time spent on exaggerated responses is time not spent
on improving our systems and our own professional
skillsets
– The “good”
• Research and dissemination increases our knowledgebase as a profession almost daily
• Increased opportunity and need to work collaboratively
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
• The convergence of political/social pressures
and Federal policies helps us understand how
we got “here”
• “Here” is an educational climate that
increasingly demands the use of the scientific
method for making decisions
• We can all not only implement researchbased tools and strategies, but engage in the
scientific method as we do our job
Why Be Concerned about
“Evidence-Based” Strategies?
• The scientific method is…
– Examining needs (data collection, hypothesis
testing)
– Developing plans to address identified needs
– Implementing and monitoring plans
– Evaluating impact of implemented plans
• To the extent possible, we should use
evidence/research-based tools, practices,
and strategies within each phase of the
scientific method
What does it mean to be
“evidence-based” and how will I
know it when I see it or do it?
Identifying “Research Based”
Practice in Education
Basic Concepts and Definitions
Why is Scientific Evidence
Important?
• Education has a history of being
susceptible to the “authority syndrome”
– Instructional practice influence by fads and
gimmicks rather than outcomes
• Teachers need and deserve the best
tools available.
• Time and Resources are Limited
Are We “Doing” Too Much?
• “Schools don’t pilot anything. The just
send ideas and innovations off and
wave at them from the pier never to be
seen again”
Grant Wiggins
Teaching as Craft
• Craft knowledge is superior to
alternative forms of knowledge such as
superstition or folklore
• Craft knowledge is compatible with
scientific knowledge
• Architecture analogy
Challenges
• Education has a history of using a political or
consensus model of decision making
• There is too much information
• Not all research is created equal
• Personal beliefs and worldviews are at stake
• Teachers and educators in general have not
been given the tools and skills needed to
evaluate research evidence
Sifting Through Research
• Individual Studies
• Meta-Analyses
– National Reading Panel
– National Research Counsel
• Elemental Reviews
• Objective Program Evaluations
Criteria for “Strong Evidence”
• Quality of studies
– Randomized controlled Trials
– Well Designed
– Well Implemented
• Quantity of evidence
– Two or more typical school settings
– Settings similar to your school/classroom
Criteria for “Possible
Evidence”
• Randomized trials that do not have
adequate quality or quantity
– Small samples
– Narrow demographic
• Comparison group studies matched on
important variables
Not “Possible Evidence”
• Pre-Post Studies
– No comparison or control group
• Qualitative studies
• Meta-analyses that do not control for
quality of studies included.
• Anecdotal reports
• Authority opinion
Other Important Factors to
Consider
• Publication in “refereed journals”
– Peer review
– American Education Research Journal (AERA)
– Journal of Educational Psychology
– NOT: Phi Delta Kappan or Ed. Leadership
– NOT: Conference presentations
• Replication
• Effectiveness vs. Efficacy vs. Generalizability
Where to Find Evidence
Based Instructional Practice
• What Works Clearinghouse
– www.w-w-c.org/
• Oregon Reading First
– http://oregonreadingfirst.oregon.edu
• Vaughn Gross Center for Reading and
Language Arts
– http://www.texasreading.org/utcrla/
• National Reading Panel
– www.nationalreadingpanel.org
• Florida Center for Reading Research
– http://www.fcrr.org/
Tools for Evaluation of
Instructional Programs:
Reading
• Planning and Evaluation Tool for
Effective Schoolwide Reading Programs
• Consumer’s Guide to Evaluating Core
Reading Program
How Do I Select and Deliver
Effective Reading Instruction?
System Level Considerations
• Tiered model as an organizing
framework
• Teachers deserve the best tools
– Can’t be both composer and conductor
• Leadership support and enthusiasm
• Adequate (reliable/valid) data sources
Guiding Questions
Where do we start?
• How well are we meeting the needs of
all students?
• How do we know?
• What does the data suggest about our
universal curriculum?
• What intensity of instruction/intervention
is needed? (Universal/Supplemental/
Intensive)
What do we know about
effective instruction?
• What does the research indicate?
• How do we educate our colleagues?
• How to deal with resistance?
How to Bridge the Old with the
New?
• Provide usable evidence based
resources
• Changing practice in “acceptable” ways/
feasibility
• Support effective teacher models
• Provide external models
• Documenting and highlighting
improvements
How am I doing?
• Student performance data
– Formative
– Summative
• Fidelity/Integrity
– Best Practice Rubrics
– Self-Reflection
How to Refine and
Institutionalize the Practice
• Emphasize common goal: Improve student
learning
• Expect resistance
• Go slow to go fast
• Answer questions with credible evidence
• Involve all stakeholders
• Be systematic – Use research
– Oregon Critical Elements Tools
– FCRR resources
– State of Washington
Individual Teacher Practices
Examples and Models for the
Classroom
Big Idea: Phonemic
Awareness (PA)
• The ability to hear and manipulate sounds in
spoken words and the understanding that
spoken words and syllables are made up of
sequences of speech sounds (Yopp, 1992).
“cat” is composed of three sounds /k/ /a/ /t/
• Essential to learning to read in an alphabetic
writing system, because letters represent
sounds or phonemes. Without phonemic
awareness, phonics makes little sense.
What Skills Does PA Include?
Phonological Awareness Development Continuum
- Word comparison
– Rhyming
• Sentence segmentation
– Syllable segmentation & blending
• Onset-rime blending and segmentation
 Blending & segmenting individual
phonemes
 Phoneme deletion & manipulation
(Modified from O'Connor, Notari-Syverson, & Vadasy, 1998)
 High Priority Skills
PA Instructional Guidelines:
• Teach hierarchy of skills using the
Gradual Release Model
• 15 – 20 minutes of instruction a day for all
(Universal)
• Begin to teach children to manipulate sounds in
connection to print
– Identify sounds associated with letters/words
in reading
– Writing letters associated with sounds (early
learning for spelling)
Big Idea: Alphabetic
Principle (AP)
Based on two parts:
1. Alphabetic Understanding:
Letters represent sounds in words.
2. Phonological Recoding:
Knowledge of letter-sound associations
can be used to read/decode words and
letter sounds can be blended/recode
together to make words.
What Skills Does AP Include?
Progression of Regular Word Reading
Sounding Out
(saying the
sound of each letter)
Whole Word Reading
(vocalizing each sound
and blending it to a whole word)
Sight Word Reading
(sounding the word out in
your head and then reading the whole word)
Automatic Word Reading
(reading the word without sounding it out)
AP Instructional Guidelines:
• Teach AP skills using the Gradual Release
Model
• 15 – 20 minutes of instruction a day for all
(Universal)
• Sequence is important
• Teacher monitors, assesses performance and
provides sufficient practice
Big Idea: Fluency
Accuracy & Fluency with Connected
Text:
• Automaticity with fundamental skills so
that reading occurs quickly and
effortlessly (e.g., driving a car, playing a musical
instrument, playing a sport).
Fluent reading is not speed reading.
What the Research Says About
Fluency?
Fluent readers
Focus their attention
on understanding the
text
Nonfluent readers:
Focus attention on
decoding
Synchronize skills of
decoding, vocabulary,
and comprehension
Alter attention to
accessing the meaning
of individual words
Read with speed and
accuracy
Make frequent word
reading errors
Interpret text and make
connections between
the ideas in the text
Have few cognitive
resources left to
comprehend
Fluency Instructional Guidelines:
• Repeated Practice
• First through third graders should spend
approximately 20 minutes each day on
fluency related activities
• At least once per month teachers should time
students on an unpracticed passage
• Meta-cognition - students graph their WPM
and monitor progress
Big Idea: Vocabulary
Using and understanding words:
• Ability to say a specific word for a
particular meaning
• Ability to understand spoken/written
words
Vocabulary Instruction
• Good readers have developed adequate
background knowledge and vocabulary to
ensure connections between what is
known to the unknown.
Direct Vocabulary Instruction
Guidelines
• Define what the word is and what it is
not
• Continual use and review
• Choose high priority words
• Pre-teaching
• On-going promotion of word awareness
and clarification of word usage
Big Idea: Comprehension
Students who have effective comprehension
skills:
• Relate new information to existing
knowledge
• Have well developed vocabularies
• Can summarize, predict, and clarify
• Use questioning strategies to monitor
their comprehension
Reading Comprehension
Strategies
• • • • • • • • Prior Knowledge
Making Connections
Questioning
Visualizing
Inferring
Summarizing
Evaluating
Synthesizing
Comprehension Instructional
Guidelines:
• Text comprehension can be improved
by explicit instruction that helps readers
use specific strategies.
• Instruction in using strategies flexibly
and in combination is important.
(Lyon, NICHHD, 2000)
Comprehension Instructional
Guidelines
• Instruction in using graphic organizers
• Sequencing from less to more complex text
structures (paragraphs to stories)
• Sequencing from less to more complex
comprehension strategies (i.e. story elements to
story theme, or main idea to summary)
Essential Components for
Effective Reading Instruction
• Explicit
• Systematic
• Practice and Feedback
• Mastery and Application
Explicit Instruction
Skills are directly taught through:
1. Modeling - Demonstrate the skill exactly with
concise language.
2. Supported practice - “Say it with me” or “Let’s
do it together.” Repeat until firm or model
again if necessary.
3. Test - Ask student to demonstrate the skill
independently. “Your turn” Provide corrective
feedback.
ALWAYS IN THIS ORDER- teach before testing
Systematic Instruction
• All essential skills are taught and follows a
logical sequence from beginning skills to
more difficult skills.
• Planned and not incidental.
• Follows a particular order that enhances
learning.
• Includes all essential elements with
nothing left to chance to prevent gaps in
knowledge.
Repeated Practice
• Choral responding - Whole class
response
• Small group instruction - Increase
number of opportunities to respond
• Call on individuals
• Review previously learned information
for a few minutes daily
Corrective Feedback
• Immediate.
• Model skill again, if needed.
• Concise and direct (Give the correct
answer and repeat task).
• Available any time a child is learning a
new skill before it is mastered.
Presenter Contacts
• Ed O’Connor:
edward_o’[email protected]
• Deb Lyons:
[email protected]
• Brad Niebling:
[email protected]