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The purpose of this article is to describe a multicomponent intervention developed and implemented by a consortium of districts in the Pacific Northwest through a researcher-practitioner partnership and the process used for collaboration. The intervention was designed to increase reading proficiency and school engagement for struggling readers in middle school in order to prevent eventual school dropout; however, a rigorous evaluation of intervention impact revealed null effects. The authors provide context for the dropout crisis, describe the partnership that led to the development of the multicomponent intervention framework, and instantiate similarities and differences in districts' implementation of the multicomponent intervention. Project data indicate schools and districts planned to customize interventions to support student success, and schools' selection of specific interventions and practices varied. Results of the collaboration highlight district and school demand for formative data that can be used to improve interventions, including implementation data. The described districts' selected intervention practices and the researcher-practitioner framework provide important information for others seeking to embark on these partnerships and for administrators leading systemic implementation efforts.

Multitiered systems of reading instruction and intervention, including response to intervention, are widely used in early reading by schools to provide more intense services to students who need them. Research using randomized controlled trials has compared innovative Tier 2 interventions to business-as-usual Tier 2 approaches and established a number of important components that compose effective Tier 2 interventions in early reading. The purpose of this study was to test the impact of a Tier 2 intervention with Tier 2 compared to Tier 1 instruction alone using regression discontinuity. A cut score was used to assign first-grade students at risk for reading difficulties to Tier 2 intervention plus Tier 1 instruction. Students who missed the cut score in the control group received Tier 1 instruction only. Students in the treatment group, just below the cut score, made greater gains on the SAT10 total score and the individual subtests than students just above the cut score. Outcomes were not significant on oral reading fluency.

A theory-based approach was used to investigate the relations among Nonsense Word Fluency (NWF) initial skill status in the fall of first grade, NWF growth across the school year, and end-of-year oral reading fluency and reading comprehension (RC) skill. Hypotheses were anchored to Perfetti's verbal efficiency theory and the role of automaticity in beginning decoding skill development. The sample consisted of 3,506 first-grade students in 50 schools. Results indicated a moderating effect of initial skill performance status on the relation between NWF gains and end-of-year reading fluency and RC. Strong, positive relations were found between NWF gains and ORF and RC scores for students who began the year with low to moderate and relatively high decoding skills. For students at the highest end of the distribution (5% of the sample), NWF gains were not associated with ORF or RC scores. In addition, early gains on NWF more strongly predicted reading outcomes than later gains for students at the low end of the initial NWF distribution. Implications for theories of early reading development and for school psychologist practice are discussed. (Contains 7 tables and 1 figure.)

This article examines the efficacy of a multitiered systemic reading intervention for increasing the intensity and quality of explicit literacy instruction that teachers provide in first-grade classrooms. Schools (j = 16) were randomly assigned to the treatment or comparison condition. In both conditions, teachers (i = 42) provided 90 min of Tier I reading instruction to first-grade students (n = 883). In the treatment condition, Tier I classroom teachers were trained to enhance their core reading instruction by making instruction more explicit and intensive through standardized protocols and ongoing coaching support. At-risk treatment students (n = 240) also received an additional 30 min of Tier II supplemental reading intervention that was highly aligned with Tier I instruction. The focus of this study is on the Tier I portion of the multitiered intervention and the impact of the Tier I Enhancing Core Reading Instruction intervention on teacher practices. Results indicate positive effects of the Tier I intervention on the quality of explicit instruction and the frequency and accuracy of group practice opportunities provided to students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]