Search

Research has found that factors such as content, prompts, and individual motivational differences affect instructional effectiveness. While instructional effectiveness is acritical outcome variable, the limited availability of instructional time results in instructional efficiency being acritical consideration. This study evaluated whether varying instructional set sizes (i.e. the number of unknown items taught within a specified period of time) produced differential learning. Instruction was provided on arbitrary number-word relationships. Response to learning sets was studied using a within-participants experimental design. This study differs from prior research by examining set size for the commonly used constant time delay procedure. The results suggested that, for the majority of students, learning five novel items at a time was less efficient than one of the larger sets of unknown items. Additionally, participants demonstrated individual differences in learning rates. The implications of these findings for instructional presentation and intervention efficiency are discussed.

Research evaluating the variables that influence learning has devoted inadequate attention to the influence of the amount of new material presented at one time. The current study evaluated the impact of varying instructional set size (ISS) on the rate at which elementary school students mastered multiplication facts while receiving constant time delay (CTD) instruction. Instructional time was equated across conditions. Instruction was provided for an ISS of five and 20 using CTD instruction for multiplication facts. ISS 20 was more efficient for two out of the three participants. This suggests a much larger efficient ISS than previous research. The implications of this finding for the importance of the instructional method in attempting to identify an efficient ISS, as well as the study's connection to prior research, in this area are discussed.

Systemic efforts to strengthen teacher preparation in Louisiana led to the first statewide value-added assessment (VAA) of teacher preparation programs (TPPs). Subsequently, a number of states have adopted VAA of TPPs. The authors describe challenges that were confronted around the deployment of Louisiana's VAA of TPPs. The discussion is organized around the challenges emerging from calculation, communication, and change. The discussion provides information that policy makers and teacher education leaders, rather than analysts, might find useful, and focuses on the types of challenges that a state or university system can expect to encounter in developing a VAA. We describe decisions made in response to specific challenges that appear to have been successful and some that in retrospect appear to have been mistakes. In addition, consideration is given to some unintended consequences of policy choices as well as the continuously changing policy landscape for the assessment of teacher preparation.

This study examined the provision of supplemental instruction using constant time delay for struggling readers who had fallen behind in developing word-blending skills. Additionally, the study examined the utility of adding a material reward contingency to the instructional program with a contingency derived from percentile-shaping procedures. Procedures were compared in a withdrawal design applied across blocks of letters with word blending as the target response. Participants exhibited substantial learning gains when provided constant time delay instruction in phonics skills as compared to baseline demonstrating clear experimental control. Results for the constant time delay plus reward contingency conditions were clearly differentiated from baseline but undifferentiated from the other instructional conditions. The implications of the findings for intervention for struggling readers and future research relevant to more comprehensive reading interventions are discussed.

This study compared the effectiveness of a multiple-stimulus-without-replacement (MSWO) preference assessment and teacher preference ranking in identifying reinforcers for use in a general education setting with typically developing elementary-school children. The mean number of digits correctly answered was greater in the MSWO-selected reward and the teacher-selected reward conditions relative to the no-reward condition for 2 of the 4 participants, but there were no differences between the MSWO-selected and teacher-selected reward conditions for any participant. (Contains 1 figure.)

A number of issues must be addressed in order to intervene with academic problems within classrooms . These issues include screening, problem specification, problem function, solving the problem, and subsequent problem evaluation. Although the addition of a consultant will allow services to be delivered to greater numbers of children than could be affected through direct service by the consultant, indirect service delivery creates issues that will have to be addressed in order for services to be effective. These issues are discussed in terms of assessment as well as the determination of curriculum levels within classrooms in consultation with the classroom teacher.

This study examined the percentage of steps implemented from treatment plans following consultation with teachers. Interventions were implemented for 39 elementary school students referred for consultation and treatment for challenging behavior or academic deficits. An integrated support model that included antecedent social influence and planning combined with follow-up performance feedback was compared to weekly structured follow-up interviews. Participating teacher-student dyads were randomly assigned to conditions. Integrated support produced superior treatment implementation and child outcomes compared to weekly follow-up meetings. In contrast, teachers' ratings of consultants' effectiveness, treatment acceptability, and treatment implementation were undifferentiated across conditions. Treatment plan implementation and child behavioral outcomes were statistically significantly correlated. Treatment acceptability and implementation were not correlated at a statistically significant level. The implications of these findings for consultation and treatment research and practice are discussed.

As states move to teacher evaluation that is intended to capture teacher contributions to students' learning outcomes, some states have adopted "value-added measures" to examine teachers' and teacher preparation programs' effectiveness. In Louisiana, the value-added assessment of teacher preparation programs includes students with disabilities and has provided part of the impetus for the increasing national interest in assessing teacher preparation through value-added indicators and developing action plans in response to value-added results. These results can signal concerns across content areas, program delivery, and student characteristics, but are not prescriptive regarding follow-up actions. This article provides (a) an introduction to value-added assessment, (b) how Louisiana has used value-added metrics for the assessment of teacher preparation programs, (c) the use of special education status within the models, and (d) limitations and benefits of value-added assessment results for evaluating teacher preparation programs. Finally, the particular challenges associated with value-added assessment of special educator preparation are discussed.

Twenty-nine peer-reviewed journal articles that analyzed intervention implementation in schools using single-case experimental designs were meta-analyzed. These studies reported 171 separate data paths and provided 3,991 data points. The meta-analysis was accomplished by fitting data extracted from graphs in mixed linear growth models. This analytic approach was adopted to provide a model whose assumptions were met and could model both level and trend. The extent to which interventions were implemented as planned in baseline was low with a downward trend. Performance feedback, performance feedback augmented with additional procedures, and self-monitoring with environmental supports were found to be highly effective for improving intervention implementation. Follow-up meetings without review of implementation data were ineffective. Maintenance data were positive across studies. Implications of the results for future research and practice are discussed.

The articles presented in this special issue both advance what is currently known about treatment implementation in research and practice and illuminate what remains unknown. This article provides a commentary selectively linking current findings to prior research to make arguments regarding those facts that are well established and the gaps in the current knowledge base. The discussion is organized around the themes of implementation in research versus practice, defining and measuring implementation, supporting implementation, and implementation as a moderator of treatment outcome. The commentary concludes by considering major research needs and treatment implementation as fundamental elements of education, psychology, and behavior analysis as applied sciences.

Achievement outcomes for students taught by recent program completers of Louisiana's teacher preparation programs (TPPs) are examined using hierarchical linear modeling of State student achievement data in English language arts, reading, mathematics, science, and social studies. The current year's achievement in each content area is predicted using previous achievement data, student characteristics, classroom characteristics (e.g., percentage of students with disabilities), school characteristics, and attendance of teachers and students. The contribution of a teacher having recently completed a specific TPP is modeled at the classroom level as an indicator variable for each TPP. Results for programs with 25 or more new teachers are reported. Results demonstrate substantial overlap in confidence intervals (CI) among programs. In some instances, 68% and/or 95% CI for programs in specific content areas did not overlap results for the average new teacher or experienced teachers (i.e., they were lower than average new teachers or higher than average experienced certified teachers). Results varied across content areas for some programs. (Contains 2 figures and 5 tables.)

This study examined the effects of e-mailed daily behavior report cards (DBRC) on students' disruptive classroom behaviors. Additionally, teacher acceptability of e-mailed DBRC as an intervention was assessed. Participants included 46 elementary students (37 males and 9 females), that were assigned to one of three conditions; delayed treatment control, e-mailed DBRC, and e-mailed DBRC with performance feedback. Student behaviors were measured by direct observations and teacher ratings. Results suggest that e-mailed DBRC can decrease students' disruptive behaviors, that e-mailed DBRC with performance feedback did not produce superior outcomes, and that e-mailed DBRC was perceived as acceptable. (Contains 1 table.)

Proponents of systemic changes in education commonly encounter ethical, theoretical, and pragmatic challenges in moving from possibility to implementation of their vision of change. Although ethical and theoretical issues are critically important to a successful change initiative, pragmatic issues relevant to assuring program implementation have generally been understudied in the literature examining school change. The disconnects between research regarding effective practices and program implementation in schools and planning for intervention implementation and actual implementation have been increasingly recognized over the last two decades. It is much easier to talk about behavior change than it is to accomplish it. This article discusses selected issues surrounding ethical, theoretical, and pragmatic issues of systemic change, with the primary emphasis on pragmatic issues. The importance of providing programming to support implementation of new practices in schools is highlighted.

Implementation integrity is a potentially critical issue for problem-solving teams (PST) and most response-to-intervention models. The current study hypothesized that providing performance feedback, which has consistently been shown to increase implementation integrity, to PSTs would enhance the procedural integrity of the process. The PSTs for three elementary schools were provided performance feedback with a 20-item checklist created from the literature. A multiple-baseline design across schools revealed an immediate change in level after providing performance feedback. The resulting percentages of non-overlapping data were 90.9%, 90.0%, and 100%. However, PSTs still did not monitor student progress, assess the effectiveness of the intervention, or measure the integrity with which the intervention was implemented even after receiving feedback. Thus, providing performance feedback could be a method to increase the fidelity with which critical components of data-based problem-solving are implemented, but these data suggest the need for additional research. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

The author appreciates the invitation to comment on the article by Reinke, Lewis-Palmer, and Merrell (2008) examining the Classroom Check-Up (CCU). Their work illustrates how far school psychology has come over the past decade in developing more sophisticated intervention practices. The opening section of this commentary will highlight the author's perceptions of the work's conceptual and empirical strengths. Reinke's and colleagues' contribution to the current issue also raises some interesting issues for the future of scholarship and practice in the areas of consultation and systemic intervention. The concluding sections of this commentary examine the issues that this study highlights for future work in this area.

This study examined the impact of a time efficient self-study method for providing practicing teachers with job-embedded professional development targeting specific classroom management skills. The training method employed print packets and videotapes that provided models of effective classroom management strategies for instruction-giving, praise, and time out. Participants were three master's level speech therapists certified to teach speech and language delayed preschool children. The training materials were evaluated through observations of the teachers' implementation of targeted practices in a multiple baseline across participants. Results indicated increases in all participants use of the management skills after training. The results suggest that this type of training method may help teachers increase their use of effective classroom management procedures. It is potentially noteworthy that the training program examined herein was largely teacher managed and was quite brief. Future directions and limitations of the study are discussed.

The bulk of the existing literature emphasizes the use of phonemic/phonetic based instruction to enhance generalization between reading and written language. However, phonetically irregular words are common in English and may require the use of whole word approaches. This study examined generalization between from reading to spelling and from spelling to reading following whole word based instruction using a delayed prompt procedure. The total instructional time was equated across conditions. Students exhibited substantial but incomplete generalization with the degree of generalization varying somewhat across responses and students. The most striking finding was that oral spelling instruction in which the printed word was neither presented nor produced resulted in substantial generalization to reading. These data illustrate a model for examining response generalization in instructional contexts.

Assessing response to intervention (RTI) is a complex process that requires selecting interventions, identifying a reasonable strength of intervention, implementing the intervention, assessing progress, and applying decision rules to the resulting data. Appropriate standards and practices are critically important for all of these activities. However, the implementation of interventions has received scant attention in the RTI literature to date despite emerging empirical evidence that assuring intervention implementation may be one of the most challenging aspects of implementing RTI. This article discusses the critical role of plan implementation within RTI. Documentation that interventions were implemented is both a substantive necessity for implementing an entitlement process in which services are integrated with assessment (RTI) and a due process protection for students. The current data regarding the assessment and improvement of intervention plan implementation is also briefly reviewed. (Contains 1 table.)

Five hundred thirty-eight elementary school students participated in a study designed to examine the technical characteristics of curriculum-based measures (CBMs) for the assessment of writing. In addition, the study investigated rating-based measures of writing using the Six Trait model, an assessment instrument and writing program in use in many schools throughout the United States (Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 2000). Technical characteristics of both models were evaluated. Results indicated that, using the Stanford-9 standard scores for written language subtests as the criterion, most scoring conventions of CBMs for written expression were reliable and valid. Despite adequate interobserver agreement on the Six Trait measures according to scoring conventions, exact agreement was low. The Six Trait measures do not measure distinct components of writing, nor do they share a significant amount of variance with Stanford-9 measures of written expression. CBMs of written expression have shown sufficient technical adequacy across several studies to warrant their use in writing assessment. These results do not support the use of the Six Trait model as a measure of written expression. Implications for research are presented. (Contains 5 tables.)

Broad-based empirical outcomes assessment is an increasingly evident part of governmental services and this trend is particularly apparent in education. The clearest manifestation of this trend in education has been the advent of high-stakes broad-based testing and accountability programs in K-12 education. Although this assessment regime has not yet been used to assess the efficacy of teacher preparation programs, the data management capacity and statistical technology is now emerging to make this possible. This article presents data from the 1st year of a pilot study examining the methodological and practical issues involved in implementing a value-added assessment of teacher preparation based on a massive multivariate longitudinal database. The pilot data are discussed in relation to the literature pertaining to value-added assessments in K-12 education. Selected research needs and practical concerns related to the use of value-added models for the assessment of teacher preparation are discussed.

This study investigated the efficacy of a method of parent training and parent reading tutoring that built on past research. Parents of five first-grade children who were reading below grade level participated. Parents were trained to implement a tutoring procedure that included modeling, practice, phonics, fluency building, accuracy building, comprehension, and reinforcement components. Assessment of audiotape recordings and permanent products indicated high levels of treatment integrity. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to assess the results. Four of the five children exhibited an increase in words read correctly per minute on tutored reading passages. Issues that arose in the implementation of this study are discussed, as well as research regarding how to tailor home tutoring procedures to parent-child dyads.

This study evaluated students' daily implementation of a reciprocal peer tutoring procedure for mathematics and methods for supporting student implementation. Additionally, this study evaluated the reliability of progress monitoring data collected by students. The peer tutoring procedure was designed such that completion of each treatment component produced a unique permanent product. Student integrity was defined as the percentage of treatment components completed. The effect of performance feedback for students with poor implementation was evaluated. Five of the 37 students who implemented the peer tutoring procedure were provided additional follow-up support due to poor implementation. The accuracy of students' implementation of the peer tutoring procedure improved markedly when they were provided performance feedback. With regard to the reliability of progress monitoring data collected by students, a very high level of agreement was obtained between adults who scored probes for digits correct per minute and tutor scoring of those probes. Implications for practice employing peermediated interventions and further research are discussed.

This study examined teachers' implementation of treatment plans following consultation. Interventions were implemented for 45 elementary school students referred for consultation and intervention due to academic concerns, challenging behavior, or a combination of the two. The consultation follow-up procedures examined were brief weekly interviews, weekly interviews combined with an emphasis on the commitment to implement the treatment, and performance feedback. Performance feedback was associated with superior treatment implementation and child behavioral outcomes when compared to the two other conditions. Treatment implementation did not differ for the weekly follow-up meeting and the commitment emphasis conditions at a statistically significant level. Teacher ratings of consultants and treatment acceptability were similar across conditions. A moderate statistically significant correlation between treatment integrity and child behavioral outcome was obtained. The correlation between treatment acceptability and implementation was quite small and was not statistically significant. The implications of these findings for consultation and intervention are discussed.

Curriculum-based measures have been validated for use in evaluating reading, mathematics, and writing skills (Marston, 1989). Despite its common use by school psychologists (Wilson & Reschly, 1996), the relationship between the Woodcock Johnson-Revised and curriculum-based measures of writing has not been evaluated. This study investigated the relationship between the Woodcock Johnson-Revised Writing Samples subtest and alternate curriculum-based measures of written expression. In addition, the sensitivity of the measures to the effects of a short group writing intervention was assessed. Forty-five third and fourth graders participated in an intervention that consisted of brainstorming ideas, presenting those ideas on a dry-erase board, and writing a complete sentence on paper with writing quality feedback before completing a CBM (curriculum-based measurement) writing passage. Numbers of words written as well as five alternate measures of writing samples were used to assess the effects of the intervention. The intervention had a positive effect on total words written. Total punctuation marks, simple sentences, and words in complete sentences emerged as the best predictors of the Woodcock Johnson-Revised Writing Samples subtest scores in regression analyses. The implications of the analyses, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed. (Contains 5 tables.)

This study examined an approach for assessing and intervening with academic concerns that is conceptually derived from the distinction between skill deficits and performance deficits. A class-wide assessment was used to describe the students' functioning in the context of their peers and to help select a target concern for intervention. An individual assessment was also conducted to examine the possibility that goal setting and reward would be sufficient to correct the identified deficit. For 2 students rewards were effective in the brief assessment, suggesting a performance deficit hypothesis, and for 2 students they were not, suggesting a skill deficit hypothesis. An extended analysis was then conducted comparing an instructional intervention to one emphasizing motivational variables. In all cases the intervention approach suggested by the initial brief analysis was supported in the extended analysis. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Examined three strategies for assessing compliance in students whose speech and language development were delayed. The effects of attention versus escape from instruction following compliance were examined through a descriptive assessment in the classroom, an out-of-class experimental analysis conducted by a consultant, and an in-class experimental analysis implemented by the teacher. (Author/BF)

A study examined two strategies for increasing the accuracy with which five elementary teachers implemented a peer tutoring intervention for students with reading difficulties. Four teachers implemented the intervention at levels substantially above baseline during the performance feedback condition. Student reading comprehension scores improved markedly during the peer tutoring intervention. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

This study examined the effect of delayed reinforcement on mathematics performance by four fourth graders and the effect of programming stimuli common to reinforcement conditions on the maintenance of their performance. Participants exhibited similar levels of responding during intermittent and continuous reinforcement. Responding continued for a number of sessions at similar levels during a maintenance phase. (Author/DB)