A second grade classroom in late November appears from the outside to be organized chaos. There are groups of students working everywhere. Some are reading with a paraprofessional on the rug. Others are with one of two teachers - a classroom teacher and a reading specialist - at small tables on the perimeter of the room. Others are sitting under their desks reading together, while students sit above them at desks working on Chromebooks. A timer goes off and immediately students start moving every which way - only to resettle a few minutes later on a new task.
This setup, however, is far from the chaos it may appear to be. Instead, it is a highly coordinated and carefully planned effort to support all students in literacy. It is Small Group Instruction time or “Targeted Teaching Time” - our new name for the commonly referenced “What I Need” or WIN block for intervention time. This small group instruction is the pinnacle of literacy success and a functioning Multi-Tiered System of Support to ensure that all students are provided with systematic and explicit instruction in literacy skills they need to work on. But, how did we get here?
A Tiered System
As Timothy Shanahan points out in this blog post, research has long supported the relative effectiveness of small-group teaching when compared with whole-class instruction. Though this is widely dependent on a number of different factors, the fact remains that adjusting group sizing and using data to provide instruction more precisely targeted at a specific skill can help close gaps for students who are struggling with reading.
All students in Pentucket K-3 schools are receiving a high-quality and cohesive Tier 1 literacy curriculum in the general education classroom that is designed at delivering grade level standards in foundational skills, core literacy, and language. For us, that is the cohesive and skillful implementation of Heggerty Phonemic Awareness, FUNdations Phonics K-2, Letterland phonics in grade 3, and Wit & Wisdom ELA in K-6. This Tier 1 program is the heart of the Tiered model, or the system of Multi-Tiered System of Support. Research on MTSS or Response to Intervention (RTI) models shows that with high quality Tier 1 curriculum, 75-80% of students should be expected to reach grade level proficiency. Students who need more are supported throughout this Tier 1 instruction to ensure access, both from the general education teacher and a special education teacher.
While all students receive Tier 1 instruction, those in need of supplemental intervention receive additional Tier 2 or Tier 3 instruction. These students are identified through a comprehensive and ongoing screening and assessment process. Data teams meet at least three times per year to assess students, gather data, analyze trends, and identify students at risk. While universal screening, including screening for dyslexia, happens multiple times per year, we also utilize “drill down assessments” to assess to the point of breakdown. In other words, we need to figure out precisely what skills a student is struggling with.
Setting up for Success
This more intensive instruction is provided in a smaller group, and is highly focused and targeted at a precise skill. In order to ensure the success and implementation of the small group model, a few key systems have to be in place. One of the most important is a building schedule that allows for both the time and the personnel to provide this instruction to all students who need it. When constructing the schedule, building leaders ensure that intervention times are waterfalled throughout the day and that they are also spread away from Literacy Center time at the K-3 level. This allows support personnel, such as reading specialists, literacy interventionists, special educators and paraprofessionals, the time to service students during these blocks of time throughout the day. Grade levels are “flooded” with this staff in order to support as many students as possible, and often, students rotate to work with multiple staff members.
In establishing this system to set up the targeted small group instruction, we have used a visual that
presents the “levers” that a MTSS system can essentially “pull” to help ensure students are getting what they need and when they need it. As we considered the schedule, use of data and how personnel are managed to support this, the visual below framed our thinking and work.
Reading specialists and a literacy coach work together with classroom teachers and other staff to analyze data, create groupings, and adjust groupings as necessary. Teachers are also consistently engaged in professional development designed to support small group literacy instruction. This summer, over twenty PRSD staff members attended a “Science of Reading and Structured Literacy” PD, and the entire K-3 staff attended PD in October around small group literacy instruction as well. Through this ongoing PD, which built upon several years of PD prior, grade level teams have the time to refine pedagogy, collaborate with other staff members, and identify evidence-based resources for their instruction.
A Cohesive Model
Based on screening and assessment data, teachers are providing direct and explicit instruction to students in a number of different literacy skills grounded in the research about how children learn to read. Rather than reading “levels,” students are grouped by instructional focus areas based on the data. Some students may be working on decoding - or understanding the phonics patterns of English in order to break down words when reading. Others may be practicing their fluency with grade level text linked to Wit & Wisdom or content areas. Still others may be working on aspects of complex language: vocabulary, syntax, and language development. Regardless of the focus, PRSD teachers are providing direct and explicit instruction that is connected to the research about how students learn to read. At this point in the year, predictable routines and expectations are established that maximize time on learning.
Importantly, everything students are working on during this time is connected and cohesive in order to maximize learning. Consider the velcro theory of memory: if our memory is a system of loops that information hooks onto, the more hooks our ideas have for new ideas to stick onto, the better. Thus, “skills” and “strategies” taught within silos are less effective than if everything were cohesive. While some students work with a teacher on vocabulary connected to the knowledge building curriculum, other students are working independently or collaboratively on other tasks, such as fluency work with grade level texts, word work connected to the core phonics program, writing connected to the curriculum, or sentence/paragraph level comprehension activities. This model also permits some sharing of students from one class to another, in order to receive the right targeted instruction. This is a version of a “walk to read” model, but used only when data supports it.
Examples of students receiving direct instruction in small group on varying focused literacy skills
Ongoing Work
By this time in November, many students have made significant progress already toward grade level literacy benchmarks or literacy goals. As such, the interventions and small group support are changing as progress monitoring data is collected. As new data is collected, instructional foci are adjusted, and plans are in place for students who still need extra support. As we look ahead to the holiday season and the mid-year universal screening, we will continue the routines of supporting students through small group instruction to ensure that every student really receives the support they need to be successful.
Jen Hogan
K-6 Literacy Coach and Cooridnator