Using Data and Evidence-Based Practices To Plan Effective Instruction and Intervention
What do you do if too many students are not successful as a result of your reading instruction? Give them additional assignments? Refer them to special education? Do nothing because they will probably catch up next year? None of these options will address the root cause of the problem. If too many students are unsuccessful, the first steps are to examine our structures and systems, our use of data, and our instruction.
Tier 1 Literacy Instruction
Teachers want to do right by students. School systems need to have the correct structures and systems in place to support teachers. Leaders need to ensure there is sufficient uninterrupted time for Tier 1 literacy instruction and additional time preserved for intervention. This may mean building schedules need to be adjusted.
After instructional time is preserved, a plan for how teachers should spend that time should be developed and shared. This may be based on a particular program, or it may be home-grown based on research-based evidence. Leadership teams must select what assessments will be used and develop protocols for administration and data collection. Time also needs to be preserved for grade-level meetings and data meetings.
Assessments
Once structures and systems are in place, all members of the team need to learn how to effectively use the data to make informed decisions (Harlacher et al., 2024). Giving students assessments serves no purpose if we do not use the data we collect. A robust assessment system to support students includes a universal benchmark to screen for students who may be at risk; informal diagnostic assessments to confirm risk status and identify skill gaps; progress-monitoring assessments to determine if intervention is working and track progress to the goal; and outcome assessments to see if students met their goal (Gibbons et al., 2019). Team members need to know the purpose of each type of assessment and understand how to interpret the data so instruction can be adjusted to meet students’ needs.
Explicit Instruction
Even if the strongest structures and systems are in place and reliable, valid data are collected and used to make decisions about instruction, if instruction is poor, students will not succeed. Leaders need to ensure teachers have access to a high-quality, evidence-based curriculum and intervention materials. More importantly, leaders should ensure teachers receive ongoing training and support to implement the curriculum. Delivery matters as well. Students learn foundational literacy skills best when instruction is explicit and systematic. Teachers should be trained in explicit instruction, and leaders need to know what it looks like and sounds like so they can support teachers. Archer and Hughes (2011) provide a road map for explicit instruction that is an excellent starting point for those who want to learn more.
When systems and structures are in place, data is collected efficiently and used appropriately, and instruction is explicit and systematic using evidence-based materials, student outcomes should start to improve.
Please join my EDVIEW360 podcast, “Using Data and Evidence-Based Practices To Plan Effective Instruction and Intervention,” on July 25. I hope you can join me!
References
Archer, A.L., Hughes, C.A., (2011). Explicit instruction: Effective and efficient teaching. The Guilford Press.
Gibbons, K., Brown, S., & Niebling, B. C. (2019). Effective universal instruction: An action-oriented approach to improving Tier 1. Guilford.
Harlacher, J.E., Potter, J., & Collins, A. (2024). Untangling data-based decision making: A problem-solving model to enhance MTSS. Solution Tree.