INTERVENTION USE CASE
ELEMENTARY READING. INTERVENTION USE CASE SCENARIO: Information about the school where this scenario is taking place: Applewood Elementary is a K-8 school located in an Urban district in the state of Minnesota. In the last 2 years they have
implemented an RtI process in order to ensure that all students make progress toward proficiency in Reading, Math,
Writing and Behavior. As part of that RtI process, the school participates in Universal Screening, Benchmark Testing,
Data review meetings and Parent informational sessions. The student selected for this case study is a second-grade
student who was identified in 1st grade with attendance and reading difficulties.
Information about the student who is the focus for this scenario:
John is an 8-year-old second grade student at Applewood Elementary. He is personable and likes to be the teacher’s
helper. He is motivated to work hard but is easily distracted and needs assistance to re-engage once he is off task. His
attendance was in the at – risk range in the previous year when he was a 1st grade student. Any student below the 90%
for attendance receives a Tier 2 intervention at Applewood Elementary. John received a Tier 2 intervention for
Attendance in 1st grade which was successful. He was exited from that intervention and is on a “watch – list” this year
to ensure he continues to meet the attendance requirements of Applewood Elementary. He also struggled with Reading
fluency and comprehension and was provided a Tier 2 intervention but this was unsuccessful which team members felt
was related to his poor attendance. John’s 1st grade teacher met with his current teacher in the beginning of the year to
share information about John’s attendance and reading progress from the previous year.
How is a student who might need an intervention identified?
John was assessed in the areas of Literacy and Numeracy in the fall of 2012. He was also tested using the Measure of
Academic Progress (MAP). Results of those assessments indicated that he was not meeting the standard in Oral Reading
Fluency and struggled with comprehension of what he read. MAP scores were below the proficiency level < 168. John
appeared to be proficient in Numeracy or Math operations according to MAP scores, quarter assessments and
classroom formative assessments.
John was reading approximately 25 WRC and at a level E, which would indicate that, he was at risk for failing to attain
grade-level proficiency. Both F&P and CBM provide benchmark goals for fall, winter and spring. Using those fall
benchmark scores for second grade, John would need to read about 44 WRC to be on his way to meeting the end-of-
year level of 85 WRC. He would also have to be at a level J in order to be at a level M by the end of the second grade.
John’s grade level team met after benchmarking assessments and decided that John was a good candidate for a Tier 2
intervention in Reading.
What additional data is gathered to more completely understand student’s needs?
Following the initial benchmark assessments John’s teacher completed a diagnostic assessment in Reading to further
identify current reading level, word recognition, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary skills.
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What does the data tell you about the student?
Ms Reeder identified that John was not using context when he read and that he rarely self-corrected his errors. In
addition, unfamiliar vocabulary words appeared to slow down his fluency. Ms Reeder knew that weekly gains of 1.5 –
2.0 WRC were feasible if the reading instruction was rich enough (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, Walz & Germann, 1993). This
rate of growth should be attainable during the 13 weeks available for intervention and would result in John reading
about 75 WRC not at grade level proficiency but would move him out of the at-risk range.
INDIVIDUAL LEARNING PLAN
When was the ILP recorded in CFS?
Yes the teacher recorded this information in the ILP and the team entered the data when it became apparent that the
student needed an intervention. This information was shared with the parent at Parent – Teacher conferences.
What is the recorded in the students ILP?
What are the student’s strengths?
John is an 8-year-old second grade student at Applewood Elementary. He is personable and likes to be the teacher’s
helper. He is motivated to work hard but is easily distracted and needs assistance to re-engage once he is off task. He
struggles with reading fluency, comprehension and word recognition. The teacher has identified small group instruction,
pre-teaching of material and close proximity to her as three strategies that help John be successful.
What are the student’s academic goals?
Increase Reading Fluency and Improve Comprehension so that John will improve ability to read meaningful, rich
literature and expository texts.
Specify school & home actions to support goals
Weekly progress monitoring gains will be sent home
Independent readings will be sent home.
Specify work or home goals
John will read books sent home with a parent or older sibling.
He will also share his progress monitoring sheets with his parent explaining them to the parent.
State health results of health screening
No health concerns at this time
INTERVENTION PLANNING (Tier 2)
What steps are taken to plan the intervention?
Planning Team: Data Coach, Literacy Specialist, Classroom Teacher, & Interventionist if different from Classroom
Teacher.
During Professional Learning Community Meetings and/or Grade level team meetings.
Following the formalized plan the classroom teacher is responsible for recording the intervention plan into Classroom
for Success.
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Should any information in the student’s background question answers be modified/expanded?
If yes, what?
No.
What is the intervention plan?
● Area of need: Word Recognition Fluency, Reading Fluency and Comprehension
● Intervention: LLI in small group of 3 students. Pre-Teaching Vocabulary words using the University of
Minnesota PRESS vocabulary intervention during his Core guided reading.
● Start Date: September 20, 2012
● Days per week: 5 days per week
● Minutes per day: 30 minutes a day
● Initial group size: 4
● Baseline level: WRC = 25, 26, 25. Comprehension skills less than 25% of material comprehended
following reading.
● Goal performance level: 1.5 – 2.0 WRC weekly
● Follow up date: 7 weeks
● Interventionist: Teacher
● Intervention notes description: Ms Reeder met with John and 3 other students for 30 minutes during
skills time. Leveled Literacy Intervention is a small group program for phonics, comprehension, fluency
and writing. Objectives for lessons included:
● Specific work on sounds, letters, and words in activities
● Close reading to deepen and expand comprehension.
● Explicit teaching of effective and efficient strategies for expanding vocabulary.
● Explicit teaching for fluent and phrased reading.
● Use of writing about reading for the purpose of communicating and learning how to express
ideas for a particular purpose and audience using a variety of writing strategies.
Differentiation during Core Tier 1:
John was also provided guided reading instruction within a small group, the goal was to improve John’s comprehension
skills in order to move him from a level E reader to a Level J by the Spring of his 2nd grade year. For the first 15 minutes
Ms Reeder pre-taught vocabulary words. Vocabulary was introduced by having John act-out words, or have them draw
the words. This vocabulary strategy is from the PRESS interventions at University of Minnesota. Each week the goal was
to learn 3 – 5 new vocabulary words and read them fluently within the context of their leveled readers. The last two days
of the week were also spent talking about the stories and answering comprehension questions, doing story retells,
clarifying main ideas and summarizing stories.
What is the progress monitoring plan?
Weekly gains of 1.5 – 2.0 Words Read Correct per minute in reading fluency.
Improved comprehension of material read from 25% to 50% using comprehension workbook activities.
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THE INTERVENTION HAS BEEN DELIVERED
Was the intervention delivered with fidelity?
Teacher fidelity checklist completed after 1st week of intervention by Literacy Coach. Intervention was
delivered with 98% accuracy. If a new intervention was implemented a fidelity checklist would be
implemented by the Literacy Coach.
What is the progress monitoring data?
Week WRC Errors Aimline 1.5 – 2.0
Week 1 Baseline 25 2 Baseline
Week 2 Baseline 26 3 Baseline
Week 3 Baseline 25 3 Baseline
Week 4 26 5 Did not meet Aimline
Week 5 26 4 Did not meet
Week 6 27 3 Did not meet
Week 7 27 2 Did not meet
Week 8 28 1 Did not meet
Week 9 25 0 Did not meet
Week 10 26 0 Did not meet
Did the student meet the intervention goal?
● An aimline was created with a goal of 2.0 words per week increase
● Progress monitoring was completed weekly
● The decision rule was decided on by the team: Decision rule = after the collection of 6 – 8 data points if 4 points
or more are below the aimline a change in intervention is necessary.
John did not meet the Progress Monitoring goal for WRC or comprehension of material read. The team met and
decided that John should be provided 45 minutes two times a day.
Was the intervention successful?
● Was the intervention successful? NO
● Was the students area of need assessed correctly? YES
● Was the planned timeline followed? YES
● Was the frequency followed? YES
● Was the grouping followed? YES
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● Selected outcome for intervention: unsuccessful remain at tier 2
● Additional notes:
What tier is the student now at?
Tier 2
What are the next steps for this student?
The student will receive another tier 2 intervention.
INTERVENTION PLANNING (second Tier 2)
What data/evidence is used to identify the student’s needs? What does the data tell you about
the student’s current needs?
Progress monitoring data
What steps are taken to plan the intervention?
During last intervention, the team met and decided that John should be provided 45 minutes two times a day.
What is the intervention plan?
● Area of need: Word Recognition Fluency, Reading Fluency and Comprehension
● Intervention: LLI in small group of 3 students. Pre-Teaching Vocabulary words using the University of
Minnesota PRESS vocabulary intervention during his Core guided reading.
● Start Date: September 20, 2012
● Days per week: 5 days per week
● Minutes per day: 45 minutes, 2xs a day
● Initial group size: 4
● Baseline level: WRC = 25, 26, 25. Comprehension skills less than 25% of material comprehended
following reading.
● Goal performance level: 1.5 – 2.0 WRC weekly
● Follow up date: 7 weeks
● Interventionist: Teacher
● Intervention notes description: Ms Reeder met with John and 3 other students for 30 minutes during
skills time. Leveled Literacy Intervention is a small group program for phonics, comprehension, fluency
and writing. Objectives for lessons included:
● Specific work on sounds, letters, and words in activities
● Close reading to deepen and expand comprehension.
● Explicit teaching of effective and efficient strategies for expanding vocabulary.
● Explicit teaching for fluent and phrased reading.
● Use of writing about reading for the purpose of communicating and learning how to express
ideas for a particular purpose and audience using a variety of writing strategies.
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● 15 minutes of duet reading/repeated reading and comprehension questions with Reading Corp
Teacher (new in this intervention)
What is the progress monitoring plan?
Weekly gains of 1.5 – 2.0 Words Read Correct per minute in reading fluency.
Improved comprehension of material read from 25% to 50% using comprehension workbook activities.
THE INTERVENTION HAS BEEN DELIVERED
Was the intervention delivered with fidelity?
Yes
What is the progress monitoring data?
Week GOM – WRC Errors Meets Goal
Week 11 28 4 Did not meet Goal
Week 12 28 5 Did not meet Goal
Week 13 29 3 Did not meet Goal
Week 14 30 1 Did not meet Goal
Week 15 32 1 Did meet Goal
Week 16 33 4 Did not meet Goal
Did the student meet the intervention goal?
No, The Tier 2 intervention was not successful. The student did not meet the goal.
Was the intervention successful?
● Was the intervention successful? NO
● Was the student’s area of need assessed correctly? YES
● Was the planned timeline followed? YES
● Was the frequency followed? YES
● Was the grouping followed? YES
● Selected outcome for intervention: Unsuccessful escalate to tier 3
● Additional notes:
● A new Tier 2 intervention was implemented and 6 more weeks of data was collected.
● John was not meeting the weekly goal for WRC. In addition, his comprehension continued to be at
the 30% for leveled text.
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● John’s ability to read fluently and recognize new words automatically continued to lag far behind
students in his Tier 2 group and his class.
What tier is the student now at?
John is in a Tier 3 intervention.
What are the next steps for this student?
● The school problem solving team met to identify a Tier 3 intervention and decide who would be
implementing this intervention.
● School Problem Solving Team = Grade level teachers, interventionists, school psychologist, social
worker and reading specialist.
INTERVENTION PLANNING (Tier 3)
What data/evidence is used to identify the student’s needs? What does the data tell you about
the student’s current needs?
● Progress Monitoring data
● School Attendance
● Behavior referrals
● Home and school interview was completed by the School Social Worker to identify if there were home
issues
● Phone conference with parent.
What steps are taken to plan the intervention?
Planning Team for Tier 3 Intervention: Classroom teacher, psychologist, school social worker, special
education SERT and Principal.
Team will input the new plan after the Professional Learning Community data meeting. New Intervention
planned because of a lack of adequate progress in the second Tier 2 interventions.
What is the intervention plan?
● Area of need: Reading Fluency and Comprehension. Word Recognition Fluency (Decoding)
● Intervention: Reading Mastery II – Fast Cycle start lesson 80 out of 160 lessons.
● Start Date: Week 18
● Days per week: 5 Days per week
● Minutes per day: 45 minutes per day – 30 minutes in the morning during skills time Reading Mastery
and 15 minutes in the guided reading group 1 – 1 with Reading Teacher
● Initial group size: 3
● Baseline level: WRC = 34,36,38 – Comprehension of Material Read 40%
● Goal performance level: Student will be reading 44 WRC Winter Benchmark and at Level J
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● Follow up date: February 28, 2014
● Interventionist: Literacy Teacher
● Intervention notes description: John will work with 2 other students every day on Reading Mastery
Fast Cycle with 2 students who are at a similar level. Literacy program to improve his Word Decoding,
Comprehension and Reading Fluency. The Professional Learning Community and data team will
reconvene in 8 weeks and make a decision a progress.
What is the progress monitoring plan?
● Weekly Progress monitoring – 2.0 Words Read Correct
● F&P Level J
● 90% passing of 4 Mastery Test from Reading Mastery Fast Cycle
THE INTERVENTION HAS BEEN DELIVERED
Was the intervention delivered with fidelity?
Yes
What is the progress monitoring data?
Weeks WRC Error Aimline Goal
Week 18 30 4 Baseline
Week 19 31 5 Baseline
Week 20 31 3 Baseline
Week 21 32 5 Did not meet Goal
Week 22 33 2 Did not meet Goal
Week 23 33 1 Did not meet Goal
Week 24 34 2 Did not meet Goal
Week 25 35 1 Did not meet Goal
Week 26 34 2 Did not meet Goal
Week 27 35 1 Did not meet Goal
Mastery Test Reading Mastery FC Pass with 90% Accuracy
Mastery Test Lesson 90 85% – redid week later 90%
Mastery Test Lesson 100 89% – redid week later 90%
Mastery Test Lesson 110 85% – redid week later 89% – redid 90%
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Mastery Test Lesson 120 90%
Did the student meet the intervention goal?
John did not meet Aimline goal or Fluency Goal.
John did not meet Mastery Test Goal
John continues to comprehend less than 50% of what he reads
Was the intervention successful?
Was the intervention successful? NO
Was the student’s area of need assessed correctly? YES
Was the planned timeline followed? Yes
Was the frequency followed? Yes
Was the grouping followed? Yes
Selected outcome for intervention: unsuccessful refer to intervention evaluation team
Additional notes:
What tier is the student now at?
Referral to Intervention Review
What are the next steps for this student?
Tier 3 team will reconvene and create an assessment document.
INTERVENTION REVIEW
The Intervention Evaluation team reviews the student information.
School Psychologist, Classroom Teacher, Social Worker, Special Education Teacher, Parent and Principal
Is it decided the student should be evaluated for SpEd?
● Was the student are of need assessed correctly? Yes
● Was the student’s area of need addressed by the implemented interventions? Yes
● Did the progress monitoring tool align to the implemented interventions? Yes
● Were the interventions implemented as planned? Yes
● Is there sufficient data to make a determination? Yes
● Has parental consent for evaluation been received? Yes
● Select Outcome for Evaluation Review: Continue to Special Ed Evaluation
