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Article Excerpt
Abstract. This descriptive study documents the effects of response-to-intervention type practices in four first-grade classrooms of English learners (ELs) from 11 native languages in three schools in a large urban school district in southern California. Observations and interviews in four classrooms across two consecutive years were compared to first-grade gains in oral reading fluency (N = 111). Reading fluency data were examined in relation to ratings of literacy practices, including the degree to which Tier 1 alone or Tier 1 plus Tier 2-type instruction was implemented. The correlation between classroom ratings on the English Learners Classroom Observation Instrument (ELCOI) and gain from pre- to posttest in first grade on oral reading fluency was moderately strong in both Year 1 (r = .61) and Year 2 (r = .57). The correlation between Cluster II teacher ratings and ORF gains was strong in both Year 1 (r = .75) and Year 2 (r = .70), suggesting a strong relationship between Tier 2-type literacy practices and end-of-first-grade oral reading fluency. Results indicated a strong correlation (r = -.81) between the number of students below DIBELS benchmark thresholds at the end of first grade and the teacher rating on the amount of instruction provided for low performers. Followup data at the end of third grade in oral reading fluency and comprehension indicate moderate correlations to first-grade scores (N = 51). Patterns of practice among first-grade teachers and patterns among ELs who were ultimately labeled as having learning disabilities are discussed. Educational implications and recommendations for future research are also presented.
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Much has been written about the compounded risks for students who come to school speaking a language other than English (August & Siegel, 2006; National Center for Educational Statistics, 2006). Response to intervention (RTI) may hold promise for all children who are struggling to learn to read (Vaughn & Fuchs, 2003), including English learners (ELs). If done well, RTI provides a series of supports and instructional safety nets to assist students in the learning process. Potentially, RTI is a better system than waiting for students to fail (Foorman & Torgesen, 2001; National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2003).
A growing body of research (Chiappe, Siegel, & Wade-Wooley, 2002; Droop & Verhoeven, 2003; Echevarria & Graves, 2007; Fletcher, Coulter, Reschly, & Vaughn, 2004; Gersten, Baker, Haager, & Graves, 2005; Graves, Gersten, & Haager, 2004; Graves, Placentia-Peinado, Deno, & Johnson, 2005; Gunn, Biglan, Smolkowski, & Ary, 2000; Haager & Windmueller, 2002; Jimenez & Gersten, 19999; Lesaux & Siegel, 2003; LinanThompson, Vaughn, Hickman-Davis, & Kouzekanani, 2003) has demonstrated that many of the strategies and approaches that research deems effective for native speakers of a language are effective for ELs as well. In fact, Chiappe et al. (2002) found that, in terms of phonemic awareness and word reading, ELs can learn to read as quickly as native English speakers. More recently, research on comprehension and vocabulary instruction is revealing the complexities that teachers of English learners must add to basic effective practices (August & Shanahan, 2006; Francis, Rivera, Lesaux, Kieffer, & Rivera, 2006).
In Southern California, the rise in both the number of ELs entering school and the number identified with learning disabilities is often noted (August & Siegel, 2006; Kindler, 2002). In the large urban school district in which this study was conducted, approximately 52 languages are spoken. In this investigation, the student population is referred to as a multiple-language group in that 11 native languages are represented as well as a wide variety of cultural groups. The focus is on four first-grade classrooms across two years.
The data for this investigation were drawn from a large study of several urban school districts in southern California conducted in the context of California Schools Literacy Reform by Russell Gersten and his research team (Instructional Research Group; inresg.org). Various aspects of the larger research project that combined data from several school districts in southern California are reported in Haager, Gersten, Baker, and Graves (2003), Gersten and Baker (2003), Graves et al. (2004), and Gersten et al. (2005). The team of researchers on the larger project developed an observational measure, the English Learners Classroom Observation Instrument (ELCOI). Details on the development of the measure are reported in Haager et al. (2003) and Gersten et al. (2005). In the Methods section of this article we provide a brief overview of psychometric characteristics of the measure.
RTI had not been coined as a term at the time of the larger study from which these data were drawn. Because the ELCOI was developed based on evidence-based practices, using this measure participating teachers were rated based on the principles on which RTI was developed (Vaughn & Fuchs, 2003). This descriptive investigation was designed to retroactively examine the teaching practices of first-grade teachers of English learners in multiple-language classrooms to determine if their practices can be described in the context of Tier 1 and Tier 2 instruction according to the RTI model that has been recently recommended for practice. For the purposes of this study, Tier 1 is evidence-based reading instruction by teachers. Tier 2 is small-group instruction for students who were not responding well enough to Tier 1 instruction. Finally, Tier 3 is referral to special education for students who did not respond well enough when given Tier 1 and Tier 2.
The ELCOI rating system was developed using "effective practices" research (see Gersten et al., 2005, for a full review). As a result, the ELCOI includes a section (see Figure 1, Cluster II) entitled Instruction Geared Toward Low Performing Students. In this article, Tier 2 instruction is defined as differentiated small-group instruction for low-performing students that is sustained and significantly different from instruction that students who are not at risk are receiving and is associated with the Cluster II factors on the ELCOI. In this descriptive study, we describe the instructional practices of four teachers of English learners (ELs) in multiple-language settings across two years of first-grade teaching and compare the effectiveness of the instructional practices of the four teachers to student reading outcomes in first grade and during a third-grade followup assessment.
Observational data on teacher practice were analyzed to determine whether teachers used Tier 1 instruction alone or also provided Tier 2 instruction for ELs experiencing difficulties. We also present data on the proportion of students in each class who fell below established benchmark thresholds in reading. Finally, we report on students who were labeled with learning disabilities by grade three (i.e., received Tier 3 services). We attempt to link the differences in referral rates to the nature of the literacy instruction provided during first grade, the critical first year of formal reading instruction.
This is an exploratory study in that the sample size is small and the research design is descriptive. Our goal is to use these data to generate hypotheses that can be tested in subsequent research.
METHOD
Participants
Teachers. The sample consisted of the four teachers who participated in the observational study for two years (see Table 1). The schools were similar in demographics. The first-grade classrooms at each of the schools consisted of predominantly ELs, and the schools all serve the poorest and lowest performing students in the large southern California school district.
Although teachers in the participating district were required to adhere to state standards in terms of research-based teaching practices, they were not required to use any one particular basal or core reading series. All four teachers were fully licensed in California to teach students in first grade; their teaching experience ranged from 2 to 26 years (see Table 1). Though the two teachers who had taught the longest had the highest ratings on their literacy practices, the teacher with the lowest scores had taught for nine years and the one teacher who had a marked improvement from Year 1 to Year 2 had taught the fewest number of years. Thus, while number of years taught is a part of the description of these classrooms, the effects of this variable are difficult to interpret.
Teachers in each of the classrooms taught almost exclusively in English, since it provided common ground for all of the students from up to 11 different language backgrounds. One teacher, Luis, occasionally gave directions or explained a procedure in Spanish because he had predominantly Spanish-speaking students. We observed this rarely, however.
Students. The first-grade classrooms at each of the schools consisted of predominantly ELs, who came from families where one of following languages was spoken at home: Cambodian, Hmong, Lao, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Sudanese, Tagalog, or Vietnamese. In one classroom, although all students were classified as coming from Spanish-speaking homes, the home language was sometimes an indigenous language of Native American origin spoken in some Southern regions of Mexico or Latin America.
The students were tested on the IDEA Oral Language Proficiency Test in English (Ballard, Dalton, & Tighe, 1995) in kindergarten to determine their level of language proficiency. Students were designated non-English speakers, limited English speakers, or emergent English speakers. As an indicator of the students' socioeconomic status, we found that all of them received free or reduced-cost lunch at their respective schools.
In order to be included in the data analyses, each student had to be present for both pre- and posttesting at the beginning and the end of first grade (see Tables 2 and 3). Sample sizes from the four classrooms were 51 for Year 1 and 60 for Year 2 (N = 111). By the end of third grade, there were considerably fewer students left in the sample (N = 59).
Measures
English Language Learners Classroom Observation Instrument (ELCOI). The ELCOI is a 30-item moderate-inference Likert scale (see Figure 1). The Cluster II empirically derived subscales are...
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