educ

1. Who Are Struggling Readers and
What Do They Need?
Dr. Kathleen J. Brown
University of Utah Reading Clinic

2. Problem: Too Many Struggling
Readers
• 15-40% depending on SES (Allington,
1994)
• 2003 NAEP data
– 34% Utah 4th graders “below basic” in reading
• Probability unsuccessful G1 readers still
unsuccessful in G4 = .88 (Juel, 1988)

3. Step 1: What are the Possibilities
for Joe’s Profile?
• Reading = Decoding X Comprehension
• If good readers = good at decoding & comp
• Then, struggling readers can be:
– poor at both decoding & comp
– worse at decoding/better at comp (bk users)
– better at decoding/worse at comp (word callers)
• What does research say about these groups?

4. Step 1: What Does the Research
Say About Joe’s Profile?
• Shankweiler et al., 1999 Scientific Studies
of Reading
• N = 361 7-9 year olds w/above 80 IQ
• measures = reading comp, word id, listening
comp, psuedoword id, etc.
• plotted scores on a scattergram

5. Step 1: What Does the Research
Say About Joe’s Profile?
• 114 students = average or above readers
• 71 students = “too close to call” (buffer
zone)
• All remaining students = poor readers
• Of these:
– 127 students =
– 32 students =
– 17 students =

6. Step 1: What Does the Research
Say About Joe’s Profile?
• Joe is most likely struggling with both
decoding & comp (n = 124 of 361)
• It is unlikely that Joe is “bk user” (n = 34
of 361)
• It is even more unlikely that Joe is a “word
caller” (n = 17 of 361)
• Even those 17 word callers are below
average in comparison to “good readers!”

7. Step 2: Is Joe Struggling?
• Initial Screening (e.g., DIBELS or
AimsWeb)
• Indicated Risk of Reading Failure? Follow
up with diagnostic assessment to determine
instruction/intervention level
– accuracy & rate on passages of graded
difficulty

8. Step 3: OK, Joe is Struggling.
What Does He Need From Me?
• Forget how old he is; think developmentally
and work at his instructional levels:
– develop automaticity in decoding
• short vowels-> vowel patterns-> polysyllabic words
– “consume” as much independent and
instructional level text as is humanly possible
• guided & independent, repeated reading for fluency
– develop increasingly sophisticated ways of
thinking and talking about text
• complete sentences-->more complex sentences via
modeling of vocab & syntax

9. Step 4: Automatic Decoding:
Phonics Scope & Sequence for Joe
• Nonreader to Primer: master letters-
sounds, use initial consonant, blends &
digraphs, master easier high frequency
words, blend CVCs
• Primer to mid G2: master CVC(e)s, vowel
teams, easy prefix & suffix, harder high
frequency words, chunk 2 syllable words
• end G2 and up: use chunks & morphemes
in polysyllabic words

10. Step 4: Guided & Fluency Reading:
What Text Level for Joe?
• Find highest place he meets both criteria
and start guided & fluency reading there
– min 90% accuracy & sufficient speed
• mid G1= min 30wpm mid G3 = min 90wpm
• end G1= min 40wpm end G3= min 110wpm
• mid G2= min 65wpm end G4= min 120wpm
• end G2= min 90wpm end G5= min 130wpm
end G6= min 150wpm
(DIBELS, 2003; Hasbrouck & Tindal,1992, Morris, 1999)

11. Step 5: Pacing: When Do I Move
Joe to a More Difficult Level?
• Collect regular rate & accuracy data (at
least 2-3x per week)
– prepare passage (count out 100 words)
– must be a “cold read”
– time Joe (how long does it take?)
– count errors (substitutions, omissions,
insertions, “helps,” self-corrects above G1)
– repetitions are not errors
(DIBELS, 2003; Hasbrouck & Tindal,1992, Morris, 1999)

12. Step 5: Pacing: When Do I Move
Joe to a More Difficult Level?
• Evaluate rate & accuracy data:
– Is Joe at least 90% accurate?
– Does Joe read with sufficient speed?
• mid G1= app 30wpm mid G3 = app 80wpm
• end G1= app 40wpm end G3= app 100wpm
• mid G2= app 60wpm end G4= app 100wpm
• end G2= app 80wpm end G5= app 100wpm
end G6= app 100wpm
( UURC, 2004. Note: insufficient research base for direction)

13. Step 5: Pacing: When Do I Move
Joe to a More Difficult Level?
• At high end of level, evaluate rate &
accuracy data:
– Is Joe at least 90% accurate?
– Does Joe read with sufficient speed?
• If yes, move to next higher text level, work
there and collect rate & accuracy data
• If no, stay at current level; if possible,
increase amount of reading. Continue to
collect rate & accuracy data

14. Will This Really Help Joe?
• At-risk G1 students who received 95
sessions of Early Steps finished the year
reading between primer and late-G1.
• Matched control G1 students who received
135 sessions of regular Title 1 intervention
finished the year at preprimer.
(Brown, Reynolds, & Sinatra, 2000)

15. Will This Really Help Joe?
• G2 & G3 students who started the year just
below primer and received 45 sessions of
Next Steps, made a little more than one year
of progress as readers (to mid-G2+).
• Matched control G2 & G3 students who
received 135 sessions of regular Title 1
intervention made one-half year’s progress
(late-G1+).
Brown, Morris, & Fields, 2002

16. Will This Really Help Joe?
• G2 students who had received Early Steps
in G1and no intervention in G2 had made
one-half year’s progress by March (to
early-G2).
• Matched control G2 students who received
no intervention in G2 made one-half year’s
progress by March (between primer &
late-G1).
Brown, Morris, & Fields, 2001

17. What Do These Data Mean for Joe?
• Intervention can help Joe make substantial
progress as a reader
• Joe may need more than 1 year of
intervention to get to, and/or maintain grade
level performance
• remember Dominique & Shelby!!!

18. What Needs to Be in Place to Help
Joe? And Juan? And Jane?...
• Materials
– lots of leveled text with controlled vocabulary
(carefully selected predictable, decodable, high
frequency, old basals, and easy reader texts)
• Enough Trained Bodies To Go Around
– educators who understand reading
development,know how to deliver effective
intervention in an efficient manner and have
time to do so

19. What Do Educators Need to be Able
to Help Joe? And Juan? And Jane?
• Clinical Experience/Practicum (they’ve had
enough “Sit-N-Gets!”)
– watch expert model intervention with student
– educator tutors 1-on-1 with a student
– educator gets “on-line” feedback from expert
– educator observes other tutors and students

20. Critical Issues: Time & 1-on-1
• Clinical Experience/Practicum
– 1-on-1 clears management issues so educators
can see reading development “up close and
personal” over time
– intensive and ongoing:
• tutoring needs to happen 2-5x/week for 1 year to see
the interplay between intervention and development
• mentoring needs to happen at least twice monthly
over time

21. What Needs to Be in Place to Help
Joe? And Juan? And Jane?
• teachers group for reading to allow students
to function at instructional level AMAP
• in non-Title I schools, staff + volunteers
build a tutoring program
• in Title I schools, paraprofessionals are
effective intervention tutors
• remember Granger Elementary!!