week 4 notes

General Interventions to Improve Academic Performance 

Academic Achievement

• The majority of referrals to school psychologists involve students with academic achievement problems 

• Interventions that improve academic achievement help students meet learning standards and improve positive social outcomes 

• Students with academic problems who are unable to access effective interventions early on are likely to continuestruggling 

• Improved academic achievement performance can also have positive effectives on behavior (i.e., increased on-task behaviors, less disruptive behaviors, etc.)

General Academic Achievement Interventions

• This presentation will:

  • Explore a handful of general interventions in detail and provide a roadmap for successfully implementing school-based interventions 

• Interventions covered include:

  • Response cards

  • Self-monitoring 

  • Incremental rehearsal 

1. Response Cards

To increase academic engagement and achievement

Overview:

• Intervention:

  • Students write short answers on laminated boards in response to teacher questions during whole-group instruction, which allows all students to answer the question as opposed to just the students who are called on 

• Rationale and overview:

  • Students learn and remember more when actively engaged in instructional lessons 

  • Higher rates of student engagement during instructional lessons allows for additional opportunities to practice skills and receive teacher feedback 

  • Response card interventions have been found to enhance participation rates, on-task behaviors, and academic achievement 

• Can be implemented for any subject

• Especially effective used as a review strategy

Goals and Intensity

• Goals:

  • Improve participation and learning through frequent opportunities for active student engagement 

  • Increase opportunities for immediate teacher feedback 

  • Facilitates additional practice after academic skills have already been taught 

• Intensity: 

  • Most often used as a class-wide intervention, but can be used in the small group setting as well 

  • Not intense enough for use as an individualized intervention (one-on-one)

Intervention Steps

• Explain the intervention to the students and conduct an initial training session (10-15 minutes in length with ample opportunities to practice) 

• Instruct students to answer questions by writing 1–2-word responses on their boards 

• Next, pose a question and ask students to write their answer. After a several second delay, say “cards up” and instruct students to hold their cards above their heads 

• Scan all student responses and provide brief and respectful feedback

• Say “cards down” to signal students to lower their cards, erase their response, and prepare for the next question

Implementation

• During a lesson, present information for the first 15-20 minutes

• After presenting each new fact or concept, ask a question about it and have students respond by writing a simple 1–2-word response on their boards and then hold the response up 

• Visually scan all student responses and provide positive praise for correct responses and respectful corrective feedback for incorrect responses (this may also be delivered in a class-wide format) 

• Later in the lesson, ask review questions related to the facts discussed earlier and repeat questions that had incorrect responses. Ensure that all students understood any errors that were made previously 

• Praise students for using the response cards promptly and correctly (also provide corrective feedback if needed)

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1. Self-Monitoring

Overview:

• Intervention:

  • Students practice monitoring and rating their classroom behaviors and academic productivity using a self-monitoring form 

• Rationale and overview:

  • Teachers often spend valuable instructional time reminding students to begin and complete their classwork 

  • Self-monitoring is a simple and cost-effective strategy to help build self-awareness skills as well as enhance academic productivity, rate of task initiation, attention to specific directions, and overall, on-task behavior 

Goals and Intensity

• Goals:

  • Improve independent academic productivity and self-awareness skills

  • Only effective if students can successfully complete the academic tasks required of them 

• Intensity:

  • Best used in the small group or individual settings 

Intervention Steps

• Explain to the class that they will be learning how to improve their grades in the selected subject by monitoring their behaviors during classwork time 

• Lead a discussion about behaviors that facilitate successful completion of daily assignments (i.e., listening to directions, beginning promptly, etc.) as well as behaviors that may impede successful work completion (i.e., not paying attention to directions, not asking for help when needed, etc.) 

• Give students a self-monitoring form and review the behaviors they will be observing and evaluating (i.e., I was ready to begin working at the start of class, I began working as soon as I could, I worked hard, I raised my hand to talk during class, I paid attention when the teacher spoke, etc.) 

• Model productive and unproductive behaviors for students and have them practice filling out the form

• Tell students they will have a few minutes each day at the end of the period to complete their self-monitoring form

• After the forms have been completed, walk around the room and review student responses  

Implementation

• Distribute the self-monitoring forms at the beginning of the class period 

• Five minutes before the end of the period, instruct students to complete their forms 

• Circulate around the room to monitor form completion and student responses. If you feel a student’s responses are inaccurate, provide brief private feedback. If many students are inaccurate, conduct an additional review of procedures 

Self-Monitoring Variations

• Self-monitoring can occur during every subject period, instead of just one period

• Small groups of targeted students can monitor their behavior, instead of the entire class

• Group contingencies can also be integrated into self-monitoring interventions 

  • Example: Each day that at least 80% of students have 80% success or more on their self-monitoring forms (which the teacher agrees with), then the class may earn a point towards a whole-class reward (i.e., pizza party, extra recess, etc.) 

1. Incremental Rehearsal

Overview:

Intervention:

• Incremental rehearsal (IR) is a flashcard technique that can be used with students with varying difficulties, age levels, and skill levels

• IR presents a small amount of new information and a large amount of known information (ratio of 1 unknown item to 8 known items) 

Rationale and overview: 

• Research has consistently shown that IR is the most effective flashcard approach (can also be utilized with other visual stimuli, not just flashcards – pictures, environmental stimuli, computer programs, etc.) 

• IR increases retention and generalization of information 

• IR is most used for learning word recognition, math facts, vocabulary, and letter sounds

Goals and Intensity

Goals:

• Increase retention of newly learned material 

• Assist in remembering basic facts to help build a strong foundation in math, reading, etc. 

• Secondarily maintains and reinforces previously learned facts/knowledge as well 

Intensity:

• IR is considered an intensive intervention and should only be conducted in a one-on-one setting 

• IR is often employed when other academic interventions have not been successful 

Intervention Steps

1. Introduction and training 

2. Specific academic content area steps (word reading will be used for this example) 

1.Introduction and Training

1. Begin by assessing what the student does and does not know about a certain content area 

2. Individually present each potential unknown stimulus to the student in random order to determine what the student can answer correctly 

3. Stimuli that are correctly identified by the student within 2-3 seconds are considered to be “known” 

4. Write down each unknown item on a flashcard and write down 8-10 known items as well 

2 .Steps for Reading Words

1. Present the first unknown word to the student while also providing the correct verbal pronunciation. Then, ask the student to orally restate the word 

2. Ask the student to use the word in a sentence (If correct, move one. If incorrect, model and then ask the student to try again)

3. Rehearse the unknown word using the following sequence and ask the student to state the word every time it is presented:

4. Present the first unknown word and first known word

5. Present the first unknown word, first known word, and second known word 

6. Present the first unknown word, first known word, second known word, and third known word 

7. Continue adding one known word to the sequence until you reach a sequence of eight (considered the “final trial”)

8. The unknown word (if identified correctly within 2-3 seconds) used in the previous trials is now considered the “first known” word in the next sequence and the previously used known words are removed and replaced with other known words 

9. Rehearse the unknown word using the following sequence and ask the student to state the word every time it is presented (continued):

10. Continue individually rehearsing unknown words until 3 errors occur with a single word. Errors can also occur with known words. Any time a word is not correctly rehearsed in 2-3 seconds, this is counted as an error 

Academic Achievement Intervention – Key Questions

1. What level of research support does the intervention have?

2. What is the rationale for selecting this intervention for a specific student?

3. What are the goals of the intervention?

4. What is the intended setting and intensity level of the intervention?

5. What intervention intensity level does the student need at this time?

6. What materials and staff are needed for the intervention? 

7. What are the implementation steps for the intervention?

8. What level of additional training, coaching, or support is needed to effectively implement this intervention (if any)? 

9. How will the intervention be progress monitored? How often?

10. What are the intended student outcomes and how will they be measured?