Response to intervention (RTI) can be both a system for providing early interventions to struggling students and a special education diagnostic tool for evaluating and identifying students with specific learning disabilities. Contributing to the very limited literature on state-level approaches, this report describes how nine states define and support RTI at the state level.
Full report:
http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/west/pdf/REL_2009077.pdf
Washington State Educators Prefer to Improve State High School Test Rather Than Eliminate It, Study Finds
Teachers credit WASL with helping to boost students’ reasoning and writing skills but want more relevant test data and other changes
High school teachers and administrators in Washington State have revised curriculum and instruction significantly to respond to federal and state testing and accountability policies, according to a new in-depth report by the Center on Education Policy (CEP). In particular, teachers have made a strong effort to ensure they cover the types of writing and reasoning skills emphasized by the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL), which serves as both a state high school exit exam and Washington’s accountability test for the No Child Left Behind law.
The CEP report, Lessons from the Classroom Level: Federal and State Accountability in Washington State, was based on detailed observations of 15 classrooms in English language arts, math, and science, as well as on interviews and focus groups with 145 teachers, administrators, parents, and students in six Washington State high schools in six different districts. (The schools and districts participated anonymously in the study.)
The administrators and teachers participating in the study cited several positive effects of the WASL, including better alignment between high school curriculum and the state’s academic standards, instruction that encouraged students to write coherently and explain how they reached their answers, and improved writing and reasoning skills among students.
While many teachers referred to the WASL in their instruction and made an effort to teach skills they expected to be tested, the standards and test did not appear to have a constricting effect. In the classrooms observed for the study, teachers often initiated open-ended discussion or Socratic-type dialogues and used technology creatively to motivate students.
Several districts and schools also offered additional courses, interventions, or parallel academic programs for students who have failed the WASL or are at risk of failing.
Study participants said they would rather see the state make changes to the WASL than eliminate it, as Washington State superintendent Randy Dorn has considered doing.
“Teachers and administrators told us that the uncertainty surrounding the future of the WASL has created confusion and stress,” said Jack Jennings, President and CEO of CEP. “Most wanted to keep the WASL and make it better instead of scrapping it.”
Study participants suggested several changes to the WASL, including shifting to an assessment that includes pre- and post-testing to capture individual students’ growth over a school year; breaking down test data in ways that are more relevant to teachers; and providing more professional development on using data to guide instruction.
Study participants also proposed changes to the No Child Left Behind Act and related state accountability requirements. These changes included using alternative measures of achievement for accountability, and revising accountability and test requirements to better consider the needs of English language learners and other students.
Washington State is one of three states participating in a larger study by CEP on the classroom impact of federal and state accountability. Last year, CEP issued reports on Rhode Island and Illinois.
Full report:
http://www.cep-dc.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=document_ext.showDocumentByID&nodeID=1&DocumentID=284
After-school programs should promote activity, healthy nutrition
Children's after-school activities often consist of sedentary behavior such as watching television, but after-school programs that offer physical activity and healthy snacks could be the best place for children's health.
David Dzewaltowski, head of the department of kinesiology at Kansas State University, and other K-State researchers have found that quality after-school programs are an important contributor to children's physical activity.
"Participation in after-school programs tends to drop with increasing age as parents believe their children can be at home without adult supervision," Dzewaltowski said. "Parents should strive to place their children in healthy environments that are supervised by adults and that provide physical activity and healthful food options."
The researchers conducted the Healthy Opportunities for Physical Activity and Nutrition, or HOP'N, After-School Project, which was designed to prevent obesity by enhancing the quality of after-school programming. The study found that some existing after-school programs lack in quality and do not provide adequate nutrition or physical activity, especially for different genders and fitness levels.
The HOP'N After-School Project includes four elements: a daily healthy snack, daily physical activity, weekly nutrition and physical activity education sessions. It also provides continuous staff training.
Eight elementary schools and after-school programs in Lawrence participated in the K-State study during a three-year period. The after-school settings were observed throughout the school year. Participating children has their height and weight measured in the fall and spring. Children also wore pedometer devices to measure their physical activity. After a baseline year, the HOP'N program was implemented at four of the sites for two years, and the other sites continued their regular programming as a project control.
Baseline findings of the study showed that, on average, the after-school programs provided 20 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, which fulfills one-third of the recommended 60-minute daily physical activity for youth. However, the researchers found that the students spent the majority of their time participating in sedentary and light-intensity activities.
For two subsequent program years, the HOP'N program staff trained after-school program leaders to increase physical activity in their programs. Results showed that program leaders could modify the existing activities to include more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity throughout the session.
The findings showed that boys were significantly more active than girls during indoor free play and organized outdoor activities; however, moderate activity levels for both genders were similar. This shows that the girls had lower participation in vigorous-intensity physical activity.
Dzewaltowski said after-school programs can better cater to the interests of genders and provide various activity choices, which could increase physical activity levels, self-efficacy and enjoyment of physical activity.
The results also showed that overweight students were substantially less active than the students who were not overweight during organized outdoor activities, which might be related to differences in aerobic fitness. Dzewaltowski said future research should include understanding the activity preferences of overweight children.
During the baseline year, the researchers also found that there was a significant difference in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity levels recorded during the free play and organized physical activity sessions. Children were more active in free play than when led by adults who were not well trained to promote physical activity.
"After-school program leaders who attempt to provide physical activity through structured games may do more harm than good," Dzewaltowski said. "Leaders should encourage children's natural inclination to move and play to promote physical activity in the after-school time period if there is not opportunity for training to be an effective physical activity leader."
Dzewaltowski said it is important for children in middle school to learn healthy lifestyle behaviors, and the after-school setting is an effective place for obesity prevention. Since many schools do not provide opportunities for physical activity during the school day, the after-school hours provide an opportunity for children to be active without having to change the structure of the school day.
School-based program helps prevent dating violence among teens, especially boys
A school-based program that integrates information about healthy relationships into the existing ninth-grade curriculum appears to reduce adolescent dating violence and increase condom use two and a half years later, according to a report in the August issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. The effects of the low-cost intervention appear stronger in boys.
Approximately one in 10 to one in five high school–aged teens are hit, slapped or beaten by an individual they are dating each year, according to background information in the article. Dating violence among adolescents often leads to intimate partner violence in adulthood and also is associated with injuries, unsafe sex, substance use and suicide attempts.
David A. Wolfe, Ph.D., of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Centre for Prevention Science, London, Ontario, and the University of Toronto, and colleagues in 2004 to 2007 conducted a randomized trial of a 21-lesson curriculum delivered by teachers with special training in the dynamics of dating violence and healthy relationships.
The program, known as the "Fourth R: Skills for Youth Relationships," was taught to 968 students at 10 randomly selected high schools. "Dating violence prevention was integrated with core lessons about healthy relationships, sexual health and substance use prevention using interactive exercises. Relationship skills to promote safer decision making with peers and dating partners were emphasized," they continue. Another 754 students at 10 different schools were assigned to a control group, where similar objectives were targeted but without training or materials.
When the adolescents were surveyed two and a half years later—at the end of grade 11—rates of physical dating violence were greater in the control students (9.8 percent) than in the students who participated in the program (7.4 percent). Although both boys and girls typically perpetrate dating violence, the intervention had a stronger effect on boys; 7.1 percent of boys in the control group and 2.7 percent in the intervention group reported physical dating violence, compared with 12.1 percent of girls in the control group and 11.9 percent of those in the intervention group. Sexually active boys in the program also reported a higher rate of condom use (114 of 168 or 67.9 percent vs. 65 of 111 or 58.6 percent).
Because the program met mandated education requirements in Ontario, no additional class time, scheduling or human resources assistance was needed. The average cost of training and materials was $16 Canadian per student.
"The present evaluation of the Fourth R: Skills for Youth Relationships suggests that methods developed for single-focused interventions (e.g., skills-based, interactive delivery) can be combined effectively from a core relationship perspective. As in related trials, teachers with supplementary training can implement evidence-based prevention programs with sufficient fidelity and effectiveness to garner significant improvements over status quo classroom methods," the authors conclude. "Similar to efforts made with academic subjects, the best policy may involve earlier introduction of these important topics at a lower grade level, with increasing knowledge and practice introduced in core courses throughout high school."
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