Creating a Systematic Approach for Secondary Interventions

Today's post is brought to you by Carrie.

Part of my role as a district Literacy Specialist includes working as an interventionist at the high school level. Through being a part of the RtI (Response to Intervention) teams at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, I've come to recognize the ways that the process can change based on the needs and ages of the group of students. Unfortunately, RtI seems to come last and least frequently to students the older they get, mostly because of the lack of resources and materials available for these needy students. For this reason, I find myself working even more diligently to create a systematic intervention system specifically designed to meet the needs of high school learners. Over the past two years, I've found the most unique challenges to secondary interventions include: overcoming the “it’s too late” mindset, finding a system to use as an intervention, and determining what constitutes as success.

First and foremost in secondary intervention is defeating the attitude that has been a part of these students’ identities for many years. The students, parents, and even some teachers find themselves thinking that maybe this student will never be a successful reader. This stereotype is frustrating and counter-productive. Within the intervention system, I work to find a way to begin to change this identity. One of the largest factors of this mindshift has included a pre-teach of classroom standards. Weekly, I sit down with the classroom teachers to discuss the upcoming “power” standard for the week. We determine what will be the most important skill we want our students to know and be able to do proficiently be the end of our instruction. Using a pre-assessment, I then measure where my students are on that specific standard and work, using the data, to fill in gaps of learning for that standard. The pre-teach method gives students some confidence in the classroom by providing early exposure to language, skills, and strategies. In this way, intervention students become productive group members and active learners in the classroom. This strategy works to dispel the stereotype or label many of these students have carried for numerous years, and leads to more confidence and increased success in the classroom.

Second, I work to be sure that the high school intervention approach is systematic. Often, students in the secondary level find themselves exposed to “random acts of intervention” due to scheduling issues, lack of appropriate data, or lack of an intervention system. As mentioned above, I use a pre-assessment/pre-teaching method. This works because it also allows for a true “double-dose” of instruction. If a student does not demonstrate mastery of a standard throughout the intervention time, a teacher is able to use that standard for additional guided instruction during the classroom setting as well. A post-assessment of the standard indicates to the interventionist and the teacher if the student is able to apply the skill independently and ready to move on to a new standard. Using a standards-based intervention approach has also provided a framework for interventions because it is the language, skills, and strategies that are applicable to the material being taught in the classroom. It is not an additional book, different vocabulary term, or new strategy; instead, the intervention is focused around the objectives and the “I Can” statements of the standard.

Finally, the third obstacle in secondary interventions is the determination of what constitutes success. In high school, there are many definitions of the word “success.” For example, it may mean passing an English class to earn the credit in order to graduate; it can mean refining reading and writing skills to earn a proficient score in the Reading or English sections of the ACT or Accuplacer test; or, it can mean gaining reading and writing skills to allow for successful employment or post-secondary schooling. Unlike the elementary or even middle school, there is no magic level or lexile to determine if a student has now become an “on-grade level” reader. For this reason, I challenge high school RtI teams to have frank discussions about the purpose of their interventions, and then tailor instruction to meet the needs of those students who qualify for that purpose. If the intervention is preparing students for a class or test, then the intervention should include direct instruction to allow students to be successful at those things. If the purpose is for students to be able to be employable, then the intervention approach should look differently. Either way a high school RtI team needs to be sure to identify the purpose of the intervention and then create a class roster of students most needing that specific intervention. A melting pot of needy “skill” students and unmotivated “will” students sets the intervention, teacher, and students up for failure.

When working with high school intervention students, I become extremely passionate about how to best fit the needs of these learners. Keeping in mind that these students will be the students who will shortly be out in the “real world,” I maintain the perspective of giving the students the skills and strategies they most need to truly be successful.