High-quality support and resources for the middle grades
Meadows Center for Preventing Educational RiskMCPER’s Middle School Matters Institute (MSMI) is collaborating with San Angelo Independent School District in San Angelo, Texas, to provide professional development for teachers, paraprofessionals, instructional coaches, counselors, and administrators who serve students in fourth to ninth grades…
Cook, C. R., Volpe, R. J., & Livanis, A. (2010). Constructing a roadmap for future universal screening research beyond academics. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 35(4), 197-205.
Duffy, H. (2007). Meeting the Needs of Significantly Struggling Learners in High School: A Look at Approaches to Tiered Intervention. National High School Center.
Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., & Compton, D. L. (2010). Rethinking response to intervention at middle and high school. School Psychology Review, 39(1), 22-28.
Gersten, R., Beckmann, S., Clarke, B., Foegen, A., Marsh, L., Star, J. R., & Witzel, B. (2009). Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Response to Intervention (RtI) for Elementary and Middle Schools. NCEE 2009-4060. What Works Clearinghouse.
Johnson, E. S., & Smith, L. (2008). Implementation of response to intervention at middle school: Challenges and potential benefits. Teaching Exceptional Children, 40(3), 46.
Keller-Margulis, M. A., Shapiro, E. S., & Hintze, J. M. (2008). Long-term diagnostic accuracy of curriculum-based measures in reading and mathematics. School Psychology Review, 37(3), 374.
Lane, K. L., Parks, R. J., Kalberg, J. R., & Carter, E. W. (2007). Systematic Screening at the Middle School Level Score Reliability and Validity of the Student Risk Screening Scale. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 15(4), 209-222.
Lembke, E. S., Hampton, D., & Beyers, S. J. (2012). Response to intervention in mathematics: Critical elements. Psychology in the Schools, 49(3), 257-272.
VanDerHeyden, A. M., & Burns, M. K. (2005). Using curriculum-based assessment and curriculum-based measurement to guide elementary mathematics instruction: Effect on individual and group accountability scores. Assessment for Effective Intervention, 30(3), 15-31.
Description: Highly interactive and informal sessions designed to spark new ideas and connect you with the resources you need! This is your chance to consult with the experts, view live demonstrations, and gather free tools and resources from a variety of projects at the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk at UT Austin. Focus on the topics of most interest to you, learn at your own pace, and be prepared to fill our toolkit with high quality resources that you’ll want to share with your colleagues back home.
Building Capacity for Response to Intervention
RTI is an instructional approach or framework that identifies students who have gaps in learning or behavior, and immediately provides them with increasingly intense levels of interventions until the gaps are closed.
Contact is Pam Bell and Kathleen Walker
Project AIM: Algebra-Readiness Mathematics Intervention for Middle School Students
The purpose of AIM is to develop a Tier II mathematics intervention for students in middle school. The team will write, revise, and test 8 to 10 modules, each containing 15 to 20 lessons, over 3 years in Texas and Missouri. The intervention lessons will be vetted in “authentic” classrooms, allowing results to be generalized across different groups of students.
Contact is Diane Bryant
Project GOAL: Preventing Dropout Among At-Risk Youth
This project will determine the effects of an individualized reading intervention and a dropout prevention intervention separately and in combination with adolescent English learners (ELs) who are struggling readers and are at risk for school dropout.
Contact is Kelly Williams
Write for Texas
The Write for Texas collection of resources is available to all secondary English language arts and reading and content area teachers to support effective writing instruction. The resources include critical background knowledge, activities, and videos that relate to the guiding principles of effective writing instruction. Participants learn and apply teaching techniques to support all students in writing.
Contact is Ellie Hanlon
Reading is an essential skill for every subject area. Thus, it is vital to establish a school culture that recognizes that every teacher is a reading teacher. Effective reading instructional practices include supporting students’ ability to self-monitor comprehension and develop word knowledge and providing evidence-based interventions to students who struggle to learn to read.
Principle 1: Establish schoolwide practices for enhancing reading for understanding in all content area instruction.
Principle 2: Teach word-meaning strategies within content area classes.
Principle 3: Activate and build appropriate background knowledge for understanding text content.
Principle 4: Teach students to use reading comprehension strategies while reading complex text.
Principle 5: Provide intensive reading interventions to students with reading problems.
Principle 6: Guide students during text-related oral and written activities that support the interpretation, analysis, and summarization of text.
Principle 7: Maximize opportunities for students to read and connect a range of texts.
Principle 8: Organize students into collaborative groups for reading tasks.
Principle 9: Discontinue using practices that are NOT associated with improved outcomes for students.
Educators are expected to use research and evidence to make important decisions about practices and programs to ensure that teaching and learning are effective. But as Dr. Mark Dynarski of Pemberton Research points out, “Educators often hear confusing and conflicting messages about what works, what to do, or what not to do.”
Students of educators who use programs and practices that are not based on research will learn. But research-based practices—practices that have been tested and found to work—can improve instruction and accelerate learning for all students, including struggling students and English learners.
In 2010, top researchers and practitioners from across the country convened to review a range of research studies conducted in the middle grades. Findings from the best available (i.e., most rigorous) research in key areas (e.g., reading, student behavior supports, dropout prevention) were translated into practical strategies for middle grade teachers and school administrators. Ultimately, a list of essential principles and practices for improving student achievement and classroom instruction was developed. Updated in 2015, the principles and practices in nine key areas are fully described and illustrated in the Middle School Matters Field Guide, Second Edition.