What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction - International ...

• How can we apply research-validated practices to support
students who are experiencing difficulty in school?
Key vocabulary
• Early intervention: “Programs designed to positively influence
the course of language and literacy development in children
age 0–8” (p. 70); action taken to decrease the chance of a child
needing reading remediation at a later date
• Response to Intervention (RTI): A means and framework for
providing intervention to children at risk for school failure, and
an alternative to IQ-achievement discrepancy for identifying
children with learning disabilities
Materials
For each participant:
✓ Chapter 4 of What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction
✓ Background reading on RTI (e.g., you can select from “Implications
of RTI for the Reading Teacher” by Timothy Shanahan or
“Introduction to Response to Intervention: What, Why, and How
Valid Is It?” by Douglas Fuchs and Lynn Fuchs, available at
www.reading.org)
✓ Learning log
For you:
✓ Materials from or descriptions of intervention programs at use in
your school
✓ Semantic Feature Analysis matrix (one for each small group; see
Appendix)
Session Activities
Initiating learning
Open the session with a brief overview and discussion of prevention
and intervention materials at use in your school.
As a prereading activity, mind streaming (Santa, Havens, &
Valdes, 2004) helps learners activate background knowledge.
1. Group members should find a partner.
From the Professional Development Edition of What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction
(3rd ed.), © 2009 International Reading Association.
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