Interventions in English Language Arts
The state’s Essential Program Component (EPC) #8 for school improvement has two parts:
- Part one covers interventions for English language arts (ELA). It calls for schools or school districts to provide (a) State Board of Education (SBE) adopted intervention programs, offered as a separate, extended period class, for all students requiring intensive intervention in ELA (i.e., those who are unable to demonstrate proficiency in sixth-grade standards); and (b) appropriate instructional strategies for those students requiring strategic intervention (i.e., students who are at or above the sixth-grade reading/language arts standards but who would probably be unable to pass the ELA portion of the California High School Exit Examination (CAHSEE).
- Part two covers interventions for mathematics.1 Please refer to next section in this chapter for more about interventions for mathematics.
The effectiveness of the ELA intervention program depends on how well instruction matches what students are missing, such as how to analyze sounds, knowledge of phonics rules or syllable types, and strategies for applying what they know. The goal is to accelerate student learning so that they reach grade level.
A study on adolescent learners found that the most effective reading intervention programs have the following components:
- Adequate training for all teachers who teach the programs.
- Teacher coaching and ongoing classroom support.
- Knowledgeable leaders able to monitor and support instruction.
- Appropriate student placement and scheduling with student-teacher ratios and time blocks that adhere to program guidelines.
- Appropriate progress monitoring and diagnostic assessments.
- Regular time to analyze student assessment data and plan immediate interventions to address both student needs and teacher support needs.2
Although individual situations differ, researchers point to some specific reasons for persistent reading difficulties which is a problem that hampers students in all other academic areas.
- Many middle grades students were once assigned as younger students to remedial reading programs that focused on skills worksheets at the expense of purposeful, strategic reading experiences.
- Students who do not read well lose motivation. As a result, they read less and consequently do not get any better at reading.
- Grade-level school textbooks alone cannot help the most inexperienced readers. Struggling readers might actually choose to read more if they had access to readable, high-interest texts.
- To make progress, many students need continued instruction in reading beyond the elementary grades. Unfortunately, as they progress into middle and high school, the amount of instruction and support for reading and writing actually decreases.3
Data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (Outside Source), billed as the nation's report card, show that the typical thirteen-year-old could read no better in the 2003-04 school year than the student's counterpart five years earlier. California’s eighth-grade scores improved in all measures, but they did not match national averages.4
Technology applications for ELA interventions. Teachers can use reading remediation programs including interactive online readers, television captioning, spelling programs, and tape recorders for students to read along while hearing the words spoken. Technology standards are embedded in the English-Language Arts Content Standards for California Public Schools Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve (PDF; 548.44KB; 92pp) and in the California Career Technical Education Model Curriculum Standards Grades Seven Through Twelve (PDF; 2.13MB; 441pp.).
Related Links
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Interventions for Bilingual Students
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Interventions in Mathematics
Footnotes
1Lesson and course pacing schedule (K-8) and master schedule flexibility for sufficient numbers of intervention courses, Essential Program Component #8, California Department of Education Web site.
2Linda J. Diamond, "Triage for Struggling Adolescent Readers", (Outside Source), The School Administrator, April 2006.
3Gay Ivey and Douglas Fisher, Creating Literacy-Rich Schools for Adolescents, Alexandria, Va.: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2006.
4History of NAEP Participation and Performance, State Profiles, (Outside Source), IES, National Center for Education Statistics.
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