A report by Vaughn and others (2012a, 5) identifies research-based practices for supporting
students experiencing difficulty with reading. The practices are summarized here. Many overlap with
the recommendations provided by Gersten and colleagues (2008). Depending upon students’
responses to differentiated first instruction and to initial interventions and depending
upon their particular needs, ages, circumstances, and past experiences, the following
practices result in achievement gains.
- Integrating strategies that support cognitive processing (e.g., self-regulation and memory) with
academic instruction by:
๐ Thinking aloud to demonstrate, for example, approaches to a task and reflections on a text
๐ Teaching students to use self-regulation strategies by, for example, asking what they do
when they do not recognize a word in a text
๐ Teaching students to be metacognitive and to identify and repair breakdowns in
understanding
๐ Teaching explicitly memory enhancement techniques, such as taking notes and using graphic
organizers or other text organizers
๐ Providing task-specific feedback (e.g., “your organizing paragraph in this paper made it clear
what you are addressing throughout, which is very helpful to readers”) rather than person-
directed feedback (e.g., “you are a good writer”) so students attribute success to effort and
behavior rather than personal, fixed abilities - Intensifying instructional delivery by:
๐ Making instruction explicit, which includes clear explanations and teacher modeling
๐ Making instruction systematic, which includes breaking down complex skills into manageable
chunks and sequencing tasks from easier to more difficult with the provision of scaffolding to
control the level of difficulty
๐ Providing students with frequent opportunities to respond and practice with immediate and
precise, task-specific teacher feedback
๐ Providing students with independent practice, appropriately developed so that students
demonstrate mastery of new skills at a high level of success - Increasing instructional time by increasing one or more of the following, as appropriate for
the age, characteristics, needs, and progress of the students while also balancing time for
interventions with time for other curricular areas:
๐ Frequency of intervention (e.g., from three days to five days a week)
๐ Length of instructional sessions (e.g., from 20 minute to 30 minutes per session—age and
engagement of the learner needs to be considered)
๐ Duration of intervention (that is, extend the period of time over which interventions are
delivered from 20 sessions, for example, to 40 sessions)
๐ Ratio of teachers to students by reducing group size
Snapshot 9.3 illustrates one way that a teacher might intensify instructional delivery by making
instruction explicit, including giving clear explanations and modeling a task before students engage in
it themselves.
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