Ask the Expert Tiered Intervention

Lou Danielson

Photograph of Lou Danielson
Lou Danielson
Managing Director
American Institutes for Research

Louis Danielson, a national leader in the field of special education, has been involved in programs that improve results for students with disabilities for over three decades. He brings an unparalleled and unique depth of knowledge in both special education policy and research to his current position as a Managing Director with the American Institutes for Research.

Dr. Danielson was awarded a doctorate of philosophy in educational psychology from Pennsylvania State University. His career spans several roles in education including secondary school science and mathematics teacher, school psychologist, and teaching at the university level. Until recently, Dr. Danielson held leadership roles in the U. S. Office for Special Education Programs and was responsible for the discretionary grants program, including technical assistance and dissemination, personnel preparation, technology, and parent training priorities, state improvement grants. He has served in numerous research and policy roles and has been involved in major school reform activities.

A frequent contributor to professional journals, Dr. Danielson has published extensively in the literature and is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and events focusing on special education. His particular areas of interest include policy implementation and evaluation and scaling up of evidence based practices.

<< Back to Ask the Expert Home

Ask the Expert Your Question!

Question 1: What are some tier two high school interventions assisting students with literacy and helping students stay in school?

There are several tier two interventions that are being used in high schools to assist students with literacy and keeping students in school. Some of them have more information available than others and similarly, they also vary in the magnitude of research that supports them, especially at the high school level. Currently, we know of tier two interventions for literacy, dropout prevention, mathematics, and to address social/behavioral outcomes.

LANGUAGE! (particularly, the 3rd edition, for groups starting at the C level) and READ 180 are two examples of tier two reading interventions that have at least some research at the high school level available. LANGUAGE! is a highly individualized program that was designed for struggling readers. As a supplemental program, it focuses on six strands:

Phonemic Awareness and Phonics,
Word Recognition and Spelling,
Vocabulary and Morphology,
Grammar and Usage,
Listening and Reading Comprehension, and
Speaking and Writing.

In one particular study of LANGUAGE!, the program demonstrated average gains of more than three grades in word identification, spelling, comprehension, and composition, but did not significantly differ from the control group (Green, 1996). READ 180 is another individualized reading intervention By combining technology, print, and professional development. READ 180 incorporates instructional software to assist individual students in developing literacy. This program focuses on fluency and comprehension. This program has demonstrated mixed results in studies using high school level populations (Alvermann & Rush, 2004; White, Haslam, Hewes, 2006). For more on literacy interventions and supporting research, see http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/COI%20Struggling%20Readers.pdf and http://www.betterhighschools.org/docs/Research-Literacy.pdf.

In addition to the literacy programs that we know are in use, Check and Connect (sometimes referred to as Check-In, Check-Out) is a popular tier two intervention for dropout prevention. Some experts in the field have been advocating for it and the What Works Clearinghouse has published an intervention report on the program in which they find that it has positive effects on staying in school and potentially on progressing in school, but it has not shown to be effective in leading students to complete school within four years (What Works Clearinghouse, 2006). Check and Connect is also considered a tier two intervention to address social/behavioral outcomes.

To improve the math skills — which are sometimes thought of as numeracy or literacy in math — of struggling learners, high schools are implementing Renaissance Learning's Accelerated Math and as well as Boost Up math programs. Accelerated Math is a software program that generates individualized assignments for students at all high school grade levels and Boost Up is used for 9th-graders who perform below grade level in high schools with small learning communities (SLCs).

Other tier two interventions that are becoming more widely used include the REWARDS program, the Strategic Instruction Model (SIM), and Content Enhancement Routines (CER). REWARDS was developed by Anita Archer and colleagues as another literacy intervention. SIM is a system of learning strategies for content literacy developed by researchers at the University of Kansas Center for Research on Learning (KUCRL) and CER is geared towards teaching in academically diverse classrooms. More information on SIM and CER can be found at www.kucrl.org.

References

Alvermann, D. E., & Rush, L. S. (2004). Literacy intervention programs at the middle and high school levels. In T. L. Jetton & J. A. Dole (Eds.), Adolescent literacy research and practice. New York: Guilford Press.

Green, J. F. (1996). Effects of an individualized structured language curriculum. Annals of Dyslexia, 46(1), 97-121.

What Works Clearinghouse. (2006). Intervention report, Financial incentives for teen parents to stay in school. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

White, R. N., Haslam, M. B., & Hewes, G. M. (2006). Improving student literacy in the Phoenix Union High School District 2003-04 and 2004-05: Final report. Washington, DC: Policy Studies Associates, Inc.

Disclaimer

It is important to note that the National High School Center does not endorse particular programs or practices.

<< Go Back