THE EFFECTS OF DIRECT READING

INTERVENTIONS IN CORE CONTENT AREAS ON

COMPREHENSION AND OVERALL ACADEMIC
GROWTH
MAY, 2015
DOUGLAS VAN PELT
CENTRAL CITY HIGH SCHOOL

CHAPTER ONE LOCAL COMMUNITY

The Center of It All
Lone Tree
2,978 residents
County seat of Merrick
County
Nebraskas First Showcase
Community
Intersection of Lincoln
Highway (HWY 30) and
Nebraska HWY 14
Irrigation capital of
Nebraska

CHAPTER ONE AREA SCHOOL

DISTRICTS
Central City Public
Class III; pre-K thru 12
730 students
62 certificated staf

Nebraska Christian
Class IV; pre-K thru 12
204 students
22 certificated staf

CHAPTER ONE PROJECT SCHOOL

BUILDING
9-12 High School
212 students
98.11% graduation
36% F&R students
16% SPED students
7.99% HAL
students
96% Caucasian
9.5% mobility rate

CHAPTER ONE SCHOOL CULTURE

COLLEGE AND CAREER
PREPARATION

25 EXTRA-CURRICULAR
PROGRAMS

College & Career Fair

College visits
Dual-credit classes

Fine arts, speech, drama

Athletic opportunities
Clubs & Associations

CHAPTER ONE CENTRAL CITY HIGH

SCHOOL CURRICULUM

11 Departments
89 on-site class oferings
9 dual-credit or of-site classes
Independent learning and
research opportunities in 7
curricular areas
230 classroom hours required
for graduation
Summer school; Alternative
Education programs
Dual-Platforms for students =
75 Apple laptops and 100 PC
desktops
Microsoft and Google software
packages

CHAPTER TWO - PROBLEM STATEMENT

District SIP Goal

Project Team Goal

Students of Central
City Public Schools will
improve the lifelong
skill of reading
comprehension in all
curricular areas.

To determine if
reading
comprehension and
content engagement
strategies decrease
the number of 9th and
10th grade students
retaking social studies
courses.

CHAPTER TWO PROBLEM ANALYSIS

BEHAVIORAL ISSUES:

Poor attendance
Office Referrals
Ineligible for extracurricular activities
Poor submission of
assigned work

ACADEMIC ISSUES:

Poor grades
Poor organization
Lack of motivation
Lack of responsibility

CHAPTER TWO SELECTED DATA

Data Sources:

EXCELLENCE

PROFICIENT

Daily Attendance summary

Weekly Eligibility List
Office Referral Summary
sheet
Weekly Missing
Assignments List
TerraNova/MAPS
assessment scores
American History Unit IV
quiz scores
GORT pre-intervention/postintervention scores

ACCEPTABLE

CHAPTER THREE - RESEARCH

WHAT IS BEING DONE
LOCALLY?

Professional development
Comprehension
interventions
Reading interventions
Behavioral interventions
Societal interventions

WHAT IS BEING DONE

GLOBALLY?

Department of Education
Educational Service Unit
ASCD Educational
Leadership
Education World
Marzano Academy

CHAPTER THREE MARZANO ACADEMY

CHAPTER TWO:

Interacting with new

knowledge

CHAPTER FIVE:

Engaging students

CHAPTER FOUR - GOALS

Problem Statement:

Learning Goals:

The failure rate in the first two years

of enrollment at Central City High
School core Social Studies classes has
been higher than desired and the
attempts to correct this concern have
been only marginally efective up to
this point. CCHS staf have
determined that reading
comprehension may be part of the
problem and that an applied section
for identified freshmen and
sophomores with alternative
instruction and best practice reading
comprehension interventions might
help students become more
successful.

Developing an applied section

with unique interventions and
alternative instructional
strategies to replace one of the
three current sections of both
American and World History
would allow the social studies
department to provide additional
directed support for the targeted
students, which, will result in
improved reading
comprehension, better content
knowledge retention and better
quarterly scores.

CHAPTER FOUR ACTION PLAN

STRATEGIES:
WRITING TO READ
LITERATURE CIRCLES
CORRECTIVE READING
VISUAL LEARNING
OBJECTIVES (VLOS)
QUESTIONING
CHUNKING

MEASUREMENT:
NeSA Reading scores
TerraNova/MAPS
Attendance reports
Eligibility reports
AH Unit IV quiz scores
GORT Pre-test scores
GORT Post-test scores

CHAPTER FOUR - INTERVENTIONS

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

INTERVENTIONS USED:
Stem questions
Historical fiction
Historical inference
Journal entries
Instructional modeling
Cloze reading
Partner reading
Literature studio
Eyewitness diaries
Graphic organizers
Gallery walk
Artifact creation

CHAPTER FOUR ACTION REPORT

CHALLENGES:

Sample group
consistency
Lack of prior
knowledge/skills
Loss of instructional
time weather,
illness, extra-curricular
activities

SUCCESSES:

Improvement in
engagement
Improvement in
attendance
Improvement in
content quiz scores
Improvement in GORT
scores

CHAPTER FIVE - RESULTS

AMERICAN HISTORY:
UNIT IV - THE 1930S

Jan. 6, 2015 to Mar. 11,

2015
1st Period class = 14
students

MODES OF
MEASUREMENT
GORT pre-test v. post-test
Missing assignment
comparison from first
semester
Class averages from past
three years of Unit IV quiz
scores
Daily attendance
percentages
Number of student office
referrals

CHAPTER FIVE OBSERVABLE THEMES

BEHAVIORAL:
Improved engagement
8% decrease in office
referrals
92% attendance
84% on-time submission
rate no change

ACADEMIC:
37% of students
improved GORT reading
comprehension score
62% of students
improved GORT fluency
score
7% Unit IV quiz score
improvement

CHAPTER SIX - CONCLUSIONS

DIFFERENTIATED
MODALITIES:

NO PERMISSION TO
FAIL:

CHAPTER SIX RECOMMENDATIONS

AND REFLECTIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Share data with colleagues
Integrate interventions into
additional classrooms
Intensively incorporate
additional reading &
writing opportunities
Explore alternative
activities

REFLECTIONS:

Data-development
Focus
Communication
Collaboration
Involvement of Curriculum,
Instruction, and
Assessment

THATS ALL FOLKS!!!

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH FOR TAKING A FEW MOMENTS TO

WATCH MY PRESENTATION AND FOR ALL YOU DO FOR KIDS!!!