AZ Response to Intervention (RTI)

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Social Studies

AZ Response to Intervention (RTI)

Overview

A comprehensive system of academic supports in the social studies ensures that all students receive high-quality instruction in the general education classroom setting and immediate support for students who are beginning to struggle. The tiered levels within the RTI model provide for a continuum of instructional supports for students. The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) has defined social studies as "the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities to promote civic competence” (NCSS, 1994). Therefore, all students are given the Universal Level (Tier 1) supports to insure that the social studies education needed to achieve the levels of civic effectiveness that the nation requires of its citizens is provided. RTI always incorporates high-quality instruction. All students are provided a rigorous, standards-based, social studies curriculum. According to NCSS, the curriculum provides strategies and activities that engage students with significant ideas, encourages them to connect what they are learning to their prior knowledge and to current issues, to think critically and creatively about what they are learning, and to apply that learning to authentic situations (NCSS, 1994). A primary component of a comprehensive system of instructional support in social studies requires an evaluation of the quality of instruction in the general education setting, including culturally responsive practices for students from culturally and linguistically diverse

backgrounds. Through frequent progress monitoring and data-based decision making, students at risk for academic failure are identified as Targeted Level (Tier 2) and provided extra support. Extra support for targeted small groups and or individuals can occur before, during, and after instruction and will depend upon the diverse needs of the students. For a small percentage of students whose progress is still insufficient, Intensive Level (Tier 3) supports may be required. This document describes in more detail the following components of a system of academic supports:

• Research Based Assessment System

• Data Based Decisions

• Curriculum, Instruction and Strategies

• Professional Development

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RTI: Social Studies 2

Research Based Assessment System

Response to Intervention (RTI) is an instructional approach that incorporates universal screening assessment for all students. Universal screening is a process of reviewing student performance through formal and/or informal assessment measures to determine progress related directly to student learning. Based on the screening, immediate support can be provided to students who are beginning to struggle.

Effective systems of social studies assessment includes formative and summative assessment aligned to learning objectives and the state standard as an integral part of instruction. Effective assessment systems inform the teacher and the student with relevant and timely feedback that is related to explicit learning goals and help to identify learning needs and ways to adjust instruction to increase learning.

Characteristics of Effective Assessment

• Aligned to the state standard

• Related to explicit learning goals

• Integrated into instruction and learning tasks

• Demonstrated student knowledge of the content big ideas

• Demonstrated student understanding in varying contexts

• Identified student misconceptions

• Asked that student efforts resemble or simulate the work done by the discipline

• Assessed student ability to use a repertoire of knowledge and skill to negotiate a complex and multistage task (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).

In the social studies classroom, the assessment of learning during instruction (e.g., progress monitoring) or formative assessment requires ongoing evaluation of student performance:

• Progress monitoring consists of the frequent administration of brief inquiries or tests that provide immediate feedback on skills currently being taught.

• Progress monitoring allows teachers to assess student learning immediately and to implement changes based on each student’s data.

Formative assessment in social studies refers to any number of ways that we can uncover student ideas/knowledge about concepts important to the unit being taught in order to adjust our instruction to the needs of the students. We are collecting evidence of understanding of the key elements or big ideas of the social studies concept in order to focus teaching and learning. In the same way that teachers differentiate instruction to meet the diverse needs of students, they should also use a wide variety of assessment techniques and methods to ascertain if students are learning. Effective social studies assessment requires higher-order thinking, writing, and connecting school knowledge to applications in the world outside of school. This model of social studies assessment would allow for students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills in a variety of ways, such as portfolios, performance assessments, written reports, and research projects (Checkley, 2008).

These assessments can be as simple as a quick check for understanding during or after instruction or a formal assignment or quiz. Whichever format is used, immediate, descriptive feedback must be given and instructional change, if needed, must occur as a result. Other benefits which can occur from teachers’ checking for understanding are:

• Identifying and confronting misconceptions that can interfere with learning

• Improving overall learning

• Providing students with a model of good study skills – how to monitor their own understanding

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The assessment of learning after instruction (e.g., through a unit test, a chapter quiz, an annual achievement test) is referred to as summative assessment:

• Tests and quizzes are given frequently and are typically used to help assign grades, but often they do not help to inform or change current instruction.

• District assessments in social studies may be given and are typically given at the end of a unit/chapter, quarter or once a year.

• The end of quarter or other periodic assessments can provide valuable information on future instruction and student performance.

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in social studies content areas. NAEP assessments are conducted periodically in civics, U.S. history, economics, and geography. Information reported from past NAEP tests can provide valuable information to guide school or district-wide decision-making in the area of social studies.

NAEP provides results on subject-matter achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment for populations of students (e.g., all fourth-graders) and groups within those populations (e.g., female students, Hispanic students). NAEP does not provide scores for individual students or schools, although state NAEP can report results by selected large urban districts. NAEP results are based on representative samples of students at grades 4, 8, and 12 for the main assessments, or samples of students at ages 9, 13, or 17 years for the long-term trend assessments. These grades and ages were chosen because they represent critical junctures in academic achievement.

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Data Based Decisions

Data based decision making is the collection, management, analysis, and utilization of relevant data to make informed decisions. Data is a critical and required component of RTI decision making. Data is used to determine which students are in need of intervention, the type of intervention needed, and whether the intervention is improving students’ understanding and knowledge of social studies content and skills. This process is utilized at the school, classroom and student levels within a system of academic supports, guiding the necessary system

changes as well as student interventions. Key features of effective data based decisions:

Data sources are varied, and include content and skills data.

• Data are accurate, valid, and easy to collect.

• Data are presented in user-friendly format (e.g., graph format).

• Training is provided in collecting and using data in decision making.

• A team approach is used.

• Analysis clearly indicates whether gains are being achieved and the actions that should occur next (Sugai, 2007).

Since state level testing of social studies is not required in Arizona, teachers must rely on district benchmarks (if available), school, or classroom level data for analysis of universal screening results. In most cases, the universal screening will be at the classroom level. Teachers will establish the benchmarks related to student learning that will determine when individuals or groups of students require intervention. Because the skills of reading and writing are important to the study of social studies in a standards-based educational system, data from student Reading and Writing AIMS testing can also give valuable information about student performance.

There are also certain demographic indicators that may affect student learning in the classroom. Information concerning students such as attendance and/or behavior and student

characteristics such as ethnicity, language or disability status, (i.e., the needs of diverse learners) are all data that should be considered when determining appropriate strategies for prevention and intervention in the social studies program.

Nationally, additional information on social studies achievement, instructional experiences, and school environment for populations of students (e.g., all fourth-graders) and groups within those populations (e.g., female students, Hispanic students, etc.) can be accessed through NAEP Summary Reports and may aid in giving information concerning the conditions impacting student learning of targeted groups.

The primary sources of data needed for implementing a system of academic support for students in the social studies content area include the following:

Universal Level (Tier 1)

• Universal screening by a review of student performance through formal and/or informal assessment measures

• Formative assessment data collected during instruction time

• Summative assessment data collected periodically throughout the year

• Teacher observation data

• Data for evaluating the fidelity of implementation of a standards-based social studies program

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Targeted Level (Tier 2)

• Summative assessment data collected periodically throughout the year

• Student demographic data

• Data for evaluating the fidelity of implementation of interventions in a standards-based social studies program

Intensive Level (Tier 3)

• Student demographic data

• Data for evaluating the fidelity of implementation of interventions in a standards-based social studies program

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Curriculum, Instruction and Strategies

Curriculum in social studies focuses on the academic content and skills students need to know and be able to do. Instruction centers on how the content and skills are taught. The goal of social studies instruction is to help all students master the knowledge, procedures, and skills of the discipline. The content and skills to be taught are determined by The Arizona Social Studies Standard Articulated by Grade Level.

The Arizona Social Studies Standard contains content from several disciplines. Each discipline has national content standards which connect to the Arizona Standard. These are the

Curriculum Standards for Social Studies developed by the National Council for the Social

Studies, the Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics made available by the National Council for Economic Education, Geography for Life National Geography Standards, the

National Standards for History developed by the National Center for History in the Schools, and the National Standards for Civics and Government by the Center for Civic Education.

The Civic Mission of Schools report highlights the status of and need for civic learning in schools, kindergarten through 12th grade. Research shows that schools and teachers can help to develop competent and responsible citizens when they:

• Provide instruction in government, history, law, and democracy

• Incorporate discussion of current local, national, and international issues and events into the classroom, particularly those that young people view as important to their lives

• Design and implement programs that provide students with the opportunity to apply what they learn through performing community service that is linked to the formal curriculum and classroom instruction

• Offer extracurricular activities that provide opportunities for young people to get involved in their schools or communities

• Encourage student participation in school governance

• Encourage students’ participation in simulations of democratic processes and procedures (Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools, 2004).

Characteristics of Social Studies Curricula That Support Student Learning

• Are organized around big ideas (i.e., problem-solution-effect, multiple perspectives, and environmental influences on a people’s culture) which learned in one context are

applicable in multiple contexts

• Explicitly introduce the concepts which are unified by a big idea

• Ensure that all students possess the requisite background knowledge for deep understanding of the content

• Include oral reading, concept organizers, and application questions as part of mediated scaffolding

• Encourage critical and creative thinking

• Effectively review content as an integral and meaningful part of later lessons

• Encourage students to connect what they are learning to current issues and to apply their knowledge to the world outside of school

• Cumulatively review for student transfer and generalization of information (Kame’enui, Carnine, Dixon, Simmons, & Coyne, 2002 and NCSS, 2008).

Effective Strategies for Social Studies Instruction

Literacy makes it possible for students to master content, therefore the teaching of reading and writing can be integrated into and supported by social studies. Social studies texts and other reading materials are often difficult for students needing intervention, as well as other students. Teachers should be knowledgeable about their students’ content area literacy needs and

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strengths, about the demands of the content texts, and about the support necessary for struggling students to learn from them. Teachers must know how to select accessible texts for social studies learning while helping students develop strategies and knowledge that will allow them to engage with more challenging texts.

Not all literacy skills can be easily transferred from one content area to another. Students need knowledge and reasoning processes that are discipline specific, that is, an introduction to the ways in which the experts (historians, geographers, economists, and political scientists) look at their work, investigate it, and communicate with one another. Evidence shows that when students need help developing fluency, increasing their vocabulary, or learning reading

comprehension strategies, these needs are best met by reading, writing, and talking about rich social studies content, not by working with isolated skills. By embedding literacy instruction in their curriculum and by appropriate scaffolding to meet the needs of individual students, teachers can make social studies content accessible to all.

Teachers in middle and high school level social studies classrooms can support their students’ comprehension by explicit instruction of individual strategies, and by teaching for self-regulated strategy use. Several research-supported comprehension strategies include:

• Question asking and answering

• Clarifying a purpose for reading

• Activating prior knowledge

• Making predictions about text

• Attending to text structure

• Creating summaries (oral, written, and visual)

• Monitoring comprehension

• Using fix-it strategies (Neufeld, 2005).

Effective content area literacy instruction is equally important in the elementary level social studies classroom. If students are to meet the demands of the future, they need authentic experiences with expository texts from the early grades on. Research shows that elementary teachers can support content literacy by:

• Integrating literacy instruction with social studies

• Providing access to multiple text types and time to read them

• Helping students become strategic readers and writers of informational text

• Involving students in inquiry-based experiences

• Developing expertise in teaching students about non-narrative texts (Moss, 2005). The content language of social studies presents a challenge as much of the vocabulary is limited to the social studies domain. Vocabulary that students often encounter in social studies classes is infrequently used in daily life or other content area classes. In social studies, students need a thorough understanding of vocabulary because the words are often labels for important concepts, and retention of these word meanings is critical to the learning of subsequent

concepts. Research shows that direct, systematic, and explicit instruction is an effective method to assure learning. Suggested social studies vocabulary instructional strategies are:

• Structural and word origin analysis (many social studies terms have Latin and Greek roots that lend themselves to word study activities)

• Categorization using the acronym PEP (person, event, or place)

• General instructional strategies for teaching vocabulary (i.e., prereading, contextual approaches, and multiple exposures to new words through a variety of exercises) (Harmon, Hedrick, & Wood, 2005).

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Students at the universal, targeted, and intensive levels should have access to a variety of texts. Textbooks provide one perspective on a topic; alternative texts introduce different voices to the classroom, offering enriched views, and enhancing critical literacy. Alternative texts of varying reading levels provide intervention support when drawn from many genres and sources, such as contemporary magazines, web sites, children’s books, young adult novels, song lyrics, cartoons, and primary source documents (Braunger, Donahue, Evans, & Galguers, 2005).

Effective strategies for English Language Learners

The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) Content Specialists offer a non-inclusive list of ten suggested strategies for language learning in social studies classrooms, found on the ADE Social Studies Resource Page. These intervention strategies, such as pre-teaching reading assignments, can be used for targeted and intensive levels of support, as well as used for effective classroom instruction for all students.

• Pre-teach reading assignments

• Use of context clues

• Use of word banks

• Use of rehearsal strategies

• Support of student note taking

• Role playing

• Use of primary source material and artifacts

• Jigsaw learning

• Use of graphic organizers

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The diagram below shows the curricula and other supports most commonly utilized within the three-tier framework.

Intensive Level of Supports (Tier 3)

• Intensive academic support

• Standards‐based social studies curriculum

• Students may receive evaluation for

identification of a learning disability based on

their progress monitoring data

Targeted Level of Supports (Tier 2)

• Increased academic support

• Team identifies academic problem; determines

its cause; then develops, implements, and

evaluates a plan to address the problem

• Variety of interventions, based on student’s

needs and performance data

• Interventions are flexible and individualized to

meet student’s needs

• Frequent progress monitoring is conducted to

assess struggling students’ performance levels

and rates of improvement

Universal Level of Supports (Tier 1)

• All students given a brief screening measure one to three times per year to identify students at risk for academic failure

• Effective classroom instruction with validated

strategies

• Frequent progress monitoring is conducted to

assess struggling students’ performance levels

and rates of improvement

Tier 3

Intensive Level (Few students,

high‐risk)

Tier 2 Targeted Level (Some students, at‐

risk)

Tier 1

Universal Level

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Professional Development

Professional development is a key component in an effective system of academic supports to ensure that students are learning. Success is dependent upon utilization of qualified and

experienced professionals to lead district and school teams through development of knowledge and skills. A vital element of effective professional development is that it is tailored to the social studies content knowledge and skills needs of the individual teacher. Effective professional development will address the characteristics of high quality social studies teaching.

Characteristics of High Quality Social Studies Teaching

The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) presents instructional principles to achieve the levels of civic efficacy that the nation requires of its citizens. These principles state that teaching and learning in social studies are powerful when they are:

• meaningful,

• integrative,

• value-based,

• challenging, and

• active (NCSS, 2008).

In order for teachers to support student growth to achieve civic efficacy, they must deepen their knowledge. Effective professional development impacts teachers and their practice, and bridges teacher actions and interactions with what we know about high quality social studies teaching and learning.

There are elements of professional development that make it effective at improving student learning in social studies.

Characteristics of Effective Social Studies Professional Development:

• Simulates the classroom experience and meets the standards for authentic instruction (higher-order thinking, depth of knowledge, connectedness to the world beyond the classroom, reasoning processes that are discipline specific, substantive conversation, and social support for student achievement)

• Strengthens and increases teachers’ pedagogy and content knowledge (i.e., identifying misconceptions, broadening knowledge base)

• Models the process of differentiation and intervention so that classrooms are responsive to and serve all needs (i.e., differentiated instruction for all students, structured English immersion for ELL’s, meeting the needs of the gifted and/or academically advanced students, program modification for special needs students)

• Assists teachers to develop engaging and active lessons and activities as well as performance-based assessments by use of the backward-design, teaching-for-understanding model

• Provides collaboration and job-embedded professional development

• Demonstrates teaching and learning with technology, using engaging multimedia programs adapted to each student’s learning style

• Affords opportunities to learn to use resources well to secure students’ mental

engagement (i.e., nonfiction text excerpts, literature, interactive Web sites, and primary sources such as video clips, recorded speeches, and historical photographs)

• Imparts grouping strategies for management of intervention, such as whole group introduction of social studies’ big ideas, followed by small group or paired work

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• Is supported by school leaders willing to modify policies and procedures to ensure sustained, ongoing professional development in targeting levels of support

• Supplies time and opportunity for self-reflection as the teacher becomes more responsive to varying needs of intervention support in the social studies classroom (AHA, 2008; Checkly, 2008; and Tomlinson,1999).

References

American Historical Association. (2008). Benchmarks for professional development in teaching of history as a discipline. Retrieved May 14, 2009, from

http://www.historians.org/teaching/policy/benchmarks.htm

Braunger,J, Donahue, D, Evans, K, and Galguera, T. (2005). Rethinking preparation for content area teaching: The reading apprenticeship approach. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.

Campaign for the civic mission of schools: Educating for democracy: A long-term effort to renew and elevate civic learning in our nation’s schools. (2004). Retrieved April 6, 2009, from

http://civicmissionofschools.org/cmos/site/resources/sixpromisingapproaches.html

Checkley, K (2008). The essentials of social studies, grades K-8: Effective curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Hammon, J., Hedrick, W., and Wood, K. (2005) Research on vocabulary instruction in the content areas: Implications for struggling readers. Reading & Writing Quarterly. Taylor & Francis, Inc.

Kame’enui, C., Carnine, D., Dixon, R., Simmons, D., Coyne, M. (2002). Effective teaching strategies that accommodate diverse learners. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.

Moss, B. (2005). Making a case and a place for effective content area literacy instruction in the elementary grades. The Reading Teacher, 59(1), 46-55.

National Council for the Social Studies Task Force on Standards for Teaching and Learning in the Social Studies. (2008). A vision of powerful teaching and learning in the social studies: Building social understanding and civic efficacy. Retrieved April 6, 2009, from

http://www.socialstudies.org/positions/powerful

The Task Force of the National Council for the Social Studies. (1994). Expectations of excellence: Curriculum standards for social studies. Silver Spring, MD: National Council for the Social Studies.

Neufeld, P. (December, 2005). Comprehension instruction in content area classes. The Reading Teacher, 59(4), 302-312.

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Sugai, G. (2007, December). Responsiveness-to-intervention: Lessons learned and to be learned. Keynote presentation at and paper for the RTI Summit, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria, VA:Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

Wiggins, G. and McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.