If you like this page, be sure to bookmark here. Articles are listed alphabetically by author, under "Decision Making" or "Early Literacy". Click on the author line to get a more detailed summary.

Table of Contents

Short Summary of Article: CBM scoring metrics used to evaluate written expression at the elementary level are not valid for students at the secondary level. Researchers examined the reliability and validity of different measures of written expression for students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. The best measure for secondary students appears to be correct minus incorrect word sequences. Percentage of words spelled correctly and percentage of correct word sequences are valid as screening tools but present problems when used for progress monitoring. Duration of writing (3 or 5 minutes) and type of writing (descriptive or story) did not affect the technical adequacy of the writing samples.

Gregg, N., & Scott, S. S. (2000). Definition and Documentation: Theory, Measurement, and the Courts. (Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33(1), 5-13.)

Why is there such a push to examine the impact of accommodations and to use data to justify accommodations?

Gutkin, T. B., & Nemeth, C. (1997). Selected Factors Impacting Decision Making in Pre-referral Intervention and Other School-Based Teams: Exploring the Intersection Between School and Social Psychology. (Journal of School Psychology, 35(2), 195-216.)

Short Summary of Article: This article provides important advice for all school professionals participating in problem-solving groups. Groups should be able to reach consensus about important and measurable outcome criteria. In other words, they should be clear and focused in their goals. Otherwise, everyone should question the value of these groups. Social psychologists have studied group influences that effect the productivity of problem-solving teams. Some advice the authors provide: be consistent, maintain a flexible style of negotiation so as not to be perceived as rigid, encourage objection and doubt to foster creative problem-solving, and form alliances with school leaders to indirectly influence shared norms.

Pacchiano, D. M. (2000). A Review of Instructional Variables Related to Student Problem Behavior. (Preventing School Failure, 44(4), 174-178.)

Short Summary of Article: Certain teaching strategies maintain students' time spent academically engaged. The authors provide a list of questions to consider when conducting a functional assessment. These questions target instructional variables related to positive student behavior. The questions are broken down into two categories: (1) how teachers teach, and (2) what teachers teach.

Polaha, J. A., & Allen, K. D. (1999). A Tutorial for Understanding and Evaluating Single Subject Methodology. (Proven Practice: Prevention and Remediation Solutions for Schools, 1(2), 73-77.)

Short Summary of Article: This study provides further evidence for the technical adequacy of maze as a measure of reading growth. Although maze may not appear to be as sensitive as oral reading fluency because the growth rate is smaller, previous research has shown that maze and oral reading fluency growth rates are comparable.

Vaughn, S., Gersten, R., & Chard, D. J. (2000). The Underlying Message in LD Intervention Research: Findings from Research Syntheses. (Exceptional Children, 67(1), 99-114.)

Short Summary of Article: This article summarizes findings from research on interventions that benefit students with learning disabilities. First and most importantly, they found that teaching strategies that work for students with learning disabilities benefit all students and in many cases, higher-achieving students benefit even more from the strategies designed to help low-achieving students. Other factors related to success for students with learning disabilities include: (a) maintaining high level of success, (b) teaching small interactive groups of 6 or fewer students, and (c) requiring students to generate questions while reading or working on math or science problems. Peer tutoring works for students with disabilities, especially when they serve in the role of tutor. Academic interventions are the best means for targeting self-concept.

Short Summary of Article: Torgeson reiterates the important point that level of intelligence does not predict word reading ability. Children who have delayed language and phonological skills need more help than those with delayed phonological skills only. A very small proportion (2% to 6%) of students have not responded to interventions designed to incorporate best practices in reading instruction.

National Reading Panel (2000). National Reading Panel Reports Combination of Teaching Phonics, Word Sounds, Giving Feedback on Oral Reading Most Effective Way to Teach Reading. (Effective School Practices, 18(3), 27-29.)

Short summary: In the largest-ever review of reading research, the panel concluded that systematic phonics instruction combined with synthetic phonics instruction produced the greatest gains for students who are low-achievers. Systematic phonics instruction employs a planned sequence rather than teaching sounds as they appear in text. Synthetic phonics instruction consists of explicitly teaching students to blend phonemes into words. Across all grade levels, synthetic phonics instruction improved the ability of good readers to spell. Reading aloud with opportunities for correction and feedback produced gains in reading fluency. Vocabulary should be taught separately and embedded in reading activities. There isn't enough evidence to make definitive statements about the effects of silent reading or the use of technology for teaching reading.

Lovett, M. W., Steinbach, K. A., & Frijters, J. C. (2000). Remediating the Core Deficits of Developmental Reading Disability: A Double-Deficit Perspective. (Journal of Learning Disabilities, 33(4), 334-358.)

Short summary of article: Students with significant reading difficulties can be sub grouped into 3 groups: (1) phonological awareness deficits only, (2) visual naming-speed deficits only, and (3) both deficits or "double-deficit". The double-deficit group was most impaired and the visual naming-speed group was least impaired. However, all groups made significant gains in reading after receiving focused and well-designed reading instruction. The double-deficit group had more difficulties in written expression than the other groups. Both phonological awareness and visual naming-speed difficulties persist into adulthood- even with individuals who become functionally literate. Phonological awareness skills are clearly amenable to treatment. It is still unknown whether visual naming-speed skills are amenable to treatment.