54 educators from 14 districts attended two days of learning how to assist struggling readers at the secondary level through curriculum, instruction, and assessment.
This two-day training (Oct. 4 and Nov. 8) was attended by 54 secondary educators learning to assist struggling readers at the secondary level through concentrating on 3 essential elements: curriculum-what we teach, instruction-how we teach, and assessment-data needed to guide the process. A large portion of the course was designated to diagnosing student reading needs and how to match those needs with appropriate instructional strategies.
Individuals took time to:
40 out of 54 attendees completed the evaluation and provided great feedback.
I definitely want to see more of the teachers in our building here. I think it is beneficial to ALL high school teachers, not just English and Special Education. It is important that our entire staff understand the how and they why of struggling readers and the programs we are implementing.
Great variety of resources and ideas to support my work with students. Very professional. I want all classroom teachers to experience this process.
Very informative and includes breakdowns ofor strategies to include in the classroom. A lot of informatoin but training provides teachers the opportunity to tailor what thye need in their classrooms to be successful and to excel students in reading!
Participants were asked to reflect on their knowledge and their abilities to related to assessing and intervening related to the 5 big ideas of reading from prior to after the training. Overall, across all 9 items assessed, there were zero in which 40% or more participants reported being at least “mostly understanding” or “mostly able” to implement prior to the training. After the training this percentage increased across all 9 items, with 8 of 9 items at 70% or more (see graph below). In fact 95% or more participants reported being at least mostly understanding of the 5 big ideas of reading (100%), being able to use an early warning system to identify potentially struggling readers (95%), and being able to use the MTSS Secondary Reading Data-Based Decision Making Guide (95%).
Overall, participants rated the training sessions very favorably, with 100% of respondents reporting the presenter as “Very effective” (60.0%) or “Effective” (40.0%). Additionally, 95% of respondents reported what they learned was either “Very valuable” (62.5%) or “valuable” (32.5%) to them in their position/role. Over 87.5% of respondents reported at least “moderate” increases in their knowledge (97.5%) and skills (87.5%), with 47.5% and 37.5% reporting “substantial” increases, respectively.
North Dakota’s Multi-Tier System of Supports (NDMTSS) is a framework to provide all students with the best opportunities to succeed academically, socially, emotionally, and behaviorally in school. NDMTSS focuses on providing high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals. Data is used to allocate resources to improve student learning and support staff implementation of effective practices.
