ETHAN’S CASE STUDY 1
Case Study of Ethan Smith: Recommended Interventions Based on
Best Practices in Reading Instruction for Middle Schoolers
Adrienne Isaacs
School of Education, Liberty University
Author Note
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I have no known conflict of interest to disclose. Correspondence concerning
this article should be addressed to Adrienne Isaacs, Email:
acisaacs@liberty.edu
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Standard Protocol Model vs. Problem-Solving Model
In RTI, Tier I reading instruction is effective for the majority of students.
However, in cases such as Ethan Smith’s, strategic and effective
interventions are essential for struggling readers to properly develop their
literacy skills. In such cases, reading interventions that is more specific than
general instruction is necessary. These students require interventions that
are tailored to the individual needs of each student, such as focusing on
areas of difficulty, and providing various strategies and interventions to
support their reading development. In the standard protocol RTI model
similar interventions are used for all students. Conversely, in the problem-
solving RTI model “the general education teacher, along with other
members od the RTI committee, evaluate the student’s performance
through permanent products, grades, attendance, and information form
parents and school records to determine (a) the intervention that will be
most effective, (b) who will carry out the intervention, and (c) what
materials will be used.” (Overton, 2016, pg.144-145). Interventions specific
to that student are used and then monitored in the problem-solving RTI
model.
Therefore, following the problem-solving model, it is necessary to
analyze Ethan Smith’s weaknesses as evidenced by the miscue analysis,
feedback from his mother, and the data collected during the ten-week Tier II
interventions. By assessing his weaknesses, specific interventions to meet
those deficits can be found. There are numerous reading interventions
available, however ones that are specific to Ethan’s weaknesses will be most
effective for him.
What are the student’s weaknesses in reading as identified from the
case study?
According to the case study, Ethan’s mother stated that she noticed
Ethan could not break a word into smaller parts. He did not see smaller
parts or segments within a word. Reading with him was laborious each
ETHAN’S CASE STUDY 4
night in order to complete his homework assignments. Not only did Ethan
struggle to break words into parts, but he was also a slow reader in general.
He also had difficulty sounding the written words out. Based on his
mother’s account, Ethan is struggling with segmenting and phonics.
What are the student’s weaknesses in reading as identified from the
graph?
Correct Word Student
Pronunciation
Highlight the area
that is incorrect.
Analysis (Vowels,
Consonants,
Beginning, Middle,
End Sounds, etc.)
Comments commanders Ending, substitution
Comrades commanders Ending, substitution
Discussions discusses Ending, substitution
Concerning canearing Middle, vowels
substitution &
consonant omission
An The Substitution of another
common small sight
word
Intricate indercator Ending, substitution
Wished wishes Ending, substitution of
another common
ending
To It Substitution of another
common small sight
word
Cracker Crack Ending, omission
Based on the following chart and graph:
ETHAN’S CASE STUDY 5
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
80
68
83
80
83
65
80 79
76
81
87
ORF for Ethan Smith 1st Scenario
NUMBER OF ORF
WCPM
Even after ten weeks of Tier II intervention, Ethan continues to read very
slowly thus lowering his words correct per minute, or to misread several
words, thereby also lowering the words correctly read per minute (WCPM).
The data in the miscue analysis indicates that Ethan is misreading words at
the ending of the word. For example, he recognized the ending -ing in the
word “concerning”. However, in other words he substituted other common
endings “-es” for the correct ending “-ions” (“discusses” instead of
“discussions”), and the ending “-s” instead of the correct ending “-ed”
(“wishes” instead of “wished”). In two words with the same beginning,
Ethan substituted the same ending to those words, perhaps due to his
familiarity with the vocabulary word “commanders”. All of the above
indicate that Ethan is routinely not decoding the ends of words.
How do these data correlate?
Both the feedback from Ethan’s mother and the data in the chart and
graph support that Ethan is struggling with segmenting words into parts.
The chart and graph support that he recognizes the beginning of words, but
then does not decode the endings. Therefore, he has a lower number of
ETHAN’S CASE STUDY 6
words read correctly per minute than is expected for his grade level. Ethan
is most likely also struggling with phonemic awareness (hearing the series
of sounds that make up words) as well as phonics (recognizing the written
symbols of sounds in words).
How do the following components—phonological awareness, phonics,
fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension—contribute to Ethan’s
struggles in reading?
Phonological awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate
parts of words and sentences. Awareness of onsets and rimes, segmenting
words, breaking words into syllables, etc all of those are parts of
phonological awareness. It appears that Ethan recognizes onsets (beginning
sounds of words), but not rimes (ending sounds of words). Ethan’s reading
struggles are related to his lack of phonological awareness and difficulty
with phonics (as evidenced by the vowel substitution and consonant
omission in the miscue of the word “concerning”). His difficulty breaking
down and sounding out words leads to impeded fluency, lowered
comprehension, and diminished vocabulary acquisition. Such difficulties
create a vicious cycle because Ethan would not enjoy reading as much with
all these challenges. His lack of enjoyment makes persevering through
reading assignments that much more difficult. Because Ethan takes several
hours getting through homework assignments, he would not have time for
additional practice. Lowered reading practice time then increases his
reading difficulties, and thus the vicious cycle continues.
Using all data, what two evidence-based, age-appropriate
intervention strategies in reading could be used to improve Ethan’s
specific weaknesses (phonics & fluency) in reading for a middle
school student?
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Ethan exhibits difficulty identifying and decoding suffixes. According to
Engaging Struggling Adolescent Readers to Improve Reading Skills
(Donovan et al, 2017) “adequate skills in decoding, morphosyntax, and
sentence structure are critical for making meaning from text. Morphological
analysis skills, such as the ability to recognize adjectival and nominalizing
suffixes, are important for assigning syntactic roles to keywords, a process
that effects readers’ ability to extract literal propositions from the text and
construct a comprehensive textbase” (Donovan, et al., 2017, pg. 385). In
other words, Ethan’s difficulty in recognizing significant endings on words
diminishes his ability to understand the implications of those words within
the context of the sentence, therefore deteriorating his understanding of the
text as a whole. However, for his age and grade level, simply focusing on
the reading subskill of decoding suffixes will not adequately assist him in
understanding 7th grade reading passages. In the article, Engaging
Struggling Adolescent Readers to Improve Reading Skills, Donovan goes on
to explain that “improvements in reading subskills, however, are not
sufficient for deep comprehension. Effective interventions needs to expose
adolescents to texts and reading tasks that are complex and open ended
enough to support sophisticated reading. In most intervention programs,
component skills are practiced in isolation, without applications to
challenging and motivating content” (Donovan et al, 2017, pg. 385).
Therefore, although Ethan requires intervention specifically in the subskill
of phonics, an age-appropriate intervention would integrate his phonics
practice into challenging and motivating tests that would hep him to
transfer phonological skills to general 7th grade academic reading and
comprehension-related tasks.
Subsequently, the STARI approach would be an age-appropriate
intervention for Ethan, instead of isolated practice on suffixes. With STARI
instruction, Strategic Adolescent Reading Intervention, a teacher can use
the intervention to improve Ethan’s decoding skills and reading fluency.
Using STARI instruction, the teacher would have Ethan and a partner
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student time each other “during repeated reading of short topical passages
linked to unit themes. Words with spelling patterns taught in decoding and
morphological analysis lessons [would be] loaded into the fluency passages
to provide repeated exposure to challenging words.” Then, to reinforce the
fluency practice and connect it to higher reasoning skills appropriate for the
7th grade, STARI applies the fluency passage to a comprehension and
discussion task. “For example, after reading a fluency passage about
restricted combat roles for women during the Iraq War, students recorded
their own opinions on the policy and then compared views with their fluency
partner” (Donovan et al, 2017, pg. 366).
Furthermore, an intervention that increases fluency while also
focusing on comprehension is also important. As noted by Guerin and
Murphy, “fluency involves more than simply fast oral reading” (Guerin &
Murphy, 2015, pg. 552). Although in Ethan’s Tier II interventions, the
teacher measured words read correctly per minute, such measurements
result in the “privileging of speeded decoding” in fluency instruction
without “regard for meaning” (Guerin & Murphy, 2015, pg. 552). Instead,
“prosody should be assessed as a part of a comprehensive approach to
fluency assessment” because there is a “strong correlation between oral
reading prosody and silent reading comprehension.” (Guerin & Murphy,
2015, pg.552) This relationship is because oral prosody-- pitch rate,
inflection, stress—are all indications of the reader’s understanding of the
text. It goes beyond rapid decoding to a deeper connection with the text.
Repeated Reading (RR) is an intervention seen as a “valuable instructional
method for struggling adolescent readers” (Guerin & Murphy, 2015, pg.
553). Repeated reading, as utilized by Guerin and Murphy, involves
rereading the same passage until wholistic fluency is attained-- intonation,
stress, cadence and rate indicating understanding. In the research of
Guerin and Murphy, an FSS (Fluency Scoring Sheet) was used for students
to set goals for improvement and then self-assess improvement. Students
used a scaled rating to rate themselves before and after RR (repeated
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reading) on reading “in natural way”, “smooth” reading, and “observ[ing]
punctuation” (Guerin & Murphy, 2015, pg. 554). The intervention of RR can
help Ethan to practice oral reading, improve upon fluency, as well as
increase in his comprehension.
What type of evidence-based program (corrective reading program)
could be used for Ethan that supports interventions which include
all of the foundational components of reading?
STARI would be an excellent reading program for Ethan. STARI
curriculum supports all the foundational components of reading. STARI is
taught for an entire school year and is a comprehensive program. Teachers
receive “student workbooks for fluency decoding and comprehension
practice, unit novels and nonfiction books, slides and details daily lesson
plans” (Donovan et al, 2017, pg. 366). The reading passages in STARI can
also be used with the RR (repeated reading) intervention as well.
How could the parent be involved with the interventions?
The STARI approach uses a reading fluency partner. In the school
setting, this reading partner is a peer. However, in the home setting,
Ethan’s parents can be his reading partner. For example, after reading a
passage for fluency and decoding practice, students share their opinions on
the passage. They also give each other feedback on the fluency of reading.
At home, Ethan’s parents can implement the same practice. His mother and
father can read and reread passages with Ethan. They can give their
opinions on the central issues highlighted in the passage. They can also give
feedback and encouragement on fluency.
What assessment(s) could be used to progress monitor the reading progress
of this student?
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The Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA, 1998) and
Multidimensional Fluency Scale (MDFS, 2012) were utilized in the research
presented in Repeated Reading as a Method to Improve Reading Fluency
for Struggling Adolescent Readers (Geurin & Murphy, 2015). However, the
NARA is designed for assessing students up to age 12. Guerin and Murphy
used the assessment with students ages 13 and 14, so it can be used,
however it is not as valid since it is outside of its intended age range. Since
Ethan Smith is 13 years old, the MDFS would still be appropriate. As an
alternative to the NARA, the Woodcock-Johnson III Reading Fluency subtest
can be used by the teacher assessing Ethan to progress monitor his
response to interventions. The Woodcock-Johnson uses timed sentence
verification method to assess the students rate of reading and
comprehension by finding “the number of correct answers within a given
time period” (Denton et al, 2011). The Test of Silent Reading Efficiency and
Comprehension (TOSREC; Wagner, Torgesen, Rashotte, & Pearson, 2010)
can also be used to progress monitor. These measures would be preferable
over oral reading fluency (ORF) measurements because “In general, for
middle school students, vocabulary tasks may be better predictors of
comprehension than timed oral reading.” Studies have found that “both
vocabulary and fluency were significant predictors of comprehension at all
grade levels but that the relative importance of ORF decreased in the
higher grades.” (Denton et al, 2011) Since students in middle school are
more often asked to complete silent reading tasks, it is important that
Ethan’s interventions assist him in transferring his reading skills into silent
reading tasks. Therefore assessments of silent reading comprehension
would be better measurements that would contribute to age-appropriate
success.
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References
Denton, C. A., Barth, A. E., Fletcher, J. M., Wexler, J., Vaughn, S., Cirino, P.
T., Romain, M., & Francis, D. J. (2011). The relations among oral and
silent reading fluency and comprehension in middle school:
Implications for identification and instruction of students with reading
difficulties. Scientific studies of reading : the official journal of the
society for the scientific study of reading, 15(2), 109–135.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10888431003623546
Donovan, S., Hemphill, L., Jones, S., Kim, J. S., LaRusso, M., Thomson, J. M.,
& Troyer, M. (2017). Engaging struggling adolescent readers to
improve reading skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 52(3), 357–382.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/26622571
Guerin, A., & Murphy, B. (2015). Repeated reading as a method to improve
reading fluency for struggling adolescent readers. Journal of
Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 58(7), 551–560.
http://www.jstor.org/stable/44011179
