PHD, Kent State University, 2024, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Health Sciences

The connections between oral language skills and literacy achievement have been well documented. Despite this, there is a dearth of research regarding the use of multi-tiered systems of language support (MTSLS) within the educational setting to support oral language development. Currently, there are no studies examining the efficacy of MTSLS via telepractice. The current study examined the feasibility and efficacy of tier 1 language intervention provided via telepractice using an implementation science approach. Strategic implementation drivers were employed to facilitate the uptake of the intervention within the school setting. Four kindergarten classrooms participated in the study with one classroom serving as the control. Three classrooms received Story Champs® lessons twice weekly for six weeks focused on improving narrative retell and language comprehension skills. Proximal measures of narration were collected along with distal measures of decoding skills and language comprehension. Statistical analyses revealed no time by group effects for any of the outcome measures, suggesting that six weeks of intervention may not be a sufficient dose to change language skills as part of MTSLS as a tier 1 intervention. This finding is significant as limited research is currently available regarding adequate dosage for tiered interventions (Troia, 2005). Results from teacher and student surveys suggest that the intervention was well tolerated when implemented in the classroom setting via telepractice. Fidelity measures indicated that the Story Champs® program was implemented by novice clinicians with high levels of fidelity when provided adequate training. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

Committee: Hayley Arnold (Committee Co-Chair); Sanna Harjusola-Webb (Committee Member); Susan Grogan-Johnson (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Language; Speech Therapy; Teaching; Technology

Doctor of Education , University of Dayton, 2024, Educational Administration

The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the RTI process and its impact on student achievement. Data analysis will be used to identify areas of strength and weakness in the current system and provide insights into how to create a more effective RTI program. The findings from this study will be used to inform future decision-making at Anchor Academy, with the aim of strengthening the RTI system and improving overall student outcomes.

Committee: Ricardo Garcia PhD (Committee Chair); Shauna Adams EdD (Committee Member); Elizabeth Lolli PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Elementary Education; School Administration; Special Education

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services: School Psychology

Student involvement and choice have been found to increase students' appropriate behaviors and their engagement in evidence-based interventions. The purpose of the current study was to assess the effectiveness of student test-driving and choice on the academically engaged behavior (AEB) and inappropriate behavior (IB) of students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) in an alternative school setting. The study used an alternating treatment phase that allowed students to test-drive three evidence-based interventions (i.e., Check-In/Check-Out (CICO), response cost (RC), and token economy (TE)) and was followed by a withdrawal design, where the students' chosen intervention was implemented. Results indicated that students' behavioral outcomes benefitted from the chosen intervention and that students and teachers enjoyed the test-driving and choice processes. Implications, limitations, and directions for future research exploring student test-driving and choice are discussed.

Committee: Tai Collins Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Lori Vincent Ph.D. (Committee Member); Laura Nabors Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, Industrial and Systems Engineering

Office computer users experience work-related musculoskeletal disorders including pain in the neck, shoulders, and lower back. Previous researchers revealed that there were associations between the cognitive workload imposed by computer tasks and the increased biomechanical load which could eventually lead to adverse symptoms. However, there are limited data that describe how the different components of cognitive workload are associated with changes in computer users' biomechanical response to the work process. At the same time, although furnishings with lumbar support and relevant sitting guidelines have been provided in many office settings, there is limited evidence showing more supportive furniture is effective in reducing the risk of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among office computer users. This study investigated: 1) whether computer users are sitting in the suggested neutral position and using the backrest when working on different types of computer tasks; 2) how the causal (task complexity and time pressure) and assessment factors (mental demand, mental effort, and task performance) of cognitive workload are related with the variations in computer users' biomechanical responses; and 3) whether using a footrest can be used to promote the use of backrest in computer tasks. The first stage of this dissertation was an observational study in which computer users' sitting postures were observed and recorded discretely as the observed individuals worked on different types of computer tasks. The findings revealed that chairs' back supports were not being used effectively that the users did not rest their whole back against the backrest. Following the observational study, a laboratory experiment was conducted to investigate how the computer tasks that varied in their level of cognitive workload, which was assessed in terms of mental demand, mental effort, and task performance, are associated with the variations in the computer users' biomechanical responses (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Steven Lavender (Advisor); Carolyn Sommerich (Committee Member); Michael Rayo (Committee Member) Subjects: Biomechanics; Design; Industrial Engineering; Occupational Health

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.), University of Findlay, 2020, Education

Over the last ten years, the high school dropout rate has increased in the United States. Researchers have examined and identified factors which may cause students to dropout, while also evaluating programs designed to prevent students from leaving high school without graduating. This study assessed the impact academic coaching has on supporting student academic success. Two research questions guided this study. First, how does one Northwest Ohio high school's academic coaching support program impact a student's academic performance? Second, what personality traits do the academic coaches require to be successful in the academic coaching program? For the purposes of this study the following differentiation in terms should be acknowledged. RTI is the legal entitlement process, enacted as part of IDEA, in which students with learning disabilities are identified (Fisher and Frey, 2013), while rti is a process that works to ensure students receive the appropriate and necessary instruction, interventions and supports to graduate high school (Fisher and Frey, 2013). A mixed methods study using a concurrent triangulation design, utilized data from student transcripts, surveys, and personality assessments to formulate answers to the study's questions. The results overall reveal a positive picture of academic coaching regarding its impact on student's academic performance. The study also denoted a strong correlation between specific dominant personality types and success as an academic coach. The results could spur high schools to consider the use of an academic coaching program to support their at-risk students and personality assessments in identifying academic coaches.

Committee: Christine Denecker (Committee Chair); Jon Brasfield (Committee Member); Kathy Crates (Committee Member); John Gillham (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Personality

PHD, Kent State University, 2020, College of Education, Health and Human Services / School of Lifespan Development and Educational Sciences

Response to Intervention (RtI) is being used all over the United States as a framework of curriculum and intervention delivery as well as a means to collect data to identify non-responders, or students who have a learning disability. Qualitative research provides an in-depth look at schools and how teachers are implementing RtI as well as how they perceive it to be working, or not working. This qualitative metasynthesis of extant studies provides insightful details for educators to provide students with the best processes possible, and for researchers to design future studies to clarify the effectiveness of RtI. Findings synthesized from over 30 qualitative studies on RtI published between 2009 and 2018 found that the key factors to successful RtI are teacher preparation and collaboration. Additional factors crucuial to the success of RtI include building leadership and management of paperwork and workload. Data collection and use will also be discussed as a major finding and factor to RtI in regard to identification of students with learning disabilities and placement in special education.

Committee: Andrew Wiley Dr. (Committee Co-Chair); Nathan Stevenson Dr. (Committee Co-Chair); Damrow Amy Dr. (Committee Member); Cowan Richard Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Special Education

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2020, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

African American male students are disproportionately represented in special education. The purpose of the current study is to examine the disproportionality of African American male students who are referred to special education programs and are identified special education services, specifically in the areas of Emotional Disturbance (ED), Specific Learning Disability (SLD), and other low incidence disabilities (OTH), which includes Speech & Language Instruction, Other Health Impaired, Autism, and Traumatic Brain Injury, in Northeast Ohio's suburban school district for the 2019-2020 school year. The sample was drawn from a suburban school district in Northeast Ohio which consisted of six schools. CRP and CRT were used as frameworks as a basis to establish an approach that acknowledges the culture of the students. Findings indicated Black males were disproportionately represented in special education programs. Results also indicated that there are significantly more identified Black male students that are receiving free and reduced lunches relative to non-Black male and female students. Findings demonstrate the need for culturally relevant teaching used collectively with Response to Intervention.

Committee: Karen Larwin Ph.D (Committee Chair); Carrie Jackson Ed.D (Committee Member); Patrick Spearman Ph.D (Committee Member); Gail Saunders-Smith Ph.D (Committee Member) Subjects: African Americans; Education; Special Education

Doctor of Education (Educational Leadership), Youngstown State University, 2020, Department of Teacher Education and Leadership Studies

In schools across America a veiled and dangerous problem continues to grow that impacts millions of students daily; that problem is student absenteeism from school. The more frequently a student misses school, the wider the achievement gap becomes. During the 2009-2010 school year, data collected from the United States Department of Education (DOE) exposed that students enrolled in public schools across the nation missed more than 57 million days of school (Taylor, 2014). Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student's absenteeism from school at least 10 days in a single year based upon a 184-day school calendar in the state of Ohio (Attendance Works, n.d.). The purpose of this study is to identify if effective communication with families regarding their students' attendance will impact student attendance rate. The investigation lasted 128 school days and was quantitative in nature as it measured the change in attendance rate once a specific attendance intervention was utilized by the school district to address the problem of chronic absenteeism and examined student attendance rate pre and post- intervention. The study looked to answer the following questions: how does a specific attendance intervention impact student attendance rate to school, how does the intervention's impact vary by grade, school, cohort, and student characteristic/subgroup, and how much does early chronic absenteeism predict later attendance patterns? Based upon a dependent t-test that was conducted using dependent variables representing student change in attendance rate pre-intervention and student change in student attendance rate post-intervention, there were no significant differences from pre- to post- intervention, t (2890) = -1.05, p = .292, r = .982. Findings from the quantitative study displayed no significant impact from the post-data analysis on student attendance rate and the answer to the three research questions being a distinctive no. An unintended outcome of the study was a signif (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Karen Larwin PhD (Committee Chair); John Hazy PhD (Committee Member); Patrick Spearman PhD (Committee Member); Victoria Kress PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Evaluation; Educational Leadership; Educational Psychology; Educational Theory; Elementary Education

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2020, Elementary Education

The purpose of this dissertation study is to reveal constructs that determine how federal and state policies for identification of and services for students with dyslexia are implemented in Ohio public schools. The study aims to find the answer to the following question: How do Ohio K-12 public educators (a) interpret and (b) implement federal and state policies for the identification of students with dyslexia or showing dyslexic tendencies? Three Ohio K-12 suburban public-school districts were selected for this collective, instrumental case study research. Five personnel, district special education directors, principals, school psychologists, and a general and special education teacher, at each district were interviewed to share their experiences with students with dyslexia or showing dyslexic tendencies and district documents were collected and analyzed. Interviews were conducted face to face and then transcribed. The meaning was extracted from the data using a coding procedure which allowed chunks and segments to be labeled and themes, patterns, ideas, and concepts to be organized. A focused coding procedure allowed for building and clarifying concepts within categories and codes were organized by relevance to each other in a way that helped in providing thick descriptions of participants' experiences. Constant comparison analysis was used to systematically reduce the data to codes, then develop themes from the codes and classical content analysis was used to count the number of codes to determine which concepts occurred throughout the data for descriptive statistics. Five emergent themes were discovered during this study: (a) inconsistencies in handling identification of dyslexia as district practices (b) perceptions and misperceptions of dyslexia (c) varied screening and assessment practices for dyslexia (d) district challenges related to meeting the needs of students with dyslexia (g) parental lack trust in districts when it comes to identification of d (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lisa Lenhart PhD (Advisor); Xin Liang PhD (Committee Member); Judith Juvancic-Heltzel PhD (Committee Member); Monica Gordon-Pershey EdD (Committee Member); Harold Foster PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Education Policy; Elementary Education; Literacy; Special Education

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2018, Educational Administration (Education)

Recent trends in teacher preparation have been toward a clinical model that provides teacher candidates with more authentic classroom experiences that are connected with methods courses. One type of clinical model that is on the rise is known as a professional development school (PDS). PDS structures are formal arrangements between P-12 schools and colleges of teacher preparation designed to provide reciprocal benefits. In many instances, P-12 schools will use the resources from the PDS arrangement to provide additional support needed to assess and instruct their students. This case study looks at one such structure in which PDS teacher candidates provide reading intervention to K-3 struggling readers. The study analyzes pre and post reading assessment data and mentor teacher interviews in order to determine the value of such arrangements. Two years of academic data on first, second, and third graders that participated in the teacher candidate-led intervention was considered. Seven mentor teachers (K-3) participated in focused designed interviews about the teacher candidate-led intervention. While the assessment data did show academic gains in terms of literacy skills, the mentor teacher interviews revealed even more benefits of such an arrangement. Interviews transcripts revealed seven major themes that emerged: differentiation, program logistics, collaboration, influence on K-3 students, influence on teacher candidates, influence on mentor teachers, and background knowledge. Overall, the mentor teachers commented that the collaboration and reflective practice made both teacher candidates and mentor teachers better educators. They stated that the intervention allowed for greater differentiation that provided more individualized instruction to all of the students in their classes. The consistency of the program and the knowledge of the teacher candidates also contributed to the success. Many of the aspects of the teacher candidate-led intervent (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sara Helfrich (Advisor); Dwan Robinson (Committee Member); David Horton (Committee Member); William Larson (Committee Member); Krisanna Machtmes (Committee Member) Subjects: Early Childhood Education; Education; Educational Leadership; Reading Instruction; School Administration; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2018, Educational Administration (Education)

The purpose of this study was to explore practices from the Reading First Grant implementation, which itself no longer exists, with an intent of identifying those practices that have continued to be utilized through the Response to Intervention process and the practices that have changed in the interim. This research reports the results of an instrumental multi-case study design involving three former high performing Reading First elementary schools that have continued to be successful through Response to Intervention (RtI) as a school framework. A mixed methodology approach incorporating semi-structured interviews, quantitative survey results, and state assessment data were triangulated and analyzed in an attempt to answer by what methods these former high performing Reading First schools have continued to be successful through RtI as a school framework, as well as what leadership practices and current professional development practices have impacted the RtI process. The results of this study may allow others in education and in related disciplines to benefit by learning about practices that have and have not been used effectively in the Reading First implementation and Response to Intervention process. The results of this study may also contribute to the relevant literature regarding leadership practices, which can influence student achievement.

Committee: William Larson (Committee Chair); Sara Helfrich (Committee Co-Chair) Subjects: Education; Education Policy; Educational Leadership; Elementary Education

Specialist in Education, Miami University, 2016, School Psychology

Education has gone through several reforms throughout the years to figure out the best way to help our children succeed. One such paradigm shift that we are in the middle of is called Response to Intervention (RtI). This research study assessed the relationship between teacher's knowledge about RtI and teacher attitude towards RtI. Adapted surveys and a knowledge check were completed by 31 teachers to assess if there was a relationship between the two variables. Pearson Product Moment Correlation did not find a significant correlation between the teachers' attitude and knowledge of RtI. These results suggest that there may be more that impacts teacher attitudes than just knowledge and these factors must be considered when trying to consider how a teacher may feel about a new educational reform.

Committee: Jason Abbitt (Advisor); Michael Woodin (Committee Chair); Geralyn Timler (Committee Chair) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, EDU Physical Activity and Educational Services

Resurgence has not been researched with respect to persistent, inaccurate, academic behavior. Reading is an essential component for school success and is ubiquitous across content areas (e.g., math, language arts, history, and science). Contact with insufficient instruction and correction procedures may facilitate a reading repertoire that contains many different kinds of reading errors, such as reading words incorrectly. The purpose of this study was to investigate if resurgence could be evoked for academic-based responding and whether the magnitude of resurgence was related to the rate of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior. Three participants identified Greek letters as an arbitrary consonant-vowel blend. Two sets of four-Greek letters were used to arrange a two-component multiple schedule of reinforcement. Baseline responding was reinforced on a multiple variable interval (VI) 11-s, VI 11-s schedule of reinforcement. Then alternative letter-sounds were taught and reinforced on a multiple VI 5-s, VI 20-s schedule of reinforcement. Then both the original and alternative letter-sounds were placed on extinction. The three conditions (i.e., baseline reinforcement of the original letter-sounds, differential reinforcement of alternative letter-sounds, and extinction of both letter-sounds) were repeated. Based on the results, resurgence was reliably demonstrated; with the exception of the first resurgence test for Participant 1. In addition, the data suggested that the magnitude of resurgence was related to the prior rate of differential reinforcement of alternative behavior. The results, limitations, implications, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Committee: Nancy Neef (Advisor); Ralph Gardner (Advisor) Subjects: Behavioral Sciences; Special Education

Specialist in Education, Miami University, 2015, Educational Psychology

This exploratory study aimed to understand how students generalize social skills content they learn in a small group setting to the general classroom using an adapted model of the Incredible Years (IY) program (Webster Stratton, 1984). It was predicted that students would demonstrate growth in a “stepping stone” pattern, showing growth in content knowledge and in group behavior before showing global change in the classroom. Additionally, the study attempted to explore the efficacy and usefulness of two assessment instruments that are components of the IY program, as there is little research attesting to their reliability and validity to measure growth under the IY program. Results indicate that although the IY program demonstrates positive pre to post intervention growth, generalization from the group to the classroom does not follow the linear path as hypothesized. Limitations of this study, as well as implications for future research and practice, are discussed.

Committee: Amity Noltemeyer PhD (Committee Chair); Jennifer Green PhD (Committee Member); Michael Woodin PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Educational Psychology; Educational Tests and Measurements; Elementary Education; School Counseling

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2014, Curriculum and Instruction Reading Arts and Language Arts (Education)

This investigation examined oral reading fluency improvement through the use of self-graphing within a Tier 2 Response-to-Intervention (RtI) model. Oral reading rate increased when students actively participated in graphing correct words per minute (WPM) progress within a Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) framework. Participants included Tier 2 second graders who were performing academically below grade level in reading. Students received 30 minutes of intensive LLI instruction four times per week. Self-graphing took place once per week during Tier 2 RtI instructional sessions. Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) Next oral reading fluency subtests were used as the progress monitoring measure. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to investigate effectiveness of the self-graphing strategy on oral reading fluency improvement. The researcher concluded that self-graphing had a positive effect on correct WPM progress within Tier 2 RtI.

Committee: Sara Helfrich PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Teacher Education

Doctor of Education (EdD), Ohio University, 2014, Educational Administration (Education)

The research described in this dissertation focuses on the extent to which various conditions are associated with middle school principals' leadership support for Response to Intervention (RTI), a recently mandated method of providing assistance to struggling students. As schools' instructional leaders, principals play a critical role in implementing new initiatives, including special interventions such as RTI. According to many commentators, the principal is the most influential individual in a school and takes ultimate responsibility for the education and all other activities that occur there. Although teachers have the most obvious and immediate impact on the learning process, principals are, in theory, positioned to ensure that effective instruction is provided to every student. Despite their important role, principals do not demonstrate equal capacity or willingness to implement and sustain systems of support for students. The study examined the influence of certain conditions on middle school principals' willingness to support RTI. The variables with potential influence on principals' leadership support were: (1) the length of principals' teaching and administrative experience, (2) their experience as general or special educators (or both), and (3) their predominant instructional philosophy. Data for the study came from a survey of middle-school principals in Ohio. The survey elicited information from principals including their levels of experience, gender, and instructional philosophy. They also responded to items on a scale that was developed for use in the dissertation study. This scale, the Leadership Support of Intervention Scale (LSIS) contained 14 items designed to gather information on principals' actions in support of instructional interventions. Data analysis using multiple regression methods showed that the independent variables were significant predictors of scores on the LSIS. The independent variables that were significant predictor (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Aimee Howley Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership

Specialist in Education (Ed.S.), University of Dayton, 2013, School Psychology

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a revolutionary innovation to the structure of educational services. With this innovation come changes in required knowledge and skills for all school personnel. General education teachers are major stakeholders in an RTI approach, yet there is a shortage of literature examining their knowledge of RTI. The present study involved surveying Ohio general education teachers' knowledge of RTI with a 24-item RTI knowledge instrument. The survey measured knowledge in five areas of RTI: general ideology, problem-solving, tiers of service-delivery, data collection and interpretation, and intervention. Results demonstrated that teachers were more knowledgeable about RTI than previous studies found, answering 77% of questions about RTI correctly. Teachers' strongest area of knowledge was problem-solving; their weakest area of knowledge was the tiers of service-delivery. In addition, various background factors were investigated for their relationship to knowledge of RTI. Implications for improvements in teacher training in RTI are discussed.

Committee: Susan Davies (Committee Chair); Elana Bernstein (Committee Member); Sawyer Hunley (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2013, Human Ecology: Human Development and Family Science

This multiple baseline design study evaluated the efficacy of a Tier 2 early literacy intervention on low-income preschool children's phonological awareness (PA) skills. The intervention was delivered three to four days a week by a trained interventionist to small groups of children using an interactive approach with frequent opportunities to respond and contingent feedback. Groups participated in 28 to 36 lessons that lasted about 10 minutes and focused on PA and alphabet knowledge. Seven children, across three groups, participated in the lessons and weekly progress monitoring assessments. All children demonstrated gains on the primary outcome measure of first sound identification as a result of the Tier 2 intervention. Most children also demonstrated gains on secondary and distal measures of PA and alphabet knowledge. Results provide support for the application of Response to Intervention (RTI) in early childhood and signify the potential benefits to learners who need instruction beyond the core curriculum.

Committee: Howard Goldstein (Advisor); Cynthia Buettner (Committee Member); Shayne Piasta (Committee Member); Diane Sainato (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Early Childhood Education; Literacy; Preschool Education

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2011, Allied Health Sciences: Communication Sciences and Disorders

Graduated prompting is a method of dynamic assessment that is used to make predictions about a child's response to intervention (Gutierrez-Clellan & Pena, 2001). The purpose of this study was to use graduated prompting to assess the word learning ability of low-income fourth grade students when given context clues during a reading task. Twenty-eight fourth grade students were administered the Expressive One Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT; Brownell, 2000) and were placed into Pass (85 and higher) and Non-Pass (below 85) groups based on standard EOWPVT scores. The participants were administered the three phases of the Dynamic Assessment of Vocabulary in Context (DAVIC): 1) Pretest, 2) Graduated Prompting, and 3) Transfer task. Scores on the DAVIC phases were analyzed by group and by EOWPVT score. The frequency of responses at each prompt level was compared to EOWPVT score. DAVIC pretest and DAVIC transfer task scores were compared. There was no significant difference between the scores of the Pass group (M=67.00, SD=14.502) and scores of the Non Pass group (M=64.57, SD=9.525) on the DAVIC graduated prompting phase t(26)=.524, p=.605, d=.19. Scores on EOWPVT and DAVIC pretest scores were significantly correlated, r=.599, p=0.01. EOWPVT scores were significantly correlated with Prompt 1, r=.429, (p=0.05) and Prompt 3, r= -.376, (p=0.05). There was not a significant correlation r=.184 p=.184, between scores on the EOWPVT and DAVIC transfer task scores. The participants scored significantly higher on the transfer task (M=62.32, SD=10.61) than on the pretest (M=37.96, SD=5.87); t=-10.73, p=<.001, d=2.84. Results of this study suggested that when assessing a child's vocabulary skills, Graduated Prompting may be more effective in determining a child's abilities than a standardized assessment alone.

Committee: Jo-Anne Prendeville EdD (Committee Chair); Beth O'Brien PhD (Committee Member); Nancy Creaghead PhD (Committee Member); Lesley Raisor PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Speech Therapy

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2011, Allied Health Sciences: Communication Sciences and Disorders

Response to Intervention (RtI) is a multi-tiered approach to provide evidence-based instruction to all students. Within a RtI paradigm, teachers and other professionals collaborate to design interventions for students who are at-risk for a learning disability. Despite the widespread use of RtI pardigms in educational settings, few studies have documented the efficacy of collaboration and teacher follow-through in intervention planning. This study examined support for children requiring Tier 2 interventions, which address at-risk students and are typically conducted in the regular classroom. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to determine whether reading comprehension interventions could be delivered in a systematic, collaborative procedure involving performance feedback meetings. A SLP collaborated with the teacher in grades 2, 3, 4, and 5 to develop the interventions and trained the teacher to use them. The study measured the percentage of intervention steps adhered to by the teachers, teachers' attitudes toward the interventions, and the impact on student outcomes. Using a multiple baseline across subjects design, this study found that the performance feedback meetings supported teacher adherence to the intervention in 50% of the teacher subjects. All teachers' adherence to the intervention improved from teacher training to performance feedback meeting phases. A t-test for related measures revealed that with 99% confidence, the intervention positively impacted student grades. One implication is that a collaborative framework can support the precise implementation of reading comprehension interventions in the classroom which ultimately can improve student outcomes.

Committee: Nancy Creaghead PhD (Committee Chair); Renee Oliver Hawkins PhD (Committee Member); Jo-Anne Prendeville EdD (Committee Member); Lesley Raisor PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Special Education