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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION

Final Project: Case Study

Jordyne Fredrickson

University of Idaho

EDCI 466: Literacy Assessment and Intervention

Dr. Kirsten Pomerantz

March 2, 2022
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
RTI/MTSS & Assess-Teach-Reassess Process

One of the main goals of an effective teacher is to create an environment where all

students are getting quality learning and equal opportunities. Within that goal, we must help

students develop and progress. Response to Intervention (RTI) is a “multi-tier approach to the

early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs” (Gorski, n.d.).

This approach has three tiers and Tier 1 begins with high-quality instruction and universal

screening of all children in the general education classroom. Once this screening is done,

professionals can collaborate and analyze scores to see which learners need further intervention

in Tier 2 – also sometimes called supplemental instruction or targeted interventions -- which

based on research, is 10-15% of students. In this tier, students are provided with increasingly

intensive instruction matched to their needs based on levels of performance and rates of progress.

Students who continue to show little to no progress with this targeted intervention are then

considered for more intensive interventions as part of Tier 3. At the Tier 3 level, students receive

individualized, intensive interventions that “target the students’ skill deficits” (Gorski, n.d.). If

students are still not achieving the desired level of progress in response to this individualized

instruction, they are referred for a comprehensive evaluation and considered for eligibility for

special education services. With RTI, it is important to note that this process can’t be used to

deny or delay a formal evaluation for special education and in no way does this process mean

your student will be eligible for special education services. I like to think of the Multi-Tiered

System of Support (MTSS) as an umbrella term. MTSS is a framework and model for continuous

improvement to meet all students where they need support – focusing on the “whole child,”

rather than just a single element of their learning. This framework is a system that schools may

use to target struggling students with early intervention. I believe that MTSS is much more
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
comprehensive. While RTI and MTSS are two different frameworks, they are also closely

correlated having to do with interventions and RTI focusing on academic needs within MTSS.

I think the assess-teach-reassess process is about more than just students taking tests; I

think it creates a relationship and trust between the teacher and student. I think this is a valuable

process because it communicates to the class and to their families that assessing is about much

more than just putting a grade in the book and moving on, it shows that you as a teacher are

willing to put the time in to make the students better and that you appreciate their willingness to

learn as well. I really enjoy the concept behind this process and will implement it into my

classroom because I want to give students more than one opportunity to express their knowledge

rather than make assumptions after one time of assessment.

Student Background

The student I chose to work with is named Jack and he was born on February 29, 2012

and is currently in fourth grade. He attends Bovill Elementary School within the Whitepine

School District in Deary, Idaho. It is a very small public school that puts a lot of work and

priority into giving each student the best educational opportunity possible. Jack is very energetic

and has moderate to severe ADHD, which at his age is hard to get a grip on, so they have been in

that process of seeing specialists for a couple months now. Because of this, Jack gets distracted

very easily and struggles focusing for a long period of time. However, besides that, Jack does not

need any modifications to academic processes; however, he is on an IEP. Jack (pseudonym) is

currently reading below his grade level sitting at about the middle to end of third grade reading

level. He is being pulled out into the Title 1 room once a day, but he has not caught up to his

grade level in reading yet. I will use RTI/MTSS to make instructional decisions and conduct

specific interventions depending on which skill/concepts he is struggling with. He currently

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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
struggles with decoding, which then consequently puts a damper on his comprehension. Jack

works so hard to try and be at his grade level in reading, but there are significant hurdles we will

need to be able to successfully intervene on and figure out before that. His confidence is greatly

slipping in response to his academic abilities and needs, so I think using MTSS will help me be

able to address many of his needs in a combined effort.

Description of Initial Assessments

CORE Reading Maze Comprehension Test

This reading assessment measures how well students understand text as they read

silently. This assessment is based completely on the text. Every seventh word in the passage is

replaced with the correct word, as well as two distracters. The student must choose the word

from among the three choices that best fits with the rest of the passage. Capable readers will be

able to complete this assessment and understand the syntax of what they read, and the meaning

of words used in the text. Going into these assessments, I knew my student, Jack, was below

level on reading fluency. I chose to do this assessment because for a student reach high

comprehension in reading and understand which word matches the theme of the story, they must

be fluent as well. My student attempted a third-grade passage and in three minutes was only able

to attempt ten items, and out of those ten only got 8 correct, which in fourth grade, puts him in

the intensive performance category.

CORE Vocabulary Screening Test

The vocabulary screening test measures how well students know the meaning of grade-

level words as they read silently. The task of this assessment involves the student reading a word

in a box and then choosing which of three answer choices means the same as the word in the

box. It is a pure measure of reading vocabulary – there is no need to comprehend text in order to
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complete the task. I administered this assessment because vocabulary knowledge is critical to

understanding grade-appropriate text – which is an area Jack struggles in. The results from this

assessment exceeded my expectations! While I know this assessment was supposed to be done

silently, Jack did sound some words out very quietly to himself and I did not have to tell him to

use a strategy. He put his finger on each phoneme of the word and sounded it out until he got his

result. He answered 23 of the 30 words correctly, which places him in the benchmark

performance level. However, he may have understood vocabulary and synonyms, but this took

him about 15 minutes, which is longer than I think the average student would take.

CORE Graded High-Frequency Word Survey

This high-frequency word survey consists of five-word lists that assess student

recognition of words that are very frequently occurring in text at each of Grades K-4. The lists

increase the challenge of the high-frequency words encountered by students as they progress

through the grades. This can be used as a screening measure, as well as an outcome measure

because it can provide data about growth at the end of an instructional period. This assessment

was crucial because these words appear so frequently, so they are crucial for comprehension.

Automatic recognition of these high-frequency words affects the flow and coherence of text and

are important contributors to reading fluency. In the fourth-grade list, Jack read 4 words out loud

incorrectly, therefore, he got 20 words right, which places him in the strategic performance

category. His word fluency, whether it’s high frequency or just vocabulary he should be fluent in

at his grade level is not at the benchmark level, and I really want to work with him on getting it

there so he can be more fluent in all areas with his classmates, literature, etc.

Analysis of Assessments
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
After administering these initial assessments and watching Jack complete them, I can

confidently say that he is one of the most determined, hardworking kids I have ever met. He said

that he took his ADHD medication that morning on time and I could tell because he was so

focused and willing to work without needing any breaks or accommodations. While there were

some areas that needed improvement, I also saw a lot of strengths. For the reading maze

comprehension assessment, the fourth-grade student performed in the intensive category, on a

third-grade level assessment. As I watched him complete this assessment, I could tell how

determined he was, but I could also see the frustration. Jack had to sound out some of the words

out loud and reread numerous sentences just to comprehend what the theme of the

passage/sentence was about. The main weakness that stood out to me during this assessment is

the fact that Jack is not fluent in knowing his vocabulary, which then results in lacking in his

comprehension. As I stated above, I administered the vocabulary assessment because that

knowledge is critical to understanding grade-appropriate text – which is an area Jack struggles in

according to the reading maze assessment results. While his performance met the benchmark

minimum, it is clear there is still something he is struggling with. As a fourth grader matching

third grade level words, this assessment took him a stretched amount of time and while it was

supposed to be done quietly, Jack had to sound out numerous words to be able to comprehend

and make a meaning of them. A strength he did show though was that he understands strategies

to use while reading rather than just giving up when he gets stuck – that is admirable. To me, it

seems Jack has poor comprehension because of his low vocabulary skills and lack of reading

exposure. The assessment that worried me the most was the high-frequency word survey. His

performance was strategic, but this took him so much time and barely even got through the

fourth-grade level list. These are words he should be using and seeing every day, so when he
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
struggled with these, I started to worry because that could push him back in fluency and

comprehension. I am wanting to do further assessment on Jack in this area. I am wanting to

administer the CORE Phonics Survey to identify whether poor decoding skill knowledge is

causing less word recognition. If this does not give me any data to work off, I will then look

forth to administer assessments that will isolate phoneme awareness. I believe this strategy could

also connect to the vocabulary screening test work strategies in just keeping them exposed to

these words. After going through these assessments, I have concluded that one of the main

concepts I need to work on with Jack is helping her learn high-frequency and common

vocabulary words and how they connect to literacy.

Goal 1: The student will work to improve knowledge of high-frequency and common

vocabulary words.

Goal 2: The student will work to use context clues and other strategies to help determine

the meaning of unfamiliar words.

Jack is a very talented kid who puts his whole heart into his work, but we need to figure out how

to get him closer to his grade level for reading fluency and comprehension. Within those

categories, there are many concepts that can come into play with that struggle and deficiency. To

help Jack, I am going to work with him on decoding strategies. This will help his comprehension

– knowing the meaning of words and how they fit into a story – which will then lead to increased

fluency overall.

Instructional Plan

The two goals that I have outlined above for my student serve as the starting point for

designing instruction to help Jack improve his overall literacy skills. The main target of my

instruction is to improve his comprehension. His comprehension is weak because he struggles

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with fluency and decoding words. There is evidence to support this from various assessments,

but the first one I did was the CORE Reading Maze Comprehension Test. Once I saw that he was

in the intensive category for that, I wanted to start testing to figure out what could be causing

him to struggle. Therefore, I administered the High-Frequency Word Survey to him, and he was

below his grade level. This gave me a good starting point of what to work on with him to

improve his overall literacy skills.

The formation of his goals above game from a discussion with Jack’s teacher about his

test scores and about how instruction can be focused to improve his knowledge in high-

frequency words and using strategies to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words. To help

Jack, I am going to work with him on decoding strategies. After looking at many lessons and

strategies, I decided the best way to help Jack would be through audio-assisted reading. By

directing my instruction towards this audio-assisted reading, it will help Jack build fluency skills,

improve sight word recognition, build comprehension, and hear the tone and pace of a skillful

reader. For my student, I will do the passage recording. I know him best, so I will be able to set

the speed where I think he can follow along and read effective and efficiently. I will have the

passage available for him to see visually and follow along to see what he is reading while he is

"echoing" the passage. By having him visually follow along, I will be able to see which words he

pauses on while reading, and I will mark it down. Although he will be following along with an

audio, I will do a running record so I can see what he still needs further intervention on. Once he

reads, I will use a strategy from the article "What are the six strategies that work?" and pose

probing questions. By doing this, I will touch on fluency, decoding, and comprehension. Jack

works so hard to read at grade level, and I think this instruction plan will help lead him in the

right direction to meet his goals.

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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
Day 1 Day 2
High Frequency Word Review: High Frequency Word Review:
1. Ordinary 1. Ordinary
2. Protect 2. Protect
3. Stronger 3. Stronger
4. Enemy
Introduction of New Book: (Teacher) Re-Reading of Book from Day 1:
This book is called Wonder by R.J. Palacio. It is about a Observations:
young boy, August, who was born with a facial  Do Informal Running Record
deformity that prevented him from going to a public o Jack was much more confident
school growing up. He is now going into fifth grade, o Did not pause near as much
entering a mainstream school and is so nervous he won’t o Read high-frequency words with much
be accepted. This book portrays how physical more ease and a lot more clear
appearances don’t matter, it’s what’s on the inside that o Was not frustrated at all
matters. For this lesson, we will only be reading the first
two parts: Ordinary & Why I Didn’t Go to School. Retell:
Can you think of something you know about this  Do you remember what this story was about?
topic? (student) o “Yeah, it was about a boy who was born
 Record students’ response here. with a couple differences on his face. He
o “My cousin was born with something where acted normal, but looked “different” than
his nose is really squished, and he only has other kids, so he couldn’t go to school. He
half of his teeth. He also doesn’t really know just wants to feel like he has friends at
how to talk but he is older than me! I really school, but he doesn’t want to go and be
like playing with him and he has a lot of made fun of.”
friends who also do.”  How did our three vocabulary words fit into that
story? (listed out on a sheet in front of him)
Do you think it would be hard to go to school if your o “Well we talked a lot about how August the
face didn’t look “normal” or “ordinary” like the
boy liked to do ordinary things, but he
other kids?
didn’t look ordinary to some people. And
 Record students’ response here. that he is a super strong boy who went to
o “No, I don’t think it would be. I think people school even though he was nervous and his
should have friends no matter how they look sister thought she just had to protect him.”
so I would just go with that thought in my
mind. I think my parents would talk me Introduction of New Book: (teacher)
through it too.” Today we are going to look at a new book, and it’s a picture
book so there are more illustrations to support it’s meaning.
This book is called Enemy Pie. This book is all about
Reading Strategies: friendship and how we have to spend time with someone to
 Audio Assisted Reading get to know who they really are.
o I will do the passage recording. I know him How do you think this relates to our first book, Wonder?
best, so I will be able to set the speed where I  “They both have to do with friendship. I think what
think he can follow along and read effective you told me sounds like it deals with that quote
and efficiently. about like the book and the cover on how people
o He reread the passages out loud look.” (Trying to say “don’t judge a book by it’s
independently the second time. cover)

Observations of Reading Strategies: When I first read you the title, what did you think
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
 Jack did super good with the “echoing” of the this book was going to be about?
reading. He paused on nine of the words for a couple  “I didn’t really understand what enemy was. But
seconds, but once he heard it on the audio, he after you explained it, I thought someone would
repeated it and said it correctly while he continued throw a pie at someone they don’t like.”
with the reading. I could tell he was getting a little
bit frustrated that there was an audio, so he couldn’t Comprehension Strategy Focus:
completely stop reading and sound it out at his own  Good Readers:
pace. Although I think he appreciated hearing o Making connections
someone because once he got the word right, he o Questioning (asking and answering)
smiled. o Inferring
o Main Idea
o Predicting
Comprehension Strategy Focus (Use this to discuss and to
have student write) Circle one as focus for lesson.
o Visualizing
 Good Readers: Writing Prompt:
o Making connections  Based on the story, why was the narrator having
o Questioning (asking and answering) second thoughts about the Enemy Pie?
o Inferring o “The narrator had one of the best days with
o Main Idea someone he thought was his enemy, so I
o Predicting don’t think he wanted to hurt him after
o Visualizing that.”
 What do you think the dad was thinking when
the narrator told him he had enemies?
Writing Prompt: o “I don’t think he wanted his son to have
 Based on the first part of this story, what do you enemies that’s why he wanted to make a pie
think ordinary means? to make them have a friendship instead.”
o “Normal. Like when it said, “I do ordinary
 Why did the narrator tear down his enemy list?
things”, I think that means he does like o “I think it’s because Jeremy was coming
normal things like I do when I eat ice cream
into the tree house and the narrator didn’t
and ride my bike and stuff.”
want to have to tell him why his name was
 What does this statement mean: “If I were on a list.”
ordinary, she wouldn’t feel like she needs to
protect me as much.”
o “I don’t think he thinks his sister would be as
close to him if he really was normal and
looked the same as their family and friends.”
 What does the saying “Don’t judge a book by it’s
cover” mean? How does this saying relate to the
book Wonder?
o “I have heard that saying before in class. If
something looks different and like all beat
up, it doesn’t mean that it’s bad or mean.
Maybe they can’t help it. Like August
couldn’t help what he looked like, but he is a
really nice boy who likes to do a lot of the
same stuff as everyone else.”
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
NOTES (what worked/ what can you conclude after NOTES (what worked/ what can you conclude after
teaching the lesson- is the level book on target- does teaching the lesson- is the level book on target- does
it match student’s abilities? What else) it match student’s abilities? What else)
I think that I chose a good first book for Jack. He’s This book was much more achievable for Jack’s
really interested into this kind of stuff, and he told me reading level and he could’ve read this without
now he wants to challenge himself and finish the book assistance the first time, but he still did a fantastic job
by the end of the school year and then watch the movie. echoing my voice when reading it and following along
The book was more on the challenging side for him, but with his fingers. He did a fantastic job answering my
it was nothing that was impossible for him – especially inferencing questions and being able to comprehend
with his determination. At first, reading along was what was happening in the story. Both stories were
frustrating with him because he couldn’t go at his pace, read much more confidently the second time
but once he finished, he was appreciative that he had the independently and when he was stuck, he used the
opportunity to hear words he didn’t understand said out sounding it out strategy with his finger and decoded the
loud correctly so he knew from sight and sound what the words.
word was supposed to be.
Reflection

I designed my guided reading lesson for Jack to help him get closer to achieving the goals

I set forth for him based on his teacher and I’s thoughts and first assessment outcomes. The first

goal for him was to improve his knowledge of high-frequency and common vocabulary words.

To help him accomplish his goal, I highlighted three main words throughout our first text. Before

reading the text, I asked him questions that made him connect with his own life. Within those

questions, I introduced the vocabulary words and in one gave a synonym for the meaning of it.

For the writing prompts, I asked Jack questions and he had to go back in the text and look for

context clues that helped him understand how to answer the questions I asked based on some of

the vocabulary words. I was absolutely impressed by his responses and the way he took on the

task – it was like he never skipped a beat and knew exactly what he needed to say. Therefore, in

this area, I think I could have made things a little more challenging. The story was more

challenging for him though, so I didn’t want him to be his own worst enemy and get in his head

and not want to continue; I wanted to make him feel confident in his work and reading. Two of

the vocabulary words I chose were more difficult for him to pronounce and he had to really focus

on echoing and following along with his finger, but once he figured it out, his face lit up and he
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
had the biggest smile, which for me was so rewarding. On the second day, I asked him to tell me

how our three vocabulary words fit into the story. Without even asking, he used all three of the

vocabulary words in his answer. I think after some intervention and work, he has already

improved tremendously regarding this goal on his knowledge of vocabulary words.

For his second goal, I wanted him to be able to use context clues and other strategies to

decode the meaning of words, which then would result in increased comprehension. To help him

with this, I used the Audio-Assisted Reading strategy. I chose books and recorded myself reading

at a pace that I thought would be challenging, but efficient enough for him to get what we needed

out of it. I chose the pace to read off based on earlier interventions and observing him read

throughout the semester. I did not tell him that I would be doing a running record on him because

I didn’t want to overwhelm him more than he already was having to read at a pace that was not

set by himself. Jack was introduced to many vocabulary words and did a fantastic job staying

confident throughout both days of this workshop. Jack followed along with his finger the whole

time he was echoing the story reading and I think that was a fantastic strategy the increased his

understanding of how to decode words. This will help him in the future when he does not have

an audio reading to follow along with and he needs to figure out what a word is and how it fits

within the context of the story. Jack made very few errors when rereading the stories

independently out loud the second time through. He took his time and used his finger strategy to

make sure he accurately read every word. To help him improve his comprehension, I used

inference questions to where he had to think back to the story and answer questions that were not

given to him explicitly. Jack did a fantastic job using his schema (background knowledge from

text) and clues to answer these questions. After he asked them, outside of the lesson, I asked him
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
if he knew what it was to infer something and he stated that he didn’t, he was just answering the

questions based on what “he thought.”

Jack has always been very anxious when it came to reading, but I think after using audio-

assisted reading and the strategies taught in this lesson, he can now understand how to express

his ideas on the story and he has strategies in his knowledge bank now to use when he gets

overwhelmed. After this lesson was complete, I saw much improvement – informally and

formally on the running record. He improved tremendously on comprehension and is now able to

decode words using a very common strategy. Everything he learned – answering questions,

retelling, echoing, following along with his finger – will all improve his fluency and confidence.

Reassessment & Analysis

CORE Reading Maze Comprehension Test

I first assessed Jack, who is in the fourth grade at the beginning of March, and he was

testing in the intensive category for this assessment while attempting a third-grade passage.

Comprehension is something we have spent a lot of time working on, using different strategies

informally and formally. When I reassessed him this week, I was very excited and anxious to see

the results and analyze outcomes. While they’re still not the results I was hoping to see, I am

thankful and proud to say he has improved. While the results might not say though, I saw a lot

informally. Jack was much more confident. He read the passage out loud and made it much

further than he did the first time. Because he was able to decode more words, he was more fluent

and comprehensive. While he only got 8 word choices correct in March, he got 12 this time! In

the Spring, to jump up to the strategic category, a student needs to get 14 correct. I think that the

lessons I taught and other things we have worked on helped, but I think I could have researched

more to see what else could help. Under the scoring table for this assessment, it says that it helps
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
students if they have practice maze passages to go through or have them create their own. I think

Jack could have benefited from this a lot and would’ve helped him become much more

comfortable with the task at hand as well.

CORE Vocabulary Screening Test

I am still very pleased with the results from this assessment after quite a few weeks. Jack

did a fantastic job using skills and strategies to decode words he didn’t understand during this

assessment. In March, he answered 23 of the 30 words correctly, and that’s exactly what he got

this time around; however, he answered four of the different words correctly. Therefore, he is

understanding the meaning of more words, but it also means we need to stay consistent with

review. He improved in time this time through – it took him significantly less time to get through

this assessment which could stem from many things: confidence, knowledge, comfort, etc. I

think having the vocabulary words at the beginning of each lesson and having him answer

questions based on context helped him understand synonyms and antonyms more and increased

his vocabulary bank. While I was hoping to see improvement after our time put in, I am proud

that he stayed in the benchmark category for his grade level!

CORE Graded High-Frequency Word Survey

This assessment depended hard on instruction, interventions, and time spent working

hard, and it paid off. I am so proud and pleased to say that Jack jumped up to the benchmark

category! In March when he completed this assessment, he landed himself in the strategic

category, which isn’t terrible, but I knew by improving this category, his comprehension would

at least increase because he would understand more words – meaning and pronunciation. Two of

the words, Jack completely pronounced wrong, but the third one he just hesitated for too long, so

after three seconds I had to mark it wrong. I could tell this made him a little bit nervous
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
continuing on, but I also think it made him work harder and push himself to improve. From the

results on this assessment, I think we need to work on words that contain “ou” in them. That

vowel phoneme really stumped Jack. Clearly though the improvement here, even by a little bit,

helped his comprehension as well, which is what we were hoping for!

Student’s Growth

More than anything, these assessments tell us how much Jack has improved in his overall

comprehension of stories and gives us insight on what else we can work on and build off. I am

beyond impressed that through all of this time and hard work, he is still so dedicated and

appreciative of the help he is getting – I don’t think all students would be like that, but Jack

wants to achieve his goals. The main goals I had outlined for teaching Jack were to improve

knowledge of high-frequency and common vocabulary words and to increase his comprehension

using context clues and strategies to figure out unfamiliar words. I think that he met the first goal

with great measure, but I think for the second goal, he met more of the increased comprehension

in general more than figuring out what unfamiliar words were with help of context around it. I

think that Jack could benefit from more individualized, specific work based on each of these

skills rather than trying to create lessons working on all three (or more) at once. However, I do

think that the lesson plans helped a lot because he did improve overall, not only by scores, but

also just by confidence and pride. On the reading maze assessment, he improved by four words.

While that’s not a lot, that’s four more words he can comprehend and understand in context. I

think the tutoring sessions and time spent working on this with a good attitude paid off and I am

so proud of him, and I know he also is of himself because his teacher said he keeps talking about

it. I hope he continues with that confidence and using strategies and learning tools to help him

overcome challenges he has.

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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
Student’s Progress

Jack’s teacher and I are so proud of his dedication, attitude, and improvement throughout

this whole process. If we look back to the goals outlined in Part 2 of this case study, we can see

from results of assessment and reassessment that Jack has made progress across the whole board.

While the chart doesn’t say Jack has improved much in comprehension, regarding the skill group

he’s in, I saw a lot of improvement formally. I saw so much improvement on the second day of

our lesson. Not only did he answer all the comprehension questions, but he also acted so

passionate and confident in the topic and in his answers. At the beginning, Jack’s decoding skills

were lacking. I informally observed him struggling with the meaning of words in the classroom

and he was struggling with comprehension as a result of it. When I assessed him, I was pleased

to see that he was in the benchmark category for his grade. Lastly, he can recognize high-

frequency words much better now, which will guide him to reading closer to grade level texts.

All of these improvements, both formally and informally, have led to an increase in Jack’s ability

to read more fluently than before and have much better comprehension skills. I chose these

assessments based on skills I thought he could use after observing his knowledge in the

classroom. There were days where I could tell Jack was tired and struggling, but that did not stop

his determination to become a better reader and to be more connected to his classmates.

Jack dealt with my delivery of the lesson plan amazingly. I got very nervous to teach him

something like this because I am not one of his “teachers.” Therefore, I didn’t know if he would

take it as seriously or trust the process, but it worked seamlessly. I thought the connections Jack

made to his personal life were incredible – I don’t think many fourth graders would do that and

understand the importance of it. I understand why Jack has an IEP plan, but when he takes his

medication, I think that he’s a lot more progressive and successful. As I said in the section above,
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
I think that with proper intervention and continued practice of reading mazes, and audio-assisted

reading, he will continue to progress in the right way. The use of MTSS helped Jack improve in

more areas than academic because I was focusing on “whole child” strategies. I knew his

confidence was slipping due to his abilities in school, so I tried to make the lesson and

interventions more fun and comprehensive to improve his academic skills and mental abilities.

Recommendations:

1. More one-on-one time with Jack.

a. I think Jack’s confidence starts slipping because he realizes he is behind in relation to his

peers, and he feels like he is put on the back burner. I think that Jack feels pressured to

read like his classmates, and he has such pride in himself that when he can’t, it defeats

him.

2. Continue audio-assisted reading/guided reading.

a. Exposure to more vocabulary words and understanding how to decode them will help

Jack with his comprehension. As stated before, the more words Jack can decode and

understand, the better his comprehension will be. Also, by listening to readings, it will

better help him with fluency because he will understand the pronunciation.

Process Reflection

As a future educator, this whole process helped me a lot. I think one of the main lessons it

taught me was if students want to work for it, they will. Just like in life, you can only put

yourself out there to help so much until an individual appreciates it and puts in the effort to

become better. Thankfully, in this situation, my student really wanted to learn and was motivated

throughout the whole intervention. Also, it taught me that it takes a team for something to work.

When I started this project, it started with collaborating with the general education teacher. She

helped me choose a student from the very start, but she allowed me to have a student that
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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
wouldn’t overwhelm me. She also talked me through steps because I have never done this kind

of thing before, and she helped me make my lesson plan realistic. Beyond that, I also talked to

his special education teacher that pulls him once a day. She gave me tips because she knows how

Jack would best respond to situations and prompts. Although there are lots of important people

that work hard on helping students, a huge influence on the success of this project was his

parents and the support they gave me as a practicum student. They trusted me along the way and

made sure Jack got the necessities available for this intervention to go seamlessly.

I also saw how the mood of a teacher really influences the work and mood of students as

well. I did my best to support Jack in every way I could, especially behavior wise and I think that

helped this go smoothly. I tried to connect to Jack as much as possible and make it fun, so he

didn’t have to do strenuous work and get exhausted from it. I think by allowing him to relate the

books to his own life, he had more interest in it, which in result motivated him. I really

appreciate the time and effort Jack, his teachers, and family members put into process, and it

allowed me to see how interventions should go and all of the outside work you must do.

However, it’s so worth it because if a student can achieve higher assessment scores and

confidence, then I have done my job. The main thing I remembered through this is that the

barrier is not within the student, it’s within our work as I said previously. I want my classroom to

be as inclusive as possible and then work from there on areas I can improve in – which here, was

including Jack more and working with him on things that will help him achieve his large goal –

read at his grade level. I am very thankful for this experience and how it will help me as an

educator in the near future.

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CASE STUDY: ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
Works Cited

Gorski, D. (n.d.). What is RTI? What is Response to Intervention (RTI)? | RTI Action Network.

Retrieved March 2, 2022, from http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti

YouTube. (n.d.). MTSS/RTI & Literacy Instruction & Intervention. YouTube.

Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE0IHw38gmh

OlBFLTkUd_EM_j54g5jGRw