Designing a Measurement Framework for Response to Intervention in Early Childhood Programs

Abstract

The overall architecture and major components of a measurement system designed and evaluated to support Response to Intervention (RTI) in the areas of language and literacy in early childhood programs are described. Efficient and reliable measurement is essential for implementing any viable RTI system, and implementing such a system in early childhood programs presents several special challenges. This article describes (a) the general approach taken to developing and evaluating this measurement system, including its conceptual and methodological foundations, methods, and results for developing items and scales for second-generation Individual Growth and Development Indicators (IGDIs 2.0), and (b) use of these scales in a larger decision-making framework for differentiating language and literacy instruction to match the needs of preschool children at risk of academic difficulties. The authors conclude with a review of some challenges associated with developing measurement for differentiated instruction in early childhood settings.

Metacognitive Precursors: An Analysis in Children with Different Disabilities

“…This supports the hypothesis that metacognitive precursors are related to the development of the skills of comprehensive and expressive language [ 7 , 8 ]. Hence, this instrument will enable professionals in the fields of psychology, pedagogy, and occupational therapy to analyze metacognitive precursors at early ages, and, depending on the results, develop individualized training programs [ 17 , 18 ].…”

“…Likewise, the development of self-knowledge seems to be related to the development of the adult skills of planning and response to adult regulation and to the subsequent acquisition of one’s own self-regulation in problem solving [ 16 ]. All of these skills can be learned and are therefore susceptible to training at early ages [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”

The Relationship between Children’s Developmental Functioning and Participation in Social Activities in Portuguese Inclusive Preschool Settings

“…This does not mean that all children identified in our study as being "at risk" should be eligible for ECI. But we believe that all children in education settings should be able, at any point of their educational trajectory, to be eligible to receive adequate support, similarly to the multi-tiered systems of support model (Grisham-Brown and Pretti-Frontczak, 2011;McConnell et al, 2014).…”

Convergent Validity of Infant/Toddler Developmental Progress Monitoring Tools

“…Moving away from highly structured norm-referenced measures that might not effectively capture functional skills, the field of early intervention has increased its attention to validate and use more naturalistic measures for assessing early developmental progression (Bagnato, 2005;Dunst, Trivette, & Cutspec, 2007). This move is related to the need to capture children's responsiveness to various intervention strategies, otherwise known as response to intervention (RTI: Buysee & Peisner-Feinberg, 2013;McConnell, Wackerle-Hollman, Roloff, & Rodriguez, 2015). Assessments used to monitor child progress and change are designed to be used frequently and to be sensitive to small changes in development that quickly inform practitioners when adjustments to intervention strategies are needed.…”