Recent research has identified interventions that improved achievement for students with low test scores in mathematics. The Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades practice guide, developed by the What Works Clearinghouse™ (WWC) in conjunction with an expert panel, distills this recent research into…

Students who demonstrate persistent mathematics difficulties and whose performance is severely below grade level require "intensive intervention". Intensive intervention is an individualized approach to instruction that is more demanding and concentrated than Tier 2 intervention efforts. We present the elements of intensive intervention…

Many general and special education teachers teach mathematics word problems by defining problems as a single operation and linking key words to specific operations. Unfortunately, teaching students to approach word problems in these ways discourages mathematical reasoning and frequently produces incorrect answers. This article lists eight common…

Presenting major advances in understanding learning disabilities (LDs) and describing effective educational practices, this authoritative volume has been significantly revised and expanded with more than 70% new material. Foremost LD experts identify effective principles of assessment and instruction within the framework of multi-tiered systems of…

Despite recent advances in the development of instructional interventions, many students with significant learning problems do not benefit from them. This includes 25% to 50% of students with learning disabilities (LD). In this article, we identify five limitations of current instructional programs that may help to explain students' inadequate…

During the past decade, responsiveness to intervention (RTI) has become popular among many practitioners as a means of transforming schooling into a multilevel prevention system. Popularity aside, its successful implementation requires ambitious intent, a comprehensive structure, and coordinated service delivery. An effective RTI also depends on…

Responsiveness to Intervention (RTI) is widely understood as representing a multilevel framework that integrates assessment and instruction to provide strong early intervention and valid methods of disability identification. There are currently many approaches to RTI, which are creating confusion among educators as they try to conceptualize,…

With the last reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA, also known as No Child Left Behind or NCLB), special education research exerted a major influence on general education. Even so, the academic outcomes of students with learning disabilities (LD), who are the…

This article provides an overview of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) for reading. First, specific activities and research supporting PALS for Grades 2 through 6, High School, Kindergarten, and First Grade are described. Then, research addressing the characteristics of students who have not responded to PALS, as well as approaches to…

This paper reviews research evaluating the effectiveness of Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) for reading. Nearly fifteen years of research has demonstrated the effectiveness of this classwide peer tutoring program in improving the reading performance of high-, average-, and low-performing students, including students with disabilities,…

The purpose of this article is to describe how increasingly intensive, multilevel interventions can be used to ensure the increase in number of children who learn to read. We first review the promise and limitations of empirically validated best practices for mainstream classrooms. We then discuss results from a recent multilevel intervention…

The focus of this article is intervention for third-grade students with serious mathematics deficits at third grade. In third grade, such deficits are clearly established, and identification of mathematics disabilities typically begins. We provide background information on two aspects of mathematical cognition that present major challenges for…

Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is defined and described through a case study of a fourth-grade student. CBM is suggested as a system for monitoring goal appropriateness, adjusting instructional programs, and formulating instructional improvements. Potential contributions of CBM to special education practice are outlined, and areas of needed…

This article proposes a dual-discrepancy approach to identifying children who do not respond to generally effective reading instruction. Curriculum based measurement is suggested as an effective tool for detecting dual discrepancies and an example is provided from an ongoing program of research that uses the dual-discrepancy approach to identify…

Computer application of Curriculum-Based Measurement is presented as a methodology capable of linking student performance and instructional decision making. A case study with a fifth grade learning-disabled student and mathematics illustrates how CBM with computerized feedback systems can be used to systematically implement effective teaching…