Oral Presentations - Guzman 306
The Ideal Role of Resource Specialist Programs: Explicit Intervention for Student Success in Reading
Location
Guzman 306
Start Date
4-23-2015 7:00 PM
End Date
4-23-2015 7:15 PM
Student Type
Graduate
Faculty Mentor(s)
Jacquelyn Urbani, Ph.D. and Madalienne Peters, Ph.D.
Presentation Format
Oral Presentation
Abstract/Description
Reading is a challenging subject area for many students. When students are faced with learning disabilities or other special needs, this challenge becomes even greater. The role of Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers is to plan and intervene using explicit instruction for these students with special needs. The problem is two-fold, RSP teachers lack appropriate time to plan and provide explicit reading instruction to students. In addition, they are unable to have ongoing communication with general education teachers regarding what reading content is being covered in the general education setting and which accommodations are recommended by the RSP teacher to be used in each setting.
This is a qualitative teacher-action research and a two-fold research project that includes individual teacher interviews as well as classroom observations. The researcher will visit and conduct observations of reading instruction in five different RSP classrooms. The researcher will also conduct observations of reading instruction during push-in special education services as well as interview ten individual RSP teachers in order to collect data.
A review of the literature revealed that RSP teachers are not allocated enough time to plan or implement explicit instruction (Vannest, 2011). A review of the literature displayed that there are no classified “best practices” across RSP rooms that are established as equally effective in enhancing reading comprehension (Antoniou, 2007). Additionally, literature addressed the challenges that come with implementing accommodations for students with special needs within both the special education and general education contexts (Anderson, 2006). The purpose of this study is to examine the following aspects of the RSP structure pertinent to reading instruction in a local suburban school setting: the daily schedule breakdown for a typical Resource Specialist program day, the percentage of time dedicated to supervised, explicit reading instruction and the time allocated to students for independent work.
The Ideal Role of Resource Specialist Programs: Explicit Intervention for Student Success in Reading
Guzman 306
Reading is a challenging subject area for many students. When students are faced with learning disabilities or other special needs, this challenge becomes even greater. The role of Resource Specialist Program (RSP) teachers is to plan and intervene using explicit instruction for these students with special needs. The problem is two-fold, RSP teachers lack appropriate time to plan and provide explicit reading instruction to students. In addition, they are unable to have ongoing communication with general education teachers regarding what reading content is being covered in the general education setting and which accommodations are recommended by the RSP teacher to be used in each setting.
This is a qualitative teacher-action research and a two-fold research project that includes individual teacher interviews as well as classroom observations. The researcher will visit and conduct observations of reading instruction in five different RSP classrooms. The researcher will also conduct observations of reading instruction during push-in special education services as well as interview ten individual RSP teachers in order to collect data.
A review of the literature revealed that RSP teachers are not allocated enough time to plan or implement explicit instruction (Vannest, 2011). A review of the literature displayed that there are no classified “best practices” across RSP rooms that are established as equally effective in enhancing reading comprehension (Antoniou, 2007). Additionally, literature addressed the challenges that come with implementing accommodations for students with special needs within both the special education and general education contexts (Anderson, 2006). The purpose of this study is to examine the following aspects of the RSP structure pertinent to reading instruction in a local suburban school setting: the daily schedule breakdown for a typical Resource Specialist program day, the percentage of time dedicated to supervised, explicit reading instruction and the time allocated to students for independent work.