UNIVERSITY OF OREGON: Reading

The Center for Improving Reading Competence Using Intensive Treatments Schoolwide (Project CIRCUITS) is one of two centers investigating reading intervention models for K-3 students. The center aims to guide the implementation and evaluation of a multiple-level prevention model, or circuit, that will increase and maintain early reading achievement. The center is targeting students who have reading disabilities or are at risk for reading disabilities. Participating schools include 10 elementary schools in the Bethel and Tigard-Tualatin Oregon school districts.

The center's primary, secondary, and tertiary interventions are as follows:

• At the primary level, school or research staff assess student reading performance; review the school reading curriculum (i.e., instructional practices, priorities, materials, and time; administrator participation; professional development; and reading assessment) using the Planning and Evaluation Tool for Effective School-wide Reading Programs (PET); assess the results of the review; plan a school-wide reading program and develop grade-level reading goals; establish and implement methods for evaluating student reading progress under the new curriculum; and evaluate the effects of the school-wide reading program at each grade level through the assessment of student reading performance, three times per year.
  
  
• At the secondary level, staff review individual student reading assessment scores; determine specific areas of intervention for these students from the review of their performance on specific reading skills; add enhancements to the reading curriculum (e.g., more explicit intervention, monthly progress monitoring, changes in instructional grouping and methods, etc.); and evaluate secondary prevention efforts and identify students requiring further intervention.
  
  
• At the tertiary level, staff screen children who require tertiary intervention for reading problems; examine the results of the screening procedures and guide teachers on the development of Individual Educational Plan (IEP) goals for eligible students; develop an Individualized-Reading Action Plan (I-RAP) based on the screening results and student learning needs; monitor student reading progress bimonthly; and evaluate student reading growth and needs at monthly meetings. Tertiary-level prevention development is the primary focus of the center.

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