For more than a decade, Olivia Martinez has taught elementary school students in Los Angeles and she’s often relied on research-supported methods to reach underperforming students. When Los Angeles Unified School District adopted the Response to Intervention program, which seeks to provide data-driven and specialized instruction for students who aren’t testing well, Martinez assumed the role of Intervention Coordinator at her school. Here, she talks about how research has made her a better teacher and how public school reform starts in individual classrooms.
"I’m the bridge between
general education and the special ed classroom."
Q: What is Response to Intervention?
A: Response to Intervention (RTI) is a model for service delivery that’s been around for 20 years. There are so many students identified for special education, and the idea was to see if you can give targeted interventions to students and see if you can make progress with them. If they make progress, then they probably don’t have a disability; they just have an instructional mismatch—hence, the name Response to Intervention.
Q: Describe your role as the Intervention Coordinator.
I’m the bridge between general education and the special ed classroom. Before they get tested for a learning disability, we see if they respond to the intervention I give them, and if they can, then maybe they just need more targeted instruction. I’m working with fourth, fifth and sixth grade students who didn’t do well in their standardized testing. I’m working with them in very small groups, and we’re focusing on their reading and how we can get them to where they need to be. It’s a perfect fit for me. I have a strong background in literacy and language arts. I love small groups and helping kids who are struggling. And I love data. A main component of RTI is progress monitoring. You don’t guess whether the intervention is working; you use assessments and track progress. If they respond, then it’s working. If not, then you change the intervention, make it more intense, or you change the grouping or instruction method.Q: How do you work with your students?
A: I use research-supported methods. With grades 4 through 6, we are working on fluency. I did a literature review on the best ways to improve fluency, and I came across Repeated Reading, where you have the student read a passage at their level aloud, and mark any errors the student makes as they read. Then you discuss the errors with the student, and have the student reread the passage. I usually mark their first score on a graph and then give them a few days to practice and re-read the passage. Then I ask them to read the passage to me again and we check to see if they improved. We mark their second score on the graph as well. Research has shown Repeated Reading can lead to genuine reading gains. When you give them a completely separate passage, their fluency goes up.
Q: Where can teachers access quality research?
A: I found peer reviewed research off of the Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). That’s something teachers should do: Stay current on research, making sure they’re looking at good, peer-reviewed research in specific areas of interest or areas they can improve on. The International Reading Association has a publication called The Reading Teacher, and it’s a journal of research-based classroom practices. There are great articles in there. It’s not like hardcore medical reviews; it’s stuff you can read and access and then take what you can use in your classroom.
Q: What would you change about public education?
A: We can improve the training of teachers. There was a Time article that talked about a teacher residency program. I thought it was a great idea. They are saying that teachers should have a residency year where they are in the classroom with another experienced teacher so they can have support and guidance through the first year of teaching.
Q: Why is that important?
A: In public schools, we have to deal with all kinds of families and children and parents, and all kinds of situations. We don’t have the luxury of having all parents that are motivated. We deal with homelessness, poverty and abuse. A lot of teachers say that because they have autonomy in their classroom, that’s how they stay sane. Because when you think about the big picture, it’s overwhelming. I know what I can do in my classroom and I know I can do some good there. Maybe that can lead to other changes—by doing your best in the classroom, you can, in fact, change a school community, and then in turn change a school district, and then in turn, make changes nationally.
Olivia Martinez is an intervention coordinator at Glassell Park Elementary School in Los Angeles.
