4.5 Effective Instruction: Evidence-Based Instructional Strategies

Why Instruction Is a School Psychology Topic

The ETS outline asks candidates to be familiar with instructional strategies such as cooperative learning, differentiated instruction, engagement time, scaffolding, and study skills. School psychologists do not usually teach lessons, but they consult on instruction constantly. In a problem-solving model, the first question about a struggling class, or a struggling student, is whether the instruction is effective (Section 1.1, ICEL). Knowing what effective instruction looks like lets the psychologist recommend changes to Tier 1 before a student is labeled.

Time, Engagement, and Academic Learning Time

Carroll's model of school learning (1963) framed learning as a function of the time a student spends learning relative to the time the student needs. Later research on classroom time distinguished several layers:

Academic learning time predicts achievement better than allocated time. Two common consultation targets follow: reduce downtime (smooth transitions, prepared materials, clear routines) and raise the success rate (instructional-level material; see CBA-ID in Section 1.5).

Opportunities to Respond

Opportunities to respond (OTR) are teacher prompts that invite an academic response. High OTR rates increase engagement and reduce disruption. Efficient formats include:

• Choral responding: the whole class answers together on a signal.
• Response cards and whiteboards: every student writes an answer and holds it up.
• Partner responses: students tell a partner, then the teacher calls on a few.
• Guided notes: partially completed notes that students fill in during a lecture.

Each format gives every student a chance to respond, instead of one student at a time.

Explicit Instruction and Scaffolding

Explicit instruction is systematic, direct teaching of skills and strategies. Common features (Archer & Hughes; Rosenshine's Principles of Instruction) include:

1. Begin with a short review of prior learning.
2. Present new material in small steps with clear models.
3. Model with think-alouds ("I do").
4. Provide guided practice with prompts and feedback ("we do").
5. Check for understanding frequently; aim for a high success rate before moving on.
6. Provide independent practice ("you do") and later cumulative review.

This sequence is the gradual release of responsibility (Pearson & Gallagher): the teacher carries most of the cognitive load at first and transfers it to the student.

Scaffolding (Wood, Bruner, & Ross, 1976) is temporary support that lets a learner succeed at a task just beyond independent ability, and it is removed as competence grows. It connects to Vygotsky's zone of proximal development, the gap between what a learner can do alone and with help. Examples include partially worked examples, sentence starters, graphic organizers, prompts, and cue cards.

Direct Instruction (capital D and I, from Engelmann) refers to specific scripted programs with carefully sequenced lessons, choral responding, and mastery criteria. It performed strongly in the large Project Follow Through evaluation. Lowercase "direct instruction" usually means explicit instruction in general.

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated instruction (associated with Carol Ann Tomlinson) adjusts teaching to student differences within a shared curriculum:

Teachers differentiate on the basis of readiness (current skill), interest, and learning profile.

Exam trap: learning styles. Assessing students as "visual," "auditory," or "kinesthetic" learners and matching instruction to that style has not been supported by controlled research (Pashler and colleagues, 2008). Differentiation should rest on assessed readiness and skills, not learning-style labels. Presenting information in more than one modality can help everyone (see dual coding in Section 4.3), which is different from matching modality to a supposed style.

Differentiation also relies on flexible grouping: groups formed by current skill for a specific purpose and regrouped as data change. That differs from long-term ability tracking (Section 7.4).

Cooperative Learning and Peer-Mediated Instruction

Putting students at the same table is not cooperative learning. Johnson and Johnson identify five elements:

1. Positive interdependence: the group succeeds only if every member succeeds.
2. Individual accountability: each student's learning is assessed.
3. Promotive (face-to-face) interaction: students help and explain to one another.
4. Interpersonal and small-group skills: taught explicitly.
5. Group processing: groups reflect on how well they worked together.

Structured models include Student Teams–Achievement Divisions (STAD) (Slavin), where team recognition depends on each member's improvement, and the Jigsaw method (Aronson), where each student becomes an expert on one piece and teaches it to the group.

Peer tutoring programs also have strong evidence:

• ClassWide Peer Tutoring (CWPT), developed at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project, pairs all students in reciprocal tutoring with points and a structured format.
• Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) (Fuchs and Fuchs) uses structured reading and math activities in pairs (see Section 4.1).
• Reciprocal peer tutoring has students alternate tutor and tutee roles.

Study Skills and Learning Strategies

Students who have basic skills but do poorly on assignments and tests often need strategy instruction:

• Note-taking with guided notes or a two-column format.
• Text-study strategies such as SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) and self-questioning.
• Organization and planning: assignment books, checklists, breaking long projects into steps (see executive functioning in Section 4.3).
• Test-taking strategies: previewing the test, pacing, answering easier items first, and checking work.
• Strategic instruction approaches, such as the University of Kansas Strategic Instruction Model, teach a strategy through description, modeling, verbal practice, controlled practice, advanced practice, and generalization, much like SRSD in writing (Section 4.2).
• Retrieval practice and spacing (Section 4.3) are among the most powerful study habits to teach.

Feedback and Formative Assessment

Feedback is most effective when it is specific (what was right or wrong and why), timely, and focused on the task and the strategy rather than on the student's personality. Formative assessment, such as exit tickets, quick checks, and CBM, lets teachers adjust instruction during a unit. Mastery learning (Bloom) sets a mastery criterion, adds corrective instruction for students who have not reached it, and provides enrichment for those who have.

Consulting on Instruction: A Quick Checklist

When a teacher asks for help with a class or student, a school psychologist can observe for:

• Clear objectives and explicit modeling
• A high rate of opportunities to respond
• A high success rate during practice (about 80% or more on guided practice)
• Smooth transitions and little downtime
• Specific feedback and error correction
• Flexible small-group instruction based on data

Improving these Tier 1 features often reduces referrals more than any individual intervention.