Using Performance Feedback to Increase Procedural Integrity of Progress Monitoring Decision Rule

Central to Response to Intervention (RTI) is the analysis of progress monitoring (PM) data to determine the need for an instructional change (IC). This study examined the extent to which performance feedback (PF) increased the procedural integrity (PI) of a decision rule, indicated by the percentage of correct decisions to make an IC or continue instruction. Three teachers received a brief training in regards to a decision rule. Teachers were asked to analyze PM data of students in their reading intervention group weekly and indicate whether an IC was necessary. The brief training led to initial relatively high levels of PI for two of the three teachers. However, the addition of PF was effective in increasing the percentage of correct IC decisions for two of the three teachers, as evidenced by visual analysis. The results suggest a brief training about the decision rule, monitoring of teachers' initial PI, and providing brief weekly PF to teachers with low to moderate percentages may improve data analysis within an RTI system