Date of Award

8-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education Systems Improvement Science

Committee Chair/Advisor

Dr. Carlos Sandoval

Committee Member

Dr. J Graham Willingham

Committee Member

Dr. Parker Andreoli

Committee Member

Dr. Paula Alexander

Abstract

Novice teachers, those with five years or less of classroom experience, are often burdened with keeping up with constant reform and challenges, while under constant pressure to improve student outcomes. This dissertation in practice aimed to address this burden by reducing the number of students receiving Tier 3 intervention, the highest level of intervention before a special education referral.

Grounded in the theory of improvement, the intervention provided teachers with one day a month of professional development and dedicated time to focus on collaboration of Tier 2 progress monitoring data analysis. Tier 2 interventions focus on reteaching and extending state standards. The goal was to establish set times in which novice teachers could collaborate with their grade-level team to analyze the data collected from Tier 2 progress monitoring. These Common Formative Assessments (CFAs) are administered biweekly to determine a student’s response to Tier 2 intervention.

In addition to daily recording of the number of students in Tier 3, novice teachers completed a survey in the same weeks they completed CFAs for their Tier 2 students. The data collected within these surveys included their perceived confidence in administering, scoring, and analyzing the collected data. In this survey, teachers were given the opportunity to share what they felt could be provided to further support progress monitoring for Tier 2 students in their classrooms.

The findings of this study did not demonstrate a decrease in the number of students served within the Tier 3 level of intervention. Reported confidence steadily increased throughout the weeks. Several main themes emerged from teachers’ comments. These themes will help spread change and inform further support needed for teachers, with the goal of improving student outcomes.

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