Nicole Pyle, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Adolescent Literacy and Secondary Education in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Utah State University. Her research interests include interventions for youth at-risk in secondary education, adolescent literacy, dropout prevention, college readiness, effective instructional practices, and multi-tiered interventions in inclusive settings. She was the recipient of the 2009-2011 IES Postdoctoral Fellowship on Reading Disabilities and Response to Intervention with Dr. Sharon Vaughn at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Pyle serves as an Institute Fellow in The Dropout Prevention Institute at The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk. She has more than 8 years of experience as a middle school and high school special education teacher.
AAPF19 Session
A Systematic Review of Academic Interventions for Students in Alternative High Schools: A Review of Evidence under ESSA Presenters will inform participants about the rationale, methods, and findings of a systematic review of academic interventions implemented with students ages 14 to 22 who attend alternative high schools. There is a need to review the available research of academic interventions implemented in alternative high schools and identify which instructional practices are most effective from improving outcomes for this population in these contexts. To date, no systematic review that addresses the effectiveness of academic interventions with students who attend alternative high schools is available.
Our findings are limited to the inconsistent reporting of intervention characteristics. Overall, the academic interventions resulted in favorable academic outcomes. However, the studies were of low methodological quality. Researchers infrequently reported fidelity of implementation which limits our understanding if the intervention was delivered with quality as it was intended. Further, few researchers administered standardized measures which minimizes our generalizability of broader academic achievement impact than the researcher-developed measures administered to evaluate the intervention specific outcomes. Additionally, we will review the limited high-quality research base under the ESSA definitions of evidence, highlight the most effective instructional practices implemented in academic interventions, and suggest possible future research and implications for practice. Dr. Christopher Mazzeo will serve as a Discussant to critically examine the findings and to encourage participants to generate evidence in alternative education.
AAPF18 Sessions:
Equitable Access to Challenging Courses: Curriculum and Instruction Adaptations
Curriculum design and instruction delivery can create equitable access to challenging courses for diverse learners. Various instructional practices and examples will be shared during this session.
Past AAPF Sessions:
A Synthesis of Academic Interventions for Students in Alternative High Schools
Dr. Nicole Pyle, an Associate Professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Utah State University, and Sally Brown, who is conducting her dissertation about youth with reading difficulties in an alternative high school, will provide a systematic review of the academic interventions implemented in alternative high schools from 1970 to 2016. Limited, high quality research studies are available to inform researchers and educators of effective academic interventions to improve academic outcomes with youth who attend alternative high schools. The presenters will review the limited research base, highlight the most effective instructional strategies implemented in academic interventions, and suggest possible future research and implications for practice.
L-ACT (Literacy for Access to College and Texts): Utah Alternative High Schools College Readiness Partnership Participants will learn about a state-funded project to support alternative high school students to become college ready. The Utah Alternative High Schools (AHSs) College Readiness Partnership is a collaboration between Utah State University and three AHSs in Utah to increase the number of underrepresented juniors and seniors who achieve ACT college-readiness benchmarks, read more proficiently, apply for college, and complete FAFSA by participation in ACT online tutorials, reading/content intervention sessions, college application and FAFSA events, and a college tour. The creation of an AHS State Leadership Team aims to improve AHS students’ college readiness by recommending effective strategies to prepare for and enroll in college, and developing an effective model for AHSs to implement for program sustainability. In Spring 2016, we implemented this project at one pilot AHS. In the Fall, the project will be implemented at three AHSs. Preliminary data from the pilot project will be presented and discussed along with a review of challenges and successes currently being implemented in the three AHSs.
