Instructional Decision-Making for Students With Intensive Early Writing Needs: Student Growth in Sentence-Level Curriculum-Based Measurement

Abstract

Instructional decision-making is a defining feature of data-based individualization (DBI) for students with intensive learning needs, yet its added value in facilitating growth in writing remains underexplored. This study examined sentence-level writing growth among 38 elementary students with early writing needs who received DBI support. Students completed weekly progress monitoring over 14 weeks, and teachers made instructional decisions at Week 8. Using piecewise linear-linear mixed-effects modeling, we compared growth rates before and after this decision point. Overall, students improved in sentence-level writing, but growth did not significantly accelerate after Week 8 when analyzed as a group. With respect to instructional decision type (e.g., with and without instructional change), students whose teachers made instructional changes began with slower initial growth but accelerated after Week 8, whereas those whose teachers continued instruction (with or without raising the long-term goal) started with faster initial growth but showed sustained or slightly decelerated growth. These findings underscore the importance of timely instructional modifications for students with inadequate initial progress.