Module 4 : Tiered Instruction

1. Module 4: Tiered Instruction Adolescent Literacy – Professional Development Unit 3, Session 2

2. Incorporating TI into your Daily Schedule 4.3.2

3. Session Overview • Unit 3, Session 2 Questions: • What are the challenges to scheduling TI intervention time? • How should a school system effectively approach schedule changes necessitated by TI? • Unit 3, Session 2 Objectives: • Understand the nuances of scheduling TI interventions • Consider ways to overcome scheduling challenges

4. Warm-Up: Examine the Schedule • Make suggestions for schedule alterations to accommodate Tier 2 and Tier 3 instructional time.

5. Collaborative Planning Framework • Instructional Planning • Execution • Feedback

6. Scheduling Challenges

7. Increasing Scheduling Challenges • Each tier represents more time to be spent on specific reading instruction. • As students move between tiers, schedules become more complex.

8. Common Planning Time • TI leadership team meetings • Intervention planning • Flexible scheduling decisions • Assessing data • Collaboration between general & special education • Ongoing professional development

9. Discussion: Concerns • Catalogue some of the main scheduling concerns that you have.

10. Scheduling Overview • Step 1: Identify students • Step 2: Create homogeneous groups • Step 3: Decide staffing needs • Step 4: Coordinate schedules • Step 5: Evaluation of schedule changes

11. Scheduling: Step 1 • Identify students in need of intervention • Tier 1: All students receive the same instruction • Tier 2: Students in need of small group work • Tier 3: Students in need of individual instruction

12. Scheduling: Step 2 • Create homogeneous groups • Tier 1: Within classroom to practice reading skills • Tier 2: Students in need of the same interventions • Tier 3: Individual students or small groups to focus on the same skill work

13. Scheduling: Step 3 • Decide staffing needs • Tier 1: Professional development for general education, with special education advisement • Tier 2: Trained small group leaders • Tier 3: Highly trained reading professionals

14. Scheduling: Step 4 • Coordinate schedules • Tier 1: Common planning time, assistance within classroom during group time • Tier 2: Intervention instruction outside of Tier 1 classroom work once a day • Tier 3: Intervention instruction outside of Tier 1 classroom work twice a day

15. Scheduling: Step 5 • Evaluate schedule changes • Tier 1: Time spent on literacy within all subject area classes • Tiers 2 & 3: Effectiveness of extra intervention time (length, time of day, transitions)

16. Final Considerations • Flexibility • Patience • Honest and productive communication • Least complicated schedule changes

17. Wrap-Up • Things to Remember: • TI poses unique layers of scheduling anomalies as each student moves between tiers. • Teachers should seek to maximize instructional time by finding the minutes that could be used for additional instruction. • Flexibility and patience are essential in determining the ideal and least complicated schedule changes for your school.

18. For Next Time • Assess how much time each day you spend on classroom instruction (versus class transitions, daily routines, etc.).

19. References Scierka, Initials, & Silberglitt, B. (2007). School schedules: A unique challenge for TI. Communique: The Official Newspaper of the National Association of School Psychologists, 36(1). Stuart, S, & Rinaldi, C. (2009). A collaborative planning framework for teachers implementing tiered instruction. Teaching Exceptional Children, 5257.