Response to Intervention: Part 1

1. Response to Intervention:Part 1 September, 2008

2. History • Focus of Special Education services has shifted from procedures to outcomes and improvement. • Students receiving SPED services under the LD label have increased dramatically from 22% in 1975 to 50% in 2004. • This number of students is too large for special educators to implement research-based interventions.

3. Why does my school need RTI? • Many schools have had options for struggling students that have confusing entrance requirements – Title I services or Special Education. • Those have not been ideal methods for preventing failure. • Learning Disabilities within Special Education has really been a “wait to fail” model.

4. Legislation • Recent updates to state and federal special education guidelines are changing the way schools are expected to support students with academic and behavioral problems • With the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act, revision of IDEA and state regulations, schools are now required to utilize proactive approaches that match the service a student receives with his/her level of need.

5. What is RTI? RTI is comprised of the following components: 1. A 3-tiered model of instructional support 2. Evidence based instructional practices 4. System of universal screening and progress monitoring 4. Problem solving as a decision making system to determine who gets what interventions, when and by whom

6. RTI & PBIS • This RTI approach to behavior is imbedded in the School Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports Initiative (PBIS) that is currently being implemented in all Coventry Elementary Schools. • It is based on a problem-solving model that is designed to prevent inappropriate behavior through teaching and reinforcing appropriate behaviors. PBIS offers a range of interventions that are systematically applied to students based on their need

8. 3-Tiered Model • Tier 1: Universal Interventions - High quality instructional and behavioral support in general ed classroom for all - On-going progress monitoring for all • Tier 2: Targeted Group Interventions - Focus on students not responding to Tier 1 interventions • Tier 3: Intensive Individual Interventions - Interventions targeted at individual student - Data collected at this level plays a key role in eligibility decisions

9. Evidence-Based Instruction and Interventions • School staff implement specific, research-based interventions to address the student's difficulties • Intervention Library in RTI manual and soon to be available on the web. • Interventions for all tiers in the areas of: - Reading - Mathematics - Writing - Organizational - Social/Emotional/Behavioral

10. Progress Monitoring • Continuous progress monitoring of student performance and specific difficulties occurs at all levels • School staff use progress-monitoring data to determine interventions' effectiveness and to make any modifications as needed

12. Who may be on the Collaborative Problem Solving Team? • Referring Classroom Teacher • “Master” teachers/Interventionist • School Psychologist • Reading Specialist • Special educator • School Counselor • Building Leaders (principals, asst. principals, curriculum leaders) • Others as needed (OT, PT, Speech & Language)

13. Benefits of Collaborative Problem Solving Model • Teachers are NOT alone! • Lower teacher frustration • Ideas from others: - with experience in similar situations - with a different perspective - with a fresh point of view • Students provided with instruction developed through broader experience • Systemic & data-driven

14. How long does this process continue? • Team determines timeline • Team evaluates and determines “success” • When a child demonstrated “adequate” performance, intervention planning stops • May implement more than one intervention within Tier 2 • If not successful, may consider more intensive interventions

15. Four Organizing Principles • Earlier rather than later -- Prevention and early intervention are supremely more effective and efficient than later intervention and remediation for ensuring reading success. • Schools, not just programs -- Prevention and early intervention must be anchored to the school as the host environment and primary context for improving student outcome • Evidence, not opinion -- Prevention and early intervention pedagogy, programs, instruction and materials should be based on trustworthy scientific evidence. • Each and All-- To teach all children to read, we must teach each child to read.

16. How we think about achievement problems • Perhaps the most important change in thinking that is needed to move all students toward proficiency in basic skills is framing ALL achievement problems in terms of variables that teachers control.

17. Lessons To Be Learned From Noah's Ark . . . • One: Don't miss the boat. • Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat. • Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark. • Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old someone may ask you to do something really big. • Five: Don't listen to critics, just get on with the job that needs to be done. • Six: Build your future on high ground. • Seven: For safety's sake travel in pairs. • Eight: Speed isn't everything. The snails were on board with the cheetahs. • Nine: When you're stressed, float awhile. • Ten: Remember the Ark was built by amateurs, the Titanic by professionals.

18. QUESTIONS

19. We will have tough choices to make – we’ll decide based on what’s best for our kids