Focusing on What Matters Most: Effective Approaches to RtIB

1. Focusing on What Matters Most: Effective Approaches to RtIB Mark Vianello, Executive Director of Student Services& Dama W. Abshier, Supervisor of Alternative Programs

2. Presentation overview District Demographics of Marion County, Florida Impact of RtI-B District Vision and Implementation Plan for RtI-B Model Schools Classroom Resources Questions and answers

3. District Demographics: Marion County, Florida • 5th largest district in the state geographically • (1657 sq. miles) • Buses travel 5,647,991 miles per day… or 10 trips to the moon an back. • Student enrollment: 42,047 • Percentage on free and reduced lunch: 64.5%

4. District Demographics: Marion County, Florida

5. Demographics continued… • Of the 40 schools receiving grades, 100% of district schools received grades of C or above, and 65% received grades of A or B. • A schools = 12 schools (30%) including 11 elementary schools and 1 middle school • B schools = 14 schools (35%) including 9 elementary schools, 3 middle schools and 2 combination schools • C schools = 14 schools (35%) including 10 elementary schools and 4 middle schools • Despite the multiple increased standards for school grades, 62.5% (25 schools) maintained or improved their grade, while 37.5% of schools (15) saw their grade drop by one letter grade. 

6. Impact of RtI-B

7. Impact of RtI-B continued…. From Student-Centered Leadership (Robinson & Hargreaves, 2011) regarding ensuring a safe and orderly environment: “From the point of view of leadership action, this dimension of leadership comes first. If students and staff do not feel physically and psychologically safe, if discipline codes are perceived as unfair and inconsistently enforced, then little progress is likely in the improvement of teaching and learning.” Robinson and Hargreaves, 2011 page 125 “This effect is very similar to that which Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) derived from their meta-analysis for this leadership dimension. Creating a safe and orderly environment is foundational in that although orderliness is not sufficient for a high-quality learning environment, its absence makes the work of educating students practically impossible.” Robinson and Hargreaves, 2011 page 127

8. School grades and RtI-B • Elementary and Middle schools that were below the district average in office discipline referrals (better than the district average) have a greater chance of being an A or B school. 67% of all A schools, 8 out of 12, were below the district average in ODR’s. 71% of all B schools, 10 out of 14, were below the district average in ODR’s 64% of the C schools, 9 of the 14, were above the district averages in ODR’s. Research indicates each referral on average equates to 45 minutes of lost instructional time.

9. Financial impact to community - our most at-risk students National • Dropouts make up nearly half of all households on welfare. • In the U.S., 65% of convicts are dropouts. • Lack of education is the strongest predictor of criminal activity. • The almost 1.3 million students who don’t graduate annually cost more than $325 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity over their lifetimes.

10. Financial impact to community - our most at-risk students Local • 2011-2012 number of days students incarcerated after first enrollment day at alternative site. • 396 days Juvenile Detention Center (JDC) • 1,472 days Marion County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) • 139 days  Marion Juvenile Correctional Facility (MJCF) • 113 law enforcement notifications Number of days incarcerated (2007 days) multiplied by expense per day ($275) equals a taxpayer expense of $551,925.00

11. Financial Impact to community - five year trend • 2007-2012 looked at number of days incarcerated after first day at alternative school. • Average incarceration cost per day = $275 • 6, 114 days spent at Juneville Detention Center (JDC) • 4,091 days at Marion County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) • 1,182 days at Marion Juvenille Correctional Facility (MJCF) • 545 law enforcement notifications Number of days incarcerated (11,387 days) multiplied by expense per day ($275) equals a taxpayer expense of approximately $3,131,425.

12. RtIB Vision: Positive Behavior Support

13. What is Positive Behavior Support? Multi-tiered philosophical approach • Aims to build effective environments in which positive behavior is more effective than problem behavior • Is a collaborative, assessment-based approach to developing effective interventions for problem behavior • Emphasizes the use of preventative, teaching, and reinforcement-based strategies to achieve meaningful and durable behavior and lifestyle outcomes

14. Tier 1: 10 critical elements • Discipline leadership team • Faculty commitment • Established school wide discipline procedures • Data based decision making • Expectations and rules • Rewards/Recognition program established • Plans for teaching expectations/rules • Implementation plan • Classroom systems • Evaluation

15. Tier 1 in Marion County • Discipline template • Plan for implementing 10 critical elements • Walkthrough • Fidelity of tier 1 • Electronic referrals/reports • Data-based problem solving • Coaching cadre • RtIB coaches • Meetings • Financial support • Mini grants – critical element #6

16. Tier 2 in Marion County • Universal screener • Unexcused absences and office discipline referrals • Tier 2 training • Introduction to Tier 2 & foundation for tier 2 systems • Identifying students, decision making, selecting interventions • Ensuring fidelity of tier 2 interventions • Break out sessions on specific tier 2 interventions • Action planning • RtIB Database • Monitoring progress of students/tier 2 interventions

17. Tier 2 in Marion County • Common interventions: • Behavior Education Program (BEP): Check In/Check Out (CICO) • Second Step • Steps to Respect • Behavior Contracts • I Can Problem Solve • Anger Management Groups (Aggression Replacement Training) • Stop & Think • Skillstreaming • Bullying • District committee • Video • Resources (surveys, curriculum materials)

18. Alternatives to out of school suspension • Saturday School • Secondary site • Elementary site • District In School Suspension • Positive Alternative to School Suspension (PASS) • No additional district funding required • Over the past two years, 1958 students have utilized • Assuming all would have been sent home on OSS, over 33,000 hours of supervised class time has be saved impacting both schools and the community.

19. . PASS Data 2011-2012 school year

20. District Progress Monitoring • Discipline data graphed & distributed quarterly: • Office discipline referrals • Out of school suspensions • Data compared by school, level, region & district • Nine week quarterly district review • Tier I discipline team monthly meeting • Effective Discipline procedure action plans • Progress monitoring action plans

21. Office discipline referrals per 100 students

22. # of incidences of out of school suspensions 1 - 5 days per 100 students

23. # of incidences of out of school suspensions 6 - 10 days per 100 students

24. Handouts Available • Discipline Template • Action Plan • Mini-grant applications • RtIB Coaches – sample agenda(s) • RtI-B newsletter • Participants may sign up to receive

25. Exemplary schools applying for PBS model school status Emerald Shores Elementary Horizon Academy at Marion Oaks

26. Thanks for joining us • Mark Vianello Executive Director, Student Services Mark.Vianello@marion.k12.fl.us (352) 671-6868 • Dr. Dama Abshier Supervisor ,Alternative Programs Dama.Abshier@marion.k12.fl.us (352) 671-6860