The Power of RTI: Classroom Management Strategies K-6 Jim Wright interventioncentral

1. The Power of RTI: Classroom Management Strategies K-6Jim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org

2. Download PowerPoints and Handouts from this workshop at:http://www.interventioncentral.org/IL_ASPIRE.php

3. RTI: Major Elements

4. At the Federal Level: A ‘Hands-Off Approach to RTI Implementation “There are many RTI models and the regulations are written to accommodate the many different models that are currently in use. The Department does not mandate or endorse any particular model. Rather, the regulations provide States with the flexibility to adopt criteria that best meet local needs. Language that is more specific or prescriptive would not be appropriate. For example, while we recognize that rate of learning is often a key variable in assessing a child’s response to intervention, it would not be appropriate for the regulations to set a standard for responsiveness or improvement in the rate of learning.” p. 46653 Source: U.S. Department of Education. (2006). Assistance to States for the education of children with disabilities and preschool grants for children with disabilities; final rule. 71 Fed. Reg. (August 14, 2006) 34 CFR Parts 300 and 301.

5. Tier 3: Intensive interventions. Students who are ‘non-responders’ to Tiers I & II may be eligible for special education services, intensive interventions. Tier 3 Tier 2 Individualized interventions. Subset of students receive interventions targeting specific needs. Tier 2 Tier 1: Universal interventions. Available to all students in a classroom or school. Can consist of whole-group or individual strategies or supports. Tier 1 RTI ‘Pyramid of Interventions’

6. Tier I Instruction/Interventions Tier I instruction/interventions: • Are universal—available to all students. • Can be delivered within classrooms or throughout the school. • Are likely to be put into place by the teacher at the first sign that a student is struggling. All children have access to Tier 1 instruction/interventions. Teachers have the capability to use those strategies without requiring outside assistance. Tier 1 instruction/interventions encompass: • The school’s core curriculum and all published or teacher-made materials used to deliver that curriculum. • Teacher use of ‘whole-group’ teaching & management strategies. • Teacher use of individualized strategies with specific students. Tier I instruction/interventions attempt to answer the question: Are routine classroom instructional strategies sufficient to help the student to achieve academic success?

7. Complementary RTI Models: Standard Treatment & Problem-Solving Protocols “The two most commonly used RTI approaches are (1) standard treatment and (2) problem-solving protocol. While these two approaches to RTI are sometimes described as being very different from each other, they actually have several common elements, and both fit within a problem-solving framework. In practice, many schools and districts combine or blend aspects of the two approaches to fit their needs.” Source: Duffy, H. (August 2007). Meeting the needs of significantly struggling learners in high school. Washington, DC: National High School Center. Retrieved from http://www.betterhighschools.org/pubs/ p. 5

8. RTI Interventions: Standard-Treatment vs. Problem-Solving There are two different vehicles that schools can use to deliver RTI interventions: Standard-Protocol (Standalone Intervention). Programs based on scientifically valid instructional practices (‘standard protocol’) are created to address frequent student referral concerns. These services are provided outside of the classroom. A middle school, for example, may set up a structured math-tutoring program staffed by adult volunteer tutors to provide assistance to students with limited math skills. Students referred for a Tier II math intervention would be placed in this tutoring program. An advantage of the standard-protocol approach is that it is efficient and consistent: large numbers of students can be put into these group interventions to receive a highly standardized intervention. However, standard group intervention protocols often cannot be individualized easily to accommodate a specific student’s unique needs. Problem-solving (Classroom-Based Intervention). Individualized research-based interventions match the profile of a particular student’s strengths and limitations. The classroom teacher often has a large role in carrying out these interventions. A plus of the problem-solving approach is that the intervention can be customized to the student’s needs. However, developing intervention plans for individual students can be time-consuming.

9. Tier 2: Supplemental (Group-Based) Interventions(Standard Treatment Protocol) Tier 2 interventions are typically delivered in small-group format. About 15% of students in the typical school will require Tier 2/supplemental intervention support. Group size for Tier 2 interventions is limited to 4-7 students. Students placed in Tier 2 interventions should have a shared profile of intervention need. The reading progress of students in Tier 2 interventions are monitored at least 1-2 times per month. Source: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York.

10. Tier 3: Intensive Individualized Interventions(Problem-Solving Protocol) Tier 3 interventions are the most intensive offered in a school setting. Students qualify for Tier 3 interventions because: • they are found to have a large skill gap when compared to their class or grade peers; and/or • They did not respond to interventions provided previously at Tiers 1 & 2. Tier 3 interventions are provided daily for sessions of 30 minutes. The student-teacher ratio is flexible but should allow the student to receive intensive, individualized instruction. The reading progress of students in Tier 3 interventions is monitored at least weekly. Source: Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. Routledge: New York.

11. Tier 3 Interventions Are Developed With Assistance from the School’s RTI (Problem-Solving) Team Effective RTI Teams: • Are multi-disciplinary and include classroom teachers among their members • Follow a structured ‘problem-solving’ model • Use data to analyze the academic problem and match the student to effective, evidence-based interventions • Develop a detailed research-based intervention plan to help staff with implementation • Check up on the teacher’s success in carrying out the intervention (‘intervention integrity’)

12. The Problem-Solving Model & Multi-Disciplinary Teams A school consultative process (‘the problem-solving model’) with roots in applied behavior analysis was developed (e.g., Bergan, 1995) that includes 4 steps: • Problem Identification • Problem Analysis • Plan Implementation • Problem Evaluation Originally designed for individual consultation with teachers, the problem-solving model was later adapted in various forms to multi-disciplinary team settings. Source: Bergan, J. R. (1995). Evolution of a problem-solving model of consultation. Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 6(2), 111-123.

13. Early Identification. As students begin to show need for academic support, the RTI model proactively supports them with early interventions to close the skill or performance gap with peers. Chronically At-Risk. Students whose school performance is marginal across school years but who do not qualify for special education services are identified by the RTI Team and provided with ongoing intervention support. Special Education. Students who fail to respond to scientifically valid general-education interventions implemented with integrity are classified as ‘non-responders’ and found eligible for special education. The Purpose of RTI in Schools: What Students Should It Serve?

14. What is the Connection Between RTI & the Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA)?

15. Essential Elements of RTI (Fairbanks, Sugai, Guardino, & Lathrop, 2007) • A “continuum of evidence-based services available to all students" that range from universal to highly individualized & intensive • “Decision points to determine if students are performing significantly below the level of their peers in academic and social behavior domains" • “Ongoing monitoring of student progress" • “Employment of more intensive or different interventions when students do not improve in response" to lesser interventions • “Evaluation for special education services if students do not respond to intervention instruction" Source: Fairbanks, S., Sugai, G., Guardino, S., & Lathrop, M. (2007). Response to intervention: Examining classroom behavior support in second grade. Exceptional Children, 73, p. 289.

16. Essential Elements of the Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) “Functional assessment is a collection of methods for obtaining information about antecedents…, behaviors…, and consequences… The purpose is to identify the reason for the behavior and to use that information to develop strategies that will support positive student performance while reducing the behaviors that interfere with the child’s successful functioning.” Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Moell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West..pp. 3-4.

17. Essential Elements of the Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA)(Cont.) “From this definition, several things are clear. First, functional assessment is not a single test or observation. It is a collection of methods involving a variety of assessment techniques, including observations, interviews, and review of records, that are conducted to acquire an understanding of a child’s behavior. Second, the definition clarifies exactly what is assessed—that is, the child’s behavior as well as what happens just before the behavior occurs and what happens as a result of the behavior. Third, the definition states clearly the goal of functional assessment, which is to identify strategies and interventions to help the child.” Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Moell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West..pp. 3-4.

18. Behavioral Disabilities [BD] and RTI (Gresham, 1992) “Resistance to intervention may be defined as the lack of change in target behaviors as a function of intervention. Given that the goal of all interventions is to produce a discrepancy between baseline and post-intervention levels of performance, the failure to produce such a discrepancy can be taken as partial evidence for a BD classification. ” Source: Gresham, F. M. (1992). Conceptualizing behavior disorders in terms of resistance to intervention. School Psychology Review, 20, p. 25.

19. The Disengaged & Unmotivated Student: Dropout Risk

20. School Dropout as a Process, Not an Event “It is increasingly accepted that dropout is best conceptualized as a long-term process, not an instantaneous event; however, most interventions are administered at a middle or high school level after problems are severe.” Source: Jimerson, S. R., Reschly, A. L., & Hess, R. S. (2008). Best practices in developing academic local norms. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 1085-1097). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists. p.1090

21. Student Motivation & The Need for Intervention “A common response to students who struggle in sixth grade is to wait and hope they grow out of it or adapt, to attribute early struggles to the natural commotion of early adolescence and to temporary difficulties in adapting to new organizational structures of schooling, more challenging curricula and assessment, and less personalized attention. Our evidence clearly indicates that, at least in high-poverty urban schools, sixth graders who are missing 20% or more of the days, exhibiting poor behavior, or failing math or English do not recover. On the contrary, they drop out. This says that early intervention is not only productive but absolutely essential.” Source: Balfanz, R., Herzog, L., MacIver, D. J. (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping students on the graduation path in urban middle grades schools: Early identification and effective interventions. Educational Psychologist,42, 223–235. .

22. Key Concepts in Student Behavior Management

23. Academic or Behavioral Targets Are Stated as ‘Replacement Behaviors’ “The implementation of successful interventions begins with accurate problem identification. Traditionally, the student problem was stated as a broad, general concern (e.g., impulsive, aggressive, reading below grade level) that a teacher identified. In a competency-based approach, however, the problem identification is stated in terms of the desired replacement behaviors that will increase the student’s probability of successful adaptation to the task demands of the academic setting.” p. 178 Source: Batsche, G. M., Castillo, J. M., Dixon, D. N., & Forde, S. (2008). Best practices in problem analysis. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 177-193).

24. Factors Influencing the Decision to Classify as BD (Gresham, 1992) Four factors strongly influence the likelihood that a student will be classified as Behaviorally Disordered: • Severity: Frequency and intensity of the problem behavior(s). • Chronicity: Length of time that the problem behavior(s) have been displayed. • Generalization: Degree to which the student displays the problem behavior(s) across settings or situations. • Tolerance: Degree to which the student’s problem behavior(s) are accepted in that student’s current social setting. Source: Gresham, F. M. (1992). Conceptualizing behavior disorders in terms of resistance to intervention. School Psychology Review, 20, 23-37.

25. Inference: Moving Beyond the Margins of the ‘Known’ “An inference is a tentative conclusion without direct or conclusive support from available data. All hypotheses are, by definition, inferences. It is critical that problem analysts make distinctions between what is known and what is inferred or hypothesized….Low-level inferences should be exhausted prior to the use of high-level inferences.” p. 161 Source: Christ, T. (2008). Best practices in problem analysis. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 159-176).

26. High-Inference Hypothesis. The student is ‘just lazy’ and would do better if he would only apply himself. Unknown Known Unknown Low-Inference Hypothesis. The student has gaps in academic skills that require (a) mapping out those skill gaps, and (b) providing the student with remedial instruction as needed. Known Examples of High vs. Low Inference Hypotheses An 11th-grade student does poorly on tests and quizzes in math. Homework is often incomplete. He frequently shows up late for class and does not readily participate in group discussions.

27. Big Ideas: Similar Behaviors May Stem from Very Different ‘Root’ Causes (Kratochwill, Elliott, & Carrington Rotto, 1990) • Behavior is not random but follows purposeful patterns.Students who present with the same apparent ‘surface’ behaviors may have very different ‘drivers’ (underlying reasons) that explain why those behaviors occur.A student’s problem behaviors must be carefully identified and analyzed to determine the drivers that support them. Source: Kratochwill, T. R., Elliott, S. N., & Carrington Rotto, P. (1990). Best practices in behavioral consultation. In A. Thomas and J. Grimes (Eds.). Best practices in school psychology-II (pp. 147=169). Silver Spring, MD: National Association of School Psychologists..

28. Student Motivation Levels Are Strongly Influenced by the Instructional Setting (Lentz & Shapiro, 1986) • Students with learning or motivation problems do not exist in isolation. Rather, their instructional environment plays an enormously important role in these students’ degree of academic engagement. Source: Lentz, F. E. & Shapiro, E. S. (1986). Functional assessment of the academic environment. School Psychology Review, 15, 346-57.

29. Big Ideas: Behavior is a Continuous ‘Stream’ (Schoenfeld & Farmer, 1970) • Individuals are always performing SOME type of behavior: watching the instructor, sleeping, talking to a neighbor, completing a worksheet (‘behavior stream’). • When students are fully engaged in academic behaviors, they are less likely to get off-task and display problem behaviors. • Academic tasks that are clearly understood, elicit student interest, provide a high rate of student success, and include teacher encouragement and feedback are most likely to effectively ‘capture’ the student’s ‘behavior stream’. Source: Schoenfeld, W. N., & Farmer, J. (1970). Reinforcement schedules and the ‘‘behavior stream.’’ In W. N. Schoenfeld (Ed.), The theory of reinforcement schedules (pp. 215–245). New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts.

30. Big Ideas: Academic Delays Can Be a Potent Cause of Behavior Problems (Witt, Daly, & Noell, 2000) Student academic problems cause many school behavior problems. “Whether [a student’s] problem is a behavior problem or an academic one, we recommend starting with a functional academic assessment, since often behavior problems occur when students cannot or will not do required academic work.” Source: Witt, J. C., Daly, E. M., & Noell, G. (2000). Functional assessments: A step-by-step guide to solving academic and behavior problems. Longmont, CO: Sopris West, p. 13

31. Defining ‘School Motivation’

32. Definitions of ‘Motivation’ Source: Motivation. (2007). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 13, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation “…motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior.” “Motivation is an internal state that activates, guides and sustains behavior.” Source: Educational psychology. (2007). Wikipedia. Retrieved March 13, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_psychology#Motivation “Motivation is typically defined as the forces that account for the arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior.” Source: Excerpted from Chapter 11 of Biehler/Snowman, PSYCHOLOGY APPLIED TO TEACHING, Houghton Mifflin, 1997.

33. ……………… ……………… 10 0 X X ...………… ...………… 0 10 ……………… 10 0 0 X ...………… 10 100 Unmotivated Students: What Works Motivation can be thought of as having two dimensions: • the student’s expectation of success on the task The relationship between the two factors is multiplicative. If EITHER of these factors (the student’s expectation of success on the task OR the student’s valuing of that success) is zero, then the ‘motivation’ product will also be zero. Multiplied by • the value that the student places on achieving success on that learning task Source:Sprick, R. S., Borgmeier, C., & Nolet, V. (2002). Prevention and management of behavior problems in secondary schools. In M. A. Shinn, H. M. Walker & G. Stoner (Eds.), Interventions for academic and behavior problems II: Preventive and remedial approaches (pp.373-401). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

34. Childhood and Beyond Longitudinal Project • 3 cohorts of children (about 250 children per cohort) were followed across elementary, middle and high school. (Children were recruited from 4 middle-class school districts in the midwest.) • In the subject areas of math, language arts, and sports, students were asked each year to rate their competence in the subject and their valuing of it. Source: Jacobs, J. E., Lanza, S., Osgood, D. W., Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Changes in children’s self-competence and values: Gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve. Child Development, 73, 509-527.

35. Childhood and Beyond Longitudinal Project: Some Findings • Ratings of both competence and value declined for all 3 subject areas (math, language arts, and sports) for boys and girls as they grew older. • Girls rated themselves lower in competence in math throughout school—until grade 12, when boys and girls converged in their ratings (because boys’ ratings declined faster than did girls’ ratings). • Across all grade levels, boys rated themselves significantly less competent than did girls in language arts. • Not surprisingly, boys’ and girls’ valuing (enjoyment, liking) of a subject area correlated with perceived ability. Generally, boys and girls who rated themselves as lowest in ability also rated their valuing of the subject area as lowest. Source: Jacobs, J. E., Lanza, S., Osgood, D. W., Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Changes in children’s self-competence and values: Gender and domain differences across grades one through twelve. Child Development, 73, 509-527.

36. A Working Definition/Replacement Behavior for ‘School Motivation’ The student puts reasonable effort into completing academic work in a timely manner (‘active accurate academic responses’). Source: Skinner, C. H., Pappas, D. N., & Davis, K. A. (2005). Enhancing academic engagement: Providing opportunities for responding and influencing students to choose to respond. Psychology in the Schools, 42, 389-403. p. 392..

37. RTI & Behavior: Team Activity • As a team: • Discuss your school’s greatest challenges in helping teachers to work effectively with students who present conduct concerns. • Be prepared to share the main points of your discussion with the large group.

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