Garden Spot Middle School

1. RTII Overview April 5, 2012 Garden Spot Middle School

2. Objectives • Participants will learn: • Secondary level RtII core components • Unique aspects of secondary RtII • Differences between past models (IST/LFT) of student intervention and RtII • About other middle school models of RtII • Future directions of RtII at Garden Spot Middle School

3. Tom Peters, Embracing Chaos (1993) If you’re not hopelessly confused, you’re out of touch! If you are hopelessly confused, then you only have one choice – try stuff!

4. Rationale for Implementing RtII • Elementary and Secondary Education Act • “Every student should graduate from high school ready for college and a career, regardless of their income, race, ethnic, or language background, or disability status.” • www.ed.gov 4/12/2011 • No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 • IDEA Reauthorization 2004

5. Rationale for Implementing RtII • Nearly 7,000 high school students drop out each day. • Nationally, more than 1/3 of African American and Latino students who enter 9th grade will not complete high school with their peers in 4 years. • In PA, 22% of 9th graders fail to graduate from high school within 4 years.

6. Rationale for Implementing RtII • Many new hires are deficient in basic writing (72%), mathematics (54%), and reading comprehension skills (38%). • Only 15.9% of all students who graduated in 2009 had access to an advanced placement course that helped them earn a score of 3 or higher (3=predictive of college success). • Half of all first-year college students enroll in one or more remedial courses.

7. What can schools do? • Focus on the following components: • Attendance • Behavioral monitoring • Academic tutoring • Counseling/mentoring • Establishment of smaller learning communities for greater personalization • Engaging accelerated courses • Ninth grade academies • Homerooms

8. What can schools do? (Cont.) • Focus on the following components: • Benchmarking • Progress monitoring • Implementation of multi-tiered support systems (RtII !) • Meaningful and uniform access to rigorous coursework with high expectations • Career/college awareness • Community engagement • 8th to 9th grade transition programs

9. Looking Back • 1990s –rolled out the Instructional Support Team (IST) model in PA • Consultation between classroom teacher and member of IST • Defined concerns, convened the IST • IST developed interventions to improve student achievement in classroom

10. Lessons from Past Practice • Solving problems one a time is not particularly efficient from a resource utilization standpoint. • Teachers cannot implement more than 1 or 2 simultaneous interventions with integrity at any given time AND continue teaching an entire classroom effectively. • Individual problem-solving was based mostly on teacher referral, which is reactive and subjective. • State assessments do not provide timely information about student achievement.

11. Lessons from Past Practice • So, is there a better way to gather information about student achievement? • In a more timely manner? • That allows for intervention? • That is more systematic than helping one student at a time? • That doesn’t require students to be in special education to get “help?”

13. What is Secondary RtII? • RtII is a comprehensive, standards-aligned school improvement framework that may be implemented within elementary, middle, and high schools. Fidelity of implementation and sustainability of the RtII framework rests on principles of systems change, high-quality professional learning, and sustainable leadership. In addition to “collective will,” data-based decision-making is a “collective skill” that is necessary to align curriculum, instruction, and assessment in order to enhance student outcomes.

14. Why Implement Secondary RtII? • The intent of RtII adoption and implementation is to prevent and treat student learning needs as early as possible through screening, progress-monitoring, and evaluation of student response as a function of exposure to increasingly intensive and robust differentiated core and supplemental instruction/intervention.

15. Why Implement Secondary RtII? • Because education is not one size fits all!

16. Core Components of RtII • High Quality Classroom Instruction/ Standards-Aligned Core Curriculum • Relational Support • Scientifically/ Evidence-Based Interventions, Instructional Methodologies and Strategies • Tiered Instruction and Interventions • Data-Based Decision-Making • Professional Development

17. RtII and PA Standards-Aligned System • Clear standards • Fair assessments* • Curriculum framework • Instruction • Materials and resources • Interventions http://pdesas.org/

18. PA’s RtII Framework www.pattan.net

19. Standards-Aligned Core Instruction for All Students Tier I

20. Tier I (100% of Students) • Research-based, effective instruction is provided to all students. • Uses whole-class and differentiated instruction. • 21st Century Learning Skills infused throughout the core curriculum. • All staff take ownership for developing readiness for post-secondary education and career. • School-wide positive behavioral support models establish well-defined behavioral expectations, rules and routines.

21. Tier I (100% of Students) • High expectations, meaningful student engagement, connectivity, skills for life, clear and consistent boundaries and unconditional supports. • Clear expectations for daily attendance, systematic methods for preventing and reducing school absenteeism. • A grading system that reinforces what has been learned rather than the process of learning.

22. Targeted Group Instruction for Some Students Tier II

23. Tier II (15-20% of Students) • Strategic instruction that is supplemental to core instruction that is explicit in nature. • May be provided to smaller groups of students and target specific sills or serve the purpose of extended core instruction. • Progress monitoring occurs at least monthly.

24. Tier II (15-20% of Students) • Specific evidenced-based instructional strategies/ interventions are utilized. • 21st Century Learning Skills are addressed in more explicit ways and students are provided meaningful learning opportunities including community-based instruction, mentoring, peer-support programs, or a system to reward positive behavior. • Attendance is monitored daily.

25. Intensive Instruction for a Few Students Tier III

26. Tier III (5-10% of Students) • More intense supports characterized by additional time, the focus of instruction, and group size. • Students at Tier III often demonstrate performance that exists within the significantly below average range (i.e., 10th percentile or below). • Instruction is targeted toward the development of foundational literacy or math skills.

27. Tier III (5-10% of Students) • Usually includes a standard protocol intervention (i.e., highly scripted with frequent opportunities for student response and corrective teacher feedback). • Teacher-student ratio is as low as possible. • Progress monitoring every week or every other week. • Usually requires an additional 45-60 mins of instruction a day or more.

28. Tier III (5-10% of Students) • 21st Century Learning Skills are explicitly assessed, taught, and monitored, and are infused with authentic experiences (e.g., job shadowing, service learning). • Behavior assessment and individualized positive behavior support plans are developed for the few students who may benefit from intensive intervention.

30. Challenges of Secondary RtII • Establishing sound instructional core, interventions, and equitable access to the core curriculum • The changes needed to the organizational structure: • Scheduling • Time for teacher collaboration • Shift in academic focus to prevention

31. Challenges of Secondary RtII • Adjustments to teacher-student ratio • Need for valid and reliable assessments at secondary level • Grading • Course credits • Less research to pull from than with elementary RtII (but growing!) • Shared ownership of student achievement • Literacy across content areas

32. Example Middle School Model: Roosevelt Middle School • Bristol Township School District, PA • Scheduled classes by: • PSSA results/ Emetric data • RTI data from elementary grades • Teacher recommendations • Included a Reading Extension class period: groups included fluency, comprehension, or writing extensions

33. Example Middle School Model: Roosevelt Middle School • Schedule included common reading extensionintervention time to allow for flexible groups • Used specific intervention exit criteria • Met monthly to review data as grade level team • Made most group changes each quarter /marking period change

34. Example Middle School Model: Russell Middle School • Colorado Springs, CO • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlRM6kf7EZ0

35. PA Secondary RtII Learning Sites • Drexel Hill Middle School • Upper Darby School District • Roosevelt Middle School • Bristol Township School District • Swatara Middle School • Central Dauphin School District • Clairton Middle School • Clairton School District • Chartiers Valley Middle School • Chartiers Valley School District

36. What We Are Already Doing • Universal screening • DRP, 4Sight, STAR Math, Social /Emotional /Behavioral Screening w/ AIMSweb, Writing Prompts • Progress monitoring • For some students • AIMSweb curriculum-based measurements (CBM) • Interventions • Excel period built into schedule • Co-teaching

37. What We Are Already Doing • Data Team • To review data at the school-building and grade level • Weekly team meetings • To review student performance and needs • Career education • Thanks to our school counselors! • Bridges Program (online interest inventories) • Clear attendance policies • Collecting information from elementary schools

38. Future Directions for GSMS • Maximize use of assessments rather than adding more assessments • Eliminate assessments that are not helpful for instructional planning • Use data and teacher input to schedule initial courses for students • Work toward providing a more seamless transition between elementary and middle school services

39. Future Directions for GSMS • Include more strategic and targeted instructional practices for students needing instruction beyond the core curriculum • Implement a system for consistent monitoring of student progress followed by clear decision rules for changing and exiting interventions

40. Future Directions for GSMS • Ongoing professional development and support for staff • Improving fidelity of instruction within the core curriculum • Increasing parental engagement • Improving shared ownership for student achievement • Continue to improve function of data team and RtII team

41. Questions?

42. Breakout Sessions • Session 1 • 9:15 – 10:00 • Session 2 • 10:15 – 11:00 • Lunch – On Your Own • 11:00 – 12:00 • Session 3 • 12:15 – 1:00 • Session 4 • 1:15 – 2:00 • Debrief in LMC • 2:15 – 3:00 http://rtiiinservice.wiki.elanco.net/