Chris Weber, Ed.D. T: @ WeberEducation Chris@ChrisWeberEducation ChrisWeberEducation

1. Utah Association of Secondary School PrincipalsProfessional Learning Communities and Response to Intervention Chris Weber, Ed.D. T: @WeberEducation Chris@ChrisWeberEducation.com ChrisWeberEducation.com

2. Agenda • Why? • What’s gone wrong? • How do we get it right?

4. “There are only three ways to improve student learning at scale: You can raise the level of the content that students are taught. You can increase the skill and knowledge that teachers bring to the teaching of that content. And you can increase the level of students’ active learning of the content. That’s it…Schools don’t improve through political and managerial incantation; they improve through the complex and demanding work of teaching and learning.” Richard Elmore

5. Key Assumptions •  All students (students with IEPs, students learning English) can and must learn at high levels • PLCs are researched-based; students and teachers benefit when collaboration occurs • The purpose of PLCs is to improve student outcomes; the only way to change and improve student outcomes is to change and improve our practices

6. Key Assumptions • We can predict that some students will need additional supports at some time; let’s proactively and systematically prepare • RTI is a verb, as in, “To what extent are students responding to instruction and intervention? To what extent are students RTI’ing” • To extend the metaphor, RTI is not a noun

7. Key Assumptions • Principals are the key to initiating and sustaining improvement efforts • We can and should leverage existing programs and digital tools more efficiently and effectively

8. The Moral Imperative • Poverty • From below 14% in 1968 to above 22% in 2012 • Not born in the US • From under 5% in 1970 to 13% in 2010 • Speak a language at home different from the primary language of instruction • Increased 41% from 1993 to 2005

9. HS Graduation & College Readiness • 80% HS graduation rate • Less than 40% ready for college • 67% of ACT-tested graduates met English Benchmark • 52% met Reading Benchmark • 46% met Mathematics Benchmark • 31% met Science Benchmark • 25% met Benchmarks in all subjects

10. Next Generation Learning College and Career Readiness • Think • Know • Act • Go

11. The Economist and Google Problem solving (50%) Team-working (35%) Communication (32%) Critical thinking (27%) Creativity (21%) Leadership (18%) Literacy (17%) Digital literacy (16%) Foreign language (15%) Emotional intelligence (12%)

12. Partnership for 21st Century Learning • Creativity & innovation • Critical thinking & problem solving • Communication & collaboration • Information & media literacy • Technological literacy • Flexibility & adaptability • Initiative & self-direction • Social & cross-cultural skills • Productivity & accountability • Leadership & responsibility

13. PLCs and RTI • We’ve misunderstood and over-complicated PLCs and RTI • PLCs and RTI are inextricably link • There can be no RTI w/o a foundation of PLCs • RTI is the natural extension of PLCs

14. Obstables • Misunderstandings and misapplications of the 3 Tiers • The importance of PLCs as a foundation for RTI • The inextricable links between academic and behavioral skills and the need to focus more on behavior • The reasons why, and risks of, interpreting that RTI is only about interventions • The need for depth, not breadth, within Tier 1 • The importance of Tier 2, what true Tier 2 is, and the risks of not having this level of support • Improving screening (making it more efficient and effective) for the purposes of Tiers 1 and 3 • Removing the burden of documentation and streamlining the “referral” process to access Tier 3 supports

15. PLCs and RTI Common sense in action Growth mindset in action

16. Leadership Team Teacher Team Tier 1 PLCs PBIS Tier 2 Tier 3 SST Teacher-Team Guided Interventions Schoolwide Guided Interventions

17. But… PLCs and RTI began in high schools • Adlai Stevenson High School • Benjamin Bloom

18. PLCs The purpose of PLCs is to improve student outcomes. The only way to change and improve student outcomes is to change and improve teacher practices.

19. Focus on Learning • The fundamental purpose of the school is to ensure high levels of learning for all students. • This focus on learning translates into four critical questions that drive the daily work of the school. • Educators demonstrate their commitment to helping all students learn by working collaboratively to address four questions.

20. What are Characteristics of a Focus on Learning? • Mid-lesson checks for understanding • End of lesson exit slips • Built-in preview days • Built-in review days • An expectation that students will make-up all missed assignments • An expectation that students will re-take an assessment on which they did not demonstrate mastery

21. Collaborative Culture • No school can help all students achieve at high levels if teachers work in isolation • Schools improve when teachers are given the time and support to work together to • Clarify essential student learning • Develop common assessments for learning • Analyze evidence of student learning, and use that evidence to learn from one another

22. What are Characteristics of a Collaborative Culture? • Weekly time for collaboration • Norms that focus collaboration • Evidence of collaboration outside of “Collaboration Time” • Collaboration is not an option – no one can opt out • Products and evidence of improved student learning from collaborative efforts

23. Focus on Results • PLCs measure their effectiveness on the basis of results rather than intentions. • All programs, policies, and practices are continually assessed on the basis of their impact on student learning. • All staff members receive relevant and timely information on their effectiveness in achieving intended results.

24. What are Characteristics of a Focus on Results? • Teachers enthusiastically analyze their data in relation to other teachers data • Teachers are willing and eager to share strategies that have resulted in high level so student learning • Teachers visit one another’s classrooms to study best practices

26. Four Critical Questions of PLCs • What do we want students to learn? • How will we know if they have learned? • What will we do if they don’t learn? • What will we do if they already know it?

27. What Do We Want Students To Learn? What should each student know and be able to do as a result of each unit, grade level, and/or course?

28. What are Characteristics of a Guaranteed Viable Curriculum? • Teacher teams have collaboratively identified essential learning targets • Teacher have collaboratively unpacked learning targets • Teachers prioritize instruction within a unit of instruction to ensure that all students master the essentials

30. How Will We Know If They Have Learned? Are we monitoring each student’s learning on a timely basis?

31. What are Characteristics of Common Formative Assessments? Teacher teams have… • designed common formative assessments to measure student learning of essential standards • administered common formative assessments to measure student learning of essential standards • collectively analyzed evidence to determine: • the specific learning needs of each child • the effectiveness of the instruction the child receives in meeting these needs

32. What Will We Do If They Don’t Learn? What systematic process is in place to provide additional time and support for students who are experiencing difficulty?

33. What are Characteristics of Systematic Interventions? Schools have identified… • When supplemental supports can be provided in additional to core instruction on essential standards • Who on staff is available, qualified, and trained to provide supports • Whatresources and strategies can be used to meet student needs

34. What Will We Do If They Already Know It? What systematic process is in place to extend and enrich learning to greater levels of depth and complexity?

35. What are Characteristics of 21st Century Skills? • Teams have identified the 21st Century Skills that they believe students should possess • Teams have identified how essential learning can be explored to greater levels of depth and complexity • Teams have differentiated content, the learning processes, and products that students create to demonstrate mastery

37. RTI What is RTI? What isn’t RTI? What have we been doing “wrong?” How can we be more efficient and effective?

38. The bottom line is that most schools have no plan to provide interventions for at-risk readers. Neither high-quality, extensive professional development for teachers nor expert tutorial instruction for at-risk readers is on the agenda at this point. This means that most schools deliberately create a pool of students who will become struggling readers. I say deliberately because, unfortunately, that's just what it is – deliberate ignorance of what we should do to address the problems of at-risk readers. Studies of RTI have found that 30-minute tutorial sessions for at-risk readers, when layered on top of high-quality classroom reading lessons, result in 98 percent of all students reading on level. Richard Allington

39. RTI is a verb… …proactive… …targeted… …organized

40. Actively anticipating… Proactively preparing…

41. If it’s predictable… …it’s preventable

43. Four Critical Questions of RTI • Who is at risk? • Why are they at risk? • What supports are we providing? • How effective are these supports?

44. Tier 1 Core supports

45. Core Supports We can predict that students will bring different learning styles, interests, and readiness levels to core learning environments; let’s prevent frustration and the wasting of time by being ready with differentiated supports, particularly scaffolded supports so that highly vulnerable students can successfully access priorities.

46. ProactiveTargetedOrganized • Prepare to differentiate and scaffold the core • Focus on depth not breadth • Common units of study, common assessments

47. Benjamin Bloom The normal curve is not sacred. It describes the outcome of a random process. Since education is a purposeful activity in which we seek to have students learn what we teach, the achievement distribution should be very different from the normal curve if our instruction is effective. In fact, our educational efforts may be said to be unsuccessful to the extent that student achievement is normally distributed (p. 49). Bloom, B. S. (1971). Mastery learning. In J. H. Block (Ed.), Mastery learning: Theory and practice (pp. 47–63). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston

48. Tier 2 More supports

49. Tier 2 Benjamin Bloom Time + Support = Learning More time… …alternative supports… …to gain mastery of the priorities

50. Bloom Conventional Teaching = Effect Size 0.4 σ Conventional Teaching + Mastery Learning (Tier 2 Academics) = Effect Size 1.0 σ Conventional Teaching + Mastery Learning (Tier 2 Academics) + Enhanced Prerequisites (Tier 3) = Effect Size 1.6 σ