Response to Intervention: Everyone serving everyone

1. Response to Intervention: Everyone serving everyone Assessing learning and the learning environment Andrew Shanock, Ph.D., NCSP College of St. Rose

2. SPELL “TALK” mgah tuc touk tawk talk

3. Graphing CBM Scores

4. Graphing CBM Scores

5. Two kids, same intervention Leadership Summit 2007

6. AGREE? “A teaching method might work with all of the students some of the time And some of the students all of the time But a method doesn’t work with all of the students, all of the time.” Leadership Summit 2007

7. Goals of Presentation How did we get here Air the “not-so-secret” dirty secrets of educational systems What is RTI Roles of educational leaders How to build consensus and infrastructure for effective implementation. Understand that Tier One is the most important Tier

8. Some thoughts about Secondary Level RTI…. • By Middle School, We Would Hope that We Wouldn’t Be “Discovering Disabilities” in our students… • LOTS of students have Academic and Behavior challenges in Middle and High School, HOWEVER, EVERY PROBLEM LEARNING IS NOT A SIGN OF A LEARNING PROBLEM (courtesy of Mark Shinn, Ph.D., National Louis University, 2008)

9. Gen. Ed. Gifted Title I ELL At-Risk SPED The American Educational System Structure • Turfdom • Conflicting Programs • Lack of coordination • bureaucracy for sake of bureaucracy • Student grouping not instructionally based • Rigidity, rules • Redundancy Migrant K-12 Education

10. 5th Grade 6th grade 8th grade Social Studies Science 7th grade The American Educational System Structure • Turfdom • Conflicting Programs • Lack of coordination • bureaucracy for sake of bureaucracy • Student grouping not instructionally based • Rigidity, rules • Redundancy English K-12 Education

11. Traditional System issues • Little emphasis on early intervention and prevention • Can only get services if diagnosed! Use of IQ-Achievement Discrepancy – BAD • (Identifying CHC Abilities, using consistency GOOD!) • IEP’s did not implement scientifically based instruction • Start program in September, find out if effective in May • Overrepresentation of minorities in special education • Retention/social promotion are weakest intervention strategies • More concern about being in compliance than child’s educational success – THE FORGOTTEN GOAL • Within Student vs. Within System • Darn those lazy kids. I sat them in the room for a half hour and nothing happened.

12. BREAKING NEWS THE EARLIER THE INTERVENTION THE LOWER THE RISK OF ACADEMIC DIFFICULTY IN THE FUTURE

13. Related to Traditional Assessment? • Inconsistencies in Identification 1988 27 % of identified children in Utah were ED, the ED rate in CA was 2.5 % of identified children Forness & Kavale, 1990 • Huge Increases in Identification From 1976 to 2002 the classification of children with specific learning disabilities increased 300% President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education July 1, 2002

14. Related to the Traditional Model? 6 million children currently in special education Federal funding is 8.5 billion dollars • Placement in special education programs most often result in little gain or negative outcomes (A New Era 2002)

15. IDEIA What are some of the details of the Law?

16. Early Intervening Services Provision: What IDEIA Now Provides • Greater emphasis on use of early interventions (research-based) • School districts will be able to use up to 15% of their total IDEIA federal funds for early intervening servicesThese services are to be provided BEFORE they are identified as having a disability. LEAs have option to conduct this activity. • Funding may be used for professional development, academic and behavioral supports.

17. RTI: Official Permission for Needs-Based Service Delivery

18. Why Is A New Approach Needed? • Wait to fail • Students are not considered eligible for support until their skills are widely discrepant from expectations • Counters years of research demonstrating importance of early intervention • Don’t need a diagnosis for an intervention to be provided (President’s Commission on Excellence in Special Education, 2002)

19. New York’s Response

20. NYS Learning Disability Definition A student with a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, which manifests itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations. The term includes such conditions as perceptual handicaps, brain injury, neurological impairment, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia and developmental aphasia. The term does not include students who have learning problems which are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor handicaps, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural or economic disadvantage. A student who exhibits a discrepancy of 50 percent or more between expected achievement and actual achievement determined on an individual basis shall be deemed to have a learning disability [**language to be repealed**]

21. NYS Learning Disability Definition (C) Eligibility Determinations (2) A student shall not be determined eligible for special education if the determinant factor is: • Lack of appropriate instruction in reading, including explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, reading fluency (including oral reading skills) and reading comprehension strategies (*new language proposed) ( Proposed Amendment to the Commissioner, pp. 22 of 67)

22. Additionally Districts must… Districts must identify RTI criteria and the process for levels of intervention and progress monitoring Districts must ensure staff has knowledge and skills to implement RTI with consistency and fidelity By 2012, prohibit the use of the significant discrepancy criteria in reading for K-4 students

23. ALL RIGHT ALREADY GET WITH RTI

24. Response to Intervention (RTI):A Definition • The practice of providing high quality instruction and interventions matched to student need, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals and applying child response data to important educational decision. RTI should be applied to decisions in general, remedial, and special education, creating a well integrated system of instructional/intervention guided by child outcome data NASDE, Inc. 2005

25. Key Components • Leadership • Allowing for role change • Knowledge of various Tiers of service • Allow and support ‘mistakes’ • Providing Professional Development (increasing knowledge) • Clear policy and procedures that are focused on the child and fits within the reality of the classroom

26. Key Points • RtI is not about: • Special Education • General Education • Talented and Gifted Education • Compensatory Education • RtI is about EVERY EDUCATION • RtI is fundamentally about improving teaching and learning/matching differentiated instruction with student needs

27. Core Principles of RtIAT ALL LEVELS • Frequent data collection on student performance • Early identification of students at risk • Early intervention (K-3) • Multi-tiered model of service delivery • Research-based, scientifically validated instruction/interventions • Ongoing progress monitoring - interventions evaluated and modified • Data-based decision making - all decisions made with data Florida DOE; NASP 2009

28. What is NOT RTI • The Old Way of Doing Business with a New Label (e.g., Pre-Referral Intervention, Old Team-New Name). • Reinventing a System that Focuses (obsessively) On Identifying a Disability as the Goal • Expecting GE Teachers to Meet the Needs of ALL students (180 students-180 different interventions) • A Referral-Driven System That Considers Students 1 at a Time With Lots of Paper, Lots of Testing, Lots of Meetings, Lots of Paper, Lots of Meetings, and on and on… (courtesy of Mark Shinn, Ph.D, National Louis University, 2008)

29. Three Tiered Model of School Supports: Example of an Infrastructure Resource Inventory Academic Systems Behavioral Systems Tier III: Comprehensive and Intensive Interventions ( Few Students) Students who need Individualized Interventions Tier III: Intensive Interventions ( Few Students) Students who need Individual Intervention Tier II: Strategic Interventions (Some Students) Students who need more support in addition to the core curriculum Tier II: Targeted Group Interventions (Some Students) Students who need more support in addition to school-wide positive behavior program Tier I: Universal Interventions All students; all settings Tier I: Core Curriculum All students 29 Florida DOE; NASP 2009

30. 3-TierModel Tier 1 Core ClassroomAll students Tier 2 Intervention 20-30% Tier 3 Intensive 5-10% Intervention

31. One approach to RTI—4 Tier Model Tier 4—CSE or 504 students Monitored weekly Tier 3—1:2 or 1:3 instruction (remedial reading, AIS, AST) Monitored weekly Tier 2—Small Group instruction (remedial reading, AIS, AST) Monitored bi-weekly or monthly Tier 1—Universal screening General Education Curriculum

32. The Middle School Dilemma ONLY Tier 3 Programs That Often Don’t Provide What Students Need --------- -Weak Tier 3 Interventions: Content Area Tutoring Help with Homework Alternative Content Area Courses -Few or No Tier 2 Options -Little Attention to Tier 1 Improvement of Teacher Effectiveness ------------------------

33. Tier One Research-based general education classroom teaching These are “best practice” interventions: • conducted with any child in the general education environment • based on curriculum given to majority of children in the classroom

34. Tier One Interventions • Some examples…. • Give students a target to read to and circle the word where you want them to be after one minute. Give them a goal and make it harder by a word or two every time you have them read. • Middle School and High School syllabus for each course

35. Syllabus?? • Contact information • Helps students, family/guardians, and other academic professional get a hold of you • Course Description • Helps build preview to course…like building background information • Course Goals and Big Ideas • Also, helps to preview course and illuminate the student of possible future events, topics, etc… • Instructions and Directions as to HOW TO GET HELP. • Might include a school resource room, website, other teachers, a file drawer in the classroom, etc. Detailed directions.

36. Syllabus, continued • Course calendar and Due Dates • Builds structure and organization….also helps other professionals in the building • Access to Models for papers, projects, tests • Might include a school resource room, website, other teachers, a file drawer in the classroom, etc…. (Mark Shinn, Ph.D., National Louis University, 2008)

37. Tier One 80 % of children should respond to general education curriculum at Tier One If more than 20% of children need intervention assistance beyond “best practice”, the issue lies with the curriculum or the instruction, not the children

38. Tier One Benchmark assessments occur 3 times per year to evaluate children in reading fluency and comprehension and math calculation These benchmark assessments will “indicate” which students are in need of intervention, along with state test scores, and classroom grades

39. RTI Begins with Using CBM in Benchmark Assessment Frequent Evaluation (3 times per year) of Growth and Development Using R-CBM: Initial Performance Assessment (IPA) or “Taking Inventory” at the Beginning of the School Year 1. Identify Students At Risk 2. Instructional Planning 3. Initial Data Point for Progress Monitoring Accountability • NCLB and AYP • Linkages to State Standards

40. It IS: “What about the interaction of the curriculum, instruction, learner, and learning environment should be altered so that the child will learn?” Ken Howell (University of Oregon, 2007)

41. Tier Two If children indicate at Tier One that they are below expectations for their grade level, they move to Tier Two! Referral typically is made by classroom teacher…

42. Tier Two Small Group instruction Remedial reading, AIS, AST With research-based interventions Monitored bi-weekly or monthly By remedial reading teacher or AIS teacher

43. NYS Education Memo

44. Tier 2 Where to Focus? Build Effective, Scientifically-Based Tier 2 Remedial Reading AND Effective, Scientifically-Based Behavior Programs in grades 5-9

45. Tier 2 Interventions • Some examples… • Evidence-based programs at the Middle School and High School Levels • Reading Mastery (SRA) • Language! (Sopris West) • REWARDS (Sopris West) • SIM (Strategic Instruction Model) • Small group instruction (approximately 5-10 students) with a baseline and goal for each student’s skill level (i.e., fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, etc.) to be implemented for 8-10 weeks THEN RE-EVALUATE! • Intervention is targeted toward BASIC SKILLS and CONTENT INSTRUCTION

46. Tier Three If children indicate at Tier Two (through progress monitoring of reading or math skills) that they continue to remain below expectations for their grade level, despite research-based interventions and monthly IST meetings, they move to Tier Three! Referral is typically made by classroom teacher through IST process….

47. Tier Three 1:2 or 1:3 instruction Remedial reading or AIS With research-based interventions Monitored weekly By reading teacher or AIS teacher

48. Tier 3 Interventions • Some examples of research-based intensive interventions: • REACH (SRA) • Corrective Reading (SRA) • Language! (Sopris West) • Small group instruction (approximately 2-3 students) with a baseline and goal for each student’s skill level (i.e., fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, etc.) to be implemented for 8-10 weeks THEN RE-EVALUATE progress!!

49. Tier Four CSE or 504 students Research-based interventions implemented through resource room, Consultant Teacher model, AIS, or Remedial Reading Monitored weekly

50. Tier Four If the student continues to have difficulty making progress, Case Manager refers them to Instructional Support Team Or CSE review