"Response to Individuals": An RTI Framework for Dual Language Programs

1. "Response to Individuals": An RTI Frameworkfor Dual Language Programs Minda Morren López, Ph.D. Texas State University Minda.Lopez@txstate.edu Edmund Gorman, Santa Fe Public Schools egorman@sfps.info (Marie Mendoza, North East ISD, San Antonio, TX)

2. Agenda • District context • Dual Language Programs • What is RTI? • How this district is implementing RTI with Dual Language students • How a classroom teacher implements RTI with Dual Language students • Resources

3. District context

4. District Demographics 2011 • Total enrollment: 67,361 • Total ELLs: 8,284 • Languages represented: 70+ • Total on free and reduced lunch: 44.4% • Number of campuses: 65 • Elementary campuses: 44 • 90/10 Dual Language programs: 14 • No entry requirements, lottery for L1 English • L1 Spanish have options for DL, Maintenance Bil & ESL

5. NEISD Population Fall 2011

6. District Policy and Goals The Two-Way Immersion/Dual Language Program in NEISD is an enriched education program that provides instruction for native English speaking and native Spanish speaking students. • In a Two-Way Immersion/Dual Language Program students receive instruction in both Spanish and English. • This model aims for biliteracy, bilingualism, high academic achievement in two languages, and multicultural understanding for all students.

7. Language Distribution by Grade Level Ideal classes are comprised of up to 50% native English speakers and up to 50% native Spanish speakers.

10. Approved 2011-12 Bilingual Clusters TUSCANY HEIGHTS Cibolo Green Hardy Oak Dual Language – K-5 Colonial Hills ROAN FOREST Wilderness Oak Canyon Ridge Dual Language – K-2 Roan Forest Bilingual at Steubing Ranch (east of 281) or Coker (west of 281) Bulverde Creek Canyon Ridge Cibolo Green Encino Park Roan Forest Stone Oak Tuscany Heights Wilderness Oak Encino Park Bulverde Creek StoneOak Dual Language – K-3El Dorado Larkspur OlmosRegency PlaceRidgeview Steubing Ranch Thousand Oaks REDLAND OAKS Hidden Forest Longs Creek Huebner FOX RUN STAHL Northern Hills Wetmore OAK MEADOW Coker Woodstone HARMONY HILLS El Dorado Dual Language - K-2 Coker East Terrell Hills Jackson-Keller Stahl Steubing Ranch Walzem Larkspur OAK GROVE Royal Ridge Clear Spring Castle Hills Regency Place MONTGOMERY SERNA Colonial Hills Windcrest Jackson-Keller Northwood WALZEM RIDGEVIEW West Ave DELLVIEW Camelot OLMOS ETH WILSHIRE Bilingual Program Growth: 14% LEP Student Growth: 17.6% updated 10/13/2011

11. What does RTI mean to you? What comes to mind when you hear “RTI”? What does RTI look like in your district or school or classroom?

12. What does RTI mean to you? • “I attended the RTI meetings and they were very specific about what should happen at Tier 1.. that was an aha moment for me… all the changes we have gone through [as a district] have really been discouraging for teachers, all the documentation part has been bogging us down… there has been a misconception of what the process looks like and it is a lot of work, and then to think that they [students] might not qualify [for special education]…”(Dual Language teacher, October 2011)

13. What is RTI? • “RTI integrates high quality research based instruction, assessment, and intervention within a multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavior problems. With RTI, schools use data to identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based intervention, and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on students’ responsiveness...” The National Center for Response to Intervention (NCRTI, 2010)

14. RTI • Response to Intervention (RTI) was first conceptualized by Stanley Deno in 1970 as a way to address the needs of all students through early identification and intervention (Buffman, A., Mattos, M., Weber, C., 2008) • IDEA was reauthorized in 2004 and attempted to ensure that all students receive high quality instruction and RTI became a part of the policy vocabulary (IDEA and NCLB) but left out research with emergent bilinguals

15. RTI • RTI was added to the federal law and was built around No Child Left Behind (2000) and the National Reading Panel findings (2000) and emphasized access to “effective, scientifically based instructional strategies and challenging academic content" (Public Law 107-110, p. 1439-1440) • State law requires that districts implement RTI and that interventions are in place before any special education referrals

16. What is RTI? Typically is made up of 3 tiers of instruction • Tier 1 – classroom instruction & interventions (80% of students should perform well with this) • Tier 2 – additional interventions (30 minutes daily in small group) (15% of students should perform well with this additional intervention) • Tier 3 – additional interventions with a specialist 1:1 or small group (0-5% of students may need this kind of intervention and if not effective may need Special Education services)

17. Unique challenges of Dual Language and RTI • “Sometimes I don’t know where to start on RTI with my students.”(Dual Language teacher, February, 2012) • “I know we need to focus first and set the language issue [for assessing progress in reading], but then when you are looking at the Dual and ESL children, the measurement has to be separate”(Dual Language teacher, October, 2011) • “We need guidance – we need to know what kind of interventions are appropriate and effective for Dual Language students”(Dual Language teacher, September, 2011)

18. Unique challenges of Dual Language and RTI • Assessment • Diverse population • Students at various levels of biliteracy in both languages • Students come in with and respond differently to literacy instruction in both languages • Language of instruction • Teacher competency in both languages and pedagogical knowledge • Complexity of understanding how to teach reading effectively in both languages to students learning in both languages • Complexity of knowing how to use assessments and interventions

19. Unique challenges of Dual Language and RTI Baca, 2009

20. In this study… • Most teachers think of RTI as something used primarily to identify students for special education • Most teachers felt they lacked training and tools for appropriate interventions for bilingual populations

21. Changing paradigm of RTI • The district shifted RTI from Special Education to Curriculum Support/School Improvement at the Central Office • Began holding informational meetings led by ELA and Special Education specialists about RTI implementation district wide • Trainings attempted to shift the paradigm away from a focus on special education and interventions. Called for teachers to plan instruction to “response to individuals”and take into account the individual strengths and needs of each student

22. Changing paradigm of RTI • The ELL department began to plan effective RTI implementation for the students across the district • 4,468 students are served in four programs at the elementary level (as of 3/21/2012) • One-Way Bilingual Education, Dual Language (Two Way Immersion), Content-Based ESL, ESL Pull-Out and supplemental Newcomer Support Services • All Dual Language programs are strands within schools, some of those schools have multiple strands serving emergent bilinguals

23. Training in RTI for ELLs “[we want to know more about] what kind of interventions we need for a child learning a second language, many teachers say they shouldn’t be in the [Dual Language] program and rather than have that be the answer, we want to be able to look at interventions”(Dual Language teacher, 10-17-2011)

24. Training for RTI for ELLs “Because of lack of exposure they [teachers] are confusing the lack of skills with learning disability.” (Special education and bilingual teacher, February 23, 2012)

25. Training for teachers • District providing training and support in understanding the intersections of disability, language acquisition, and literacy for principals, specialists, and teachers • Principals of campuses serving emergent bilinguals have mandatory monthly meetings with specific training for instructional needs and strategies • Teachers are involved in planning the staff development offerings--District and Campus Steering Committees for RTI and ELLs • Using district funds to assist in paying for master’s degrees in reading as part of a partnership with a local university • Catherine Collier trainings on distinguishing language from disability – including “Acculturation screen”

26. District Level Framework for Dual Language RTI planning • Conduct district and campus needs assessments • Identify research based literacy practices for instruction in Spanish and English • Identify practices that are not implemented regularly and effectively • Identify necessary resources • Develop action plans • Professional development, administrative action, early intervention services • Monitor the plans Adapted from Meadows Center/TEA materials found at http://buildingRTI.utexas.org/.

27. Effective Reading Instruction Checklist—Tier 1

28. Assessments • No universal screener yet. Spanish options: • AIMSweb • DIBELS • I Station • STAR • Utilize TPRI (state assessment), guided reading levels, IRIs (Informal Reading Inventories) and Fountas & Pinnell leveled system for progress monitoring

29. Interventions • Supplement core literacy instruction • Last for 4-6 weeks and are monitored for effectiveness • Flexibility is needed across classrooms depending on student need and teacher expertise • Created “Roadmap” by and for teachers • Additional training and support • Interventions that work for Spanish dominant students in Spanish reading vs. interventions that work for English dominant students in Spanish reading and vice versa • Should interventions occur in strongest language? (Baca, 2009) What does this mean for literacy instruction in DL programs?

30. Examples of Specific Interventions • Oral Language Development • Language Experience Approach • Phonemic awareness • Phonics • Contrastive analysis • Fluency • Comprehension • Vocabulary • important that learning high frequency words begins with words that are concrete and to which meaning can be attached (e.g. dog, boy, want) rather than more abstract words (than, what, if) (Escamilla, 2007) • Meadows Center (UT Austin)

31. Progress Monitoring • Focus is to evaluate how core instruction and interventions are effective for a student • Students should be compared to other true peers (ELLs to ELLs; native English speakers to native English speakers) since their rate of progress cannot be compared across groups

32. DL Instructional Log One for English and one for Spanish Phonemic awareness Phonics Fluency Comprehension Vocabulary

33. RTI from a teacher perspective • Ed Gorman • 4th/5th grade Dual Language Teacher • Santa Fe Public Schools

34. Scheduling to allow for maximum flexibility • Some teachers met and looked at grade levels and decided schedule according to subject area in “blocks” so they could share students across classes • Benefits for combo classes (science) • Ease of “sharing” students (side effect—not “my kids” – “our kids”) • Instruction is more focused on individual students’ needs and is data driven

35. Utilizing technology to monitor progress and plan interventions

36. Utilizing technology to monitor progress and plan interventions

37. Whole group

38. Where do we go from here? • RTI/ELL task force • Involving teachers in the decision making level and getting input into their needs • Finding a universal screener in Spanish • IDEL (like DIBELS but Spanish), AIMSweb, TPRI, STAR • Partnership with a local University to offer onsite master’s degrees in reading with a specialization in ELLs • Giving teachers the training they need to be more successful in Tier 1 instruction • Paradigm shifting & More research • Taking the conversation to the mainstream to improve Tier 1 instruction for all

39. To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin. - bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress

40. Resources • Universal Screeners (list of what is available in Spanish) • http://www.rti4success.org/screeningTools • Training and resources for RTI including Spanish interventions • http://buildingrti.utexas.org/rti/