2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR Award Woodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County

2. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County The A,B,C’s of RTI Dr. Christy Bowling Crista Sycks, M.Ed. Bonny Keheley, Ed.S Kristy Gibbs, B.S.Ed.

3. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Who is Woodstock Elementary School? A Distinguished Title 1 community school for seven consecutive years Designated by GADOE as one of the Highest Performing Reward Schools, 2012 Winner of the SSTAGE Award for Best Practices at the elementary school level, 2012

4. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County The Components of RTI screening children within the general curriculum tiered instruction of increasing intensity evidence-based instruction close monitoring of student progress informed decision-making regarding next steps for individual students

5. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County How We Started RTI at WES Administration and key staff discussed the scope of RTI…the focus and the potential benefits to students and school overall Worked to bring consensus through lead teacher meetings, trainings, and introducing the RTI language Considered the resources we already had available to make RTI happen at WES Utilized universal screener already available for whole school

6. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Timeline We established a timeline as to how we would “baby step” into the process; CCSD adopted our school’s timeline for the district. Culture Within WES, we began to establish a “culture” to help teachers gain some initial knowledge and understanding as we began to “roll out” RTI in our school.

7. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Universal Screening Universal screening is where we begin as we identify struggling students As our RTI process has evolved, we have identified key staff who “specialize” in various components Kristy Gibbs is one of our intervention specialists who will discuss the area of universal screening and progress monitoring

8. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County What is Universal Screening? Whole school benchmarking in Fall/Winter/Spring Progress monitoring Tier 2, 3, and 4– Reliable norm-based measurement Expectations are for all students to gain, retain, and demonstrate knowledge Sharing data among teachers, administrators, parents, and students

9. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County We are a Data Driven School Beginning the School year... We analyze previous year’s Tier lists to identify students’ needs Review benchmark data from the current year Identify “at risk” students who score below the 25thpercentile on the universal screener and place them at Tier 2 Meet with staff to discuss data, concerns, and course of action Discuss implementation of interventions such as Early Intervention Program (EIP)

10. Interventions...… one of the cornerstones of the RTI Process • Once we determine what the specific target goal is, we identify a way to serve the student with appropriate interventions • At Woodstock Elementary, we have a variety of ways to provide interventions • Every day, classroom teachers, EIP teachers, trained volunteers, and intervention specialists offer interventions to students 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County

11. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary SchoolCherokee County Next, Mrs. Crista Sycks, our counselor and RTI chair, will discuss processes and other key aspects of the RTI process at Woodstock Elementary School

12. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School Cherokee County CHANGING STAFF MINDSET From “Me”, the teacher to “We”, the team There is no “I” in TEAM

13. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School Cherokee County Collaboration is Key The TEAM uses information collected to LOOK at the student’s BIG PICTURE in order to make timely decisions about a student’s educational programs

14. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County • RTI Chair • Administration • Speech/Language Pathologists(SLP) • Early Intervention Teachers(EIP) • Academic Coach • Students • Parents (invited to T3) • Classroom Teacher • Special Education Staff • School Psychologist • Occupational Therapist(OT) • English Language Learners Teachers(ELL) • Specials/Exploratory Teachers The People that make RTI work…-…The TEAM

15. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Team Problem Solving at Tier 2 & 3 1. Identify the Problem:Which students are the core curriculum insufficient for and why? 2. Analyze the Problem: What specific additional instruction is needed? What is the specific skill that needs to be strengthened? 3. Develop a Plan: How will additional instruction be delivered? 4. Implement the Plan: How will effectiveness of additional instruction be monitored for the students? How will fidelity be maintained? 5. Evaluate the Plan: Is there a need to move to a different level of instruction? This is determined as a team.

16. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Meetings, processes, and parent conferencing

17. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County CAMP LEARNALOTTA CAMP LEARNALOTTA is an innovative program set up to provide interventions to struggling students. CAMP LEARNALOTTA IS THE “BRAIN CHILD” OF Mrs. Bonny Keheley who will tell you more about it.

18. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County What is Camp Learnalotta? An in-house volunteer tutoring program matching students, teachers, parents and community contacts with K-5 students The purpose: to remediate, maintain, and accelerate academic skills using a variety of research- based interventions to meet students’ academic needs as part of the Response To Intervention (RTI) process for Woodstock Elementary School (WES)

19. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County “When I began envisioning the idea of Camp Learnalotta, I knew I wanted to utilize volunteers as a way of providing research-based interventions for struggling students.” - Bonny Keheley

20. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Recruitment for Camp Learnalotta The Cherokee County School District (CCSD) requires persons in contact with students to submit an annual Volunteer-Mentor Application form which is reviewed by the school’s principal and/or by the CCSD Police Department Volunteers indicate their preference for grade/subject area as well as their weekly schedule using a form designed for that purpose People from all walks of life volunteer their time in Camp Learnalotta

21. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Research-based materials and activities offer resources for volunteers as they provide interventions to students.

22. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Interventions are provided with fidelity as academic coach, Bonny Keheley, models appropriate teaching methods.

23. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Providing a schedule for Camp Learnalotta is the only way to keep it organized.

24. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County “Growing pains are to be expected as every school implements the RTI process.” -Dr. Christy Bowling Communicating among stakeholders is a challenge Establishing systems and understandings took us about 3 years Polishing the process was another 2 years Realizing mistakes will be made, the team serves as a checks and balances throughout the ongoing period of establishing processes and procedures Each school year brings new developments and the need to “begin again” as resources and requirements continually change.

25. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Program Additions and Innovations...Fast forward to today: EIP/ESOL staff not only teach students but now serve as a “go to” person for assistance Other certified staff members serve Tier 2 and Tier 3 needs Camp Learnalotta continues to provide research-based interventions Computerized RTI plans provide continuity countywide County RTI website provides readily accessible resources for teachers Addition of WES RTI website - http://www.tinyurl.com/rtiatwes Cindy Pool was added as a specialized Tier 3 interventionist

26. The Cottage The RTI room is our newest innovation developed by Kristy Gibbs, Intervention Specialist.

27. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County Response to Intervention is an ever-changing innovative and comprehensive process that helps students achieve to the best of their ability At Woodstock Elementary School, we have seen a steady rate of improvement in our rate of progress and our test scores Students, who otherwise might not have been as academically successful, have responded favorably to the interventions we have initiated through our RTI process

28. 2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County The A,B,C’s of RTI The ABC’s of RTI as practiced at Woodstock Elementary School include all stakeholders working together to improve student Academics while using Bestpractices along with Collaborative communication and processes.

29. Georgia Department of Education in collaboration with the Student Support Team Association for Georgia Educators RTI Star Award Winners: Georgia Pyramid of Interventions Thank you!