Organized Abandonment April, 2014 Facilitated/Presented by: The Illinois RtI Network is a State Personnel Development Grant (SPDG) project of the Illinois State Board of Education. All funding (100%) is from federal sources. The contents of this presentation were developed under a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, #H325A However, those contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government. (OSEP Project Officer: Grace Zamora Durán) I-RtI Network Insert name(s) here

Review February’s Meeting Outcomes : Network around progress monitoring tools used for reading and math at the elementary, middle and high school levels. Use a checklist to apply research based best practices in progress monitoring to evaluate current tools. Evaluate progress monitoring processes and problem solve common errors. One of the best ways to remember something is to test yourself.

Outcomes 1. Participants will be able to discuss the importance and ideas for abandoning: Less effective (also ineffective and harmful) practices Inefficient practices 2. Participants will create an organized abandonment action plan.

Connection to Illinois Professional Teaching Standards This content is directly tied to Standard 9: Professionalism, Leadership, and Advocacy  The competent teacher is an ethical and reflective practitioner who exhibits professionalism; provides leadership in the learning community and advocates for students, parents or guardians, and the profession.

WHY DO WE KEEP ABANDONING ORGANIZED ABANDONMENT? I-RtI Network Illinois RTI Network, 2014

PUTTING THE BIG ROCKS IN FIRST

In addition, or as an alternative to the big rocks video, read What makes a school effective.

ORGANIZED ABANDONMENT: INDIVIDUAL LEVEL I-RtI Network Illinois RTI Network, 2014

Think about your current job(s). Complete the following sentence starter and list as few or as many things as you want. The most important things I do are…

Mark Shinn’s 2010 Planned Abandonment Tips List 3-5 things you do every day that get in the way of learning, give to principal and evaluate Diagnostic assessments for students who are doing well Use of screening test (e.g., Woodcock Johnson) for annual SE monitoring Long referral forms Lengthy reports

Abandonment Card Sort On sticky notes, independently brainstorm things you do every day or every week that get in the way of focusing on what is most important (e.g., student outcomes). After several minutes, in groups of 3-4, share your items, categorize them, and attach a label to the category. For example, “All of these items are related to paperwork.”

Abandonment Card Sort continued After categorizing the lists, use a piece of chart pad paper to attach all items in some creative way so that others can see how items are categorized. Select one person to stay and answer questions as the rest of the group does a “museum walk” (rotates around the room, spending a few minutes examining the work of each of the other groups).

Abandonment Card Sort continued After all groups have looked at the other groups’ work, go back to your original tables and share what you saw with the participant who stayed with your group’s chart paper. Discuss the abandonment items as a larger group. Small group adaptation—skip the “museum walk” and just categorize items and discuss.

Assumption Inquiry Review items you listed that get in the way of what you believe is most important. For each item, reflect and write down on sticky notes what would happen if you have up doing that activity. For example, “I would lose my job.” “We would get sued.” etc. You can write multiple consequences for each item.

Assumption Inquiry continued Pair up with someone and share your list of consequences one at a time. After you list a consequence, your partner should ask you a few questions to inquire about your assumptions. For example, “Do you know that is true? How do you know that is true? Are there any alternative consequences? How does the activity connect to a need for you and is there a better way to meet that need?” Have a large group discussion. Share insights from the activity.

Assumption Inquiry example Activity that gets in the way: many, many s to schedule meetings Consequences if I abandon this activity: the important people might not be there, I may make people angry, may seem that I am not accommodating Inquiry: Are there alternative/more efficient ways to schedule your meetings? Could someone else help? Is there a way you can let people know you are trying to accommodate schedules? Etc.

Individual Inefficiency Form groups of four. Silently read 30 Smart Time Management Tips and Tricks and highlight 3 or 4 items that have particular meaning for you. One at a time share one of your items but do not comment on it. In a round-robin format, group members comment about the item with no cross talk.

Individual Inefficiency continued After each person comments, the initial person now shares his or her thinking about the item and any new ideas that came up. Repeat the pattern around the table.

Keep your personal abandonment list, assumptions, and ideas in mind. We will be creating an abandonment action plan at the end of the session.

ORGANIZED ABANDONMENT: SYSTEMS LEVEL I-RtI Network Illinois RTI Network, 2014

A useful resource… John Hattie, Australian researcher and statistician Visible Learning (2009) and Visible Learning for Teachers (2011) Examined influences on achievement from 800+ meta-analyses, 50,000 studies, 200+ million students Effect size—common metric

Interpreting Effect Sizes Quantifying the difference between 2 groups Effect size = [mean of experimental group]-[mean of control group]/ standard deviation Effect sizes above 0.4 considered above average Effect sizes below 0.4 not worth the investment in time and resources

Hattie Impact Tables Review the tables with effect sizes from John Hattie’s work. Put a minus sign next to the items below.40 effect size that are currently being done in your district. Discuss as a small and/or large group.

Optional Video: TED talk— Geoffrey Canada

System Inefficiency or “Sacred Cows” Have participants silently read the story, The cat tied to the tree. In small groups or pairs, brainstorm the “sacred cows” or “sacred cats” in your district. Share ideas for letting go of practices that are inefficient. Share ideas as a large group.

ACTION PLANNING I-RtI Network Illinois RTI Network, 2014

Action Planning—Possible Steps Brainstorm possible steps as a group and list on chart paper before action planning. Some examples: – Share your list of 3-4 “things that get in the way” with a supervisor or peer at work – Read the story about the cat and tree with a school team and discuss your “sacred cows” – Adopt one of the tips for improving personal efficiency

Action Planning Three things I plan to do: