Response to Intervention PTA Meeting Tuesday, December 11, 2012

How do we fund this? Use of general fund dollars Use of federal grant Portion of 11 teachers’ salaries to support literacy and math instruction Literacy intervention, ACHIEVE 3000 Supplies and materials Required to update our parents yearly on how these funds are utilized

What is Response to Intervention? Practice of Providing high quality instruction/intervention matched to student needs Using learning rate over time and level of performance Making important educational decisions for all students General Education support for students

Why are we focused on this now? NYS school districts must establish practices and procedures for implementing District-wide initiatives that address Response to Intervention (RTI) for all students (Commissioner’s Regulations). District Plans must be in place by June 30, 2012.

Why RTI? Change in the way students are identified as learning disabled (IDEA reauthorization of 2004). Of the six million children in special education, almost half are identified as learning disabled. This group has grown 300% since 1976. Of those with “specific learning disabilities,” 80% are there because they haven’t learned to read.

RTI General Goals Improve student achievement Provide early interventions for struggling learners Be proactive rather than reactive Make decisions based on the use of student data Improve communication for all stakeholders Provide teacher support through resources and training Decrease number of special education referrals

RTI Academic and Behavioral Goals Increase the number of students that meet or exceed state standards Improve student performance on local assessments Increase graduation rate Decrease number of failures per class Decrease the dropout rate Improve on-task behavior Decrease the number of behavior referrals Decrease the number of suspensions

We are building on what we have always done . . . K-12 interventions in Math and ELA K-5 reading teachers K-5 math teacher 6-12 support in ELA and Math through academic intervention, reading and writing labs, etc. More structured approach based on three tiers on need

Three-Tier Intervention System (Academic and Behavioral) Tier I – Interventions provided in the classroom by the classroom teacher (80-90% of students) Tier 2 – Services delivered by teacher or academic support instructor (current academic intervention services) (5-15% of students) Tier 3 – Further service needed as a result of additional analysis of results of progress monitoring (1-5% of students)

How did we do this work? Work led by Susan Johnson, utilizing Teachers’ Center grant Supported by Syracuse Teachers’ Center, Stephanie Pelcher Created RTI Committee with Subcommittees in four key areas: Policy Forms Assessments and Progress Monitoring Interventions

RTI Committee Timeline Kickoff meeting with Stephanie Pelcher, November 2011 Subcommittee meeting, December 2011 Subcommittee research, December 2011 through January 2012 Draft documents prepared and submitted for review, January 2012 Committee meeting to discuss subcommittee feedback, February 2012 Final draft documents submitted for review mid-March 2012 Final Committee meeting, March 2012 RTI Steering Committee formed, April 2012 Board of Education presentation, April 2012 Presentation to faculties, Stephanie Pelcher, June 5, 2012 Training of Student Support Team in Tier 3 problem-based intervention process, June 2012 Rollout to faculty, August 2012 Meetings of RTI Steering Committee, ongoing

RTI Subcommittees

Policy/Plan Subcommittee Essential components of policy/plan: Universal screening of all students in ELA and math Scientific, research-based instruction in reading, math, and behavior Progress monitoring to determine whether interventions result in student progress Data from interventions will guide educational decisions Student Support Team will be in place at each school to review student information and make decisions Written notification will be sent to parents when students require Tier 2 and 3 interventions

Forms Subcommittee Goal: To create forms for use in Tier 3 Process Reviewed several examples from other districts Compiled a list of forms for creation and prioritized the list Created the essential forms to be used to collect and review data, create a plan, and progress monitor interventions Next Steps: Align forms with process outlined in Policy statements

Assessment and Progress Monitoring Subcommittee Reviewed RTI plans of different school districts Met with Carole Hayes, the ELA Coordinator at Caledonia- Mumford, who shared her school district's RTI plan Examined what our District uses for assessment and progress monitoring Organized the information to show which assessments will be used range of services within RTI which assessments will monitor progress who can deliver services

Interventions Subcommittee Reviewed and compiled research-based interventions Interventions compiled into separate elementary (K-5) and secondary (6-12) resources Interventions contained in RTI Plan: Organized into the areas of Reading/Writing, Mathematics, and Behavior Management Accessible to District staff in both hard-copy and digital form Include strategies that span all three tiers Include both teacher-led programs and computer-based software Extensive bibliography of published resources recommended for RTI teacher resource library

ACHIEVE 3000 Funded through federal grant All students in grades K through 12 are engaging in intervention TJC students participate three times per week MS/HS students in ELA support participate three times per week All MS/HS teachers are integrating ACHIEVE 3000 into instruction to infuse literacy Computer adaptive program that identifies reading levels of all students and presents informational articles to students at their reading levels

Questions?