Difference or Disorder Understanding the EC referral process within the framework of RtI/MTSS/Problem Solving Processes Caldwell County Schools ESL Professional Development October 13, 2014 ~Jamie Ingle

Overview Ethnic Disproportionality in EC Standards Based Environment and High Stakes Accountability The Paradox Special Ed as Support Rather Than an Alternative

School Structure Administrators have tremendous influence Leadership Hiring/placing of staff Teacher quality Instructional Skills Classroom management skills Socioemotional behaviors

School Structure Scheduling and Interruptions Constant movement “We’re the ones who make them hyper.” Uncoordinated efforts to boost performance Detrimental policies contribute to the limitations of student achievement.

Culture Culturally responsive caring and instruction is a plus Teach culture of power along with support of home culture Perceived racial bias Local culture and norms

The Classroom Inequities in opportunities to learn Teacher effectiveness Lack of meaningful learning activities Lack of visual cues/ESL strategies Lack of comprehensible input Lack of planning and preparation

Explicit teaching Learning expected behaviors must be explicitly taught From “I am special” to chaos How children perform in more effective classrooms Adequate opportunity to learn is a fundamental aspect of the definition of a learning disability

Family Identity School view--“It comes from the home.” Home view-- “I’m doing the best I can.” Power of racial and socioeconomic stereotypes exacerbate the difficulties of children whose families lack cultural capital. Family strengths often unnoticed in trying to do what’s “best” for the child.

At the Conference Table Don’t place fault on the child Identify and provide appropriate individualized services in the least restrictive environment Remediate the children's difficulties to allow them to be successful Referral process—high and low referrers Low achievement does not equal disability

At the Conference Table NCLB served to work against the best interests of children whose achievement was toward the weak end Drive was to find the unidentified EC kids so they could get “placed” Directly related to high stakes testing and accountability One size does not fit all

Bilingual Issues and the Referral Process Look at child holistically—consider home language, time in US schools, proficiency levels, rate of learning, teacher effectiveness Practitioner beliefs Data indicated that referral process for ELLs was variable and confused Placement influenced by demand for “categorization” of students

English Language Acquisition and Learning Disabilities Notoriously difficult to differentiate Particularly problematic when child doesn’t have a dominant language Assessments are inadequate Low achievement not always based on low IQ Consider student’s native language and number of years of English instruction as well as discrepancy in both languages

Constructing Educable Mental Retardation IQ score of 70 or below is indicator of significant cognitive impairment Delaying adequate and appropriate instruction can influence student performance Respond to child at his/her level Provide early instruction and maximum opportunity for students to catch up

Constructing Learning Disabilities Discontinue use of discrepancy Responsiveness to instruction rather than waiting to “prove” child eligible for disability label School’s purpose is to simply provide appropriate services Isolated instruction may exacerbate the problem for ELLs

Constructing Behavior Disorders Constructing disability to get the student help has negative long-term effect Early response and zero tolerance not proven to be effective Take into account classroom context Often just need smaller class with good teacher Take care not to place students with behavior issues in “LD” programs

Special Ed—Exile or Solutions Ideal vs. reality Is instruction really individualized/differentiated? Color/cut, spelling tests, etc. Low rate of exit Blocks rather than facilitates educational progress

RtI/MTSS/Problem Solving Process Must provide increasing levels of support as needed by individual students based upon objective assessment data Three Tiers Tier 1—Whole class, differentiated instruction (80% of class) Tier 2—T1+ supplemental instruction in small groups, 3-5x/week (15% of class) Tier 3—T1, T2 + intensive instruction, often one-on-one (5% of class)

RtI/MTSS When teachers use the problem solving model to teach diverse learners, they are better able to identify struggling students quickly and provide them with timely supplemental instruction Guiding questions Was the instructional target appropriate? Was instruction explicit? Was instruction differentiated based on PL? Was the instructional target met?

Conclusion “The general guideline is that if a student is making academic progress at about the same rate as other ELL students from similar backgrounds (students who share similar linguistic, cultural, educational, or refugee experiences), then the student probably does not have special education needs. Rather, he/she may just need more time and language support as a result of having to process so much new information.”