RtI Applies to Gifted Too: Interventions at the "Tip of the Triangle" Mary Schmidt GT Consultant/PLLC Heartland AEA mschmidt@aea11.k12.ia.us 515.270.0405 ext. 14375

Handouts/Resources http://rtigifted.pbworks.com

What is Response to Intervention? “An ongoing process of using student achievement and other data to guide instructional decisions” Three components of this description are important: It is ongoing – that is the process does not end. We will constantly evaluate the effects of our instruction, keep what is working and change what is not We will use student achievement data to guide our decision. The research base is very clear, when we use data to make decisions, we make better decisions. We will make decisions about both when to change our instruction as well as what to change about the instruction. This is one area where RtI will take us deeper, it wil lhelp us figure out, with data, what specific instruction might match individual learners’ needs.

Use the Data! Student Name Rate - wpm Accuracy % Comprehension % Jeff 70 95 45 Sue 215 100 65 Sharon 135 85 Elizabeth 80 75 Lisa 144 Connor 32 55 40 Pam 162 99 Jason 88 Tom 101 With a partner, consider these data from a Basic Reading Inventory screening given to all students in first grade. You are the school data team. What are your considerations? BRI screening data

TTYN Discuss with a partner: The goals and intent of RtI How you see advanced and gifted kids being served in the RtI framework. Is it happening in your district? What would/does that look like? Discuss w/partner Large group sharing

Needs of Students Who Struggle to Meet Expectations Improved comprehension Improving rate and accuracy Develop problem-solving skills Improved computation automaticity What other “needs” do you discover through assessment and then address through targeted and intensive interventions?

Gifted Kids Struggle With… …sameness …repetitive content and practice …boredom --RtI for the Gifted Student by Celia Boswell and Vowery Carlile H.O.T.S. not M.O.T.S! Discuss w/a partner the ways these struggles are behaviorally manifested.

Needs of Students Who Have Exceeded Expectations* Higher level, more complex content A faster pace of learning; e.g., less repetition Opportunities to learn with others of similar interest, ability, and drive Daily challenge in talent areas What other “needs” do you discover through assessment and then address through targeted and intensive interventions? Relates to DuFour PLC question #4 “What will we do when kids have already mastered what we’re going to teach?” * Prior to instruction or with minimal time spent

Here’s the sad commentary on what happens when we don’t pay attention to the learning needs of our gifted kids…

A Sense of Urgency From the Fordham Institute “High-Achieving Students in the Era of NCLB” “Do High-Flyers Maintain Their Altitude?” Findings: NCLB: While the nation’s lowest-achieving youngsters made rapid gains from 2000 to 2007, the performance of top students was languid. 2) This pattern—big gains for low achievers and lesser ones for high achievers—is associated with the introduction of accountability systems in general, not just NCLB. 3)Teachers are much more likely to indicate that struggling students, not advanced students, are their top priority. 4) Low-achieving students receive dramatically more attention from teachers. 5) Still, teachers believe that all students deserve an equal share of attention. 6) Low-income, black, and Hispanic high achievers (on the 2005 eighth-grade math NAEP) were more likely than low achievers to be taught by experienced teachers.

…like this?

Ask the Right Questions

Is he comprehending?

How advanced is his comprehension? Moby Dick When kids come to school reading, we often hear, “Just wait. They’ll level out by third grade.” Do they naturally “level out” or do we create that situation through failure to provide appropriate reading instruction using text that challenges the reader?

Collect, Organize, Analyze, Use Student Name Rate - wpm Accuracy % Comprehension % Jeff 70 95 45 Sue 215 100 65 Sharon 135 85 Elizabeth 80 75 Lisa 144 Connor 32 55 40 Pam 162 99 Jason 88 Tom 101 We cannot make decisions about what kids are likely to need on the basis of one assessment. Other possibilities might include classroom assessments, teacher observations, portfolios and performances. Encourage students who participate in Talent Search to share the above level test scores with the school. Find out who in the school receives the scores and inform that person who else should be getting the information. What are some other questions you might ask about these data? BRI screening data

Do you trust your data? Why is that we trust the data to guide our decisions about struggling learners but find it hard to believe that data showing high ability isn’t just an anomaly? How many of you act with confidence on the student data you collect? TTYN and talk about this question. If you don’t trust the data you’ve gathered, what should you do?

Focus Lesson (Modeling) TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY Explicit Instruction “We do it.” “I do it.” “You do it together.” “You do it alone.” Focus Lesson (Modeling) Guided Instruction Collaborative Independent TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY Gifted kids often need less explicit instruction, but they still need good instruction.

General Instructional Principle Instruction needs to be at the student’s knowledge/skill level Higher Prior Knowledge Lower Prior Knowledge Higher levels of background knowledge often result in lower motivation. Needs Complete, Explicit, Systematic Can Profit from Implicit, Less Structured Reschly, 2008

Phases of Learning Explicit Facilitated Acquisition Fluency Generalization Adaptation The more background knowledge a student has and the more able they are to apply it in new situations, the less explicit his/her instruction needs to be. Rahn-Blakeslee 2010

“of an extreme kind” (dictionary.com) Intensity is… “of an extreme kind” (dictionary.com) The universal tier is the “just right” for the majority of kids. Intensity meets the needs of the outliers for whom universal instruction is insufficient on some level. If kids have so little of the core knowledge, instruction, and foundational skills they need, they’re not learning (cracked Earth). If we inundate them – give them too much – it will just run off because they can’t soak it all in. If we keep giving them more of what they already have, we leave them stranded in learning.

Intensifying Instruction The Big Five More Explicit More Modeling More Systematic More Opportunities to Respond More Review For gifted readers, it’s looking at “more” in a different way. Typically more will mean either to a greater degree or in a greater amount. Looking carefully at what it modifies and which meaning it takes on helps us know if it’s the right thing for a given student.

Intensifying Instruction for Gifted The Big Five More challenging & complex text More homogeneous grouping More choice & control More higher-order questions/tasks More non-fiction & informational text For gifted readers, it’s looking at “more” in a different way. For advanced and gifted, “intensity” might mean core at a different grade level – or completely outside the district core. This is not intensive for the student, since that’s where the match is for them. It can, however, be intensive for the system and the big people in it.

Ascending Levels of Intellectual Demand Vary the depth Adjust the abstraction Change the complexity Make contexts and examples more or less novel or familiar Adjust the pace Use more/less advanced materials and text Provide more/less scaffolding Provide frequent/intermittent feedback Provide/let students infer related strategies Infer concepts from applications and problem solving Provide more/fewer examples Be more/less explicit/inductive Provide simpler/more complex problems and applications Vary the sophistication level Provide lengthier/briefer texts Provide more/less text support Require more/less independence or collaboration Require more/less evidence Ask for/provide analogies Teach to concepts before/after examples Teach principles before/after examples or concepts From The Parallel Curriculum. Tomlinson, et. al. 2002. Corwin Press

Full chart and the article it comes from are found on the wiki http://rtigifted.pbworks.com

Targeted Instruction: Guidelines for Students who are Highly Proficient (Tier 2 right) Enriches core instruction/content Accelerates core instruction/content Accelerate pace of core Groups within, across and/or outside the classroom Provides greater complexity and abstraction S

Intensive Instruction: Guidelines for Students Who are Highly Proficient (Tier 3 right) Often replaces “grade level” core Falls within “district” core (Iowa Core) Advanced levels of curriculum, enrichment/acceleration

Levels of Differentiation Course/Grade Unit Lesson The essential question is, “On what level does differentiation need to happen for an individual student?” When we stand at the top of the mountain we have the widest view. We can see in all directions the “lay of the land.” In considering where to begin our differentiation considerations for students, we need to stand at the top of the mountain and get the big picture of our system. We ask, “Is this course or the content at this grade level appropriate for the student?” If the answer is no, we move them to the right course/curriculum. If the answer is “yes” we consider whether a less extreme (intensive) level of differentiation is appropriate and consider smaller units of the curriculum; e.g., the unit. Does the student need this unit in terms of content, instructional approaches, etc.? If no, what assessment processes and strategies are in place to ensure the student is able to prove mastery and move to new learning? If the student needs the unit content, how might lessons and/or the activities in them be differentiated to meet student needs in terms of pace and level of learning? If we don’t start with this thinking and take the time to get to know students and where they are, we run the risk of wasting our time and theirs differentiating lessons and activities when what a student really needs is a completely different level of the curriculum. This thinking is helpful because there are different strategies that are a better fit at these different levels. For example, we probably wouldn’t used tiered assignments if the student requires content at a different grade level. However, the tiering strategy is appropriate at the lesson or activity level. Curriculum compacting isn’t the strategy of choice if the student needs an activity requiring higher level thinking about content not previously mastered, but it is appropriate if a student may have mastered the content in a given unit or could move through that content at a faster pace. There is a direct link to IDM in this thinking. The student at the top of the mountain is more discrepant from age peers and will have more intense needs than the student for whom differentiation at the lesson or activity level is appropriate. Lesson or activity differentiation is more about differentiation of the core, unit differentiation leans more toward supplemental interventions, and course/grade is intensive. Activity Levels of Differentiation

Intervention Strategies for Gifted Tiered Assignments Acceleration (A Nation Deceived, p. 12) Grade skipping Single subject Curriculum Compacting Grouping Arrangements Open-ended Assignments

Questions to Consider… Does Core alone provide the right level of challenge for the student? Is the Core sufficiently challenging to elicit advanced performance? What opportunities for pre-assessment do we offer? What’s the difference between a student who scores at the lower end of advanced proficiency and the student who “ceilings out” on the test? Why give above level assessments?

Recommendations Include gifted in your data conversations. Don’t worry about a label. Include the g/t teacher in the data discussions and intervention planning. Ask the hard question: When we say “all” do we really mean it? Identify and rethink assumptions about gifted kids. Don’t be afraid to pretest and test above level. Trust your data; trust your kids; trust yourselves!

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