New Teachers RtI and Accommodations by: Allene Moore

My project is about new teachers, the RTI process and accommodations My project is about new teachers, the RTI process and accommodations. It is a continuum of the group project completed Thursday, February 25th. After working with my group on the RTI process and read the surveys sent out, I felt the new teachers need to have a better understanding. Three new teachers have mentors, and only one does not. The teacher from Florida does not have a mentor. As a former new teacher, I knew enough about RTI to understand it but not how to actually put it in action. I had no mentor and then was told I need to enter the data in the system. I had no idea where or how to put the data in the system.

Response to Intervention Terms Response to Intervention (RtI): Series of researched-based interventions implemented to support struggling students (RTI Action Network- www.rtinetwork.org) Tier 2 Strategies: This stage of the RtI process involves targeted group interventions for small heterogenous/homogenous group of students (RTI Action Network- www.rtinetwork.org) Tier 3 Strategies: Tier 3 is the intensive level of interventions for one-on-one or a smaller group of two or three students (RTI Action Network- www.rtinetwork.org)

Research Hypothesis It is unclear as why new teachers only have limited knowledge of the Response to Intervention (RtI) process. My hypothesis is that it is not taught in detail in college and the school district(s) are not providing enough training. The new teachers are working with struggling students, both academically and with behavior. As new teachers enter his/her teaching position in the district, they do not understand how to enter information into the school system. I provided my new teachers with the RtI pyramid. The pyramid demonstrates each Tier level and which level requires an office referral. One teacher did not understand the triangle, and was told by this is what was given during one of their meetings for one of the students they were referring to for intervention.

Research My research was conducted on my home campus with the four new teachers. The chart shows seasoned teachers, these are teachers that I know have been teaching for over one year, the new teachers are new to Texas and are first year teachers. The majority of struggling students are in grades 3-5.

Knowledge of Rti After receiving all four RTI surveys, all new teachers stated his/her current knowledge of of RTI is moderate or limited. However, one teacher asked for an explanation of his role involving RtI.

Research Continued Students struggling in each new teachers classroom (awaiting further results for new teacher 1 in grade 2).

Hours of SPED/RtI Training Out of the four teachers, three responded to how many hours he/she received in Special Education/RtI training. For the teacher trained in 12+ hours, should have known the RtI process or was not trained properly.

As my project progressed, I spoke with the Magnet Coordinator As my project progressed, I spoke with the Magnet Coordinator. It was stated the RtI process is discussed in the professional learning community (PLC) meetings. There were two websites I provided to the new teachers PBIS.org and www.rtinetwork.org. I also gave them the following steps are for entering information into Chancery and websites for you to view: First step log in to Chancery On the left go to student and type in their last or first name Click on their name and on the left towards the bottom click on RTI/PGP Then at the top of the page click on the action button and pick add RTI/PGP record Decide if you are imputing because on academics or behavior I also reminded teachers that each tier will take 6 weeks a piece. If the teacher picked academics then pick ELA and each tier is 6 weeks and the progress monitoring tools are every 2 weeks within the 6 week tier.

The students I spoke to the new teachers about do not have accommodations, however, I will be getting with each teacher to discuss what he/she can do to help the student learn and discuss the accommodations for students that are required to have them. Due to the upcoming STAAR testing, I gathered all accommodations for each student and will be giving these accommodations to the new teachers that have students in their classroom that are to be getting accommodations.

On March 21st and 22nd, many students were tested for Dyslexia On March 21st and 22nd, many students were tested for Dyslexia. Many of the students I spoke with the new teachers about was on the testing list. This was an opportunity for me to see the data and realize many students discussed do not have a learning disability, but more of a behavior issue. For one of the new teachers, I observed the classroom management, the teacher does need some assistance with managing behaviors. When I gave the data to the resource teacher, she started to work on the RtI process for students that are in need of assistance.

Conclusion I recommend seasoned and new teachers given extensive training on the RtI process and given accommodations from the Special Education Department. I would also recommend all mentors over new teachers create a list of what is needed from the Special Education Department when he/she has a student in the classroom that require accommodations and have training from the Special Education Department on providing those accommodations.

Bibliography (RTI Action Network- www.rtinetwork.org) McDaniel,S.,Albritton,K.,& Roach,A. (2013). Highlighting the Need for Further Response to Intervention in General Education. Research In Higher Education Journal, 20. Meyer, M.M. and Behar-Horenstein, L.S. (2015). When leadership matters: perspectives from a teacher team implementing Response to Intervention. Education and Treatment of Children, 38(3), 383-402. Mundschenk, N.A. and Fuchs W.W. (2016). Professional learning communities: An effective mechanism for the successful implementation and sustainability of response to intervention. SRATE Journal, 25(2), 55-64. Rolfhus, E., Gersten, R., Clarke, B., Decker, L.E., Wilkins, C., & Dimino, J. (2013). From efficacy trial to large scale effectiveness trial: A Tier 2 mathematics intervention for first graders with difficulties in mathematics. Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness, 1-4.