November 2009 Oregon RTI Project Cadre 5

 Participants will understand both general IDEA evaluation requirements and evaluation requirements for Specific Learning Disabilities  Participants will understand characteristics of learning disabilities  Participants will practice weighing information about student performance in the context of LD eligibility decisions

Activity Once you’ve been assigned a section:  Find your group  Take 30 minutes to read your section, and plan a lesson to teach the important content to the larger group (e.g. omit language related to preschool age students)  Utilize OrRTI staff to clarify or explain confusing language  Each group will have 10 minutes to present their lesson

Activity: Count off by 5 into the following groups: 1) Evaluation and Reevaluation Requirements 2) General Evaluation & Reevaluation Procedures 3) Evaluation Planning 4) Determination of Eligibility/Interpretation of Data 5) Specific Learning Disability

 Referral for a special education evaluation  Evaluation planning  Prior Notice About Evaluation/Consent for Evaluation  Evaluation (60 school days)  Evaluation Summary  Eligibility Determination meeting

 Typically made by the RTI team  Parents may make a referral at any time  If another disability is suspected, proceed to referral while intervening  Remember: Referral does not equal evaluation. Once a student is referred, the evaluation planning team (including the parents) convene to determine if an evaluation is appropriate. Before the meeting, parents receive procedural safeguards. At the end of the meeting, parents receive prior notice of the team’s decision.

Review of Existing Information:  Individual Problem Solving Worksheet (to complete this, the team will need to review the cumulative file)  Student Intervention Profile  Progress Monitoring Data  Developmental History The team answers the question: What do we already know about the child?

When making evaluation decisions, consider:  General Requirements for evaluation  LD Eligibility Statement The team answers the question: What do we still need to know before we can determine if the student is eligible under IDEA? What do we still need to know in order to determine the student’s educational needs?

Identifying Learning Disabilities Under an RTI Model

BIG Idea! Low achievement and slow progress are the foundation for determining SLD eligibility using RTI.

 Low skills  Slow progress despite intensive intervention

 Determine parameters  Maintain consistency  School to school  Grade to grade  Child to child

 How much is enough?  Progress monitoring growth rates  Yearly RIT gains  Context is key  Typical growth  National norms  District norms  Cohort growth

 Scientific, research- based (IDEA 2004)  Sufficient frequency and duration  Implemented with fidelity

It comes down to the balance. How does the “weight” of the intervention compare to the “weight” of progress?

 Required components  Other relevant components  Exclusionary factors  Avoid the “whoops”

 Lack of appropriate instruction  Existence of another disability  Limited English proficiency  Environmental or Economic Disadvantage

 2 nd Grader  Fall: ORF 22  Winter: ORF 55  Gain: 2.37 words/week  Typical gain: 1.5 words/week  Core program  + SMART volunteer  + Read Naturally 2 times per week  +Phonics for Reading and Read Naturally 5 times per week

 25th th percentile on ORF  Remains at 25 th percentile  “Low average”  Core program  20 minutes/day additional practice  40 minutes/day explicit instruction and guided practice

 1st Grader  Gain: 6-10 wpm in 8 weeks  Other students gain 22 wpm in the same period of time  Core program  +45 minutes of decoding and fluency program

 2 nd grader  Reads 45 words per minute (target is 90 wpm)  Core program  Reading Mastery in addition  New to the district  Has been in 4 different school districts  Recently moved in with a relative

 5th grader  Reads 77 words per minute (target is 150 wpm)  Scores below average benchmark on the State-wide assessment  Core reading program  30 minutes of additional reading program 5x a week  Jim was adopted from Russia 2 years ago  ELL teacher interviews family and finds out he didn’t attend school before he came the U.S.

 3rd grader  Reads 45 words per minute in Spanish  Reads 5 words per minute in English  Core Spanish reading program  Additional interventions in Spanish 5x a week since 1 st grade  Has been in the same school since Kindergarten  The other students in her cohort group read an average of 90wpm in Spanish and English

 Individually: Quickly read the sample report, highlighting 4 or 5 sentences that provide especially useful information.  As a Group: Share what you’ve highlighted. What makes this report useful?