Ingham ISD Early Years MTSS Project Corrie Mervyn Michelle Nicholson

Overview Of The Session o The What and Why of MTSS in Early Childhood o Implementation Journey Materials Training Challenges Positive Outcomes Lessons Learned Questions

Ingham ISD – Who We Are

Scope of IISD MTSS Initiative 12 local districts, 2 public school academies 90 buildings and 35 preschool classrooms Over 800 staff/administrators

Ingham Early Years MTSS Model ACADEMIC / LEARNING SYSTEMS Tier 3: Comprehensive & Intensive Students who need individualized interventions Individualized scaffolding strategies More frequent progress monitoring Tier 2: Strategic Interventions Students who need more support in addition to the core curriculum Explicit small group interventions and embedded learning activities Progress monitoring Tier 1: Core Curriculum All students Researched based Intentional teaching Universal screening BEHAVIOR SYSTEMS Tier 3: Intensive Interventions Students who need individualized intervention Behavior support plans Tier 2: Targeted Group Interventions Students who need more support in addition to universal interventions Targeted social emotional supports Tier 1: Universal Interventions All students in all settings Nurturing and responsive relationships High quality supportive environments Our model adapted from IISD K-12, Recognition and Response and The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning

Essential Components of MTSS Research-based instruction, strategies and interventions Universal screening Data-based decision-making Problem-solving Progress monitoring Shared Leadership Family and community involvement

What is Response to Intervention (RtI)? RtI is the practice of … … providing high-quality instruction/intervention matched to student needs and … using learning rate over time and level of performance to …make important educational decisions. (Batsche, et al., 2005)

in order to meet benchmarks. = These students get these tiers of support +

Why Preschool? “A compelling body of evidence affirms that early intervention is key to children’s success representing best practice in early child development and education. Thus, to place children on a trajectory for success, RTI is best- positioned to begin at the pre-k level.” Coleman, Roth, & West, (2009), pg. 6

What we know: Pre-kindergarteners who attend programs that are aligned with the educational goals of early elementary schools: o Are more prepared to start Kindergarten o Have better developed cognitive, academic, social and emotional skills o Are more likely to graduate high school and be productive citizens o Are less likely to have children in their teen years or become entangled in the criminal justice system Foundation for Child Development, 2005

Early Years MTSS Goals and Strategies Increase alignment and continuity between early learning settings and elementary school o Align curriculum standards, assessment and instructional practices using the MTSS framework o Increase use of evidence-based interventions to support literacy and social-emotional development

Early Years MTSS Goals and Strategies Increase school readiness and supported transitions to kindergarten for all students o Improve quality in early childhood settings o Facilitate successful movement for children and families from early childhood to kindergarten o Equip families to support their child’s development (both academic and social- emotional)

Our Implementation Journey Ingham ISD received an Early Years ReImagine grant from the Early Childhood Investment Corporation o Partnered with Head Start on a Mentor Coaching Grant to employ early childhood coaches o Ran an Early Childhood MTSS pilot with 20 preschool classrooms including representation from Head Start, Great Start Readiness Program, Tuition, Montessori, and Early Childhood Special Education ( Sites were chosen on a voluntary basis by districts) o Provided professional development on tiered systems and universal screening

Added a second cohort of 20 preschool classrooms in a voluntary process o Programs formed leadership teams o Professional Development Included: The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning(CSEFEL) Pyramid Model focusing on Tier 1 practices-High Quality Supportive Environments and Nurturing and Responsive Relationships Administration of The Preschool Early Literacy Inventory (PELI) universal screening tool, authored by Dynamic Measurement Group (DMG) Created data review days to lead teachers in analyzing PELI student data to inform instruction and intervention using research based strategies

Maintained classrooms in project o Used CSEFEL Materials to provide Tier 2 and Tier 3 Behavior training o Continued Universal Screening with the PELI New tools had emerged o Measured implementation fidelity of program wide PBIS using the Preschool Wide Evaluation Tool, PreSET o Recorded student behavior incident reports using the Behavior Incident Recording System (BIRS) o Created an adapted version of the Building Self Assessment (BSA) to use with leadership teams to measure program implementation fidelity Program Self Assessment (PSA) Held 3 data review days after benchmark screening windows which included learning in data driven intentional teaching methods, embedded and explicit instruction and intervention.

Early Childhood Changing Landscape MI Office of Great Start Early Childhood Outcomes o Children are: Born healthy Healthy, thriving, and developmentally on track from birth to third grade Developmentally ready to start school at time of school entry Prepared to succeed in 4 th grade and beyond by reading proficiently by the end of 3 rd grade The Great Start to Quality Rating System o All programs adopting curriculum and assessment tools o Program Quality Assessment (PQA) IDEA Compliance for Preschool Environments

Data Tools and Data Review Process

Webberville Elementary Historically 3 Preschool Classrooms 2 ran by district and 1 ran by Ingham Intermediate School District o Great Start Readiness Program o Tuition Preschool o Early Childhood Special Education Thru EY MTSS Project formed a program implementation team that includes: o Building Principal o IISD Supervisor o General and Special Education teachers and assistant teachers o IISD MTSS Consultant o GSRP Early Childhood Specialist o Occupational, Speech and Physical therapists o K-5 Building MTSS Coach

Webberville Elementary The Team: o Established the team meeting schedule and membership and held it as a priority o Looked at classroom configurations and added tuition preschool students into the ECSE classroom creating a collaborative preschool classroom to provide a more inclusive setting and serve more preschool students in the community o Paired the ECSE teacher with a General Education teacher to carry out the team teaching model o Adjusted the classroom schedule of the Collaborative classroom to align with the GSRP classroom to create common planning time o Completed the data review and action planning process as part of the EY MTSS project thru team meetings to look at levels of support needed in classrooms o Discussed groups and individual student needs and paired and grouped students based on needs for interventions across classrooms

Stockbridge Elementary 2 Great Start Readiness Program Classrooms ran by District Community Education 2 Tuition Classrooms ran by District Community Education 1 Early Childhood Special Education Classroom ran by Ingham Intermediate School District Thru EY MTSS Project formed a program implementation team that includes: o Preschool Program Director o IISD Supervisor o IISD MTSS Consultant o GSRP Early Childhood Specialist o Classroom Teachers o Speech and Autism Impairment Consultants

Stockbridge Elementary The Team: o Established the team meeting schedule, membership varied o Looked at needs of a few ECSE students, including child care, and placements with peers with support from special education staff o Adjusted ECSE schedule to operate 4 days/wk to align with GSRP schedule o Completed the data review and action planning process as part of the EY MTSS project thru team meetings to look at levels of support needed in classrooms o Discussed groups and individual student needs and paired and grouped students based on needs for interventions across classrooms

Positive Outcomes Internal connection of K-12 and Early Childhood within ISD Alignment of early childhood classrooms located within a program/building Ability to reexamine programmatic structure to support inclusion Increased quality and focus on child outcomes in classrooms Data based decision making in preschool Team meetings occurring regularly-leadership forming out of staff Increased alignment with K-2 staff

Challenges Lack of structure in core curriculum Fidelity of use of tools Teacher directed vs. child initiated Number of staff and children in each room High Staff turn over rate Varying structure of early childhood programs across districts Resources Being on the edge of research Alignment of State funded preschool requirements with Essential Components of MTSS

Lessons Learned Start with Consensus and work with Program Leadership team prior to moving to classrooms o District and Preschool program administration o Understand the make up of staff and programs Train all program staff Customization Embed core curriculum/assessments, PQA and ECSOQ-PK

Resources Corrie Mervyn (517) Michelle Nicholson (517)

Questions