Responsiveness to Instruction (RtI): How Do We Begin? Yonna Acuff, M.Ed., NBCT Giancarlo Anselmo M.S., S.S.P., NCSP Sandy Hamrick, M.A., NBCT

Overview Who we are and where we have come from Current system for training Mistakes made along the way What RtI looks like in Cleveland County

Two Major Things You Can Expect Number 1 Starting a process that tries to match the correct level of instruction with the level of need for every child in your school Number 2 Mistakes

In the Beginning… In 2005-2006, department heads from CCS began research behind RtI Reading Materials The RTI Guide: Developing and Implementing a Model in Your Schools, J.E. McCook , 2006 RESPONSE to Intervention Policy Considerations and Implementation, National Association of State Directors of Special Education, Inc., 2006 Site Visits Horry County Schools, SC New Hanover County Schools, NC

In the Beginning cont… Discussion with Susan Davis, SLD Consultant with DPI Two Day RtI Overview presentation by Dr. Tom Jenkins Met with all Principals and Selected EC and Regular Ed personnel

District Core Team After research was completed, the decision was made to begin implementation A five member, interdisciplinary team was appointed Regular Education Teacher School Counselor School Psychologist EC Program Specialist/Diagnostician Curriculum Coordinator

District Core Team Attended the eight day training provided by NC Department of Public Instruction In conjunction with administrators from the 2 pilot schools, the team developed local paperwork and a training protocol specific to Cleveland County

Overall Implementation and Expansion 2006/2007: RTI procedures were piloted in two elementary schools One large school (700 students) Springmore Elementary One small school (300 students) Casar Elementary 2007/2008: implementation expanded into two more larger elementary schools Fallston Elementary (600 students) Union Elementary (600 students) 2008/2009: we have expanded to two more schools -Jefferson Elementary (300 students) -Grover Elementary (500 students)

Training Protocol Using NCDPI’s training materials, as well as additional resources, a four session training series was created: Training Module 1, RtI Overview Training Module 2,Tier 1 Training Module 3, Tier 2 Training Module 2, Tier 3 Training for PST Team members.

Training cont. Training sessions were scheduled after school during staff meetings from 3:00-4:30 pm. Training Module 1 is held in the Spring prior to Fall implementation. Training Module 2 is held in August or Early September. Training Module 3 is held in October or Early November. Training Module 4 is conducted by two members from the Core Team during a designated PST Team meeting.

RtI Overview Training Introduce staff members to the concept of Response to Instruction, including changes within IDEA Regulations. Create awareness about the 4 Tier process the school will be implementing the following school year.

Tier 1 Training Discuss the 7 Step Problem Solving Process Explain the Tier 1 of the 4 Tier Model in detail Review the use of Curriculum Based Measures and how to enter a child in Tier 1 Teach how to complete Tier 1 paperwork and the processes involved Provide examples and discuss possible outcomes

Tier 2 Training Briefly review Tier 1 Review the 7 Step Problem Solving Model Talk about what may necessitate a child moving from Tier 1 to Tier 2 using Progress Monitoring Data Teach how to complete Tier 2 paperwork and the processes involved Provide examples for review and discussion

Tier 3 Training Core Team Members meet with the school’s Problem Solving Team (PST) to discuss each team member’s role Coordinator Time Keeper Note taker Review the paperwork for Tier 3 Discuss who will provide instruction for Tier 3 students

What is the Best Way to Train a Problem Solving Team First Year Training Consisted of training teams using PowerPoints from state training Trained teams from two schools at once Second Year Training Trainings consisted of sitting down with each PST team and going over case studies Cases from their own schools were used to help them go through the process MISTAKES Trainings this year much more successful and helpful.

How PST Team Changed MISTAKES Last Year Principal School psychologist EC teacher Diagnostician Teacher of student Regular ed teacher Title 1 reading specialist Counselor Social worker Parent This Year Principal School Psychologist Case Colleague Title 1/Interventionist Parent Teacher of student Diagnostician Others used as needed MISTAKES Across district different makeups. Not mandating Case colleague in some cases is also the Title I person Staffing early in the week involves everyone- we have just shaved it down for when parents come into meet

School Wide Support For Process Showing how the Discrepancy model was probably not the best model in order to catch students early Studies done at local level showing legitimacy of Curriculum Based Data CBM not an easy sell,

Correlation Studies looking at EOG and CBM Assessments EOG and ORF correlation coefficients 3rd grade: .69 4th grade: .59 5th grade: .53 EOG and Maze Fluency correlation coefficients 3rd grade: .61 4th grade: .63 5th grade: .63

Correlation Studies Looking at District Performance on EOG and CBM Assessments EOG and Skill Builder Word Problem probes correlation coefficients 3rd grade: .64 4th grade: .49 5th grade: .60

Cleveland County Schools EOG/CBM data 2007

1st Year Implementation Make it take it offered, brought in tom jenkins, more intervention training done by teachers. Trainings mostly done after school. This year strarted transitioning to more before school started and at the end of the year for some. Also want to go in and work with SSMT teams at end of this year.

Teacher Supports Teachers have been trained on all tiers of process CBM training provided by school psychologists Teachers each received intervention notebooks Intervention training Teachers are assigned case colleagues from the Problem Solving Team to help with procedures, paperwork, or interventions starting at Tier I All the ways we tried to help our teachers so they didn’t feel overwhelmed

Roles of Case Colleague Case colleague meets with teacher at the beginning of Tier 1/Tier 2 to help with paperwork, interventions, and answer any other questions that arise Case colleagues also meet with teachers every other week to check in on progress Case colleagues also meet with teachers at the end of Tier 2 Case colleagues are in charge of setting up PST Team meeting if moving to Tier 3 Form to complete during this process.

Teachers Teaching Teachers Intervention training done in the middle of the year 90% of training was done by teachers who had shown great ability to run interventions in their classrooms and differentiate instruction Training went very well and most teachers were very receptive to ideas from other teachers Worked out great. Made sure teachers we were choosing were running sound interventions. They would come up talk about what they were doing, how they fit it into their day, and progress they had seen.

Students Entering Tier 1 First Year K-2 Students entered Tier I in reading based on DIBELS data All other subject areas and grades 3-5 where based on teacher discretion Second Year All Children K-5 went through screening process at RtI schools MISTAKES Trainings this year much more successful and helpful.

Screening All RTI Schools K-5th Grade All students are screened three times a year using either DIBELS, Skill Builder probes, or Aims Web Maze Fluency probes Teachers have been shown data and given recommendations on who needs to enter Tier 1 Teachers have been shown what skill to teach and what to use to progress monitor each child Maze fluency being used two different ways. Team approach except for dibels in K-2 teachers scoring all group admins except for written expression. All individual done by group. Discrete trial for everything except dibels.

Curriculum Based Measurements Teachers have been taught to use CBM’s for progress monitoring Training was done by school psychologists during planning times broken up over several weeks Nearly all instruction is tracked using CBM data Data is not graphed or charted until child enters Tier 3, unless teacher chooses to graph data

Timelines Beginning of the year benchmark assessment Targeted students enter Tier 1 based on information from class and assessments Plan is written with help of parent and usually Case Colleague Teachers intervene in specific area for 4-6 weeks Dialogue continues with Case Colleague Process will repeat with Tier 2 only more people are generally involved School psychologist, counselor, social worker, reading person

Local Norm Project Hybrid between DIBELs and Skill Builder Probes Local norm sample consisted of 576 across 1st-5th grades More than 100 students per grade DIBELS data was from approximately 400 students per grade K-2

Sample From 1st and 2nd Grade

School Approach to Interventions ONE OPTION Each grade level has an intervention period built into the daily schedule Fluid time when any student in that grade level can go to another teacher to receive intervention Students not on intervention plan receive challenge enrichment activities – gifted teacher can consult with staff about activities Can be hard to schedule but has great results and great teacher feedback Seen done during sustained silent reading and this works well

Fidelity and Integrity Checks Case Colleague meeting form Interventions are observed before a child moves to a new tier Intervention observation form is used Before placement is considered third party is looking over Tier III process to make sure everything has been done properly

Where is Cleveland County Going From Here? With the implementation of RtI in 6 Elementary Schools, we are now going to proceed with adding other Elementary Schools in addition to a Middle School for 2009-10. There is also one High School in our district that is interested in pursuing RtI implementation. In order to continue building capacity, we recognize that an additional Core Training Team would be beneficial to our process.

Instruction/Intervention Questions to Ask What is my school’s core curriculum? Is my core curriculum research based? Florida center for reading research fcrr.org

Interventions/Instruction Questions to Ask What do you have available at your school? What programs do you have? What resources can teachers easily access? Are your supplemental programs research based instruction? Who can supply interventions if they need to be supplied outside the classroom? Who will do progress monitoring?

Implementing RtI is Like Eating an Elephant You can start anywhere you like You have to eat the whole thing You aren’t going to eat it all in one sitting It is going to take a whole lot of friends to help get the job done

mail.clevelandcountyschools.org/~ganselmo RTI/Intervention Resources: Cleveland County Schools

Questions