1. Difference or Disorder
Understanding the EC referral process within the framework of RtI/MTSS/Problem Solving Processes
Caldwell County Schools
ESL Professional Development
October 13, 2014
~Jamie Ingle

2. Overview Ethnic Disproportionality in EC
Standards Based Environment and High Stakes Accountability
The Paradox
Special Ed as Support Rather Than an Alternative

3. School Structure Administrators have tremendous influence
Leadership
Hiring/placing of staff
Teacher quality
Instructional Skills
Classroom management skills
Socioemotional behaviors

4. School Structure Scheduling and Interruptions Constant movement
“We’re the ones who make them hyper.”
Uncoordinated efforts to boost performance
Detrimental policies contribute to the limitations of student achievement.

5. Culture Culturally responsive caring and instruction is a plus
Teach culture of power along with support of home culture
Perceived racial bias
Local culture and norms

6. The Classroom Inequities in opportunities to learn
Teacher effectiveness
Lack of meaningful learning activities
Lack of visual cues/ESL strategies
Lack of comprehensible input
Lack of planning and preparation

7. Explicit teaching
Learning expected behaviors must be explicitly taught
From “I am special” to chaos
How children perform in more effective classrooms
Adequate opportunity to learn is a fundamental aspect of the definition of a learning disability

8. Family Identity School view--“It comes from the home.”
Home view-- “I’m doing the best I can.”
Power of racial and socioeconomic stereotypes exacerbate the difficulties of children whose families lack cultural capital.
Family strengths often unnoticed in trying to do what’s “best” for the child.

9. At the Conference Table
Don’t place fault on the child
Identify and provide appropriate individualized services in the least restrictive environment
Remediate the children's difficulties to allow them to be successful
Referral process—high and low referrers
Low achievement does not equal disability

10. At the Conference Table
NCLB served to work against the best interests of children whose achievement was toward the weak end
Drive was to find the unidentified EC kids so they could get “placed”
Directly related to high stakes testing and accountability
One size does not fit all

11. Bilingual Issues and the Referral Process
Look at child holistically—consider home language, time in US schools, proficiency levels, rate of learning, teacher effectiveness
Practitioner beliefs
Data indicated that referral process for ELLs was variable and confused
Placement influenced by demand for “categorization” of students

12. English Language Acquisition and Learning Disabilities
Notoriously difficult to differentiate
Particularly problematic when child doesn’t have a dominant language
Assessments are inadequate
Low achievement not always based on low IQ
Consider student’s native language and number of years of English instruction as well as discrepancy in both languages

13. Constructing Educable Mental Retardation
IQ score of 70 or below is indicator of significant cognitive impairment
Delaying adequate and appropriate instruction can influence student performance
Respond to child at his/her level
Provide early instruction and maximum opportunity for students to catch up

14. Constructing Learning Disabilities
Discontinue use of discrepancy
Responsiveness to instruction rather than waiting to “prove” child eligible for disability label
School’s purpose is to simply provide appropriate services
Isolated instruction may exacerbate the problem for ELLs

15. Constructing Behavior Disorders
Constructing disability to get the student help has negative long-term effect
Early response and zero tolerance not proven to be effective
Take into account classroom context
Often just need smaller class with good teacher
Take care not to place students with behavior issues in “LD” programs

16. Special Ed—Exile or Solutions
Ideal vs. reality
Is instruction really individualized/differentiated?
Color/cut, spelling tests, etc.
Low rate of exit
Blocks rather than facilitates educational progress

17. RtI/MTSS/Problem Solving Process
Must provide increasing levels of support as needed by individual students based upon objective assessment data
Three Tiers
Tier 1—Whole class, differentiated instruction (80% of class)
Tier 2—T1+ supplemental instruction in small groups, 3-5x/week (15% of class)
Tier 3—T1, T2 + intensive instruction, often one-on-one (5% of class)

18. RtI/MTSS
When teachers use the problem solving model to teach diverse learners, they are better able to identify struggling students quickly and provide them with timely supplemental instruction
Guiding questions
Was the instructional target appropriate?
Was instruction explicit?
Was instruction differentiated based on PL?
Was the instructional target met?

19. Conclusion
“The general guideline is that if a student is making academic progress at about the same rate as other ELL students from similar backgrounds (students who share similar linguistic, cultural, educational, or refugee experiences), then the student probably does not have special education needs. Rather, he/she may just need more time and language support as a result of having to process so much new information.”