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3. Southern Region MTSS PLC
Welcome!
Housekeeping: Results from May poll
Early Intervention for Reading and Writing
Dr. Heather Willis-Doxsee
Deputy Director, Just Read, Florida!
Wrap up

4. Welcome New Members!
Vivian Bennett – Glades Dr. Kelli Hunter-Sheppard – Miami-Dade Erin Sampson – FDOE MTSS Liaison

5. PS/RtI Needs Assessment – May 2017
Southern Region
Respondents: PS/RtI District Contacts
Rating Scale: Level of Need = 1 (low) – 5 (high)
Integrating social/emotional learning and academic instruction and supports within a MTSS
Identifying how to adjust the implementation (e.g., schedules, data type/use) of MTSS for the secondary level – 3.8
Understanding how to implement Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to ensure equity in access to instruction/content for all students - 3.5
Average item score

6. Taking a Closer Look: Early Intervention for Reading and Writing
Just Read, Florida!
October 2017

7. Problem Solving Model
Poll: On average, how often do teachers in your district engage in the problem-solving process to address closing achievement gaps?
A: Three times a year: after the fall, winter a spring testing cycles.
B: A + informally at least monthly in grade level meetings or PLCs.
C: A, B and our district has formal protocols in place for how and when teachers should engage in the problem solving process.
D: There are no set times or protocols for having teachers engage in the problem solving process.

8. Key Practices Guide Use data well; Focus your goals;
Select and implement shared instructional practices;
Implement deeply;
Monitor and provide feedback and support;
Inquire and learn.
practices-guide/index.html
The Key Practices Guide produced by the National Center on Educational Outcomes can be used to set early literacy goals within your district. In the meeting notes that will be sent out after the webinar, you will have an attachment with guiding questions based on the Key Practice Guide that were created to assist in problem solving for and setting early literacy goals. We will share some key considerations from the first two key practices on today’s call. We would like to encourage you to schedule a follow-up meeting with key stakeholders to continue collaboration to positively impact early literacy achievement.

9. 1. Use Data Well Key considerations:
What protocols exist for analyzing assessment data using a problem solving model?
How do we match interventions to students? Is this plan utilized consistently at all schools?
Does your district have a formalized MTSS plan?
Do all instructional staff and school administrators know where they can find the plan?
How do we make new staff aware of the district MTSS procedures?

10. 2. Focus Your Goals Key considerations:
What early literacy goals do we need to set based on student achievement data?
How do we ensure that we are aligning resources to support early literacy goals?
Personnel: coaches, interventionists, paras, etc.
Interventions
Professional development
Has your district ELA team analyzed student data to look for trends/areas of concern to focus your early literacy goals on?
Have schools been asked to do this? Have teachers been a part of the school-based teams analyzing trends in student data?
Have you identified any strengths to analyze to find out what may have contributed to student growth that can be replicated? Do we use achievement data to determine how to distribute resources to schools that need the most assistance in meeting our identified early literacy goals?

11. Reflection Questions
Are there trends in our K-2 data that indicate a need for a greater focus?
Based on the data, what early literacy goals can we set for our district?
Have we analyzed our K-2 data to identify achievement gaps for specific subgroups?
What is our plan for closing achievement gaps for K-2 students?
How we can we replicate this at the school level?
Above are some reflection questions for teams to discuss as part of the next steps after the webinar.

12. Elements of Writing Focus Evidence Organization Elaboration
Conventions
How can we engage in problem solving around the elements of writing assessed on the FSA?
Have you visited the above website to familiarize yourself with the writing scoring rubrics and the scoring samplers?

13. Problem Identification: Achievement Gaps

14. Alignment to K-12 Reading Plan Goals
Encourage participants to reflect on these questions and to share ideas in the chat box.
K-12 ELA goals and progress toward meeting the goals could be shared out at staff meetings throughout the year. Teachers can dig into their data (i.e., data from assessments identified in the DT1 chart) to look for trends in their data to set early literacy goals as part of the problem solving process. Progress towards meeting the district ELA goals should be shared throughout the year as teachers continue to engage in the problem solving model and adjust the action plan as needed.
Reflection Questions:
How can we make all stakeholders (administrators, teachers, parents, etc.) aware of our district’s ELA achievement goals and our progress towards meeting those goals?
How can we encourage “buy-in” from ALL teachers?

15. Alignment to K-12 Reading Plan Goals
Performance Goals
State Overall FSA-ELA 52 54 * 58
District Overall FSA-ELA
School Overall FSA-ELA
Classroom Overall-ELA
Suggestions for encouraging K-2 teacher buy-in: Have teachers track their assessment data (as outlined in DT1) throughout the year to ensure they are meeting the district ELA goals. Teachers could share out their data during PLCs, Data Reviews, performance evaluations, etc.

16. Alignment to K-12 Reading Plan Goals
Teachers should also be analyzing their data to look for achievement gaps for subgroups and can track this data to see if they are meeting the district ELA goals.
How can we support teachers’ efforts in analyzing student data?
When do we have time set aside for teachers to analyze this data?
Is there a formalized process for analyzing student data during PLCs?

17. FLKRS and Dyslexia Screener Crosswalk
Recommended areas to be assessed by the International Dyslexia Association (IDA)
Areas assessed by the FLKRS Assessment: Star Early Literacy Assessment (see p. 28)
Phonological Awareness 
Phonological or Language-Based memory
Rapid Automatic Naming X
Receptive Vocabulary
Phonics Skills
Decoding
Oral Reading Fluency
Spelling
Writing
This crosswalk was created using the International Dyslexia Association’s recommendations for skills to be included when assessing for dyslexia. Areas that are addressed on the STAR Early Literacy Assessment (the new assessment used for FLKRS) are noted with a checkmark. This crosswalk contains recommendations for screening students who might be at risk of having a reading disability such as dyslexia, and does not serve as a recommendation for an assessment to be used to provide a formal diagnosis of dyslexia. This information should be used to match interventions to students. Additional information may be needed through the administration of a diagnostic reading assessment in order to determine the specific skills needing to be targeted.
*This crosswalk contains recommendations for screening students who might be at risk of having a reading disability such as dyslexia, and does not serve as a recommendation for an assessment to be used to provide a formal diagnosis of dyslexia.

18. Planning for Intervention
Alignment to K-12 Reading Plan:
DT1 must include information on how the Florida Kindergarten Readiness Screener (FLKRS) will be used to plan intervention for students scoring in the following performance levels:
1) Scaled score of
2) Scaled score of
3) Scaled score of 437 and below
Teachers should engage in the problem solving process immediately after student data is available to ensure that intervention begins right away.
Reflection questions:
Are all kindergarten teachers aware of the plan for intervention in the DT1 chart in the K-12 Reading Plan?
What role do you play in delivering professional development to teachers in your district?
How can you incorporate the goals and decision tree charts in your trainings?
Reflection Question:
Are all kindergarten teachers aware of the plan for intervention in the DT1 Chart?

19. Implications for students in K-3
How can I create a similar crosswalk for students in K-3 for the assessments identified in the identification/intervention decision trees?
Has our district identified interventions available to schools that target the areas we are assessing?
What training is needed for teachers and administrators in using data to make instructional decisions as part of the problem solving process?
Encourage teams to answer the questions together as they continue to collaborate to set early literacy goals.

20. Strategies for the Elements of Writing
Focus
Evidence
Organization
Elaboration
Conventions
Above you will find listed the five elements of writing assessed on the FSA: focus, evidence, organization, elaboration and conventions.
What professional development do you need in the area of writing to be able to assist others in problem solving and matching students to appropriate strategies and interventions?
Consider reaching out to your local FDLRS center to arrange to attend a professional development they offer called Writing Strategies for Diverse Student Populations. If you are interested in diving deeper into more specific strategies and/or need support for training teachers in scoring student writing, you local FDLRS Center can assist you in this area.

21. Formative Assessment
What role does formative assessment play in your district when considering instructional needs of individual students in the area of written expression?
What formative assessments are currently being used by teachers to assess student writing?
How are formative assessment results in the area of writing being used during instructional coaching cycles and/or data chats with teachers?
How are district teams using writing data to engage in the problem solving model?
HWD: Have participants reflect on the role formative assessment in the area of writing plays in their district.

22. Problem Analysis: Looking at Assessment Data & Tier 1 Instruction

23. What does tier one instruction look like in your district for writing?
Discussion:
What does tier one instruction look like in your district for writing?

24. Reflection Questions
What diagnostic assessment tools do we provide to schools to use?
Is there criteria set for the use of diagnostic assessments?
Do teachers know who to go to and when they should request a diagnostic reading assessment for a student?
When teachers and school-based problem solving teams need to “dig deeper” to find out why a problem is occurring (in either reading or writing) or if there are specific skill deficits needing to be addressed that are largely contributing to the problem identified in step one, what tools are available for schools to use? Is it time to take inventory of the available tools?

25. Common Causes of Challenges with Written Expression
Dysgraphia
Dyslexia
Processing Disorders
Executive Functioning
Limited English Proficiency
How much do you know about how these common challenges that affect student reading and writing - dysgraphia, dyslexia, processing disorders, executive functioning and limited English proficiency?
Why is it important for MTSS coordinators to have an understanding of the common challenges and disabilities?

26. What do you think?
Why is it important for teachers to understand the most common disabilities and challenges students face in the area of written expression?
How does a student’s writing proficiency impact their reading assessment results?
How does a student’s reading proficiency impact their writing achievement?
How are we supporting teachers so that they have the necessary tools to assist struggling readers in the area of written expression?
These questions were posed on the topical call last week and may be helpful when engaging in problem analysis and then in the intervention design phase.

27. Intervention Design and Implementation

28. Reading Literacy Intervention & Resource Map
Recommended areas to be included on the Literacy Intervention & Resource Map:
Targeted skill
Tier 1 strategies, Tier 2 interventions and Tier 3 interventions available to target the identified skill
Progress monitoring tool and guidelines for how often progress monitoring should occur for each level of support (T1, T2 and T3)
Contact available for support/training
The word “reading” was replaced with “literacy” to ensure that we identify additional skills such as writing on our intervention/resource maps.
After an assessment is given during AP1 (as outlined in DT1), how do teachers know what to do for students scoring at certain levels? A literacy Intervention & Resource Map should be a part of a district’s formalized MTSS Plan and made available to all stakeholders.
Does your district have a literacy intervention & resource map?
Do we bring the experts to the table when we are working on our intervention/resource maps (ELA, ESE, ELL, MTSS, school administrators, teachers, Etc.)?
How is the district and MTSS plan and intervention/resource map shared with stakeholders?

29. Reflection
How do district/school goals for closing ELA achievement gaps impact the Literacy Intervention & Resource Map?
Do we disaggregate our progress monitoring data to determine if interventions are effective for students in specific subgroups in alignment with our district ELA goals?
Encourage teams to set a time to discuss the reflection questions and engage in problem solving.

30. UDL
Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn.
UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs.
Each K-12 Comprehensive Research-Based Reading Plan addresses how all classroom instruction is accessible to the full range of learners using UDL principles. How can we ensure that the UDL principles are utilized to support striving readers and writers writers?
UDL focuses on multiple means of representation (in writing this may translate to different ways of teaching specific writing skills such as teacher modeling, using video examples, multisensory teaching strategies, etc)
Multiple means of action or expression (in writing, the choice of practicing an element of writing in multiple ways which could include incorporating assistive technology)
And multiple means of engagement (in writing, this could be the choice of creating multiple products: power points, stories, journals, scripts, etc.)
Alert participants that they can access more information about UDL using the link on the slide.

31. UDL
Considerations
Alignment to UDL Guidelines:
“Many bright children with dysgraphia are unable to keep up with the written work required by classes that are the most appropriate for them intellectually.*”
How can we provide students multiple opportunities to express what they know?
4.1: Vary the methods for response and navigation
4.2: Optimize access to tools and assistive technologies
5.1: Use multiple media for communication
5.2: Use multiple tools for construction & composition
HWD (2 min.):
Dysgraphia = problems producing writing Dysgraphia ≠ problems with intelligence
How can we design instruction using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework to meet the needs of not only students with disabilities and challenges, but all students? *

32. Executive Functioning
Self-Regulation
Alignment to UDL Guidelines:
Support students in:
Goal-setting
Self-instruction
Self-monitoring
Self-reinforcement
6.1: Guide appropriate goal- setting
6.2: Support planning and strategy development
6.4: Enhance capacity for monitoring progress
9.1: Promote expectations and beliefs that optimize motivation
HWD:
Goal-setting: Have students set a goal for their writing (i.e. getting started, staying on topic or increasing use of transition words, complete sentences, details, etc.).
Self-instruction: Have students create a plan for how to meet their goal. This should be done prior to beginning a writing assignment and many students will benefit from having a visual reminder of how to meet their goal. Try having students create self-statements aligned to their goal (i.e. “To think of a good idea…” “I can use transition words like….., when…..” “To check my work, I can….”). Use anchor charts with acronyms/writing strategies (i.e. POW—Pick my idea, Organize my notes, Write and say more). Have a plan to, when appropriate, begin fading the visual supports.
Self-monitoring: How will students self-monitor their progress towards meeting their goal (i.e. charts, tally marks, etc.)?
Self-reinforcement: Consider teaching students positive self-talk (i.e. “I’m getting much better at this.” “I like my ending.” “I was able to use three transition words in this piece.”).
Note that by universally designing instruction, we are able to meet the needs of all students. UDL is not a separate “program,” but a framework we use to plan and implement best instructional practices.

33. Assistive Technology (AT)
Assistive technology eliminates barriers, enhances capabilities and allows a person with a disability to do the things that we might take for granted in life. It builds upon a person’s skills and strengths to assist them in access to their curriculum.
Have participants share how assistive technology is considered when problem solving how to meet the needs of students using an MTSS framework.

34. Response to Instruction/Intervention

35. Time to Share!
What is working well in your district in regards to early intervention in reading?
What progress is being made in supporting struggling writers?
How can the Just Read, Florida! office support your efforts?

37. Connect with Us!
Florida’s Problem-Solving/Response to Intervention Project
Facebook: flpsrti

38. Our next online PLC Session:
Access session materials on our wiki:
Our next online PLC Session:
Nov. 14, 2017 from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. EST