1. Sanger Unified at a glance
My kids vs. your kids
Special Education Reform and RtI
By Matt Navo & Kimberly Salomonson

2. Where is Sanger?
-The Sanger Unified School District lies in the middle of California’s Central Valley.
-Our child poverty rate is two to three times the national average.
-Many of our families poor educational outcomes and poverty for decades

3. Marc Johnson, Superintendent
The Basics of Sanger
Located in the Central Valley approximately 20 miles Southeast of Fresno.
188 square miles, predominately rural.
10,535 students
Schools:
14 elementary schools (2 of which are charter schools)
1 intermediate school
1 comprehensive high school
3 alternative education schools, and an adult school.
1 charter home-school program (K-12).
Sanger Unified has 20 schools serving just over 10,500 students.
For comparison, 94 percent of districts in the nation have fewer than 10,000 students and together those districts serve roughly half the students in the country. -
1905 Seventh Street, Sanger, CA (559)

4. Sanger Unified at a Glance
83% of students are minorities.
76% qualify for free or reduced lunch.
24% are English language learners.
49% of students’ parents do not speak English as primary language.
28% of parents did not graduate from high school.
Richard Smith, Presenter

5. “Home of 400 unhappy teachers!!!”
Welcome to Sanger!
“Home of 400 unhappy teachers!!!”
by 2004, Sanger Unified was named one of the 98 lowest performing districts in the state.
Today The district, which began lower than the state in 2004, is substantially higher with an API of 822 than the statewide average of 778. Sanger continues to outperform the state for all students and subgroups.

6. Marc Johnson, Superintendent
Where We Were in 2004–2005
We were one of the first 98 California school districts to enter PI status.
Five elementary schools were PI status (one school at PI 4, two schools at PI 3, and two schools at PI 2), as well as intermediate school (PI 2).
The district did not adhere to the state textbook adoption cycle or maintain a focused staff development program.
Schools had little fidelity to state curricular standards. There was no effective district-wide assessment system to monitor student achievement.
EXPLAIN THE ACRONYMS!!!
Our reform model operates on multiple levels,
unified by a theory of action that combines shifting district culture as it’s primary focus.
As a result of focus on culture:
17 California State Distinguished School awards over the past 6 years
17 Title I academic achievement awards over the past 6 years
1 Blue Ribbon School Nominee (Fairmont and 3 Blue Ribbon Schools in the district (John Wash, Centerville, and Sanger Academy)
Sanger High – 3-time State Distinguished School and US World and News Bronze level recognition as top HS in US
13 elementary schools earned Bonner Character education award (separate district award created – 1st time ever). All but 2 schools earned it in 2012
WAMS/SACs/FA/QL – National School to Watch Award Schools to Watch – 2nd in nation for all middle schools ( )
Schools to Watch – 3rd of 12 middle schools in California
SUSD is the subject of multiple studies across the country
Our district ranks 5th in the Nation with similar demographics
SUSD’s work is featured in 5 books
National Superintendent of the Year (2011) – Marc Johnson
Student achievement increased every year in the District for the past 5 years
Our continued success will serve as an example for others – over 1,000 visitors last year
Schools to Watch – 2nd in nation for all middle schools ( )
Richard Smith, Presenter

7. SPED: API Journey
Have Matt add in 2013 score: 699

8. Bringing General Education and Special Education together!
Marc Johnson, Superintendent
Bringing General Education and Special Education together!
Changing our culture.
PLCs
RtI
EDI
ELD
Golden gate mode
/RtI slow go
less Is more
tight vs lose and pilot options.
1905 Seventh Street, Sanger, CA (559)

9. A Systems View of School Reform
Adapted from the work of Margret Wheatley
Structure
Strategy
Operations
Information
-Identity- Write 3 objectives that describe your school./share that info./now ask what do we have to do to change or create what we want. Use: Totems/taboos/repetitive behavior??
-Relationships- Write three adjectives that describe professional relationships/3 adjectives that describe a buddy relationship. Which way are we behaving and are we treating each other professionally.
-Information- To access; write three things you hate about mtgs/put into strands/write a norm that says we won’t do this, but in a positive way.
Relationships
Identity
Connections
Richard Smith, Presenter

10. 4 Questions That Drive PLC Work
What do we want students to learn?
How will we know when they have learned it?
How will we respond when learning doesn’t take place?
How will we respond when learning has taken place?
----- Meeting Notes (9/12/11 20:45) -----
These 4 questions from Dufour helped to shape our conversations and brought us more together as a group.
So what happens when a student doesn’t learn? Or doesn’t learn quickly enough? Looking back to the onset of our Pyramid building what did we know:
We knew we had to do something different: we had too many students who reached 3rd grade without established reading skills. We weren’t making conversion from learning to read to reading to learn
How do we see our Pyramid Response To Intervention:……next slide

11. Pyramid Response To Intervention
A general education function through an interdisciplinary lens.
Deliberate collaboration focused on student learning
Based on specific student achievement and learning data
Requires continuous monitoring and change focused on ensuring student success
A philosophy…not a program
Fluid not static!

12. We Include: A solid core program (Tier 1) Universal screening
Differentiated supports within the Tier 1 program
Progress monitoring of students within the core program
Supplemental (Tier 2) interventions to students slightly below grade level
Progress monitoring of students within supplemental interventions
Intensive interventions (Tier 3) to students well below grade level
Progress monitoring of students within intensive intervention
Referral for formal evaluation for special education eligibility
Decisions about Tier movement are data-based; timely; and interdisciplinary with parent involvement
Flowchart sample

13. Key Components
Students receive minutes 4x’s/week
Deployment model: no student misses core instruction
RTI+: Students with special needs learning with their peers BUT individually progress monitored and supported with SPED services.
RTI is a team conversation including the parent and they have agreed with us moving forward with Tier 2A (transparency and agreement). If parent, at any time disagrees and requests assessment, we immediately follow through with AP.
Precision to delivery; progress monitoring;
Suspicion of LD: levels sig. below age/grade exp. And rate/ slope of response too slow to catch up….students are quickly referred for evaluation.
A partial snapshot of flowchart.
RTI used in 2 different ways: pyramid of intervention and eligibility determination system for “flagged” struggling students

14. Students not making satisfactory progress are discussed within the context of an Informed Decision Making process that is diagnostic, prescriptive, and consistent across all teams in the district.
Sample Checklist next slide

15. Guides our team members through decision making process.
Is the student’s performance at the end of the intervention above the 24th percentile…that is within the normal range?
Is his or her performance considered at grade level as defined by a criterion-based assessment?
Is the student’s slope of improvement adequate in comparison to peers, and is he or she on track to achieve grade-level proficiency?
These questions answer the question……Has the student responded to intervention?

17. Findings
Percentage of students assessed that qualify post RTI intervention (90%) as opposed to “wait to fail” model that led to assessment. (20%)
Referrals and placements initially dropped 4-5% but have stayed relatively stable over time. District identified population 7.5% down from 11% over 5 years.
We make sure to track state and district data…next slide shared with us from Dr. Carolyn

18. District Commitment
Although our Special Education population is now stable at 7.5% (down from 11%) we are committed to maintaining our staffing ratios as valued members of our PLC’s, greater staff, and Sanger Family.

19. SPED Staffing Ratios Total ADA: 11,000
Average Elementary RSP caseload: 15
Middle and High School RSP: 22-25
Average SDC caseload: 12
Number of Psychologists: 10.5
Number of Speech Therapists: 10
PPS Counselors: 7
PPS Counselors/MFT’s: 1.2
Project Managers: 3
District remains committed to maintaining SPED personnel levels
Allows for early and prescriptive diagnostics between SPED and gen ed staff so that richer interventions are designed, implemented, and monitored. Greater access to core
Allows for: consultation; collaboration; range of services/intervention and intensity of services without sending our students to other providers

20. Our Mission Dream Big, Work Hard and Believe!!
Believe all students can and must learn.
Important note: ALL our students (subgroups SPED included) are growing and making progress.
Tell us that we are offering a robust core education with access to intervention and special education supports that are prescriptively implemented so as to maximize results.