Ranchwood Elementary Teachers

Making A Difference

Did you ever wonder…

…if anybody cared what you were doing in the classroom

with students…

They Do.

Ranchwood Elementary

Let’s Imagine… Imagine you are running a race... But when the gun goes off you're a

mile behind the starting line and the other runners. You might be able to catch up, but to do so you have to run twice as fast and work twice as hard.

Now imagine Malcolm, running the race at just 5 years old. Malcolm arrived at his first day of school to find that he was already miles behind his classmates in skills like learning the alphabet letters, sounds, and writing his name. He might be able to catch up someday, but it will take twice as much effort and support. And because of the difficult way he started, he may never be able to get there.

This is the reality that 1 in 3 of our nation's children face. Ages 0-5 are the most crucial in a child's development, and those who start behind are likely to remain behind all their lives. In fact, some states plan for this by deciding how many prison cells they need to build based on children's reading scores.

Gettin’ down to the nuts & bolts. . .

Special Education Commission: 2/5 children are in special ed because they can’t read adequately: 80-90% of students with LD identified for reading disabilities

Improve reading and all students benefit, this reduces LD and reserves special ed. for students who are difficult to teach

Special Education can’t “fix” reading problems and schools won’t make AYP if the only intervention is to wait

for special education services.

“Never, ever, think outside the box.”

Central Tier Movement2007-2008 and 2008-2009 (as of January

5th)

RTI Action Network “Voices from the Field”

Central Elementary School: Yukon, Oklahoma …authored by ME

 

…An analysis of student movement between Tiers 1, 2, and 3 of the RTI model showed that of the 90 students placed onto tiers, 34 were released with no further need of interventions. At the end of the year, it was found that 88% of all students were responding to Tier 1 or less intervention.  (07-08)

…This means 88% of the students at Central Elementary were either on target to meet benchmarks throughout the school year or required the least intensive amount of Tier interventions to do this.

Check it out!

http://www.rtinetwork.org/Connect/Voices/Central-Elementary-School-Yukon-Oklahoma

Increase in API

1458

1488

14401445145014551460146514701475148014851490

2006-2007 2007-2008

Reading API

Tests! Tests! Tests!

CRT shows “master of criteria” Benchmark screening shows skill specific

growth.

Policies & Procedures

Question of the day: “Could a student remain on a Tier indefinitely?”

Answer? YES

. . .It’s just that simple.

NOT a good example…

Guidelines from St. Dept.

Tier 1 – minimally 4-6 weeks Tier 2 – minimally 9-12 weeks Tier 3 – maximally 45 school days

Just GUIDELINES, this could vary from student-to-student.

Official BusinessA.K.A. Special Ed. Referral

REDS forms- Documentation of Interventions Targeted Behavior Goal Interventions Attempted Frequency & Duration Treatment Integrity Data (HAS TO BE A %)

-Integrity: the quality or state of being complete Type of Measure Used to Define Outcome Was goal accomplished ? Recommended Action: ?

What is YOUR Recommended Action?

More Official Business(MEEGS forms…

Eligibility Determination)

Describe Differentiated Instruction Strategies Attempted (Tier 1)

Describe Interventions (Tier 2)

Strategies for increasing child’s rate of learning (Tier 3)

Wise Words from the State Department . . .

RTI has the potential to help a school make better use of its resources for increasing overall student achievement and for serving students with learning disabilities by:

Wise Words #1

RTI allows for early identification of

at-risk students.

Wise Words #2

RTI aligns assessment procedures with instruction.

Use it…Don’t lose it…

All screening/testing should be prescriptive!

Choose to USE the data you have collected. To make instructional decisions Parent conferences Interventions

Wise Words #3

RTI provides multiple data points on which decisions are based.

DIBELS progress monitoring is set up to measure the most sensitive growth.

Wise Words #4

RTI uses research based instruction.

Kind of a “buzz-word”? It is. However, it IS good to know that these

interventions have been proven to work for the typically developing student, as well as the student who might have missed a few “pieces of the puzzle” along the way.

If Students Aren’t Learning, We’re Not Teaching

We can’t just take credit for what they did learn; we have to take credit for what they didn’t learn, or “mislearned”, also.

Just because you covered the material doesn’t mean the children learned the material. That just tells about what you did…not what you taught.

Zig Engelmann Just one guy’s philosophy, but something

to consider. We say in effect, “Kid, it doesn’t matter how miserably your

environment has failed to teach you the basic concepts that the average five-year-old has long since mastered. We’re not going to fail you. We’re not going to discriminate against you, or give up on you, regardless of how unready you may be according to traditional standards. We are not going to label you with a handle, such as dyslexic or brain-damaged, and feel that we have now exonerated ourselves from the responsibility of teaching you. We’re not going to punish you by requiring you to do things you can’t do. We’re not going to talk about your difficulties to learn. Rather, we will take you where you are, and we’ll teach you. And the extent to which you fail is our failure, not yours. We will not cop out by saying, “He can’t learn.” Rather, we will say, “I failed to teach him. So I better take a good look at what I did and try to figure out a better way.”

Something to Remember…

Every student in our school is made up of multiple tiers of needs and these needs are constantly changing.

In Two Districts, Response-to-Intervention Brings Opportunity for Change

ASHA Leader National Publication

... “Collaboration is key with RTI," said Carol Burton, principal. "All teachers come together to get interventions that are scientifically based. It’s about being able to work smarter, not harder!"

…for the Bethany and Yukon public school districts it was an opportunity to improve outcomes for students and expand our effectiveness in our schools.

Additional Handouts

FAQs Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills

(DIBELS) Individual Student Performance Profile Evidence Based Intervention Sources “That RTI Plan”

Evidence Based Intervention Sources

www.rtinetwork.org - RTI Action Network www.fcrr.org (Florida Center for Reading Research) www.interventioncentral.org (Jim Wright) www.texasreading.org (University of Texas, under materials) www.theschoolbell.com www.free-reading.net www.mathfactcafe.com The Reading Center by Joseph Witt Ed Checkup Great Leaps Read Naturally Funnel Toward Phonics by Judy Montgomery –Super Duper, Inc. DIBELS http://dibels.uoregon.edu/index.php Start-In by Judy Montgomery & Barbara J. Moore-Brown -Super Duper, Inc. “The Struggling Reader, Interventions that Work” by Cooper, Chard & Kiger “The Fluent Reader” by Timothy Rasinski “Effective School Interventions” by Natalie Rathvon

Kysar and Power, 2008

Thank You!Questons? Comments?

Kim Kysar, M.S., CCC-SLP Central Elementary RTI Coordinator & Speech-Language Pathologist 405-354-2501, x1518 Kimberly.kysar@yukonps.com