Sanger Unified at a glance

My kids vs. your kids

Special Education Reform and RtI

By Matt Navo & Kimberly Salomonson

Where is Sanger?

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 at a Glance83% 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.

Welcome to Sanger!

“Home of 400 unhappy teachers!!!”

Where We Were in 2004–2005We 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.

SPED: API Journey

2010 2011 2012 20130

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

DistrictSPED

806

665

814

677

822

664

832

699

Bringing General Education and Special Education together!

Changing our culture.

PLCs

RtI

EDI

ELD

Structure

OperationsStrategy

Information

IdentityConnections

Relationships

A Systems ViewA Systems View of School ReformAdapted from the work of Margret Wheatley

4 Questions That Drive PLC Work

1. What do we want students to learn?2. How will we know when they have

learned it?3. How will we respond when learning doesn’t take

place?

4. How will we respond when learning has taken place?

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!

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

Key ComponentsStudents receive 30-45 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.

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.

District CommitmentAlthough 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.

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

Our MissionDream Big, Work Hard and Believe!!

Believe all students can and must learn.