2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR Award Woodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County The A,B,C’s of RTI Dr. Christy Bowling Crista Sycks, M.Ed. Bonny Keheley, Ed.S

2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School,

Cherokee County

The A,B,C’s of RTI

Dr. Christy BowlingCrista Sycks, M.Ed.

Bonny Keheley, Ed.SKristy Gibbs, B.S.Ed.

2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR Award

Woodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County

Who is Woodstock Elementary

School?• A Distinguished Title 1 community school for

seven consecutive years• Designated by GADOE as one of the Highest

Performing Reward Schools, 2012• Winner of the SSTAGE Award for Best

Practices at the elementary school level, 2012



The Components of RTI• screening children within the general

curriculum• tiered instruction of increasing intensity• evidence-based instruction• close monitoring of student progress• informed decision-making regarding

next steps for individual students



How We Started RTI at WES• Administration and key staff discussed the scope

of RTI…the focus and the potential benefits to students and school overall

• Worked to bring consensus through lead teacher meetings, trainings, and introducing the RTI language

• Considered the resources we already had available to make RTI happen at WES

• Utilized universal screener already available for whole school



Timeline We established a timeline as to how we would “baby step” into the process; CCSD adopted our school’s timeline for the district.

CultureWithin WES, we began to establish a “culture” to help teachers gain some initial knowledge and understanding as we began to “roll out” RTI in our school.



Universal Screening• Universal screening is where we

begin as we identify struggling students

• As our RTI process has evolved, we have identified key staff who “specialize” in various components

Kristy Gibbs is one of our intervention specialists who will discuss the area of universal screening and progress monitoring



What is Universal Screening?• Whole school benchmarking in

Fall/Winter/Spring• Progress monitoring Tier 2, 3, and 4–• Reliable norm-based measurement• Expectations are for all students to

gain, retain, and demonstrate knowledge

• Sharing data among teachers, administrators, parents, and students



We are a Data Driven SchoolBeginning the School year...

• We analyze previous year’s Tier lists to identify students’ needs

• Review benchmark data from the current year• Identify “at risk” students who score below the

25th percentile on the universal screener and place them at Tier 2

• Meet with staff to discuss data, concerns, and course of action

• Discuss implementation of interventions such as Early Intervention Program (EIP)

2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR AwardWoodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County

Interventions...…one of the cornerstones of the RTI Process

• Once we determine what the specific target goal is, we identify a way to serve the student with appropriate interventions

• At Woodstock Elementary, we have a variety of ways to provide interventions

• Every day, classroom teachers, EIP teachers, trained volunteers, and intervention specialists offer interventions to students


Woodstock Elementary SchoolCherokee County

Next, Mrs. Crista Sycks, our counselor and RTI chair, will discuss

processes and other key aspects of the RTI

process at Woodstock Elementary School


Woodstock Elementary School Cherokee County

CHANGING STAFF MINDSETFrom

“Me”, the teacher to

“We”, the team

There is no “I” in TEAM


Woodstock Elementary School Cherokee County

Collaboration is KeyThe TEAM uses information collected to LOOK

at the student’s BIG PICTURE in order to make timely decisions about a student’s educational programs



The People that make RTI work…-…The TEAM

• RTI Chair• Administration• Speech/Language

Pathologists(SLP)• Early Intervention

Teachers(EIP)• Academic Coach• Students• Parents (invited

to T3)

• Classroom Teacher• Special Education Staff• School Psychologist• Occupational

Therapist(OT)• English Language

Learners Teachers(ELL) • Specials/Exploratory

Teachers



Team Problem Solving at Tier 2 & 3 1. Identify the Problem: Which students are the core

curriculum insufficient for and why? 2. Analyze the Problem: What specific additional instruction is needed? What is the specific skill that needs to be strengthened? 3. Develop a Plan: How will additional instruction be delivered? 4. Implement the Plan: How will effectiveness of additional instruction be monitored for the students? How will fidelity be maintained? 5. Evaluate the Plan: Is there a need to move to a different level of instruction? This is determined as a team.



Meetings, processes, and parent conferencing



CAMP LEARNALOTTA

CAMP LEARNALOTTA is an innovative program set up to provide interventions to struggling students.

CAMP LEARNALOTTA IS THE “BRAIN CHILD” OF Mrs. Bonny Keheley who will tell you more about it.



What is Camp Learnalotta?

An in-house volunteer tutoring program matching students, teachers, parents and community contacts with K-5 students The purpose: to remediate, maintain, and accelerate academic skills using a variety of research- based interventions to meet students’ academic needs as part of the Response To Intervention (RTI) process for Woodstock Elementary School (WES)



“When I began envisioning the idea of Camp Learnalotta, I knew I wanted to utilize volunteers as a way of providing research-based interventions for struggling students.”

- Bonny Keheley



Recruitment for Camp LearnalottaThe Cherokee County School District (CCSD) requires persons in contact with students to submit an annual Volunteer-Mentor Application form which is reviewed by the school’s principal and/or by the CCSD Police DepartmentVolunteers indicate their preference for grade/subject area as well as their weekly schedule using a form designed for that purposePeople from all walks of life volunteer their time in Camp Learnalotta



Research-based materials and activities offer resources for volunteers as they provide interventions to students.



Interventions are provided with fidelity as academic coach, Bonny

Keheley, models appropriate teaching methods.



Providing a schedule for Camp Learnalotta

is the only way to keep it organized.



“Growing pains are to be expected as every school implements the RTI process.” -Dr. Christy Bowling

• Communicating among stakeholders is a challenge

• Establishing systems and understandings took us about 3 years

• Polishing the process was another 2 years• Realizing mistakes will be made, the team

serves as a checks and balances throughout the ongoing period of establishing processes and procedures

Each school year brings new developments and the need to “begin again” as resources and requirements continually change.



Program Additions and Innovations...Fast forward to today:

• EIP/ESOL staff not only teach students but now serve as a “go to” person for assistance

• Other certified staff members serve Tier 2 and Tier 3 needs

• Camp Learnalotta continues to provide research-based interventions

• Computerized RTI plans provide continuity countywide• County RTI website provides readily accessible

resources for teachers• Addition of WES RTI website -

http://www.tinyurl.com/rtiatwes• Cindy Pool was added as a specialized Tier 3

interventionist

The Cottage

The RTI room is our newest innovation developed byKristy Gibbs, Intervention

Specialist.



• Response to Intervention is an ever-changing innovative and comprehensive process that helps students achieve to the best of their ability

• At Woodstock Elementary School, we have seen a steady rate of improvement in our rate of progress and our test scores

• Students, who otherwise might not have been as academically successful, have responded favorably to the interventions we have initiated through our RTI process



The A,B,C’s of RTI

The ABC’s of RTI as practiced at Woodstock Elementary School include all stakeholders working together to improve student

Academics while using

Best practices along with

Collaborative communication and processes.

Georgia Department of Education in collaboration with theStudent Support Team Association for Georgia Educators RTI Star Award Winners: Georgia Pyramid of Interventions

THANK YOU!

Documents

2012 SSTAGE RTI STAR Award Woodstock Elementary School, Cherokee County The A,B,C’s of RTI Dr. Christy Bowling Crista Sycks, M.Ed. Bonny Keheley, Ed.S