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RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION A STANDARDS-ALIGNED APPROACH TO STUDENT SUCCESS!

Northeastern Educational Intermediate Unit

September 2008

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RESPONSE TO INSTRUCTION & INTERVENTION A STANDARDS-ALIGNED APPROACH TO STUDENT SUCCESS!

Northeastern Educational Intermediate UnitSeptember 2008

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Agenda Overview of RtI framework Characteristics of universal screening

tools Logistics for implementing an efficient

universal screening

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Starting point for RtI

Do I believe ALL children can learn?

Do I believe performance targets on the PSSA will be met by 2014?

Can I change my current instructional practice to impact student performance?

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Underlying Principles of RtI

RtI is a general education initiative Improving the effectiveness of core instruction is

basic to the process No Child Left Behind really means NO Assessment data should both inform and

evaluate the impact of instruction Beliefs must be supported by research How do you spell AYP??? RtI

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Key Features

Effective instructional / intervention programs Frequent assessment of student performance

Screening (Benchmark) Diagnostic Progress Monitoring (formative) Outcome (summative)

Use of data to make instructional / intervention decisions

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Why Screen??

First graders in the bottom quartile in reading have an 88% likelihood of placing in the bottom quartile in 4th grade and a 78% likelihood of remaining there through 8th grade.

Juel 1988

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Why Screen??

When students are tracked (homogenously grouped), the ability gap widens more than when students are not tracked (heterogeneously grouped).

Davenport & Ruiz (1993)

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The Scope of the ProblemThe Scope of the Problem of U.S. fourth-grade students read below a “basic level” and have “little or no mastery of the knowledge or skills necessary to perform work at each grade level” (NAEP)

Problems are particularly severe for disadvantaged students (50% of 4th grade students whose parents graduated from college were proficient / advanced compared to only of 4th graders whose parents did not finish high school).

40%

10%

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The Scope of the ProblemThe Scope of the Problem

Almost of the nation’s children encounter severe reading problems before third grade which translates into more than million children in America who are struggling, unsuccessfully, to read

A full of students with learning disabilities have reading as their primary area of difficulty

20%

80-85%

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The Scope of the ProblemThe Scope of the Problem

of seniors cannot add fractions with unlike denominators.40%

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RtII is an early intervening strategy and carries dual meaning in Pennsylvania.

•It is a comprehensive, multi-tiered, standards aligned strategy to enable early identification and intervention for students at academic or behavioral risk. •RtII may be considered as one alternative to the aptitude-achievement discrepancy model for the identification of students with learning disabilities after the establishment of specific progress measures.

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RtI Paradigm Shift

The concept is simple…

the implementation is challenging. RtI requires that we rethink how and why we do what we do.

G. Emerson Dickman

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RTI - NOT

RtI students RtI classroom RtI teachers Special education Another name for IST

RtI is a philosophy!

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LEGAL AUTHORITY

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NCLB:Provided the impetus for school improvement

through AYP accountability.

Defined and required implementation of ‘scientifically research-based practices’.

Supported involvement of all children in the general education curriculum.

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What is Scientific Research?

Quantitative Replicated Large sample size Hypothesis Peer reviewed publication

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IDEA 2004: Specific Learning Disabilities

“The LEA shall not be required to take into consideration whether the child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability in oral expression, listening comprehension, written expression, basic reading skill, reading comprehension, reading fluency, mathematical calculation, or mathematical reasoning.”

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IDEA 2004 Specific Learning Disabilities

“In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, a local educational agency may use a process which determines if a child responds to scientifically research- based interventions.”

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IDEA 2004 Specific Learning Disabilities

A child is not a child with a disability if the presenting problem is caused by:

Lack of instruction in reading – including in the essential components of reading instruction

Lack of instruction in math Limited English proficiency

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14.125 Criteria for Determining Specific Learning Disabilities (SLD)

Each school district and IU must develop procedures for determination of SLD that conform to State criteria

Procedures must be included in special education plans

§14.125(a), §711.25 (a)

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Per Sections 14.122 & 14.125…

All children are required to have ‘scientifically- based instruction’ in core academic subjects

All children must be screened at reasonable intervals

Children referred to MDT for SLD must receive repeated assessments

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*The most crucial work of RtI implementation is ensuring quality teaching in the standards aligned general education core curriculum.

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Connection to Pennsylvania’s Standards Aligned System

and School Improvement Process

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Addressing the Priorities:A Standards-Aligned System

Strong

Results

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Phase 1ORGANIZE

and REVIEWDATA

RtI –Data driven process

Phase 1ORGANIZE

and REVIEWDATA

RtI –Data driven process

Phase 2ANALYZE DATA and

DISCOVER“Root Cause”RtI –Data teaming

process

Phase 2ANALYZE DATA and

DISCOVER“Root Cause”RtI –Data teaming

process

Phase 3PLAN

SOLUTION

*RtI Strategy

Phase 3PLAN

SOLUTION

*RtI Strategy

*RtI connection: The RtI strategy may be used as one of the “vital few” research validated strategies to assist schools with improving student performance.

The Three Phases of a Continuous Improvement Planning Framework

Summative AssessmentsFormative AssessmentsPerceptual/Demographic Data

Phase 1ORGANIZE and REVIEW DATA

Phase 2 ANALYZE DATA and

DISCOVER “Root Cause”

Phase 3PLAN SOLUTION

Main Idea Multiple data sourcesBalance of local and state assessments

Current state of student achievement, based ONLY on student dataHighest-priority Areas of Strength and Areas of ConcernUnderlying causes of current state of student achievementPotential improvement strategies

Student achievement improvement targetsAction Sequence…in 1-2-3-4-5 Steps!

Key Components

PSSA DataPVAAS Data4Sight Assessments (or equivalent)Locally relevant assessmentsGuiding Questions for “root cause” analysis“Vital few” research-based or promising strategies

NCLB/AYP targetAction Sequence:Step 1: DATAStep 2: DESIGNStep 3: DELIVERYStep 4: DEVELOPMENT OF PEOPLE5:DOCUMENTA-TION

RtI: Universal Screening

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Why Universal Screeners?

Early Intervening-actively seek out students at risk of difficulty and intervene immediately prior to long term failure and the need for intensive supports.

OR Wait for long-term failure greatly

increasing the need for intensive interventions including special education.

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Universal Screening Expectations Screenings conducted on all students three times per

year

School maintains results of screening in a database

School produces user-friendly summaries of screening data: A graph is completed to display data for analysis and decision-

making and to indicate percentage of students at-risk, at some risk, and at low risk

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Characteristics of a Quality Screening Instrument

Must be brief and easily administered. Must be research-based Must be highly correlated to skills assessed Must have benchmarks or be predictive of

future performance Must have high reliability and validity. Must be sensitive to small increments of

change

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Additional Characteristics

Alternate forms available Screening Progress Monitoring

Rates of improvement specified Data analysis and reporting available Leads to teacher or student change

National Center on Student Progress Monitoring

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Reading – A National Priority

How many students in your school or district are identified as learning disabled in reading?

How are those students identified? Are you satisfied with your school or

district’s achievement in reading, spelling, writing, and/or language?

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The reality is…

80-85% of children referred to special education have learning disabilities involving reading and /or language.

70-80% or poor readers have trouble with accurate and fluent word recognition in combination with fluency and comprehension problems.

Potential reading problems can be identified as early as mid-kindergarten and possibly earlier!

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The Research Is Clear

Only 2-5% of our struggling readers should experience severe reading difficulties.

90-95% of our students can become successful readers.

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We can prevent the achievement gap!

We can prevent many children with reading deficits from becoming reading disabled!

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Frequently Used in PA Dynamic Indicators of Early Literacy Skills

(DIBELS) www.dibels.uoregon.edu

AIMSweb 4Sight Benchmark Assessments

www.AIMSweb.com www.successforall.net

Monitoring Basic Skills Progress (MBSP) www.proedinc.com

School-wide Information Systems (SWIS) www.swis.org

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REMEMBER:

WITHOUT DATA…

ALL YOU HAVE IS AN OPINION!!!

Screening data, while brief, is authentic, timely, and your first indicator of difficulty with your school, class, or student.

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SCREENING

PLAN FOR IT

DO IT

ANALYZE IT

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT