Responsiveness to Instruction (RtI): How Do We Begin?

1
Responsiveness to Instruction (RtI)How Do We
Begin?

• Yonna Acuff, M.Ed., NBCT
• Giancarlo Anselmo M.S., S.S.P., NCSP
• Sandy Hamrick, M.A., NBCT

2
Overview

• Who we are and where we have come from
• Current system for training
• Mistakes made along the way
• What RtI looks like in Cleveland County

3
Two Major Things You Can Expect

• Number 1
• Starting a process that tries to match the
  correct level of instruction with the level of
  need for every child in your school
• Number 2

Mistakes
4
In the Beginning

• In 2005-2006, department heads from CCS began
  research behind RtI
• Reading Materials
• The RTI Guide Developing and Implementing a
  Model in Your Schools, J.E. McCook , 2006
• RESPONSE to Intervention Policy Considerations
  and Implementation, National Association of State
  Directors of Special Education, Inc., 2006
• Site Visits
• Horry County Schools, SC
• New Hanover County Schools, NC

5
In the Beginning cont

• Discussion with Susan Davis, SLD Consultant with
  DPI
• Two Day RtI Overview presentation by Dr. Tom
  Jenkins
• Met with all Principals and Selected EC and
  Regular Ed personnel

6
District Core Team

• After research was completed, the decision was
  made to begin implementation
• A five member, interdisciplinary team was
  appointed
• Regular Education Teacher
• School Counselor
• School Psychologist
• EC Program Specialist/Diagnostician
• Curriculum Coordinator

7
District Core Team

• Attended the eight day training provided by NC
  Department of Public Instruction
• In conjunction with administrators from the 2
  pilot schools, the team developed local paperwork
  and a training protocol specific to Cleveland
  County

8
Overall Implementation and Expansion

• 2006/2007 RTI procedures were piloted in two
  elementary schools
• One large school (700 students) Springmore
  Elementary
• One small school (300 students) Casar Elementary
• 2007/2008 implementation expanded into two more
  larger elementary schools
• Fallston Elementary (600 students)
• Union Elementary (600 students)
• 2008/2009 we have expanded to two more schools
• -Jefferson Elementary (300 students)
• -Grover Elementary (500 students)

9
Training Protocol

• Using NCDPIs training materials, as well as
  additional resources, a four session training
  series was created
• Training Module 1, RtI Overview
• Training Module 2,Tier 1
• Training Module 3, Tier 2
• Training Module 2, Tier 3 Training for PST
  Team members.

10
Training cont.

• Training sessions were scheduled after school
  during staff meetings from 300-430 pm.
• Training Module 1 is held in the Spring prior to
  Fall implementation.
• Training Module 2 is held in August or Early
  September.
• Training Module 3 is held in October or Early
  November.
• Training Module 4 is conducted by two members
  from the Core Team during a designated PST Team
  meeting.

11
RtI Overview Training

• Introduce staff members to the concept of
  Response to Instruction, including changes within
  IDEA Regulations.
• Create awareness about the 4 Tier process the
  school will be implementing the following school
  year.

12
Tier 1 Training

• Discuss the 7 Step Problem Solving Process
• Explain the Tier 1 of the 4 Tier Model in detail
• Review the use of Curriculum Based Measures and
  how to enter a child in Tier 1
• Teach how to complete Tier 1 paperwork and the
  processes involved
• Provide examples and discuss possible outcomes

13
Tier 2 Training

• Briefly review Tier 1
• Review the 7 Step Problem Solving Model
• Talk about what may necessitate a child moving
  from Tier 1 to Tier 2 using Progress Monitoring
  Data
• Teach how to complete Tier 2 paperwork and the
  processes involved
• Provide examples for review and discussion

14
Tier 3 Training

• Core Team Members meet with the schools Problem
  Solving Team (PST) to discuss each team members
  role
• Coordinator
• Time Keeper
• Note taker
• Review the paperwork for Tier 3
• Discuss who will provide instruction for Tier 3
  students

15
What is the Best Way to Train a Problem Solving
Team

• First Year Training
• Consisted of training teams using PowerPoints
  from state training
• Trained teams from two schools at once

• Second Year Training
• Trainings consisted of sitting down with each PST
  team and going over case studies
• Cases from their own schools were used to help
  them go through the process

MISTAKES
16
How PST Team Changed

• Last Year
• Principal
• School psychologist
• EC teacher
• Diagnostician
• Teacher of student
• Regular ed teacher
• Title 1 reading specialist
• Counselor
• Social worker
• Parent

• This Year
• Principal
• School Psychologist
• Case Colleague
• Title 1/Interventionist
• Parent
• Teacher of student
• Diagnostician
• Others used as needed

MISTAKES
17
School Wide Support For Process

• Showing how the Discrepancy model was probably
  not the best model in order to catch students
  early
• Studies done at local level showing legitimacy of
  Curriculum Based Data

18
Correlation Studies looking at EOG and CBM
Assessments

• EOG and ORF correlation coefficients
• 3rd grade .69
• 4th grade .59
• 5th grade .53
• EOG and Maze Fluency correlation coefficients
• 3rd grade .61
• 4th grade .63
• 5th grade .63

19
Correlation Studies Looking at District
Performance on EOG and CBM Assessments

• EOG and Skill Builder Word Problem probes
  correlation coefficients
• 3rd grade .64
• 4th grade .49
• 5th grade .60

20
Cleveland County Schools EOG/CBM data 2007
21
1st Year Implementation

22
Teacher Supports

• Teachers have been trained on all tiers of
  process
• CBM training provided by school psychologists
• Teachers each received intervention notebooks
• Intervention training
• Teachers are assigned case colleagues from the
  Problem Solving Team to help with procedures,
  paperwork, or interventions starting at Tier I

23
Roles of Case Colleague

• Case colleague meets with teacher at the
  beginning of Tier 1/Tier 2 to help with
  paperwork, interventions, and answer any other
  questions that arise
• Case colleagues also meet with teachers every
  other week to check in on progress
• Case colleagues also meet with teachers at the
  end of Tier 2
• Case colleagues are in charge of setting up PST
  Team meeting if moving to Tier 3

24
Teachers Teaching Teachers

• Intervention training done in the middle of the
  year
• 90 of training was done by teachers who had
  shown great ability to run interventions in their
  classrooms and differentiate instruction
• Training went very well and most teachers were
  very receptive to ideas from other teachers

25
Students Entering Tier 1

• First Year
• K-2 Students entered Tier I in reading based on
  DIBELS data
• All other subject areas and grades 3-5 where
  based on teacher discretion

• Second Year
• All Children K-5 went through screening process
  at RtI schools

MISTAKES
26
Screening All RTI Schools K-5th Grade

• All students are screened three times a year
  using either DIBELS, Skill Builder probes, or
  Aims Web Maze Fluency probes
• Teachers have been shown data and given
  recommendations on who needs to enter Tier 1
• Teachers have been shown what skill to teach and
  what to use to progress monitor each child

27
Curriculum Based Measurements

• Teachers have been taught to use CBMs for
  progress monitoring
• Training was done by school psychologists during
  planning times broken up over several weeks
• Nearly all instruction is tracked using CBM data
  
• Data is not graphed or charted until child enters
  Tier 3, unless teacher chooses to graph data

28
Timelines

• Beginning of the year benchmark assessment
• Targeted students enter Tier 1 based on
  information from class and assessments
• Plan is written with help of parent and usually
  Case Colleague
• Teachers intervene in specific area for 4-6 weeks
• Dialogue continues with Case Colleague
• Process will repeat with Tier 2 only more people
  are generally involved

29
Local Norm Project

• Hybrid between DIBELs and Skill Builder Probes
• Local norm sample consisted of 576 across 1st-5th
  grades
• More than 100 students per grade
• DIBELS data was from approximately 400 students
  per grade K-2

30
Sample From 1st and 2nd Grade
31
School Approach to Interventions

• ONE OPTION
• Each grade level has an intervention period built
  into the daily schedule
• Fluid time when any student in that grade level
  can go to another teacher to receive intervention
• Students not on intervention plan receive
  challenge enrichment activities gifted teacher
  can consult with staff about activities
• Can be hard to schedule but has great results and
  great teacher feedback

32
Fidelity and Integrity Checks

• Case Colleague meeting form
• Interventions are observed before a child moves
  to a new tier
• Intervention observation form is used
• Before placement is considered third party is
  looking over Tier III process to make sure
  everything has been done properly

33
(No Transcript)
34
(No Transcript)
35
(No Transcript)
36
(No Transcript)
37
Where is Cleveland County Going From Here?

• With the implementation of RtI in 6 Elementary
  Schools, we are now going to proceed with adding
  other Elementary Schools in addition to a Middle
  School for 2009-10. There is also one High
  School in our district that is interested in
  pursuing RtI implementation.
• In order to continue building capacity, we
  recognize that an additional Core Training Team
  would be beneficial to our process.

38
Instruction/InterventionQuestions to Ask

• What is my schools core curriculum?
• Is my core curriculum research based?
• Florida center for reading research
• fcrr.org

39
Interventions/InstructionQuestions to Ask

• What do you have available at your school?
• What programs do you have?
• What resources can teachers easily access?
• Are your supplemental programs research based
  instruction?
• Who can supply interventions if they need to be
  supplied outside the classroom?
• Who will do progress monitoring?

40
Implementing RtI is Like Eating an Elephant

• You can start anywhere you like
• You have to eat the whole thing
• You arent going to eat it all in one sitting
• It is going to take a whole lot of
• friends to help get the job done

41

• mail.clevelandcountyschools.org/ganselmo
• RTI/Intervention Resources Cleveland County
  Schools

42
Questions