Response to Intervention at Norman Brekke School

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Response to InterventionatNorman Brekke School

• Where Smart is Something EVERYONE Can Get

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Who are we?

• Mary Truax
• School Psychologist
• Kelly Castillo
• Principal, Brekke School
• Now you know who we are.

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Who Are You?
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So why are we here?

• For many of us, the task of implementing RtI
  seems daunting and overwhelming. We come from a
  philosophy that doing something (ANYthing) is
  better than spending years in a get ready
  state, trying to create a perfect implementation.
  
• Here are the steps to begin RtI implementation in
  ANY school, with ANY resources (or lack there
  of), and ANY level of support.

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Stop trying to build a pyramid before you

• Prep the ground
• Design the blueprint
• Make the bricks
• Hire the construction workers
• Supervise the process

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What do I do at my school?

• Prep the ground
• Develop the culture
• Design the blueprint
• Create a plan
• Make the bricks
• Use data
• Hire the construction workers
• Implement the Interventions
• Supervise the process
• Monitor progress

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Develop the CULTURE

• Create a belief system where teachers, staff, and
  administration feel
• Responsible for every childs learning.
• Able to ensure all children learn.
• Believe all children can learn.
• Willing to recognize progress rather than expect
  perfection.

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Develop the Culture The Brekke Experience

• Model the belief and commitment
• Professional development
• Allow for open dialogue
• Accept where people are and what they believe and
  work to move them forward
• Celebrate successes and recognize the efforts of
  teachers, staff, and students

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Create a Plan

• Ask who, what, where, and when
• Identify the levels of intervention available at
  the school (This is your pyramid)
• CORE instructionThe foundation
• Classroom Teachers
• Additional personnel support
• Specialized support

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Create a plan The Brekke Experience

• Constantly Changing and Improving
• Everyone is part of the creation of the plan
• You have to be willing to scrap the things that
  arent working
• You have to TEACH the plan
• This means more than one time!

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Create a plan The Brekke Experience

• Who
• The teachers and administrators
• Intervention Support Providers
• Speech Teachers
• RSP teacher
• School Psychologist

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Create a plan The Brekke Experience

• What
• Core instruction
• Core program supplemental materials
• Alternative curriculums (Language!)
• Supplemental curriculums (Read Naturally,
  Accelerated Literacy, 6 minute solution, Touch
  Math, Measuring Up, Successmaker, Waterford,
  Literature Circles, etc.)

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Create a plan The Brekke Experience

• Where
• EVERYWHEREclassrooms, prep rooms, back of the
  room, conference room, etc.
• How
• Teachers pulling small groups
• Teaming
• Push-in, Pull-out
• no NEW teaching time (nNtt)

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Use Data

• Ensure there is a universal assessment program
• Provide adequate training
• Utilize academic diagnostic assessments to
  pinpoint learning needs
• Analyze the data

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Use Data The Brekke Experience

• SCOEs and Math Benchmark Assessments
• STAR assessment
• Read Naturally Assessment tools
• San Diego Quick
• Nonsense words test
• TOSWERF

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Use Data The Brekke Experience

• Analysis by
• Individual Teachers
• Grade level teams (1/2 day release or early
  release days)
• School staff (SIP days)
• Administrator
• Consultation Team

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Use Data The Brekke Experience

• Analysis of
• Student PROGRESS
• Compared to themselves
• Compared to others receiving the intervention
• Compared to the class
• Compared to the grade level
• Compared to the benchmark

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Implement the Interventions

• Use ANYthing! (What are people already doing, or
  willing to try?)
• Should be research based
• Flexible
• Short (4-12 weeks)
• Should be above and beyond what the entire class
  is receiving.
• Should not replace core instruction

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Implement the Interventions The Brekke
Experience

• It was different in every classroom and grade
  level.
• But thats okay, something is better than
  nothing.
• Meet people where they are.
• I asked the question, What can you do?
• And then, accepted their response and framed the
  plan around what people were willing to do.

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Monitor Progress

• Monitor progress against that childs baseline
  data.
• This is the opportunity to look at what students
  CAN (and did) do rather than what they cant
• It is also the opportunity to celebrate what
  teachers CAN (and did) do rather than what they
  cant
• If there is growthcontinue
• If there is not growthask why
• Modify interventions as needed

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Monitor Progress The Brekke Experience

• Student Monitoring Conferences
• At student monitoring conferences, each teacher
  meets one on one with me to discuss their
  students progress.
• Teachers are released by a floating sub for 40
  minutes.
• They come to the meeting with their current data
  and monitoring forms.

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Monitor Progress The Brekke Experience

• The Student Monitoring Conference Agenda
• Whole Class
• Classroom Goal Met? Why/Why not?
• Set new goal
• Individual Students
• Student Goal Met? Why/Why not?
• Set new goals
• What interventions will you implement to meet
  these goals?

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How has RtI impacted Norman Brekke School?

• Our Findings

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At first, we didnt have academic data, but we
had other things that told us it was working for
kids.

• Teacher Feedback
• Student Attitudes
• Parent Response
• Outsiders comments

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Special Education Referrals

• Only TWO parent referrals.
• Why? Because parents feel their students are
  receiving what they need right away, rather than
  waiting for some label.
• How? Teachers were able to clearly articulate
  where the child was performing academically and
  the specific, individualized plan they would be
  implementing to help the child reach that goal.

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Special Education Qualification

• In 05-06 our qualification rate for new
  evaluations was a mere 44!
• In 06-07, the qualification rate was only 46!
• In 07-08 (with True RTI Implementation), 83 of
  students assessed qualified for special education
  services!

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What about the Academic Results

• Was it REALLY working?

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Brekke Students (Matched Cohort) Between 2007 CST
and 2008 CST
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Brekke Students (Matched Cohort) 2007 Results vs.
2008 Results
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Finally, Its your turn again

• Questions
• Comments
• Ideas