View video, "RtI - Getting Started"
www4.scoe.net/rti/
Write a brief synopsis of the video, demonstrating an understanding of the content. Discuss your experiences with RtI, if any. Discuss which instructional strategies could be implemented in this type of setting.
First, I haven't watched the video. I simply have comments on RTI. I will watch the video and post again, I promise.
ReplyDeleteI have not had the opportunity to work on an RTI team. When I was at JFK High School, I knew it was going on because teachers would confer with me about their RTI students, asking if this was the kind of work I see from my students, or if something from the file history looked like a special ed concern. At my current site, RTI is not done. SSTs are held with the required people, and recommendations are made. However, no follow ups are done. Furthermore, my principal does not allow for recommendations for tutoring to be made because the availability of tutoring cannot be promised (her words.) When I then receive the student in 8th grade as an initial assessment, it is because the parent has been coached to write a letter and ask for it by a community member.
I have explained to my principal how RTI works and should be followed up upon. I have explained that the records I receive from SST meetings do not allow us to provide the least restrictive environment because nothing else was ever tried (tutoring,for instance). I can't tell you how many initials I have had who qualified, but were inappropriate for the low level of my RSP classes and a waste of time for them. I have also had multiple initials where the parent was trying to get help for the kid, but the kid didn't qualify. It was a time when remediation in a single area would be enough, and both the parent and I were frustrated that the SST did not arrange it.
At Folsom High School, where I was an aide/long term sub for 6 years before my internship, they've gone to an RTI model where each sped teacher takes a core subject. They then arrange their teacher/aide team to push into that core subject. Tutoring/remediation periods are at the end of the day with all the sped teachers and aides together in a center pod, with side rooms for groups. In this way they support both their sped students and RTI remediation students.
The video described in depth the data collection and organization of a school needed to begin and develop an RTI program in a school with a speaker from Kalamazoo, MI and a speaker from LA Unified. These were detailed speeches from a top-down or administrative approach. It occurred to me that these approaches were meant to follow young elementary students rather than older students, and I was frustrated at the thought. However, at the end of the video, the team from Madera High School spoke as to how exactly they were collecting data and the approaches they used for interventions. To my surprise (and joy) the high school looks at 7th grade CST scores and starts preparing for their incoming freshmen a year early. They project the students' needs for intervention, and then go to the middle schools and show the students how much work they will need to do in 8th grade in order to get elective classes (rather than intervention) in high school. This motivates middle school students.
ReplyDeleteI work in a middle school that has serious problems (Rosa Parks). The students have no reason to do well, and the culture is "too cool for school" (politely put). Failure is "sticking it to" the adults. Furthermore, the administration stresses our NOT FAILING the students, telling us the students will have time to make up their skills in high school.
A system like Madera's takes collaboration between the high school and middle school, if not district-wide collaboration. I hope to see this in the future if I stay at this district.
I could see team teaching, co-teaching, pod teaching being used in an RTI setting. However, I also sense that it takes the commitment of the teachers to make it work. The ongoing assessment of the students every 9 weeks and the analysis of the data to plan interventions is intensive and not the job many teachers want to do. The collaboration method in which the co-teacher does remediation and assessments seems to be the one that would lend itself to looking at the data best and blend with RTI the easiest. However, any of the methods would work given the leadership and commitments needed to follow students through their interventions. The student is the focus of the RTI model, rather than the school API, and I believe most teachers would welcome this.
ReplyDeleteEach of the collaborative teaching methods we observed requires off-time collaboration and teaching. This seems to me to be the issue in teaching. Teachers often times look at their classrooms as their "kingdoms" and would rather not work with someone else. As before, the commitment to the process is necessary.
I went to the webpage and found it was not a video but a lengthy statement on RTI? Since the video was optional viewing, I'd just like to share my opinion that intervention, at the earliest possible point is crucial to a good education, for every student. From the slowest to the most advanced student, each person has specific needs which can increase learning ability, achievement, and enjoyment, when addressed by an educator well versed in intervention procedures and techniques.
ReplyDeleteAt LBHS, we have bi-monthly SLC (Small Learning Center) meetings, during which common students are discussed and interventions quickly implemented. Should the students continue to struggle, generally an SST is held, whereby it is decided whether the students should be assessed for Sp. Ed, whether the student needs counseling service, or whether the student would benefit from tutoring, learning center, or another modality of teaching. A follow-up meeting is scheduled to discuss the progress of the student and whether the interventions are effective as evidenced by teacher observation, formal and informal assessments. If the interventions are ineffective, other options and strategies are implemented, or the student is assessed as a possible special ed candidate. One thing is for certain, most of the teachers at Luther Burbank High School are proactive in addressing student deficits as early as possible, and are willing to think outside the box to help a particular student become successful.
ReplyDeleteOMG, the one time I type into the box instead of copying and pasting from a document it gives me an error and I have to start over! LOL
ReplyDeleteAt McNair, we have a really strong RTI model. I, however, cannot attest to the efficiency of it because as an SDC teacher, I am not part of it until the student has already been labeled as non-diploma track. Our department chair acts as the special educator involved in all SSTs (yes, I know that’s not the up-to-date acronym, but I can’t recall the new one) and initials.
ReplyDeleteAt our school we have all the materials to have an actual tier of interventions for the whole school, but because of budget cuts, they are not utilized in that way. There are two intervention classes for the general education students. One is for freshman only and the other is for those students that have failed the CAHSEE. In the SDC portion of our special education department, we have SRA and Read180 available to use. We have never used them simultaneously, but another teacher and I are attempting to implement a true intervention tier for our SDC students. The idea is to use SRA and as an intensive intervention and then use Read180 and the strategic intervention. After the strategic intervention, we would push our students into the general education English classes and support them by either scheduling a study skills or a Life Skills English class during the same term.
Our math department is in the process of tweaking their tier system. It is coming along nicely but still has a few glitches. They created their tier by way of using data from their cycle of inquiry sessions and coaches from the district level. The same teacher mentioned earlier and I like to place our students with higher skill sets in the general education classes and support them with a study skills class. Our SDC math teacher is not fully into the whole “tier” systems of interventions, so we don’t use his class as a support………but that it a story for a different time. :)
The video goes over how to start an RTI program. It discussed the 3-5 year process involved, data collection and interventions that were used to create an RTI program.
ReplyDeleteMy experience with RTI is limited. The only real RTI intervention that I have used is REWARDS to help my students with decoding and reading fluency. It was very successful and improved the reading ability of every single student in my class, in some cases by many grade levels.
On a school wide level there have been CAHSEE classes for those having issues passing that test. Most subjects also have some sort of tutoring for anyone needing extra help. I am not aware of my school having in depth testing to determine learning needs for each student though.
At my school site RTI is a fairly new concept that we are still trying to work out. Data is constantly collected from our students and is used to place them in math and language arts classes that can build them up from their current knowledge.
ReplyDeleteEvery student has an "intervention" math class that supports student learning of their standard math curriculum. During the intervention class the teachers have the freedom to change curriculum as they see fit for their own individual students. This allows them to reinforce new concepts, front load information and strengthen core skills as needed.
Language arts classes are grouped according to student ability. A very large population of our incoming students are reading two or more years below their grade level. If the act of reading is a challenge to our students then there are places is classes that use REACH curriculum to help strengthen their skills. It is important to note that counselor picked schedules are not the final schedules. If a teacher feels that a student's language arts placement needs to be re-evaluated then the student can move classes as needed. This is important because if schedules were done solely on tests then the students that are just poor test takers may be placed in a class that is actually below their ability.
RTI does not only refer to class management and schedule selections, but to after school programs as well. At our school we have various mentoring programs and support groups for students that need extra encouragement to excel. For the general population there is an hour of homework help every day and if a student is needed extra assistance there are a few various groups that get extra attentions.
Marybeth described our school's RTI model pretty well already. I am not involved either with RTI at our site; we have a program director whose job is to do all of the initials and SSTs. I teach an Intensive Intervention program for Emotionally Disturbed students. It is basically like a stepping stone for kids to receive intervention so that they do not end up going to a Non-public school. Also, for kids who are at a NPS to transition back into public school.
ReplyDeleteWithin our school (EMQFF) there is, on paper an extensive RTI model but the implementation on the classroom level is limited. Unfortunately, the way the intervention model is formulated puts the onus on us, the teachers to prove that we have done everything possible in the classroom before the in-house behaviorist will intercede, collaborate and implement a plan. Given that, EMQFF is a level 14 residential facility that treats emotionally disturbed students. Our students level of intervention can range from nothing as they are on core academically to students with autism; so the spectrum is wide, but the underlying disability has been clinically designated ED.
ReplyDeleteAnother failure that I see is that if an evaluation is needed it is only performed when the most critical academic failures arise and/or the teacher is pro-active for the individual student. Also, the behaviorist seems to rely on previous psychological reports and achievement tests as a baseline when making an analysis. This is not necessarily the incorrect evaluation method for RTI, but the behaviorist tends to discount teacher input, any collaboration or perform a proficiency assessment.
Overall, my experience and the other teachers at EMQFF that do implement RTI strategies and have an understanding of the RTI levels (benchmark, intervention and intensive) appropriately intervene and address the achievement gaps and have done so without the behaviorist participation.
The video described the importance data collection and organization of a school needed to begin and develop an RTI program. The approaches were meant to beginning in elementary school. The use of RtI is possible with the buy in from ALL staff. The leadership and support from the school district it is very possible to organize and implement RtI in any school setting. The organization of the staff, resources, and classes can help meet the third levels of RtI in the school.
ReplyDeleteThere has been a lack of understanding and training of RtI at Patwin. There has been a lot of discussion about what RtI is and how as a school we can better involve grade level articulation into discussions about support and interventions for students. Currently we have grade level articulation meetings for language arts block that includes reading intervention and ELD services. Math is also a part of the conversation, but not as structured in interventions. All the special education teachers attend the meetings that are related to students they serve, but are not involved in all the academic conversations. There is not an RtI coordinator or discussion of implementation at Patwin or in district. So I do not see any leadership in implementation and no guidance. Currently we have organized instructional strategies and data at quarterly academic conferencing to try to address the needs of the students with general education teachers. But it has been a struggle to get buy in from all involved who are not promoting the structure.