FloridaRtI.usf.edu

A collaborative project between the Florida Department of Education and the University of South Florida

Outcomes of State Efforts

• Introductory RtI TAP disseminated on March 3, 2006; can be accessed at: http://www.fldoe.org/ese/pdf/y2006-8.pdf

• Collaboration and Emphasis on General Education Involvement/Leadership

• Problem-Solving/RtI Florida Project is accessible at: http://floridarti.usf.edu/

• PS/RtI –

Teaching Learning Connection (TLC): academic focus

Positive Behavior Support: behavior focus

• State-wide PS/RtI Implementation Plan

• Relevant Rule Revisions: E/BD, Proposed Administrative, Draft SLD, Draft LI

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PS/RtI Integrates Efforts

PS / RtI

Florida Departmentof Education

State-Level Collaborators

• Bureau of School Improvement, FLDOE• Just Read, Florida!, FLDOE• Florida Center for Reading Research, FSU• LD Research Project, FSU• PS/RtI Pilot Project, USF• RtI-TLC Project, UCF• Positive Behavior Support Project, USF• Student Support Services Project, USF• FL Center for Research – STEM, FSU• Office of Math and Science, FLDOE• Bureau of Exceptional Student Education and Student Services,

FLDOE• Reading First Professional Development, RFPD• Family Network on Disabilities of Florida, FND• Florida Educators Association, FEA 4

What does the State Plan do?

• Provides an overview of Florida’s perspective and approach to RtI.

• Connects and integrates terms and concepts with existing initiatives.

• Specifies foundational beliefs about how to create ideal conditions to promote student achievement.

• Calls for active engagement of parents.

• Discusses positive impact on school improvement, student achievement, and disproportionate representation of minority populations in special education programs.

 

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What does the State Plan Do?

• Specifies State and District responsibilities in the scaling-up process.

• Outlines the state team infrastructure.

• Policy leadership team

• Implementation team

• Advisory group

• Reports current and future activities.

• Suggests flexible funding considerations.

• Applies to English language learners (ELL).

• Applies to Special Education eligibility.

• Contains links to resources and related efforts to assist the reader in next steps.

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Tools to Support Efforts

• District/School Self-Assessment Tool

Take a few minutes and complete the Self Assessment for your school Provide our baseline Provide input for our district’s plan

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What is RtI?

RTI is the practice of (1) providing high quality instruction/intervention matched to student needs and, (2) using level of performance and learning rate over time to (3) make important educational decisions to guide instruction.

National Association of State Directors of Special Education, 2005

Core Principles of RtI

• A process designed to maximize achievement for all students

• Frequent data collection on student performance• Early identification of students at risk• Early intervention (K-3)• Multi-tiered model of service delivery• Research-based, scientifically validated

instruction/interventions • Ongoing progress monitoring - interventions evaluated

and modified• Data-based decision making - all decisions made with

data• Focused on outcomes

Response to Intervention is Not:

• About the identification of LD

• An instructional program. It is a framework to make decisions about instructional needs based on student data

• A way to avoid special education placement

• A hoop to jump through to ensure Sp. Ed. placement

• Intended to promote or encourage placement for students

• Intended to focus only on students who are below expected levels of proficiency

• Possible to implement alone; it is a cooperative effort of teachers, administrators, and support staff

What’s it look like?What does it do?

Characteristics of a Building with RtI

a. Frequent data collection on students in critical areas

b. Early identification of students at risk

c. Early intervention (kindergarten)

d. Interventions evaluated and modified (if necessary) frequently

e. Tiered levels of service delivery

f. All decisions made with or verified by data

Outcomes of RtI

a. Improved rate of academic and behavior performance

b. Significantly reduced disproportionality

c. Reductions in special education referrals and placements

Big Ideas

What We Used to Think What We Now Know

Thorough understanding of the intrapersonal (within person) causes of educational disabilities is the most critical factor in determining appropriate treatment.

Persons within disability categories have similar educational needs that are different in educationally important ways from persons in other disability categories.

Matching treatments to underlying characteristics will result in maximally effective interventions.

AuditoryLearners

Auditory ReadingMethods

VisualLearners

Visual ReadingMethods

KinestheticLearners

Kinesthetic ReadingMethods

Aptitude by Treatment interactions (ATIs) have not been proven.

Educational needs vary widely within and across disability categories

Educational disability results from the complex interaction between curriculum, instruction, the environment, and learner characteristics.

Ideas

Traditionalvs.

Response to Intervention

Intervention

Intervention

Consider ESE

Traditional-

Intervention

Intervention

Response to Intervention-

InterventionConsider ESE

Ifnecessary

RegularEducation

MonitorProgress

MonitorProgress

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TeacherRecognizes

ProblemEligibility

DeterminationIntervention

Brainstorming

PsychoeducationalEvaluationConducted

InterventionBrainstorming

Referral forPsychoeducational

Evaluation

Teacher/School Level

ScreeningRecognizes

Problem

EligibilityDetermination

Data AnalyzedTo DetermineSystemic v. Individual Student Problem

InformedIntervention

Monitoring ofResponse toIntervention

InterventionRevision

Monitoring ofResponse toIntervention

DisabilityCharacteristics

Determined

Assessment

How we got here…

Discovery ofStudent

Need

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A Shift in Thinking

The central question is not: “What about the students is causing the

performance discrepancy?” but

“What about the interaction of the curriculum, instruction, learners and

learning environment should be altered so that the students will learn?”

This shift alters everything else Ken Howell

We Need A New Logic

• Begin with the idea that the purpose of the system is student achievement

• Acknowledge that student needs exist on a continuum rather than in typological groupings

• Organize resources to make educational resources available in direct proportion to student need

David Tilly 2004

Academic Systems Behavioral Systems

Tier III: Intensive Interventions( Few Students)

Students who need Individual Intervention

Tier II: Strategic Interventions(Some Students)

Students who need more support in addition to the core curriculum

Tier II: Targeted Group Interventions(Some Students)

Students who need more support in addition to school-wide positive behavior program

Tier I: Core CurriculumAll students

Tier I: Universal InterventionsAll students; all settings

Three Tiered Model of School Supports:Example of an Infrastructure Resource Inventory

Tier III: Comprehensive and Intensive Interventions( Few Students)

Students who need Individualized Interventions

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Academic Systems Behavioral Systems

Tier 3: Comprehensive and Intensive InterventionsIndividual Students or Small Group (2-3)Reading: Scholastic Program, Reading,Mastery, ALL, Soar to Success, Leap Track, Fundations 1-5%

Tier 3: Intensive InterventionsIndividual CounselingFBA/BIPTeach, Reinforce, and Prevent (TRP)Assessment-basedIntense, durable procedures

Tier 2: Strategic InterventionsStudents not responding to core curriculumReading: Soar to Success, Leap Frog, CRISS strategies, CCC Lab Math: Extended DayWriting: Small Group, CRISS strategies, and “Just Write Narrative” by K. Robinson

5-10%

Tier 2: Targeted Group InterventionsSome students (at-risk)Small Group CounselingParent Training (Behavior & Academic)Bullying Prevention ProgramFBA/BIP Classroom Management Techniques, Professional Development Small Group Parent Training ,Data

Tier 1: Core CurriculumAll studentsReading: Houghton MifflinMath: HarcourtWriting: Six Traits Of WritingLearning Focus Strategies

80-90%

Tier 1: Universal InterventionsAll settings, all studentsCommittee, Preventive, proactive strategiesSchool Wide Rules/ Expectations Positive Reinforcement System (Tickets & 200 Club) School Wide Consequence System School Wide Social Skills Program, Data (Discipline, Surveys, etc.) Professional Development (behavior)Classroom Management Techniques,Parent Training

Three Tiered Model of School Supports:Example of an Infrastructure Resource Inventory

Students

Tiers of Service Delivery1. Problem Identification- What’s the problem?

2. Problem Analysis-Why is it occurring?

3. Intervention Design/Implementation-

What are we going to do about it?

4. Response to Intervention- Is it working?

Tier I

Tier II

Tier III

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Problem Solving

A systematic and structured process that uses the skills of professionals from different disciplines to develop, implement, and evaluate intervention plans that result in the significant improvement (closing the gap) of student performance

Implications for Activitiesat Various Tiers

More

More

Less

Less

Measurement Frequency

Measurement Precision

Depth of Problem Analysis

Instructional Time

Measurement Focus

Applicable evidence-based interventions

Group Size

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Step 1 – Problem Identification: What is the problem?

To identify a problem, you need to start with three pieces of data Expected level of performance Student level of performance Peer level of performance

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Problem ID

Expectation%compliance

weeks

Student

Peers

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Step 2 - Problem Analysis: Why is it occurring?

• The development of hypotheses about probable causes for the identified problem

• Assessment data are collected to validate hypotheses

Problem Analysis

The problem is occurring because ________________.

If ____________ would occur, the problem would be reduced.

DOMAINSR

ReviewI

InterviewO

ObserveT

Test

IInstruction

CCurriculum

EEnvironment

LLearner

Step 2 - Problem Analysis: Why is it occurring?

• Effective teaching strategies consider both what to teach and how to teach it.

• Making good decisions will increase student progress.

• It is critical that the instruction be matched to the problem.

Howell & Nolet, 2000

Step 3 – Intervention Design: What are we going to do about it?

Match intervention type and intensity to student(s), setting, problem

Interventions must focus on teaching desired behavior

Select evidence-based interventions that match context of school/classroom culture

Provide support for implementation

Coaching

Evaluation of implementation integrity

Step 3 – Intervention Design: What are we going to do about it?

Goal

ClassroomIntervention I

• Making instructional / intervention decisions based

on review and analysis of student data

• Progress monitoring always includes graphing

ClassroomIntervention 2

Step 4 – Progress Monitoring: Is it working?

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Performance

Time

Response to Intervention

Expected Rate

Observed Rate

Positive

Questionable

Poor

Goal

Classroom Intervention

Application Issues:Challenges - Data

• Collection What is collected and who collects it? How frequently is it collected?

• Organization Disaggregated by grade, gender, race, language,

SES? Designed to answer specific questions (Tier 1/2

effectiveness?

Application Issues:Challenges - Integrating Tiers

• Tier 1 (Core) instruction present at all three levels

• Purpose of Tier 2 is to improve success in Tier 1

• Purpose of Tier 3 is to improve success in Tier 2

• Is there a single “intervention” plan made up of different Tier services?

Application Issues:Challenges - Intervention Support

• Intervention plans should be developed based on student need and skills of staff

• All intervention plans should have intervention support

• Principals should ensure that intervention plans have intervention support

• Teachers should not be expected to implement plans for which there is no support

Need for Systems Change

• PS/RtI is not another project or program

• PS/RtI represents a new way of thinking about how we educate all students

• PS/RtI represents a New Way of Work

• Implementation of a PS/RtI model requires major systemic change

Change Model

Consensus

Infrastructure

Implementation

Stages of Implementing Problem-Solving/RtI

• Consensus Belief is shared Vision is agreed upon Implementation requirements understood

• Infrastructure Development Regulations Training/Technical Assistance Model (e.g., Standard Protocol) Tier I and II intervention systems

• E.g., K-3 Academic Support Plan

Data Management Technology support Decision-making criteria established

• Implementation

The Process of Systems Change

• Until, and unless, Consensus (understanding the need and trusting in the support) is reached no support will exist to establish the Infrastructure. Until, and unless, the Infrastructure is in place Implementation will not take place.

• A fatal error is to attempt Implementation without Consensus and Infrastructure

• Leadership must come both from all levels

What changes need to occur?

Beliefs

Knowledge

Skills

Beliefs

• Making the shift to a new paradigm, like PS/RtI, does not simply involve accepting a new set of skills. It also involves giving up certain beliefs in favor of others.

• PS/RtI requires systemic change in the way we educate all students

Ken Howell

• Student performance is influenced most by the quality of the interventions we deliver and how well we deliver them- not preconceived notions about child characteristics

• Decisions are best made with data

• Our expectations for student performance should be dependent on a student’s response to intervention, not on the basis of a “score” that “predicts” what they are “capable” of doing.

Beliefs

Beliefs• Every student is everybody’s responsibility

• PSM/RtI is a General Education Initiative-Not Special Education

• Improving the effectiveness of core instruction is basic to this process

• NO Child Left Behind Really Means “NO”

• Assessment (data) should both inform and evaluate the impact of instruction

• Policies must be consistent with beliefs

• Beliefs must be supported by research

• Focus on alterable variables

The Problem-Solving method

The relationship between RtI and the Problem-Solving method

Empirically validated instructional practices in the general education classroom at Tiers 1, 2, & 3

Importance and methods of assessing instructional quality

Knowledge

Adapted from Response to Intervention, NASDSE, 2006

Knowledge (cont’d)

Determining appropriate interventions based upon student data

Difference between the intensity of a problem and the severity

The role of progress monitoring

State and Federal Statutes & Regulations

Critical factors in systems change

Small Group Planning and Problem-Solving Techniques

Final Thoughts

Problem Solving &

Response to Intervention