MTSS Update

  May is here and it's definitely one of the busiest times of the school year.  Last week several AEA267 school districts came together to share the work they have done in regards to MTSS.  I came away feeling great about the work we have done!  I realized many of you may not realize the steps the state has suggested we take as we attempt to improve our literacy instruction and student's proficiency scores.  Below I will outline the steps we are using.  It is quite long but I hope at some point you find the time to read and reflect on all we have done!

We became part of the state's initial phase to develop their RTI (Response to Intervention) plan last summer.  The initiative is called C4K  (Collaborating for Iowa's Kids).  The state changed the system name to MTSS (Multi-tiered Systems of Support).

The MAIN focus this year was getting to know the Iowa Tier site, implementing the FAST assessment school wide and then using the FAST data to determine if our (Hampton-Dumont's) core literacy curriculum is sufficient.  The goal is for each grade level to have 80% of our students reach the FAST benchmark.  Our core literacy curriculum is how we teach the Iowa Core ELA Standards to ALL students.

Throughout the year we have had a Facilitation Guide to help us with analyzing our core instruction and materials.  There are 6 building blocks we have been working through.  As the MTSS internal coach and our school's literacy coach, I will explain the blocks and the action steps we have taken so far.

1.  Universal Tier Triage
If 60% or fewer students are proficient, a class-wide intervention in Foundational Skills from the Iowa Core in the areas of phonics, fluency building or phonemic awareness is needed.  

We are looking at a universal intervention for phonemic awareness, phonics and vocabulary.  Through research we have discovered that many of our ELL and SES students come to us lacking the vocabulary & literacy foundational skills that they need to be successful readers.  These children need explicit teaching with Tier 1 words (such as concept words, Beck's research) and they need a systematic and explicit scope & sequence in the area of phonemic awareness and phonics.

We MUST address these two major areas for K-1 and 2-3.  We will be implementing the SIPPS program and the Language for Learning vocabulary program.  How will this be implemented, by who and when?  These details have not been finalized yet!  But I am excited about both programs and I am hopeful these two programs will help lift our student proficiency scores.  We know the support we have given our struggling readers in the past does not show the growth we need.

For 2nd & 3rd Grade we may eventually add a universal fluency program.  We know Timothy Rasinski has many resources we have learned and use but we may want to add specific strategies at each grade level and place these into our Non-negotiable Literacy Document.  OF COURSE the best fluency program is to read, read, read!  (Not so easy making sure kids are reading at home!)

2.  Instruction Time
Schedules, amount of time spent on instructional vs. non-instructional tasks, and the extent to which students are engaged in learning.

Two years ago we addressed this issue.  Research shows that students must have an interrupted literacy block of 60 minutes for K and 90 minutes for 1-5th grades.  We do this!  PLUS each classroom has additional time to teach writing (approximately 45 minutes).  We even went a step further and require all classrooms to build stamina with independent reading on a daily basis.  KIDS MUST READ DAILY- and TEACHERS MUST BE CONFERRING WITH STUDENTS DURING THIS TIME.

Next we must analyze the 90/60 minute block.  Do we have every classroom using 95% of the time for instruction meaning we have students actively engaged in learning activities.

Two methods we will use to help with this area is Planbook.com and regular literacy walk-throughs by peers and administration.

3.  Enacted Curriculum
This about the Iowa Core Standards, what teachers and administrators know about them and are implementing them with fidelity for all students in the Universal Tier.

We are all teaching the Iowa Core.  We took our Making Meaning and Being a Writer programs and began to investigate if we are teaching the Iowa Core Standards.  Teams have worked tirelessly over the last two years- unpacking the standards and designing assessments and units to teach every standard.  K-3 have great units that they will continue to adjust and add to as we learn more about these standards and the new level of learning we expect from our students.  I wish we could say we are done, but this will be on-going work each year.

Again, we are ahead of the game and I am proud of our teachers and the amazing work they have done with the Iowa Core ELA standards!

4.  Instructional Materials & Practices
Evidence-based instructional materials that are aligned with the Iowa Core Standards and
meet the spirit and intent of the Iowa core as defined in the Common Core Publisher's Criteria.  High quality instructional practices should be implemented fully, represented in the instructional materials.

This is probably the building block we have spent a lot of time in over the last three years.  I could write a book for this area!  I will try to be brief.  We have adopted new curriculum pieces in the area of literacy and we have learned many research based strategies & practices that we know help us meet the Iowa Core.  Plus we believe it is what kids need.

*Gradual release model using a reader's and writer's workshop
*IDR (all kids should spend much of their day reading just right text )
*Differentiation (Guided Reading, Strategy small groups, 1:1 conferring) This must happen for all students
*Making Meaning  (comprehension lessons)
*Guided Spelling
*Being a Writer
*Fluency (poetry, reader's theater, repeated readings, fluency folders, graphing etc.)
*Making Meaning Vocabulary (Tier 2 words BUT now we know we must have something to teach Tier 1 words that children are lacking)
*Blue Book & Yellow Book ( daily phonemic awareness lessons for K-1)
*Fountas & Pinnell Phonics
*Co-teaching ( ELL, special ed)

This spring we took two months to complete a book study using The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson.   Guided reading groups must take place in all classes.  This provides differentiation for all students.  This is also a part of our non-negotiable beliefs but we realized not everyone was on the "same page".  Improving this area of our teaching will make our core instruction stronger.

We have found an obvious missing piece for K-1 in regards to phonics.  Not that its not being taught, but we know we need a program which has a strong scope and sequence that can implemented each day in the classroom by the teacher and/or support staff.  This has led us to the search of an explicit phonics program.  We will hear more about SIPPS on our June 2nd PD day.

Personally, I feel we have not completely implemented co-teaching to its fullest potential.  I still believe there is much research behind this model to allow for differentiation in every classroom.  I hope we continue to place 2 certified teachers into every classroom's literacy block.  This will be difficult as we need to be formally trained in co-teaching and we have to have two parties willing to work together.   It takes a huge commitment in regards to planning time and knowing they are OUR students.   This will be an area I hope to address through optional PD next year.  

As you see we have done a lot!!   Every teacher has changed and/or adjusted in a SHORT amount of time!  We need to remember we have a GREAT administrative team who gave us the time and money we needed to collaborate, study and purchase the necessary curriculum materials.

To say it was hard is an understatement!  Think of all the PD days we have had learning strategies and research based practices, all of our book studies we completed, the many hours of team meetings, the summer workshops attended, the day visits to other school districts and the hours spent in your classroom redesigning and reorganizing at night and on weekends!!

 WOW- WOW-WOW.....now we know why we are all so tired and ready for a few days of down time in June.  You deserve it!

5.  Assessment for Learning
Also known as formative assessment, this is the ongoing process of collecting information on student learning based on defined learning goals, progresseions and success criteria.  Instructional changes should be based on this information and it should all be grounded in the Iowa Core standards.

We still have work to do in this area.  A few things we are doing...each grade level has been implementing assessments for the Iowa Core and they continue to revise, combine or delete the assessments.

The CCPensieve is a tool we are using to document the conferring time with a student and/or small groups.   We will continue to strengthen this practice and make it mandatory for all certified staff to use this tool.  This site is available for all learning areas but most teachers use it for reading and writing.

The Benchmark Assessment System is used to find a student's reading level and this has strengthened our knowledge about running records.  A running record is a formative assessment that is used for all readers.  We need to make sure all teachers are using this to make teaching decisions based on the student's strengths and needs.

 PLCs are in place and will be using data to make instructional decisions.  As our PLCs strengthen and grow, we will become more powerful with our data collecting and actually using our data to increase student success.

6.  Collaboration
Administrators, teachers, service providers and caretakers (e.g., parents, guardians) working together to ensure that each learner is making sufficient progress in mastering the knowledge ands skills outlined in the Iowa Core Standards.
This is the last block we will be addressing.

 At this time we (MTSS committee)  decided not to share the FAST data to the public until we (committee & classroom teachers)  felt we knew more about the data.  Again, our goal is to improve our core instruction before we try to give individual interventions for every student.  We know we can not intervene our way to 80 or 100% proficiency.  We want to have a solid core instructional program developed and delivered in every classroom.

We will continue to use the data results for the "big picture" of our instruction at each grade level. Teachers will need to learn more about the assessment and how to use the data as they look at their class scores and individual student score.

       Our first priority will continue to be strengthening our Tier 1 instruction (instruction give to all students) which is also called our Core Instruction (Iowa Core Standards).
The state keeps stating to MTSS schools that change and desired student growth will take years!!  We'll need to stay PROACTIVE as we continue to learn and refine our instructional practices.

We do have many great things happening ...THANK YOU!

Happy Reading- Mrs. Speake

Next steps for RtI or MTSS

We have begun our 3rd quarter of the school year which means we are half way through the year already!  For teachers this means seriously looking at students progress and trying to find additional ways to help their struggling learners.  I know I am getting asked about interventions on a daily basis so I thought I should try to explain what the RtI committee’s next step will be.  Iowa is now calling our RtI program MTSS. (Multi-tiered systems of support)

Who is on the committee (BLT=Building Leadership Team)?

Annalisa Miner was assigned as our External Coach for Hampton-Dumont. Jerry Buseman is the Instructional Leader for the school.  I was assigned the Internal Coach for Hampton-Dumont.  Dollie Dillon was assigned as the Data Coach, Wendy Wikert and Abby Meyer as the Content Specialist.  Jen Koenen is serving on the committe as an administrator and as a data coach if needed.  The roles are defined below.

This fall we have been trying to analyze our Tier 1 instruction which is teaching literacy to the whole class.  We begun using the FAST universal screener which is to show which students are “at-risk”   The goal is to have 80% of our students at grade level after Tier 1 instruction.  From initial analysis we know we want to add some kind of vocabulary program to help SES/ELL population.  This may be a universal intervention that we can add next school year.  This year we are piloting vocabulary in several classrooms using the Rule of 3 system.  This is a vocabulary program our ELL teachers found through a conference they had attended.  Vocabulary may be the key to advancing our readers that are plateauing due to language delays.

The Fall results of the FAST universal screener:

Kindergarten Students: 75% met the Fall Goal

1st Grade Students: 78.3% met the Fall Goal

2nd Grade Students: 58.62% met the Fall Goal

3rd Grade Students:  68.92% met the Fall Goal

Our MTSS committee will begin to make a plan for Tier 2 & 3 interventions.  Next week we will begin to administer the winter universal screener-FAST. 

Once the data is collected from FAST we will decide who are the Tier 2 students & Tier 3 students.  Teachers will create accounts and have access to the Iowa Tier site for South Side.  I will help teachers set up their accounts and how to use the site.  We will work on this during PLC time and then analyze the data at our literacy work days.

 The MTSS committee will produce a specific intervention list to be used for each main area of literacy.  (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency & Comprehension)  Each intervention will have a suggested duration of time to be given (such as 6-8 weeks) and intensity (daily/20 minutes, daily/10 minutes or etc.).  We will also discuss who will be administering the interventions etc.  We will also develop ways to inform parents.  We need to make sure they are aware of the learning need and how they can help.

This is the part that will take a lot of time!! The interventions must be researched based, evidence based and specific to the learning target.  What resources we will use?  How will we make sure we have the materials and resources needed? Who will be delivering the intervention and who will monitor and enter data, weekly or daily for every student receiving intervention. This will require patience as we try things.

For the MTSS approach to work in a school, the system must be well-organized, easy to access and EVERY individual will need to follow the decided approach for Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions.  We will need ALL certified staff to be teaching small groups.  We will ALL need to know how to progress monitor, assess and record the data through the IowaTier site.

As you can imagine we will need to think about sharing students among teachers, letting go of past practices if the practice no longer produces student improvement and finding PD time to learn how to effectively do what we need to do! 

Can you see how much work we have yet to do?  WOWZA!

In the meantime keep strengthening your whole group activities and small groups. Here are some reminders that you may already be doing.  

Strengthen your IDR time with conferring

  Use the CC Pensieve everyday and document who you are working with and what you are teaching them.  Use those CAFE goals.  Where do they struggle, how, what do they need to work?  Does the child know their goal and how to practice it?  If a child is a struggling reader (below grade level) then make every effort to meet with him/her daily (3-5 minute conferring conference).  Use the extra certified staff member during this IDR time.  If you do not use the CCPensieve- start now because conferring is a great Tier 2 intervention and the CAFE goals should be taught at every grade level.  

Guided Reading or Strategy Groups

This is actually considered a Tier 2 intervention.  The Next Step to Guided Reading is a great resource for small groups.  Our BAS leveling kits are also filled with resourceful text in regards to teaching small groups.  You can also plan to observe teachers teaching small groups.  I can also recommend DVDs to watch or look on Youtube. 

Daily 5 Rounds

 Make sure each round is productive for the student.  Fair or equal does not mean each child should get the same thing.  If a child is a struggling reader they need partner reading or read to self an additional time.  If they struggle with English they need listening to reading daily.  MAKE sure they are ready for independence before you send them off. Take advantage of those top kids...let them help the struggling readers during rounds through partner work or small groups.  Daily 5 is only strong if it is truly meeting learning needs.  

Volunteers

If you have many ELL students or struggling readers start looking for outside volunteers.  Email your church groups, mother’s clubs, classroom parents.  Find people that may be willing to come and listen to your readers during IDR time or choice time.  I would find many of my classroom volunteers through church.  If you need help with this, let me know and I can try to help “advertise”.

ENGAGEMENT- make learning fun, make students accountable, be intentional.

Use choral response, use motivational techniques, use brain breaks when needed. Create fun theme reading corners-dinosaurs, insects, fairy tales, legends, penguins, seasonal,  dogs, cats, favorite authors, poetry and on and on.  Think back to our literacy night...that was fun because of the environment, the books and the enthusiasm from adults.

FLUENCY Time- create a time to practice using poetry, reader’s theater, send home fluency packets.  Look back at the book The Fluent Reader and use Mr. Rasinski’s suggested activities with repeated reading, partner reading etc. 

Please know I am working hard at our intervention list. BUT I can’t do it all by myself.  If you have any interventions that you use and find successful please share with our committee.  If you would like to help create the list of interventions, we need your help so let me know!

ALSO remember to  SHARE, SHARE, SHARE what is working in your classrooms with your team.  We can learn so much from each other.

Happy Reading! Mrs. Speake

Searching for Answers

At South Side we just finished our literacy work days.  I love connecting with the teams and appreciate their dedication to literacy.  It seems we are working harder than ever and yet we still feel like something is missing.  

South Side became a pilot school for Iowa’s RtI plan called C4K. I hated hearing the news that we were going to be starting RtI as dictated by the state.  Mostly because I was fearful of what this meant for my job.  I knew the data from our Benchmark Assessment System showed we had far too many students still below grade level.  

      More meetings, more things to add to the teacher’s already FULL day, more paperwork, more data to analyze, more reading and research to do and the reality of focusing on what is NOT working.  

Much to my amazement, I have been pleased with the C4K plan so far.  In a nutshell, it is going SLOW!  I can handle slow.  The first and most important step is to analyze our universal instruction.  We have done many things over the past two years to make our literacy programs effective.  Luckily, we were ready for the next intensive step....implementing the Iowa Core Standards or the Common Core Standards as the rest of United States calls it.  As most of you are aware this has raised the bar for all learners.

Look at the many things we have already begun!

                                              

In Iowa’s C4K plan, schools must determine if their Tier 1 instruction is meeting the needs of the majority of students (80% or greater).  If the Tier 1 instruction is not working, then a school is faced with a high number of students that need intensive interventions.  A school who has 30-50% of students falling below grade level will NEVER be able to intervene their way out of the pit.  Resources such as staff, materials, and funding would never be able to sustain the level of interventions that would be needed.  To analyze our Tier I instruction we have given each student a universal screener or test.  This will give us a snapshot of the students who are at-risk or who are falling below the grade level benchmark.

What does this mean for South Side?  As we already knew from our Iowa Assessments, we have far too many students needing interventions. We would not be able to sustain the level of interventions that would be needed in regards to time, staff and resources available.  

Bottom line....we must change, improve and/or strengthen, our Tier 1 instruction.  What does this mean since we have already changed almost everything we are doing?!   I attended a conference entitled Maximizing Tier I (Wayne Callender) that presented several options that I feel our district needs to address.

Teachers must make their daily instruction the best it can be for ALL students.

Think about this......

Our house represents our classroom.   The fires could be the many learning struggles that we must address.  I think we would all agree we must prevent the fires from even beginning.  

Step 1 

Who are our students?  What is their background in regards to living environment, income status and language? 

Step 2

Data- assessment results

How are the various population of students doing academically?  Which group of students are at-risk and in what areas?

Step 3

Does our universal instruction and/or curriculum pieces fit our at-risk group of students?

If YES-  Then we ask....Are we delivering the curriculum in the correct format necessary?  

If NO- What curriculum pieces should we add or delete?  Have we prioritized? 

Three ways a school can help to narrow the gap for struggling learners are in the areas of..

           Active Engagement - Differentiation -Vocabulary

Here are just a few of the highlights that I shared with teams.  Hopefully it will spark an idea or give you a little hope on simple things we can change just by being aware of what our learners need most!

  

The following are videos by Anita Archer in regards to a few things to keep in mind as we strive to close the achievement gap.  Her work and ideas hooked me instantly. I am anxious to read more ideas in her book, Explicit Instruction.

Closing the Achievement Gap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfjOJQFusrc

Instructional Routines (struggling learners must have consistency every day)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzvPwvxnBrQ


Teaching Choral Response/Turn & Talk-Active Engagement 
 (A MUST WATCH....NO MORE HAND RAISING IN THE CLASSROOM)
http://explicitinstruction.org/?page_id=92  


Being A Relentless Teacher 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY5nYuE6IhY

With differentiation, co-teaching fits beautifully here!

Models of Co-teaching

One Teach, One Observe – one teacher has primary instructional responsibility while the other gathers specific observational information on students or the (instructing) teacher.  The key to this strategy is to focus on the observation – where and how the teacher is doing the instruction and observing specific behaviors.  

One Teach, One Assist is an extension of one teach, one observe. One teacher has primary instructional responsibility while the other assists students with their work, monitors behaviors, or corrects assignments, often lending a voice to students or groups who would hesitate to participate or add comments.

Station Teaching occurs when the Co-Teaching pair divides  the instructional content into parts –Each teacher instructs one of the groups, groups then rotate or spend a designated amount of time at each station – often independent stations will be used along with the teacher led stations.

In the Parallel Teaching approach, each teacher instructs half the students.  The two teachers are addressing the same instructional material and presenting the material using the same teaching strategies.  The greatest benefit to this method is the reduction of the student to teacher ratio.

The Supplemental Teaching strategy allows one teacher to work with students at their expected grade level, while the other teacher works with those students who need the information and/or materials re-taught, extended, or remediated.

Alternative or Differentiated Teaching strategies provide two different approaches to teaching the same information.  The learning outcome is the same for all students however the avenue for getting there is different.

Team Teaching incorporates well planned, team taught lessons, exhibiting an invisible flow of instruction with no prescribed division of authority. Using a team teaching strategy, both teachers are actively involved in the lesson. From a students’ perspective, there is no clearly defined leader – as both teachers share the instruction, are free to interject information, and available to assist students and answer questions.

BUT remember.....co-teaching is a teaching strategy.  It can be powerful if both parties are knowledgeable in the beliefs behind the techniques!!

The fun of going to a great conference is seeing the ideas already being implemented in many of the classrooms at South!  You will see classrooms using choral response now-THINK/GO !  We will also be searching out the vocabulary issue that we know could make a huge difference for our kids at South Side.  Hopefully we can find one that will meet the needs of our struggling learners!

Happy Reading & Have a blessed Thanksgiving- Mrs. Speake

Chapter 2 A Framework for Responsive Differentiated Teaching

Please note as I summarize the chapters, I quote much of Mary Howard’s text.  The italicized print are my own personal opinions concerning RtI and where we are in our journey of strengthening our literacy programs.  The sole purpose of the summaries are to benefit our literacy teachers as we begin the RtI journey this coming school year.

The most common framework for RtI is the three tiered approach.  The tier approach can offer a safety net for struggling teachers since ongoing assessment and referral to higher tiers may reveal where large percentages of students are not making growth. 

 I have thought a lot about this statement.  This is where I believe RtI truly becomes a system to strengthen our own teaching.  This is where the power of our PLCs must come into play!  We have to let our guard down, being honest with data collecting, and be willing to ask for help if needed.  All teachers have strategies and ideas that we know work well.  We have to start sharing this with each other.  

Tier 1 Universal or General Education (the core classroom) 

Flexible groupings and differentiation must be happening for all students in this tier.  

Tier 2 Targeted or Supplemental

Small groups of 5 meeting every day along with literacy instruction from tier 1

Tier 3 Strategies or Intensive

Individualized or groups of 3, suggesting at least 2 sessions daily for student

Howard clearly states that schools must remain flexible concerning students falling into the tiers.  Entering and exiting the tiers can vary for each student.  

Mary Howard uses a great acronym LEARN to help teachers develop seamless integration of instruction within and between tiers.

Link: the support provided at each tier is interrelated with other tiers

Engage:  Emphasize activities that make students active participants in their learning.

Motivation, authentic reading & writing activities (text at their level)

Accelerate: Intensify learning experiences at all tiers for accelerated progress

Reinforce:  Emphasize reinforcement and practice within and across every tier.  For example a child is working on visualization with the classroom teacher and with his reading group teacher. 

Negotiate:  Adjust the tiers to fit your school and staff.  What works for one school may not work for another.  Use your knowledge to develop your best plan that maximizes staff, time and seeing student success.  

Howard states there are three usual options to provide interventions: in-class, push-in and pull-out. 

 In-class interventions are usually the sole responsibility of the classroom teacher.  The other two models usually bring in additional support staff.  This is where schools tend to argue and then unnecessary time is wasted over who is “right”.  Howard believes either system can work depending on staff communication and collaboration and/or needs of the specific students needing the intervention.

Caution:  minimize the number of adults working with an individual child.  Too often children become confused because they receive conflicting instruction. 

Push-In Advantages	Pull-Out Advantages
Increases instructional continuity	Involves fewer distractions
Unobtrusive	Provides another perspective
Doesn't require moving to another location	Easier to schedule beyond classroom reading instruction
Ensures time is spent on instruction rather than travel	Provides the special attention of a support teacher
Provides a model for instruction	May increase student engagement
Encourages shared planning	Makes it easier to emphasize supplemental materials
Can be coordinated with the general curriculum
Push-In Disadvantages	Pull-Out Disadvantages
Requires buy-in by everyone involved	Requires additional space
Takes place in a crowded classroom	Requires travel time...lost instructional time
Is susceptible to distractions	Creates scheduling difficulties
May supplant tier 1 instruction	Makes collaboration challenging
Could view expert teachers as glorified aides	Creates the stigma of leaving the classroom
Emphasize grade-level material	Does not encourage shared ideas

Howard points out essential principles throughout the book.

Time is a Precious Commodity

What are your “nonnegotiables” or things you hold highest in importance?  Write them down and stick to them.  We have these but now how do we hold all teachers accountable?  PLCs, monthly literacy walk-throughs by admin?  

One Size Fits Few

We must agree that each child’s needs can’t be met in the same way.  Quality curriculum resources and materials are very effective in the hands of knowledgeable professionals who use them flexibly and they can serve as a safety net for less experienced teachers as they develop a deeper understanding of literacy.  Materials do not always meet the needs of struggling readers or advanced readers.  Differentiation, dynamic and varied grouping, and alternative resources are critical to the success of RtI and ultimately to the success of students.  The teacher is the key effective element not the manuals.  I love our Making Meaning with Vocabulary curriculum, Being a Writer & the Daily 5 management.   It gives us a great base for teaching important strategies and it helps create a safe and caring environment for all students.  I especially see the power when first year teachers can walk in and have a strong base to provide high quality learning opportunities in their classrooms.

Intensity is the Great Equalizer

Although the goal of school-wide assessment is not to label or segregate students, but to support instructional design and planning that allow us to accommodate individual needs.  Teachers must know who needs additional help or support.  We must not label kids instantly and allow them to fall into the "wait-to-fail" pit.

The Power of “Double Dipping”

The goal is to offer more-more time, more support and more opportunity.  Student at higher tiers continue to receive all tier 1 instruction.  Open professional communication between tiers is essential as ongoing dialogue reframes “yours vs. mine” as ours.  The question becomes: What can we do to ensure the success of our students?

This can be tough.  As a classroom teacher, the students were mine and I definitely know how very hard it is to change this thinking.  Recently, the needs of our struggling learners seem to be more severe and we have a large population of at-risk students.  I find this to be quite overwhelming even as an experienced teacher.  Luckily, I had a wonderful co-teaching experience and know first hand the power of two and the power of sharing OUR students.  We were able to co-teach reading, writing and my co-teacher provided additional math support.  I wish we could allow this to happen in every classroom.  Two teachers serving all students in all capacities.  

Transfer is the Glue

In all we do at every tier we must focus on the gradual release of responsibility (Pearson and Gallagher 1983).  Teacher modeling, shared and guided practice and independent application.  Unless this essential transfer is the end goal of teaching, our efforts will be wasted.  This is part of our nonnegotiable.  Do we really do each gradual release stage well?  I believe we are getting there.  

Data Collection 

Effective assessment occurs in daily contexts and supports future instructional decisions.  Formative assessments are continuous, ongoing and more process oriented.  As schools begin to use universal screenings they cannot lose sight of assessment strategies such as checklists, rubrics, anecdotal records, listening to readers, running records, 1-1 conferences, retelling, portfolios and literature responses.

I am excited to see the power of our Iowa Core work & the CAFE strategies as we implement these into our literacy curriculum.

The next articles will outline each tier. 

Happy Reading- Mrs. Speake

RTI from All Sides, Chapter 1

Chapter 1 The Paths Leading to the RTI Crossroads

 I realized as I was outlining key points...I got a little carried away and decided to post each chapter separately.  I will try to post articles more frequently!  But as I read chapters 1 & 2 ... it definitely eases my mind in regards to how we are going to implement RtI.  We have done all the necessary ground work in regards to best practices in literacy instruction.  We've realized the need for a strong literacy program in every classroom and we've realized the need for our classroom teachers to be the literacy experts and a one-size fits all curriculum is not acceptable for our kids.   Chapters 1 & 2 confirms that our hard work over the last two years was vital...we have set the stage for the detailed work to come this fall as we begin to provide support for the tier 2 & 3 students.

In this first chapter Howard summarizes the beginnings of RTI and why teachers must be fully aware of what it is and how it may truly benefit the students.  Unfortunately, it is yet another mandated program which teachers must know well and due to time constraints and pressure to raise test scores, schools are buying and beginning programs that claim to be RTI but in reality are far from it.     I can confidently say H-D has done the opposite.  We threw away the one-size-fits-all program and began from scratch defining what balanced literacy is and how to best address each area! Its been a struggle learning and changing so many things at once but we definitely know what we believe about literacy and the research behind this belief.  Well....we are getting there, right?! Its been hours of hard work and we all have different comfort levels but we are being proactive and learning and progressing.  Teaching is forever evolving and we should be constantly adding to our toolbox of strategies.

In 1995 Richard Allington and Sean Walmsley published the research findings No Quick Fix: Rethinking Literacy Programs in America's Elementary Schools.  The book cautioned against fragmentation of support services and advocated proven support models for struggling readers and the concept of a tiered approach to teaching and intervention.  It emphasized the need for an instructional framework, intervention, ongoing assessment and multi-method and multilevel instruction. Many educators believe their research was the the launching pad for RTI which officially was termed in 2007.  Isn't this interesting-Allington has know for years what should be happening in classrooms!  He constantly reminds us that the teacher is the most effective element -we must know what we are teaching and how best to do it!  I am not surprised that he continues to state, "RtI might be our last hope for struggling readers".  As we know our population has changed and we have many struggling readers and this is not going to change.

As teachers we may not know why RTI began or who truly coined the term, but we must know its framework and how it can strengthen our day-to-day teaching.  The goal of RTI is to strengthen student's literacy experiences every year in every setting with every teacher. The core literacy program must be strong and meet the needs of most students.  With this in place RtI will reduce the number of students "ending up" in special education drastically.   This is exactly what South Side has tried to stop...no more luck of the draw for who your child's teacher will be.  Everyone in our building is well equipped to teach literacy.

RTI legislation is to reduce the number of students who are referred for special education services and making literacy a schoolwide responsibility-every teacher is accountable for effective instruction for every child.  We are trying to get there- my kids, your kids or do we say OUR kids and do we really mean OUR kids??  Hopefully our PLCs will help us with this belief system.

Howard explicitly states that an effective RTI literacy framework should meet the following criteria:
(I was pleased to see we are exactly where we should be in regards to our framework or you could say our Tier 1)

• RTI should  maintain a healthy balance between explicit skill instruction, guided practice, and independent application  (this aligns with our belief in the Gradual Release Model)
• RTI cast differentiation as integral  (this is our belief in flexible groupings, targeting student needs-its not about fairness any longer, 1-1 conferring, Daily 5/CAFE/Making Meaning...all of this is exactly what we need for our literacy blocks!)
• RTI embeds learning in a wide range of authentic literacy experiences (our belief in modeling read-alouds, guided reading, IDR and peer collaboration-worksheets are not the norm, modeling daily writing)
• RTI emphasizes quality talk through daily sustained discussions (our belief in think alouds and that our students must be doing the hard thinking and discussing-our Making Meaning curriculum design)
• RTI emphasizes the thinking process behind successful comprehension (our belief in explicitly teaching skills but never emphasizing only one area... phonics, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, writing and using the important comprehension skills in math, science, social studies)
• RTI is rooted in an environment that reinforces and extends learning (our belief in our procedures, routines, print rich classrooms, just right text for the kids, high student engagement, classroom design)
• RTI give students a prominent role in their own learning  (our belief in formative assessment, student self assessments,rubrics, setting goals with the students and parents-we are getting better at this!  I am anxious to use the CAFE terminology for everyone, Daily 5 choice work would also fall into this area)
• RTI supports the reality that motivation and learning are inseparable (our belief in self-selected just right reading, daily authentic writing activities, teachers and students regularly tracking success and celebrating together! We need to do more student goal setting, publishing parties, reading parties..we must celebrate with parents too!)
• RTI emphasizes resources at appropriate levels of challenge  (teachers ensure that every student has books that they can read and want to read and these books are interesting-we need more books to truly do this in every classroom!!)

We have our literacy RTI framework in place!  Next summary Chapter 2.  Howard points out a basic cycle of how a differentiated teaching system can work in the classroom and how this relates to the 3 tier model.  She addresses the differences in "push in" and "pull out" programs.  It is not about where the intervention happens, what matters is the what is happening and is it meaningful reading and writing for the student?

Happy Reading! Mrs. Speake

P.S. So I read Ender's Game....not my favorite but definitely powerful.  I can definitely see how it appeals to the minds of our youth and their gaming world.  My son and I had a long discussion regarding the book- it was huge for him in his middle school years. That was probably at least 10 years ago and he could discuss every aspect of it today!  Of course he went on to read the entire series and I probably won't for now.  But once again it confirms just how powerful a book may be for someone.

Now I am reading ...The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon.  I am half-way through and I love it!  It is all told from an autistic boy's point of view.  It is funny, heartwarming, sad, mysterious and so very different.

RtI is coming...are we ready?

Response to Intervention is coming...ready or not !

I finally finished a text that "the sisters" highly recommended regarding RtI.
Mary Howard does a great job explaining the purpose of RtI and how it could be implemented.  She emphasizes the most important part of RtI...the classroom teacher and the quality of our instruction, our professional judgment and above all the individual child. Teachers must be proactive NOT reactive.  To successfully implement RtI you must know your subject matter and your children through carefully planned observations and assessments.  Howard emphasizes that as educators we must be efficient by teaching a strong, explicit, well-balanced core literacy program with a high concentration of daily reading and writing by the students.  Reading must also be integrated in every subject. Literacy instruction happens all day, every day!   ARE YOU HEARING THIS?????  This is exactly what we've been working on for the last two  years.
Our Balanced Literacy Non-Negotiable document which now includes the Daily Five and the CAFE menu, our assessments we are developing through the Iowa Core Standards, and our emphasis on daily reading and writing place us right where we need to be.  The sisters said over and over....don't add more but do your day more efficiently.  Limit the use of:  worksheets, literature craft activities, lecturing, rote activities that take away from real reading and writing.
 
 "We are at a crossroads.  We can either use response to intervention as an opportunity to rebuild a positive climate or allow it to devolve into something that takes us even farther from the reason most of us became teachers."

Howard uses a traffic light-red, yellow and green.  With every aspect of RtI she uses the stoplight to point out to educators....stop-beware, proceed with caution, or  move forward.  Her entire book is a guide for teachers to help us make good decisions for ourselves, our students and our schools.  The purpose and goals of RtI is a wonderful concept but when teachers only understand small pieces of it... RtI will be done ineffectively, it will be a burden in costs to districts and the intended successful results for children will not happen.

I am so proud of what we have done, where we seem to be going.  We have a group of young teachers that are passionate, highly professional and ready for this work.  I believe with our veteran teachers setting the example of hard work, POSITIVE attitudes, sharing excellent teaching experience and a team work philosophy our district will see great things for our students.  This is the main reason I am thrilled that my own daughter can be a part of this great staff and curriculum work.

With this being said...I definitely want to caution us.  Will we see student success rise and more readers becoming proficient?  I dislike using Iowa Assessments as our only indicator of success.  We must come up with a district wide system to make sure we are producing students that can read and write at their grade level with confidence and with fewer and fewer students "ending up" in special education or falling through the cracks of being at-risk.  With our large ELL population and our free & reduced lunch program numbers we have an additional urgency to find something that works!

Over the next few weeks...I will be summarizing the chapters from this book.   I hope it will provide insight and offer a better of understanding of RtI.  REMEMBER ....RtI is for the classroom teacher.   RtI is coming this fall K-6.  Mary Howard states over and over....this is a wonderful piece of legislation designed to truly help kids.  I will emphasize the chapters in bold.

Chapter 1 The Paths Leading to the RTI Crossroads
Chapter 2 RTI: A Framework for Responsive Differentiated Teaching
Chapter 3 Tier I Intervention: High-Qualilty Instruction fo All
Chapter 4 Tier 2 Interventions: Establishing a Coordinated continuum of Support
Chapter 5 Tier 3 Intervention: Intensifying the Instructional Support
Chapter 6 Broadening the Role of Assessment in an RTI mOdel
Chapter 7 Maximizing the Success Factors: Making RTI Work Schoolwide

I loved this quote from Mrs. Howard:
      "You- and you alone-are the ringmaster who will make a difference for readers who struggle.  What you do matters when you make every day matter for your students.  You add the talented human touch we are dangerously close to losing."

Happy Summer Reading- Mrs. Speake

PS  I just finished Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth.  Great reads especially if you enjoyed The Hunger Games.  Now on to Ender's Game before the movie comes out! :)

URGENT NOTICE Teachers: You must be expert Literacy Teachers!

Early childhood involves children birth through age 8.  Experts now know that the development of language and literacy skills begins at birth.  Children develop much of their capacity for learning in the first 3 years of life!  Early care and nurture have a decisive, long-lasting impact on how children develop their ability to learn.  This means parents have an important job to love and nurture their child!  Think of the impact pre-natal care and environment has on a baby.

If you are an educator this comes quite natural.  We love our children and provide for their every need....especially literacy.  It's the infant chewing on a board book, the toddler playing pat-a-cake and choosing the same book to be read over and over.  The babble we hear and speak back to, as if he/she is the next Einstein.  It's the conversations we have at the supper table, taking a walk or talking to him as we teach and expose him to the world.  I could go on and on, but I am sure you understand the activities we provide naturally to our children.  These experiences give our children a strong foundation to be successful in school.

Researchers now know beyond a doubt that there are prime times for acquiring skills and knowledge.  The brain has a remarkable capacity to change but TIMING is crucial.  Many educators call this "windows of opportunity".   Unfortunately we cannot live with the parents of our future students to ensure the best pre-natal care or loving environment.  Can you imagine the reality for some children in the United States today?

 Preschool and kindergarten programs must be committed to creating literacy rich environments that help children develop their reading and writing skills.  The students we serve today come from extremely diverse backgrounds.  A child with delays in language development, vocabulary knowledge and lack of literacy experiences need highly-qualified teachers who can make a difference and help the child catch up to his peers.  

What can schools do to help our early childhood educators?   As Richard Allington stated over and over in his RTI workshop.....we must invest in our youngest students and do so with a sense of urgency.  We must make sure each early childhood teacher receives the necessary Professional Development to teach these young readers and writers.  These teachers must be literacy experts as literacy is the anchor to all else we offer in schools.  A child who leaves first grade reading at below grade level is 4x more likely to drop out of high school.  

Richard Allington believes through a simple assessment (letter naming) schools can target our struggling learners at the beginning of the kindergarten year.  These students targeted can receive interventions during the kindergarten and first grade year to raise their reading proficiency and to maintain their reading levels.  If a school waits until first or second grade to intervene, it is usually too late and the school then sees a high percentage of special education students by upper elementary.  In other words, we can let young children fall into a pit of learning failures by the time they are age 7.  

RTI needs to begin with our teachers and then our youngest learners.  To make an impact on our youngest learners we (preschool-3rd grade teachers) must be literacy experts.  Richard Allington  recommends the work of Professor Anne McGill-Franzen (University of Tennessee) in her book Kindergarten Literacy: Matching Assessment and Instruction in Kindergarten.  Her research is highly rated by the U.S. Department of Education.    Teachers were given about three days of PD work before the school year followed by about three hours a month of PD and received some in-class support.  These teachers became experts in teaching literacy.  The difference in performance for these teacher's students were dramatic.  Allington also recommends checking out the Children's Literacy Initiative.  Their PD programs have made dramatic affects on many low-income urban schools.  (Responding to RTI, Education Week, April 2010)

I know as I continue to learn and become informed about best literacy practices, I can hardly wait to get back into the classroom and do a better job teaching children to read and write!

 As an educator I guess I am sending a call out....how will your team through our new PLC model become better literacy teachers? You are all experts in one area or another.  Its time we start sharing our expertise loudly and confidently.  We have to start looking at our grade level students as "our" students.  How can WE make sure they are all successful?  How can WE help one another as educators?  We are on the right track as we continue to strengthen our core program using the workshop model and getting rid of a "one-size fits all" curriculum.

  Whether you chose this path or not.....teachers must be literacy teachers first and foremost!  We CANNOT keep doing what we have been doing in the past and expect different results....that is the definition of INSANITY.    Let's STOP the insanity.  :)

Happy Reading-Mrs. Speake

Response to Intervention

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of attending Richard Allington's workshop, Intervention for Struggling Readers: What Really Matters, Response to Intervention.

It was six hours of listening to Mr. Allington share his research and the history of RTI.  His knowledge and wisdom regarding struggling readers is impressive to say the least.  I hope to summarize a few highlights that lead you to want to learn more and join me as we develop a great RTI system for our PreK -5 students at H-D.

RTI derives from the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the law that provides the federal rules for special education.  The intent of RTI is to reduce (by 70%) the number of students who are classified as students with learning disabilities.  Underlying the RTI initiative is the research on early intervention that suggest that many struggling early readers can be caught up to grade level and that currently too many of these students are simply classified as students with learning disabilities.  Too many are classified without ever participating in any intensive EARLY intervention.  (Allington, 2009)

Allington made it crystal clear that we must have the following in place to help our readers:

• match text to readers
• dramatically expand reading activity  (the lower the reader the more time they need for IDR)
• use very small group teaching, 1:1 conferring or tutoring by expert teachers (all teachers should be expert reading teachers through PD)
• intervention must coordinate and mirror the classroom curriculum 
• by the 2nd day of Kindergarten any student who does not know the letter names should be grouped to need extra support in the classroom  (K student should know all letter names and sounds by Halloween!!)
• expert teachers provide all instruction (DO NOT make associates responsible for teaching)
• focus on meaning and meta-cognition before all other skills 
• science and social studies text should be taught by using rich literature at the student's reading level (No basals!)

Every child should have these six literacy experiences every day: 

• Every child reads something he or she chooses
• Every child reads accurately or at their independent level of 98% or higher
• Every child reads something he or she understands.
• Every child writes about something personally meaningful.
• Every child talks with peers about reading and writing.
• Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud.

All classrooms should eliminate virtually all worksheets/workbooks and use the money to expand classroom libraries! 
All social studies and science teaching should be through texts at the student's level NOT through Basals!

RTI is based on Tiers of Reading Instruction
The federal law does not mention how many tiers an intervention might include.  The experts say response to intervention should have several levels of intensity, with instruction provided based on students' individual needs.  Currently, this three tiered model is being popularized.
      Tier 1:  Research-based daily classroom reading instruction  (90-120 minutes daily)
      Tier 2:  Targeted very small group interventions
      Tier 3:  Intensive, individualized tutorial intervention

Allington suggest a three tier approach is not enough.  His RTI model includes five tiers with the last tier being special education.  

My next step is to read and study Allington's book, What really Matters in Response to Intervention.  I am hopeful it has the answers to start formalizing our RTI plan.  I believe beyond a doubt, we are on the right path!  

We have implemented 90 minute literacy blocks focusing on comprehension and meaning through our core curriculum.  This curriculum we have chosen (Making Meaning with Vocabulary) is based on two important features:  daily independent reading and explicitly teaching comprehension skills.  The third important feature is the social skill piece. 

Richard Allington also recommends every classroom teacher begin this RTI journey by reading a short book.....

"I think one of the most powerful resources is a skinny little book called Choice Wordsby Peter Johnston. I think it’s all of 68 pages long, and the subtitle is How Our Language Affects Children’s Learning. It’s simply a careful and close look at how effective teachers talk to their children and how less effective teachers talk to their children. How do you foster a child’s sense of agency and identity? Think about it: By the end of 1st grade, most struggling readers already know they’re terrible at reading and they think they’re the problem. And at that point they start working very hard on any number of schemes to try to hide the fact that they can’t read or aren’t very good at it. And not surprisingly, they don’t do much reading independently. This is a cycle that teachers need to and can break."  (Education Week, Vol. 03, Issue 02, Page 20)

If you are interested in learning more about RTI, please read Allington's book or his other recommended reading, Choice Words.  

My next post will address early intervention and the importance of our PreSchool and Kindergarten literacy programs.  Early intervention is vital to raising our test scores in regards to reading proficiencies.  As I have mentioned many times, teaching reading is like building a house.  The foundation must be laid well!  

Happy Reading- Mrs. Speake