Ingham ISD Early Years MTSS Project Corrie Mervyn Early Childhood Supervisor

Overview Of The Session 4 year implementation journey o Structure o Training o Materials o Challenges o Positive Outcomes o Lessons Learned Questions

Ingham ISD – Who We Are

Scope of IISD MTSS Initiative 12 local districts, 2 public school academies 90 buildings and 35 preschool classrooms Over 800 staff/administrators

Why Preschool? “A compelling body of evidence affirms that early intervention is key to children’s success representing best practice in early child development and education. Thus, to place children on a trajectory for success, RTI is best- positioned to begin at the pre-k level.” Coleman, Roth, & West, (2009), pg. 6

What we know: Pre-kindergarteners who attend programs that are aligned with the educational goals of early elementary schools: o Are more prepared to start Kindergarten o Have better developed cognitive, academic, social and emotional skills o Are more likely to graduate high school and be productive citizens o Are less likely to have children in their teen years or become entangled in the criminal justice system Foundation for Child Development, 2005

Early Years MTSS Goals and Strategies Increase alignment and continuity between early learning settings and elementary school o Improve assessment practices o Align curriculum standards, assessment and instructional practices using the MTSS framework o Increase use of evidence-based interventions to support literacy and social-emotional development

Early Years MTSS Goals and Strategies Increase school readiness and supported transitions to kindergarten for all students o Improve quality in early childhood settings o Facilitate successful movement for children and families from early childhood to kindergarten o Equip families to support their child’s development (both academic and social- emotional)

Early Years MTSS Support Structure

How We Began Ingham ISD received an Early Years ReImagine grant from the Early Childhood Investment Corporation Partnered with the University of North Carolina-Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center to conceptualize an Early Childhood RtI model Partnered with Capital Area Community Services Head Start who were awarded a Mentor Coaching Grant to employ early childhood coaches to provide job- embedded support for implementation of RtI practices in the classroom Ran a pilot with 20 preschool classrooms including representation from Head Start, Great Start Readiness Program, Tuition, Montessori, and Early Childhood Special Education (Sites were chosen on a voluntary basis by districts)

Pilot Training was focused on changing adult practice to better meet the needs of students o MTSS Framework and Early Childhood MTSS Research o Universal screening o Student intervention grouping o Dialogic Reading Preschool classrooms used the M CLASS universal screener for early literacy with children Preschool classrooms implemented research based early literacy strategies with whole group and small group instruction Classrooms worked with coaches to identify goals to increase the quality of each classroom environment around adult-child interactions and early literacy

Pilot Expansion Ended working relationship with UNC Frank Porter Graham o Designed and developed a training schedule for participants(admin, classroom teacher and paraprofessionals) o Training focused on use of instructional strategies and assessment data to improve student outcomes Ingham ISD supported the expansion of the project using general funds along with the remainder of the Mentor/Coaching grant from CACS Head Start A second cohort of 20 preschool classrooms were added in a voluntary process Engaged both cohorts in PBIS work Expanded emergent literacy work with Cohort 1 focusing on core instruction Districts were to form a leadership team and IISD held ISD wide leadership team meetings

PBIS Implementation Engaged classrooms in the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) Pyramid Model focusing on Tier 1 practices-High Quality Supportive Environments and Nurturing and Responsive Relationships Used CSEFEL’s Inventory of Practices Self Assessment Survey and created a PBIS Walk-through tool to support Implementation Fidelity

Emergent Literacy Instruction Implementation Trained teachers in the administration of The Preschool Early Literacy Inventory (PELI) universal screening tool, authored by Dynamic Measurement Group (DMG) Equipped leadership teams to ensure fidelity of the administration of the PELI using a Reliability Checklist, created by DMG Created data review days to lead teachers in analyzing PELI student data to inform instruction and intervention using research based strategies in the areas of emergent literacy

Project Continuation New tools had emerged Maintained classrooms in project Combined cohorts 1 and 2 and provided literacy and behavior training to all classrooms Held leadership team meetings at each site instead of at a ISD level Created an adapted version of the Building Self Assessment (BSA) to use with leadership teams to measure program implementation fidelity Provided specific training for teaching assistants and paraprofessionals to “catch up” Held combined literacy and behavior data review days using a created data review day guide

Continuing PBIS Implementation Work In Measure implementation fidelity of program wide PBIS using the Program Wide Evaluation Tool, PreSET Record student behavior incident reports using the Behavior Incident Recording System (BIRS) Guide teachers in interpreting and analyzing BIRS data to provide students with targeted and intensive social emotional interventions Provided tier 2 and tier 3 behavior training

Continuing Emergent Literacy Instruction Implementation Work In Emergent Literacy training for all programs Universal screening using the PELI Data driven intentional teaching methods that include embedded and explicit instruction and intervention through data review process

Early Childhood Changing Landscape The Great Start to Quality o All programs adopting curriculum and assessment tools o Program Quality Assessment (PQA) Data Review Day practices circled back around to include alignment with TS Gold and PQA

Project Participation Routine training on the PELI and BIRS EY MTSS Bootcamp training for new staff to existing classrooms New implementation structure

Challenges Lack of structure in core curriculum Time of day centers operate Number of staff in each room High Staff turn over rate Varying structure of early childhood programs across districts Resources Being on the edge of research

Positive Outcomes Internal connection of K-12 and Early Childhood within ISD Alignment of early childhood classrooms located within a program Increased quality and focus on child outcomes in classrooms Data based decision making in preschool Team meetings occurring regularly-leadership forming out of staff Increased alignment with K-2 staff

Lessons Learned Start with Consensus and work with Program Leadership team prior to moving to classrooms o District and Preschool program administration o Understand the make up Train all program staff Customization Embed core curriculum, PQA and ECSOQ- PK

Resources Corrie Mervyn (517)

Questions