RtI Coordination to Support Coaching Kim St. Martin November 3,

Intended Outcomes for the Session Participants will gain understanding of of how planning for coaching support in “exploration” and “installation” will be different depending on the size of the local district Participants will be provided with strategies for supporting coaches in developing their technical and adaptive skills related to RtI implementation

Staff competency to support students/families with the selected practices Successful Student/Family Outcomes Program/Initiative (set of practices implemented with fidelity) How: What: Why: Adapted from Fixsen & Blase, 2008 Ability to provide direction/vision of process Organizational capacity to support staff in implementing practices with fidelity

The RtI Coordinator’s role includes engaging in the selection and development of local coaching capacity. The RtI Coordinator ensures ongoing training and support to coaches. “on-going training” “support to coaches” unpacking

Selection, selection, selection! “Selection” means hiring new staff and/or choosing from existing staff to fill coaching responsibilities. Existing staff might not have all of prior knowledge and experience but training and supporting them can compensate

Recall the Flavors

Flavors 1.Large urban districts (e.g. Detroit, Grand Rapids) 2.Stand alone districts: a.Large districts with 5,000-10,000 students b.Mid-sized districts with 2,000-4,000 3.Small districts/charter school academies

ISD RtI Coordinators and Liaisons: –Think about the districts within your county/region. –Group the districts by the four flavors shown on the previous slide (large urban, large, mid-size, small and charter schools). –Discuss how coaching support is determined for the districts (e.g. one size fits all). District RtI Coordinators and Liaisons: –What flavor is your district? –How is coaching support for RtI provided? (e.g. external coaching from ISD, ISD ancillary staff)? Activity

Common Misunderstanding All districts regardless of their size and internal capacity are given the same flavor of support –One ISD consultant is assigned to each of the buildings across the district –District staff from large districts are considered “internal coaches” but majority of the work and direction is coming from the external ISD coach

For those districts who have homegrown coaching capabilities, a “one size fits all” approach inadvertently creates dependency NOT capacity

District (Large) Building Large District Support ISD support to build local capacity to support RtI implementation (training capacity, coaching capacity, developing the capacity for a RtI Coordinator). Remember, a large district has more staff availability to use “homegrown” people to lead implementation ISD RtI Coordinator discusses possibilities for developing district coaching capacity with district RtI Coordinator and district Liaison Groups of people to possibly select from: School Psychologists Behavior Interventionists Reading Specialists Title I Teachers Thoughtful selection occurs and coaching development plan is created

Selection Considerations Aligned with the research base for both behavior and reading How do you know if people are NOT aligned? –“DIBELS and AIMSweb do not tell us anything about a student’s true reading ability” –“Reading instruction should consist of more independent reading” –“Look at the first sound of the word…do not sound out the whole word.” –“Skip over the word and use the sentences around the word as context to determine the unknown word.”

Selection Considerations How do you know if people are NOT aligned (continued)? –“Kids should just listen to the adults in the building the way we did when we were in school” –“We need to make kids behave” –“Kids that are the worst behaved should not have individual plans with incentives for them to behave. What kind of message is that sending to the other students?

District (Med) Building Mid-Size District Support There may be a limited number homegrown staff who can support coaching functions (Reading Interventionists, Behavior Interventionists) but training support may need to be directly provided by the ISD staff. If training capacity can be developed, it would probably be a small number. ISD RtI Coordinator discusses possibilities for developing district coaching capacity with district RtI Coordinator (who probably has other roles within the district) and district Liaison. Groups to possibly select from: School Psychologist(s) Behavior Interventionist(s), social worker(s) Reading Specialist(s) Title I Teacher(s) Thoughtful selection occurs and coaching development plan is created.

Layered Responsibilities Mid-sized districts typically have people who wear multiple hats Layering coaching responsibilities on existing responsibilities will reduce the quantity and quality of coaching support necessary for implementation Revising job descriptions and re- distributing responsibilities will be necessary

Stages of ImplementationFocusStageDescription Exploration/Ado ption Decision regarding commitment to adopting the program/practices and supporting successful implementation. InstallationSet up infrastructure so that successful implementation can take place and be supported. Establish team and data systems, conduct audit, develop plan. Initial Implementation Try out the practices, work out details, learn and improve before expanding to other contexts. ElaborationExpand the program/practices to other locations, individuals, times- adjust from learning in initial implementation. Continuous Improvement/R egeneration Make it easier, more efficient. Embed within current practices. Work to do it right! Work to do it better! Should we do it! Is district wide MTSS the right thing to do, then the question is can we do it the right way? If the answer to that question is “yes” then create space for coaches to receive training. Develop a feedback loop to ensure job responsibilities that have been removed are actually removed and existing responsibilities are manageable

Cabinet Implementation Planning Team Vision Policy Providing for implementation supports (coaching, training, evaluation) Barrier busting Create materials Collect and summarize data Identify barriers to implementation Coordination Liaison RtI Coordinator Remember why these groups are important….

Importance of Groups Revising existing job descriptions, re- distributing job responsibilities, adding staff (or increasing allocated FTE) are cabinet- level decisions The Implementation Team is responsible for identifying barriers impeding implementation efforts for the stages of implementation The Liaison is the conduit between the Cabinet and Implementation Tea m

Questions for Consideration 1.Are staff you are selecting resistant? (If so, how do you know? If not, how do you know?) 2.What existing job responsibilities will be compromised if coaching time is added? 3.What job responsibilities will need to be removed and re-distributed to allow for coaching time?

District (Small) Building Small District Support One elementary and a middle/high school. Principal may also be curriculum director and limited staff availability to provide coaching and especially training support. ISD support would be to assign external coaches and to provide training of RtI practices. ISD RtI Coordinator and ISD Liaison discuss how ISD consultants and/or ancillary staff can provide training and coaching support. The support being provided is all external. The people providing the support have additional job responsibilities related to districts, providing workshops, etc. Peer to peer coaching is utilized with the use of “practice profiles” to assist staff in determining whether RtI practices and assessments fall into three categories: “ideal implementation,” “acceptable variation,” and “unacceptable variation.” The external coach assists in reviewing information collected from practice profiles to determine next steps and to adjust the level of support.

ISD RtI Coordinators and Liaisons: –Identify your coaches who are providing RtI implementation support. Are they aligned with the work? – How many buildings within districts are they supporting? Is the support sufficient? –What existing job responsibilities might be impeding their ability to provide adequate coaching? Activity

District RtI Coordinators and Liaisons: –Identify your coaches who are currently supporting RtI. –Are they ISD external coaches? Consultants or ancillary staff (psychologists, social workers, speech pathologists)? –If you have homegrown coaches, are they aligned to the work? How do you know? –Identify additional job responsibilities held by those people providing coaching support. –How will you know if the responsibilities are impeding the quantity and quality of coaching support? Activity

RtI Coordinator’s Role in Supporting Coaching

A critical feature of the RtI Coordinator’s job is deepening the knowledge of coaches in the technical aspects of RtI and in the adaptive skills necessary to move the team forward.

Stages of ImplementationFocusStageDescription Exploration/Ado ption Decision regarding commitment to adopting the program/practices and supporting successful implementation. InstallationSet up infrastructure so that successful implementation can take place and be supported. Establish team and data systems, conduct audit, develop plan. Initial Implementation Try out the practices, work out details, learn and improve before expanding to other contexts. ElaborationExpand the program/practices to other locations, individuals, times- adjust from learning in initial implementation. Continuous Improvement/R egeneration Make it easier, more efficient. Embed within current practices. Work to do it right! Work to do it better! Should we do it!

Building Competency and Capacity The amount of skill building the RtI Coordinator will need to do depends on the skill set and experience of the coach –Homegrown capacity may cause you to spend more time in installation building background knowledge for the research behind the practices and data systems –Spending more time is fine and is more sustainable in the end!

Building Competency and Capacity If your external coaches are ISD level consultants who already provide training in RtI data, systems, and practices then the amount of time needed for training may be significantly less –What does training and support look like for them? Orienting to content, orienting to activities teams will engage in, discussion around potential barriers, balancing coaching time with other responsibilities

Strategies for Supporting Coaches Schedule monthly coaching meetings to focus on the following: –Supporting buildings through the stages of implementation –Discussion around building systems to support the continuum of learners in an integrated RtI model –Data-analysis (process and outcome) within the context of the problem-solving process

Strategies for Supporting Coaches –When staff/team competency needs to be built in certain practices, coaches need to know who to access and link to for that support –Organizing the tasks and activities teams are engaged in during the stages of implementation –Problem-solving around barriers impeding effective implementation –Adaptive coaching skills (managing resistance, ensuring all voices are heard, etc.)

Other Coordinator Supports Observations about adaptive and technical skills utilized during leadership team meetings and/or leadership team- based core trainings (observation, question, possible strategy) –“I noticed during the training or meeting you ____ to keep the team focused on the tasks at hand. –“I noticed some of the team’s conversation about needs seemed contrary to the process and outcome data

Other Coordinator Supports –Observation: “I noticed some of the team’s conversation about needs seemed contrary to the process and outcome data they should have been looking at (e.g. “schoolwide PBIS is not an issue”). –Question: “Were you feeling uncomfortable focusing the team on the data by asking some critical questions that would be contrary to their perceived needs?” –Possible Strategy: “This strategy has been effective in the past: _____. I can help you put it in place at your next meeting/training.”

ISD RtI Coordinators and Liaisons: –Identify how support is currently provided to the individuals providing RtI coaching support. –Based on the suggestions provided, identify two ways support for coaches can be improved. –What role does the RtI Coordinator have in designing coaching support and providing that support to coaches? (If the answer is “limited or no role” how can that change? Activity

District RtI Coordinators and Liaisons: –Do you know who your ISD RtI Coordinator is? –How can the district RtI Coordinator collaborate with him/her to design a coaching support structure that emphasizes building internal coaching capacity? –As the district RtI Coordinator, how comfortable do you feel providing the suggested supports? –Identify three needs for strengthening your technical and adaptive knowledge of RtI implementation. Activity

Common Questions “What if I am realizing I am not the most qualified person to be the RtI Coordinator?” –You don’t have to be an expert but you do have to be willing to devote time to honing your skills to perform the functions of a RtI Coordinator. If you don’t want to do that or feel you might not be the right person, speak to your supervisor. Mutual selection is critical!

Common Questions “What level of knowledge do I need to have in order to be an effective RtI Coordinator” –You need a lot of knowledge that will require you to stay current on research relative to RtI data, systems, and practices –You are the first “go-to person” who the coaches will look to for assistance. If they perceive you as not knowledgeable in the INTEGRATED MODEL then they will not seek out your support

Common Questions “I don’t have cabinet level support and an Implementation Team like you have described to allocate resources and remove implementation barriers. What can I do tomorrow?” –Begin the conversation about how the necessary infrastructures need to be in place to support implementation.

Common Questions “Are all the coaching supports you suggested necessary or are you tightly wound?” –Yes, they are necessary and no I am not tightly wound. I have heard people say many times, “We have tried RtI and it didn’t work!” RtI can work and does work but it can also fall victim to the same misuse and abandonment as many other educational initiatives that have plagued our careers. Give it a try…what do you have to lose?

The SB-CEU code for the RtI Coordination: Supporting Coaching session is ___________ Please visit the survey station in the lobby during lunch, breaks, or after the last conference session.

Thank You! Kim St. Martin MiBLSi Assistant Director, Programming