The Road Ahead… Bringing It All Together

Professional Learning Communities and Response to Intervention The mission of our district’s PLC embedded RtI model is to: --Assure high levels of learning for ALL students…Truly, Educate… Every Child, Every Day. The PLC embedded RtI model is NOT: --A short term fix for low achievement --A redesign of special education

Starting With The End In Mind PLCs/RtI will help PSD accomplish its goals: 1. 3 rd grade students will attain proficiency in reading 2. All students will achieve at least one year of growth in reading, writing and math annually 3. All students will be post-secondary ready 4. Successful transitions for all students Poudre School District’s Four Transitional Goals

Our Dilemma: “Our traditional U.S. school system was not designed to ensure that all students learn at high levels.” (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Karhanek, 2004)

Evidence of a Need for Change: Dropouts on average earn $12,000 per year and are 50% less likely to have a pension plan or health insurance. Rouse/Muenning, 2005: 90 million U.S. adults, nearly 1 out of 2, are functionally illiterate. Larry Roberts, Illiteracy on the Rise in America 43% of people with the lowest literacy skills live below the poverty line. Larry Roberts, Illiteracy on the Rise in America 75% of those claiming welfare are functionally illiterate.

Evidence of a Need for Change: 85% of juvenile offenders have reading problems. Only 57% of youth with disabilities graduated from high school in the school year. 82% of U.S. prison inmates are dropouts.  Passage of No Child Left Behind and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act 2004 to address these and other achievement gap issues.

Thankfully Research is Guiding Us… “Throughout our ten-year study, whenever we found an effective school or an effective department within a school, without exception that school or department has been a part of a collaborative professional learning community.” (McLaughlin and Talbert, 2001)

Professional Learning Communities

3 ‘Big Ideas’ of Being a PLC 1. Focus on Learning 2. Collaborative Culture 3. Focus on Results

Focus on Learning To have a mission of learning for all… - believe all students can learn at high levels - take responsibility to ensure that all students learn (academics and social/emotional competence)

Collaborative Culture In a Professional Learning Community, collaborative teams focus on 4 key questions… 1. What do we expect students to learn? 2. How will we know when they have learned it? 3. How will we respond when they don’t? 4. What do we do if they already know it?

Focus on Results “One of the most powerful strategies for making progress on the road to a PLC is ensuring every collaborative team utilizes frequent, timely formative assessments.” (DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, and Karhanek, 2004)

Response to Intervention

How Does RtI Help Us to Focus on Results?  Eliminates the “wait to fail” model and provides an early identification and intervention process  Decreases labels that create barriers to learning  Lowers proportion of minority students misidentified as needing special education  Focus is on learning with time and level of support as variables

Our education system has grown up through a process of “disjointed incrementalism.” (Reynolds, 1988) K-12 Education SPED Migrant ELL At-Risk Title I Gifted If this current form of educational practice were effective, our results would be better! Adapted from Horner, PBIS.org, 2008

Define Problem Develop Plan Implement Data-Based Decision Making Proposed Solution: Provide interventions through PLC embedded RtI, using a conventional problem solving model Educational redesign is necessary for schools to be successful. It is also hard work! It doesn’t happen overnight. Adapted from Horner, PBIS.org, 2008

Data Drives Student Learning Data

Keys to Implementing RtI RtI/PLC is a framework: 1.Students receive high quality, research-based instruction by qualified staff in their general education setting. 2.School staff conduct universal screenings in academic areas. 3.School staff implement specific, research-based interventions to address the student’s academic and or behavioral difficulties. (Note: Positive Behavior Support (PBS) IS RtI—for behavior).

Keys to Implementing RtI, contd. 4. Frequent progress monitoring of student performance occurs. 5.School staff use progress monitoring data to determine interventions’ effectiveness and needed modifications. 6. Systematic assessment of the fidelity or integrity with which instruction and interventions are implemented.

Importance of the Learning Environment in PLC Embedded RtI  The RtI implementation manual from the Colorado Department of Education clearly states that a safe and positive learning environment is the basic foundation on which academic instruction occurs.  To accurately assess a student’s response to academic and/or behavioral interventions, the student’s social & learning environment must be taken into consideration!

Key Components of a Positive Learning Environment (from CDE 2008)  Specific, positively stated behavioral expectations are clearly defined and taught directly  Appropriate behaviors are positively acknowledged with high frequency  Behavioral errors are monitored and corrected, using an instructional approach  Teachers engage in a collaborative problem solving process, using data to make decisions about academic and behavior intervention  Families are included in a culturally sensitive, solution- focused approach to student support

Intervention Levels Fluid, multi tiered model—students move up and down between tiers of intervention as needed, with the need documented by data Each tier includes increasing levels of intensity of interventions

Academic SystemsBehavioral Systems 1-5% 5-10% 80-90% Tertiary Interventions Individual Students Assessment-based High Intensity Tertiary Interventions Individual Students Assessment-based Intense, durable procedures Secondary Interventions Some students (at-risk) High efficiency Rapid response Small Group Interventions Some Individualizing Secondary Interventions Some students (at-risk) High efficiency Rapid response Small Group Interventions Some Individualizing Universal Interventions All students Preventive, proactive Universal Interventions All settings, all students Preventive, proactive School-Wide Systems for Student Success: A Response to Intervention Model

Another way to look at it…

Tier 1: Universal/Core Instruction Expectation: % of the students are successful with general education curriculum and instruction -core instruction: research-based, implemented with fidelity, rigorous, relevant, and standards driven  Interventions: -differentiated instructional practices  Assessment: -universal screenings and diagnostic assessments as needed  Roles and Responsibilities -primarily the general education teacher, school wide system analyzes data and monitors fidelity of core instruction

Tier 2: Targeted Intervention Expectation: -5-15% of students may be at-risk and in need of targeted interventions  Interventions: -research-based intervention, aligned with core curriculum and instruction  Assessment: -progress monitoring of students response to specific intervention  Roles and Responsibilities -general education teacher with support of other staff as determined by school wide PLC/RtI system

Tier 3: Intensive Intervention Expectation: -1-5% of students may be at significant risk and in need of intensive interventions  Interventions: -research-based intervention  Assessment: -frequent progress monitoring of student response to intervention  Roles and Responsibilities -general education teacher with support of other staff as determined by school wide PLC/RtI system

“ It is a multiyear journey of discovery that can shape the strengths of your school system into an explosion of student success!” (Howell, Patton, and Deiotte, 2008)