A Race to the Top Initiative NC Department of Public Instruction Educator Effectiveness Division

What is the Governor’s Teacher Network? A talented group of 450 outstanding teachers were selected from 1400 applicants for Teachers identify instructional needs, create innovative digital instructional resources and design professional development to support key Race to the Top initiatives in Home Base. Network Teachers continue their current educator roles in their schools and districts and serve in one of two pathways.

What is the Governor’s Teacher Network? Pathway 1 Teachers: Professional Development Identify problems of practice around instructional needs and conduct action research projects in their schools. Investigate and analyze the effectiveness of strategies and practices on student learning. Create professional development sessions and materials to be posted in Schoolnet and the Professional Development System in Home Base.

What is the Governor’s Teacher Network? Pathway 2 Teachers : Instructional Resources –Create instructional sequences for Home Base aligned to the NC Standard Course of Study (unit plans, lesson plans, assessment components). –Produce resources available to all NC teachers through Schoolnet in Home Base.

Action Research Systematic inquiry conducted by teachers and other educators to find solutions for critical, challenging, relevant issues in their classrooms and schools. Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014

What is Action Research? Classroom and school research conducted by teachers to: Positively impact student outcomes Identify and promote effective instructional practices Create opportunities for teachers to become reflective practitioners Share research results with other educators Mills, Geoffrey E, Action Research: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher, 2014

From Tier I to Referral: Identifying Students With Learning Disabilities in the Elementary Classroom Presenter: Jane Green District: Granville School: West Oxford Elementary

Terminology IDEIA RtI SST/SAT MTSS Discrepancy

Title I school – 582 students 88% free and reduced lunch We serve over 300 students for breakfast One of the lowest performing elementary schools in the county Teacher turnover rate of 17% Background Information

EOG data NC Report Card: D Reading F Math EOG’s Reading Math Level 144.2%45.3% Level 222.5%27.0% Level 310.5% 8.6% Level %15.7%

Scope of Work What is the problem of practice addressed? Based in exit interviews and observations Why is this important? Child Find, low performing school Who would benefit from these resources? All students How will this benefit students and teachers? Early intervention, early identification

Research Questions 1.How do teachers identify struggling students in the classroom? 2.What format do teachers use to document their interventions? 3.Will the use of a standard documentation format improve the ability of teachers to identify students with learning disabilities?

Literature Review Pre-assessment Team Practices in Rural Settings: An Analysis of Team Activities Conference. Lecture conducted for American Council on Rural Special Education, Ormsbee, C., Haring, K. This study focused on the pre-assessment phase before students are referred for special education. Part of this phase includes documentation of interventions in the classroom and specific analysis of the student’s area of difficulty.

What’s a teacher to do? A Referral Process for Special Education Services. Annual Convention of the Council for Exceptional Children., 1985 CEC Conference, lecture conducted for CEC, Adeeb, P. This study focused on the three phases of the referral process and detailed practices for identification of the problem, documentation and intervention and screening and staffing teams within that process. It highlighted guidelines teachers should follow in order to make effective referrals for special education Literature Review

Response to Instruction in the Identification of Learning Disabilities: A Guide for School Teams. National Association of School Psychologists., 2004, Kovaleski,J., Prasse, D. Focused on Response to Intervention and a Dual Discrepancy Format for identification of children with learning disabilities. Determination of lack of instruction can be qualitative, assess the instructional environment/procedures in the classroom, or quantitative by measuring performance of individual classrooms.

Previous Approach to improving student performance

When that didn’t work

How were we going to fix this? We identified 3 people to attend team training on the Multi Tiered System of Support (MTSS) From training identified areas of focus for team Instruction Environment Curriculum Learner

Instruction Level of instruction is the student missing foundational skills? Rate of Instruction student capacity for learning, more repetition, corrective feedback? Presentation of Instruction length of sessions, meaningful, clear directions, scaffolding?

Environment Expectations/attitudes about school parent relationship Medical factors illness, nutrition, focus Transience changing schools Absences/Tardies Class size

Curriculum Curriculum content review of previous skills Instructional Materials presented at student’s instructional level, engagement

Learner History of Instruction gaps in skills Performance vs Skill deficit won’t do/can’t do Motivation internal/external Abilities and Impairments physical, sensory, perceptual Organizational Skills

Historical Information Students on Tier 3 interventions: Kindergarten 0 1 st grade 16% 2 nd grade18% 3 rd grade13% 4 th grade 8% 5 th grade11% Excludes students already identified in ECP

Students on Tier 2 Interventions Kindergarten 0 1 st grade 5% 2 nd grade10% 3 rd grade18% 4 th grade 16% 5 th grade10%

Data Decision Rules OR

Historical Information 2013 – 2014 No referrals from the Student Support Team 4 parent referrals – none were eligible – referrals from Student Support Team 2 were eligible

MTSS

Old SST Forms

West Oxford Elementary Personalized Education Plan (PEP) Part I: DESCRIPTIVE INFORMATION Student: ___________________________ DOB: __________ Teacher: ______________________ Grade: _________ School Year: ___________ Check all applicable: _____ EC _____ 504 _____ ELL _____ AIG Attendance Data Speech/Language Year # Absences # Tardies # Checkouts __ voice __ fluency __ articulation __ language Speech Language ___ omits/distorts sounds ___ sequencing ___ difficult to understand ___ comprehension ___ dental problems ___ expression ___ stuttering ___ grammar Part II: HISTORICAL DIAGNOSTIC INFORMATION READING LEVEL DIBELS WRITING MATH LEVELS BOY MOY EOY BOY MOY EOY BOY MOY EOY BOY MOY EOY Kindergarten 1st Grade 2nd grade 3rd grade 4th grade 5th grade

This Year RtI Team meets monthly to review data and process Google Docs updated regularly Of the students referred from SST – all have been eligible for special education Teachers no longer view SST as a means to get a child tested

Tier 3Tier 2 Kindergarten6%6% 1 st grade17%23% 2 nd grade18%10% 3 rd grade15%14% 4 th grade14%14% 5 th grade16%13%

Moving Forward Continued training for staff Intervention clearing house for teachers Continue to streamline the process Think outside the box – programs, personnel

Questions