1. PROBLEM STATEMENTS IN PROBLEM-SOLVING, RtI PROCESSES FSSM Summer Institute, June 26, 2007 Charlotte Smith, NCSP,csmith2@nkcsd.k12.mo.us

2. 2 INTRODUCTIONS Who I am.....Who are You? Housekeeping…bathrooms, “Parking Lot” What my colleagues and I have been doing on the other side of the state.

3. 3 NEWS FROM OUT WEST Mid 1990’s North Kansas City School District: Increasing commitment to early intervention and School-Based Problem Solving Teams Mid 1990’s: General Educator hired as full-time district level problem solving team facilitator for training and support of gen ed staff Steadily increasing # school psychologists to meet the NASP recommended 1:1000 ratio and serve on each PST; expanding role of school psychologists Using 15% of IDEA money for prevention, early intervention. Ex: Subs for gen ed teachers to attend trainings, administer benchmark probes

4. 4 …MORE NEWS 2005/2006: RtI replaces IQ/Achievement discrepancy in local compliance plan for SLD eligibility determination CBM added to District Assessment Plan CBM benchmarking for students and frequent Progress Monitoring used by teachers to monitor progress of children at risk, including progress toward iep goals for students with disabilities.

5. 5 NORTH KANSAS CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

6. 6 WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES At the end of this workshop, learners will be able to: 1.Give the 5 key elements in an effective problem statement. 2.Write a good problem statement for reading, math, and written language. 3.List appropriate baseline measures for each identified problem. 4.Compare identified student’s performance with “average”.

7. 7 WHAT IS THE PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS? #2 Problem Analysis and Intervention Development What will we do about it? #3 Implementation of Interventions Carry out the intervention, collect data, and revise as needed #4 Evaluation and Data- Based Decision Making Did it work? If not, consider repeating process #1 Problem Definition and Baseline Measurement What is the problem? Handout: PS 1

8. 8 Team Activity: Problems Statements Then, Now & Future

9. 9 PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION How do we identify problems EARLY? How do we identify problems ECONOMICALLY (time & money) How can classroom teachers do this and everything else on their plates? How do we determine if differences in performance are important? (How do we know if it’s really a problem?)

10. 10 HOW TO IDENTIFY PROBLEMS? UNIVERSAL SCREENING Just like we screen all kids for vision and hearing, we need to screen regularly for academic achievement. We need to screen early before problems become big. FORMATIVE vs. SUMMATIVE Universal Screening Tools Need To Be: Easy to Administer by classroom teachers Direct measures of the skill or behavior to be changed Short, simple & can be repeated frequently. Reliable and Valid Good indicators of overall performance in an academic area

11. 11 COMMON CBM MEASURES Letter naming fluency Letter sound fluency Phonemic segmentation fluency Nonsense word fluency Oral reading fluency Maze fluency Written Expression Spelling Quantity array Number identification Quantity discrimination Missing number Math Computation Math concepts and applications Handouts: PS 2 “AIMSweb Probes – General Info.” PS 3 “Curriculum Bases Measurement Probes”

12. 12 OBSERVATIONAL TECHNIQUES Anecdotal recording Frequency and rate recording Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) recording Duration and latency recording Interval recording Collect data on target student And average peer comparison. Teach the behavioral skill (eg: Study Skills) Look at academics first! Solving ACADEMIC problems usually solves BEHAVIOR problems!

13. 13 Universal Screening Benchmark ALL Students 3 Times Per Year (F, W, S) For teachers and Students Early Identification of At Risk Early Identification of At Risk Instructional Planning Instructional Planning Progress Monitoring Progress Monitoring For Parents Facilitates communication Facilitates communication Accountability Accountability For administrators Resource Allocation Resource Allocation Accountability Accountability

14. 14 For Teachers: Classroom Report From Aimsweb: www.aimsweb.com

15. 15 PROBLEM DEFINITION What is a good problem statement? What tools and/or resources are needed to get information for a good problem statement? Who should write the problem statement, and how is the problem statement presented?

16. 16 Problem Statements Setting (when presented with what task?) An observable behavior (what skill?) Measure ( calculate level and rate) Baseline (defining the level of performance) Average peer comparison (typical peer) with rhythm… Beth Wood HOW DO WE DEFINE A PROBLEM?

17. 17 Sample Problem Statement S: When presented with a 3 rd gr. oral reading fluency probe, A: Wilbur is able to read aloud correctly M: (words) in one minute B: thirty-five words A: while an average peer* reads 78 words aloud correctly in one minute. * handout packet: PS 4 “AIMSweb Growth Table”

18. 18 Sample Problem Statement S: When presented with a 6 th grade math computation probe*, A: Amy is able to compute and write correctly M: (digits) in four minutes B: 20 digits A: while an average peer** writes 27 digits correctly in 4 minutes. * Handout: PS 5 “AIMSweb Growth Chart – Mathematics Computation” (Box and Whiskers)

19. 19 AIMSweb / Harcourt with permission 6.07

20. 20 10th %ile 90th %ile 75th %ile 50th %ile 25th %ile Student is above the 90 %ile and is well above average. Student is above the 90 %ile and is well above average. Target ____________________________________ Box and Whisker Charts

21. 21 Sample Problem Statement S: When presented with a story starter*, A: Joe is able to correctly write M: (CWS) in three minutes B: 13 Correct Writing Sequences A: while an average 3 rd grade peer writes 17 Correct Writing Sequences in 3 minutes. * Example: “I was sound asleep when … ” Handout: PS 6 “AIMSweb Growth Chart, Written Expression – Correct Writing Sequences”

22. 22 SCORING WRITTEN EXPRESSION Total Words Written - TWW (Fluency) Simple count of the number of words. Correct Writing Sequences – CWS Two adjacent writing units that are correct within the context of what is written. >All > of > the > kids > started > to > laugh. > 8 CWS >All > of > the > kids > started > to lauf. 6 CWS

23. 23 AIMSweb / Harcourt with permission 6.07

24. 24 SAMPLE PROBLEM STATEMENT Letter Naming Fluency Problem Statement (1/08/06) When given a Letter Naming Fluency probe, Michael is able to correctly identify 18 letter names in one minute. The average first grade student can identify 38 letter names in one minute.

25. 25 SAMPLE PROBLEM STATEMENT Letter Sound Fluency Problem Statement (1/08/06) When given a Letter Sound Fluency probe, Michael is able to correctly identify 10 letter sounds in one minute. The average first grade student can identify 27 letter sounds in one minute..

26. 26 CLASSROOM TEACHERS WRITE PROBLEM STATEMENTS Universal Screening Data Available For children identified as very low (or high) Use screening data Areas without Universal Screening Data Administer 3 CBM probes and take median for best baseline estimate. Administer same probes to three average peers and take median for average peer comparison. Handout PS 7: “Sample Problem Statements” DVD

27. 27 Handout Packet: PS 8 Find “Writing Problem Statements”. Work with your team to practice writing problem statements in each of the areas. Choose one problem statement you’d like to share with the group, and write it on the overhead transparency.

28. 28 WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? If you are a new principal in a building, and you discovered through fall benchmarking that an unacceptable percentage of your students are at or below the 10 percentile in measures of reading. What would you do? Handout PS 9 “Problem Solving Team Request for Assistance”

29. 29 Chad Sutton & Briarcliff Staff, North Kansas City SD FALL WINTER SPRING FALL WINTER SPRING

30. 30 Team Activity: Problems Statements Then, Now & Future

31. 31 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Beth Wood, Problem Team Facilitator, North Kansas City School District Steven Beldin, Director of Pupil Services, North Kansas City School District Dr. Dave Tilly, Heartland AEA, Iowa Dr. Erica Lembke, University of Missouri National Center on Student Progress Monitoring www.studentprogress.orgwww.studentprogress.org Harcourt www.aimsweb.comwww.aimsweb.com

32. 32 CBM PROBES www.aimsweb.comwww.aimsweb.com (fee based) www.interventioncentral.org http://dibels.uoregon.edu www.studentprogress.org

33. 33 CONTACT INFORMATION Charlotte Smith North Kansas City School District 2000 NE 46 th St. KC MO 64116 816.413.5113 csmith2@nkcsd.k12.mo.us