The Intervention Insider

Monitoring Marshalls Progress in the Elementary World of RtI

March 2012 Volume 1, Issue 6

Calendar of Events March

Sharpe 7 Sharpe RtI Day th 8 Jonathan RtI Day 21st South RtI Day (am) 21st Benton RtI Day (pm) 26th Calvert RtI Day 28th Benton RtI Day (am) 28th South RtI Day (pm) 29th Central RtI Day
th

I thank my lucky stars that I work with you!

Every time I walk into one of our school buildings, I thank my lucky stars! I truly am blessed beyond measure to work with the teachers in the Marshall County School District. You are all dedicated to what you do and work hard for these kids. I know that the upcoming weeks are going to be stressful. With testing around the corner, final benchmarks, progress monitoring scores looming, and loose ends that need to be tied, you all are going to be very busy. With that being said, if there is anything that I can do to make your lives easier during this time, please let me know. I appreciate all of the work that has gone in to flex groups and making sure that our struggling students have had every opportunity to grow. The students are lucky to have you and I am lucky to work with all of you!

10th NMMS Transition RtI Day Day 16th SMMS Transition RtI Day 19th BMS Transition RtI Day

April

Jackie Reid

Making Flex Groups Skill Driven

When considering how to prepare for flex groups, it is important to remember where we need to direct our focus. Our flex groups center around the idea of helping students grow. In order to do this, we need to have an understanding about the gaps that our students have when looking at basic skills. It is imprudent of us to think that our students will master our content areas when they lack the basic skills that they need to even comprehend a passage. This is why we need to hone in on the basic skills for which our students are lacking, and then form our flex groups accordingly. For our struggling students, these groups need to focus on the skills they are lacking, not the content area. We cannot overlook the fact that they need to be taught how to comprehend a passage. We cannot overlook the fact that they need basic number sense practice and reinforcement before they are able to multiply fractions. Our core time is designed to teach the content. Our flex time for struggling students should be designed to teach and re-teach basic skills needed in order for our students to more easily understand the content that you are teaching in core. For gifted or enrichment students it is understandable to take your content and expand upon what you have been teaching. For our struggling students, it is important that our flex groups remain skill driven as opposed to content driven. Basic reading and math skills lay the foundation for what you are doing during your core time. For primary grades this concept is somewhat easier because much of their core content time is the teaching of basic skills. Therefore, it is not difficult for them to design a flex group because much of it mirrors what they are doing in class. For the intermediate grades, designing flex groups can be a bit more challenging because of the pressure and stress we feel to get all of our content taught. Having taught fifth grade in the past, I completely understand that. However, what I wish I wouldve understood when I taught fifth grade was that no matter how much I drilled social studies concepts, it wasnt going to matter if they couldnt read or comprehend what was being asked of them on the state test. With that being said, I just want to again stress the importance of covering basic skills with struggling students in flex groups. As we begin to think about scheduling and planning for next year, I ask you to please keep this idea in mind. Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple. - Dr. Seuss

AIMS Benchmark Apr. 9th 20th MAP Benchmark 3rd 5th Apr. 9th 20th MAP Benchmark K 2nd Apr. 30th May 11th Dont Forget to Mark Your Calendars!

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The Intervention Insider

A MAP Primary Report to Treasure

How to be an Active Participant in RtI Meetings

For students taking the MAP for Primary tests, we are not given a Des Cartes to assist in planning our instruction. 1. Attend Yes, I know were However, we are given a report that does break down each busy. However these meetings are area of math and reading, along with the basic skills that the only one day per month and a student has already mastered, is instructionally ready for, guaranteed day that I will be in and is not yet ready to attempt. This information can be your building to help you in any obtained by using the Class by RIT tab. MAP for Primary way that I can. If you dont attend, breaks down each subject area of Math and Reading into six I dont know how to help you. sub-skills.
2. Bring your data I have no idea whether or not a student is improving without data. Whether it be STAR, MAP, AIMS, or classroom grades, bring your data! Again, just taking your word for it is something that I cant do if we eventually want to move this student through the referral process. It is also not fair to the student to just guess whether or not he/she is doing well based on our feelings and not evidence. 3. Have all of the background information available Between six schools it is difficult to keep background information at the forefront of my mind during discussion. Make sure that when we discuss your child that you let us know anything unique to his/her circumstances including attendance patterns, specific behaviors that have been noticed, past experiences, counseling services, etc. 4. Be ready to provide information on what youve been doing in class to help your student Have a list of ways you have accommodated, modified, or provided extra interventions that are not already noted on the students support plan. 5. Provide your expertise You are an expert in what you do and what you have tried with your students. If a fellow teammate is struggling for ideas and ways to help this student, feel free to give them strategies that you have seen successful in your classroom. Support each other! chocolate 6. Bring chocolate Just trying to see who will actually do this

Math includes: Algebra Computation Measurement & Geometry Number Sense Problem Solving Statistics & Probability

How to Pull a MAP for Primary Individual Skill Report

Log in to www.nwea.org using your username and password. Click on Class By RIT tool under Instructional Resources in the lefthand column. Make sure the most current round of MAP testing has been selected (at this point Winter 2012). Click on the subject area that you wish to view, either Mathematics or Reading. Click on the actual word Mathematics or Reading that is in the RIT table. Once you reach the skill page for that subject area, click on a student that you wish to view in the sub-skill category that you wish to view. (As an example, if you choose Reading, find the Phonics subskill and click on the students name that performed in the lowest RIT band for your class.) When you click on the students name, a PDF report will appear for just that students sub-skill. Based on the RIT score the student obtained for that area, it will give a percentage of probability that student has of being able to perform that skill. The bold skills are the skills in that students instructional level. If you choose to click on the specific skill and not a student name, a PDF report will be created that shows a class list in order of RIT performance on that sub-skill, along with instructional recommendations for students in that sub-skill.

1. 2.

3.

Reading includes: Comprehension Concepts of Print Phonics Phonological Awareness Vocabulary & Word Structure Writing

4.

5.

At this point, from what I can tell, we should pay close attention to the areas of number sense, computation, and problem solving when considering Math instruction. For Reading, phonological awareness and phonics should be our greatest concern for mastery with K-1 students. It appears that if students have strong foundations in those areas, they are performing fairly well overall on the MAP for Primary assessments.

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Give this a try and let me know what you think! If you have problems figuring it out or want a one-on-one tutorial, let me know and Ill be happy to show you the next time Im in your building!

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Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. - Dr. Seuss, The Lorax Its not.

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Whats in an IQ?
This article will be continued in Aprils newsletter. I am in the process of obtaining information straight from our school psychologists about the IQ tests that they use in our district. I know you will be waiting on the edge of your seat all month long for this information! Hey, I would and Im not ashamed to admit it.

Bits O Tid
Behavior
Use the PBIS plan for your school! If a student breaks a guideline, you MUST give them the consequences set up by your school PBIS team. This preserves the integrity of the system. If a student continues to break guidelines with only warnings and no real consequence, then you are re-enforcing the very behavior that you are trying to eliminate. Follow the protocol set up by your school PBIS team. If you dont like the protocol, then let the PBIS team know your suggestions on how to make it more effective.

Considering the #s
As I begin to think about RtI going forward, it is going to be necessary to start looking at the numbers of students we have at each Tier. RtI protocol suggests 80 85% of all students in Tier I. At the completion of MAP and AIMS benchmark, I will be dissecting the data to determine what our numbers are at each Tier. From this, I plan to develop guidelines for placing students in Tiers II and III based on data from the year. Which means that next year, we will really start paying close attention to the amount of students that receive RtI services. If more than 20% of your grade level is in need of interventions, it is no longer an RtI issueits a universal/core issue. Which means, you address these deficits in your core. If more than 20% of students in your grade level are below level, you must adjust your core to meet their needs. It cannot all be taken care of in RtI time. We will place our RtI focus on the lowest 20% in your grade level. Those are the students that will receive interventions. This will allow for smaller, more intensive groups. Please dont stress! I will have a plan, guidelines, and ways to determine these groups that will include data as well as teacher input. If a student is struggling he/she will not be left out just because of numbers. We will just have to be creative or more flexible in who provides these services. After looking at the year-end data, I feel that most grade levels are well within their 20% right now. However if your grade level has an abnormally high amount of kids in need of RtI services, we need to think about how to address this issue for the upcoming year so that our students with the highest needs will be serviced through RtI. Just wanted to give you a heads up!

February RtI Riddle of the Month

Well, well, well. Seems we have some comedians among us. While I did receive the correct answer (eventually and not through e-mail), I did enjoy the responses that I received. As a reminder, this was the riddle for February: What is the best way to reduce the number of RtI students in Tier II and Tier III? Answer: Improve Tier I/universal instruction. Think differentiation! Winner: Meena Wood Sharpe Elementary Alternate (not-so-serious) answers: put them all in special education send them to our school quit implementing RtI no tiers, no problems.

These were sent to me as jokes and while I did get a kick out of them, really, dont quit your day jobs. :o)

If you need anything, please dont hesistate to contact me: Jackie.reid@marshall.kyschools.us http://rtiformarshall.blogspot.com My calendar for April is filling up fast, so please let me know if you would like to set up some time with me to observe or work with one of your students. Also, I am available to show you how to use MAP reports (ones that I am familiar with anyways!) and other data for your flex groups.

March RtI Riddle of the Month What is the most essential item needed for effective RtI monthly meetings?
The first person to respond correctly via e-mail wins a prize.