Simplifying RTI

FOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDING

PRINCIPLESADELLE, LAUREL & TRACY

GOOD SPIRIT SCHOOL DIVISIONOCTOBER 2013

Simplifying RTI

The 4 Cs of RTI

1. Collective Responsibility2. Concentrated Instruction3. Convergent Assessment4. Certain Access

1. Collective Responsibility

“Why are we here?”Shared belief that the primary responsibility

of each member of the organization is to ensure high levels of learning for every child

Educators must embrace high levels of learning for all students as both the reason the organization exists and the fundamental responsibility of those who work within it.

This collective purpose sets the direction for the organization and guides its actions

Collective Responsibility

“Are we here to teach, or are we here to ensure that our students learn?”Begins with cultural change of schoolVirtually all educators believe kids can learn,

but many feel how much a student can learn depends on his/her innate abilities and demographic background. This creates a sliding scale of expectations that are carried out in school practices every day.


‘All’ includes any students who will be expected to live as financially independent adults someday.

Achieving anything less than high school plus will make it virtually impossible to thrive as adults.


How?Build an effective school leadership team or

guiding coalition (early adopters or lead learners) Team must learn deeply about best practices, assess

the school’s current reality, determine potential next steps for school improvement, identify possible obstacles, and plan the best way to create staff consensus

Resisters to change are often the most vocal about sharing their beliefs


Provide the ‘why’ before the ‘what’ – many resist change because they are never provided with a clear rationale for change

Connect school data to specific students – reminds teachers of the reason they chose this profession…to help kids

Create a doable plan – define specific responsibilities and include resources teachers need to meet these expectations


Expect the best – create a scaffold of support for resistant staff – PD, resources, ongoing support

Confront the worst – after offering support, leaders must confront resisters and demand they meet their responsibilities to the collective school efforts The silent majority must be willing to have

courageous conversations with the aggressive minority that is holding the school hostage


Start – if you wait for everyone to get on board the train may never leave the station. As staff start doing the work they will see some

improvement in student learning, confirming their efforts, adding to their commitment, leading to even better results

Eventually enough staff members will experience the positive results of RTI that the new thinking becomes ‘just the way we do business’

2. Concentrated Instruction

A systematic process of identifying essential knowledge and skills that ALL students must

master to learn at HIGH levels, and determining the specific

needs for each child to get there?

Concentrated Instruction

Designing and Refining Our Instruction Around Student

Learning

“When everything is important, nothing is important”

- Anonymous


Where are we going?

How are we going?

Where to next?


“Clarity is the antidote to anxiety…if you do nothing else as a leader, be clear.”

Buckingham 2005

Teach less…learn more!(Singapore Ministry of Education)


A Focus on Learning... PLC’s

DuFour – every collaborative team must ask…

1. What do we expect our students to learn?2. How will we know they are learning?3. How will we respond when they don’t learn?4. How do we respond if they already know it?


Criteria for Selecting Essential Standards1. Endurance: Will this standard provide students with knowledge and

skills that will be of value beyond a single test date?

2. Leverage: Will this provide knowledge and skills that will be a value to

multiple disciplines?

3. Prepare for the next level: Will this provide students with the essential knowledge and

skills necessary for success in the next grade or level of instruction?



Choosing Our List of Essential Indicators

Which standards should be essential at each grade level?

Which standards have endurance, leverage and readiness?

Which standards have our students failed to master?





Formative Instruction Determine what standards students already

know and how well they know them.Decide what changes in instruction to make in

order to help students be successful.Create lessons appropriate to the needs of the

students.Group students for intervention and enrichment.Inform students of their own progress in order

for them to set goals.


Targeted Instruction + Time = Learning


It is not enough to do your best; you must know what to do, and then do your best.”

-Deming


Concentrated Instruction and Behavior Systems

A school’s core instruction in behavior should result in at least 80% of students being able to articulate what is expected of them, because

behaviors have been explicitly taught, actively supervised, practiced and acknowledged.


Behavior Falls in Two Categories:1. Academic Misbehaviors

Not paying attention, not completing assignments, missing class, poor study habits…signs of lack of motivation, lack of knowledge of the “rules of school’ or attendance problems

2. Social Misbehaviors Acting out, using inappropriate language, or engaging

in physical confrontations – may appear as lack of commission aimed at getting attention


Academic MisbehaviorsStudents may lack self regulatory skills such as:Time ManagementOrganizationNote TakingGoal SettingSelf-Motivation


Behavioral Rules1. Explicitly teach and reinforce self-regulatory strategies2. Assign high quality task for students to complete3. Praise and encourage effort to support a growth mindset4. Emphasize the importance of regular attendance5. Build positive relationships between adults and students


Social MisbehaviorsClearly define behavior as a responsibility of

the school-wide teamIdentify expectations and desired behaviorsTeach desired behaviors

Such as: Respect Responsibility Readiness


Collaborative teams require laser-like clarity

about where they are going and

how they are getting there.

3. Convergent Assessment

An ongoing process of collectively analyzing targeted evidence to determine the specific learning needs of each child and the effectiveness of the instruction the child receives in meeting these needs.

Thinking is guided by the question:Where are we now?

Convergent Assessment

“Assessment for learning, when done well, is one of the most powerful, high-leverage strategies for improving student learning that we know of.”

-Michael Fullan


Our Essential Question

How can we use assessment as a convergent practice to enhance student motivation and increase student achievement?


It isn’t the method that determines whether the assessment is summative or formative; it is how the results are used. Formative Assessment – formal and informal

processes teachers and students use to gather evidence for the purpose of improving learning

Summative Assessment – assessments that provide evidence of student achievement for the purpose of making a judgment about student competence or program effectiveness



PLC Critical Questions

1. What do we expect students to learn?

2. How do we know when they have learned it?


In order to respond effectively when students don’t learn, we need to know:

1. Which students did or did not master specific essential standards?

2. Which Instruction Practices did or did not work?


Do your teacher PLC’s: Give common assessments to measure every essential

standard?

Identify students for extra help, by the student, by the standard, by the learning target?

Compare results to identify most effective teaching practices by the learning target?


What if We Would…

1. Determine student learning outcomes and share with students.

2. Plan one common formative assessment during instruction.

3. Plan one day to reteach after analyzing common assessments.


4. Certain Access

A systematic process that guarantees every student will receive the time and support needed to learn at high levels.

“How do we get every student there?”

Certain Access

Systemic responses must:Identify student who need helpDetermine the right intervention to meet the

student’s learning needsMonitor the student’s progress to know if the

intervention is working. If the intervention is not meeting the intended outcome:

Revise the student’s support by providing more intensive and targeted assistance

Extend students who are at grade level to even higher levels of achievement

Certain Access

Includes effective interventionsThe more targeted the intervention, the more

successful it will beGroup students by the same cause, not the

same symptom

Certain Access

Student identification – through universal screening, common assessment data, and staff recommendation at least every three weeks

Tier 1 to Tier 2: Teacher teams take the lead on students needing a

little extra help. They assume collective responsibility for delivering

instruction, formative assessments, and to ensure access to extra time and support

Certain Access

Certain Access – Tier 2 Supports

Certain Access – Tier 3 Supports

Certain Access

Essential skills to universally screen: Oral language Reading Writing Number sense English language Attendance Behavior

Certain Access

Simplifying RTI

Jim Collins says that great organizations “maintain unwavering faith that you can prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and, at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts about your current reality, whatever they may be.”

Simplifying RTI

Understand your current reality, know your destination, define your path to get there, and begin your journey!

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Simplifying RTI