Response To Intervention Program Analysis

This paper focuses on the Response to Intervention. As educators we are hearing RTI more frequently in the school districts than ever before. Many educators and state officials agree that all teachers should know and get to know the benefits and importance of RTI. The most crucial aspect to know is the RTI takes place into the regular childhood classroom; this is not something that just special education teachers need to know. This paper explains the purpose and a brief history of RTI. The paper offers ways that it is beneficial for school districts to implement this research based program. However, as in many systems there are always challenges, the paper briefly discusses some of the challenges that educators

Walker-Davidson announced, “I am thrilled to serve the district and the community in this new capacity. For the past four years I have served as the ABC district middle school principal and I feel that has provided me with a great foundation for moving forward. I am excited to work with the administrative team and staff in order to continue the academic growth within our school district. It is my personal goal to increase the graduation rate, test scores, and the availability of career readiness programs, as well as obtaining and training expert staff members.” Dr. Walker-Davidson went on to explain her mission for the school district to be: success driven, education focused, and student centered. I plan on carrying out this mission with expert educators, dedicated staff members, and community involvement.”

In this case study, Miguel clearly shows difficulties in reading. The difficulties stated include: recognizing alphabet letters (alphabetic awareness), matching sounds to letters (letter-sound correspondence), telling sounds apart (sounding out), starting/ending sounds (sounding out), and remembering words quickly (sight word reading) (Meet Miguel, n.d.). In order to address these difficulties, the authors would approach this problem in a two pronged manner: 1) immediate bridge methods for learning, and 2) RTI approach.

Response to Intervention (RTI) is an in school service program designed to guarantee that all students are getting a high quality education. Before students are referred for special education services, it is essential that they receive effective teaching designed to meet their own learning requirements. All students in public schools are required to be included in the RTI program.

The role of the central office in the Response to Intervention (RTI) change initiative at Florence Middle School (FMS) began when the superintendent requested the school board approve the positions of the middle school interventionists in the district. Prior to the 2014-2015 school year, two high schools and the three middle schools in the district requested interventionists in anticipation of the new accountability model from the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE). The new accountability model calculated a school’s academic performance according to students’ growth on state assessments from one year to the next. Therefore, in 2013-2014, the schools requested interventionists be added to their faculties to better meet the needs of struggling students with significant learning gaps. The school board was unable to approve this request because the district’s budget could not afford the expense of the positions.

As an experienced and energetic teacher at Picadome Elementary for the past 17 years, I am committed to high quality education for all children despite gender, socio-economic levels, race, ethnicities, and learning capabilities. I have sought leadership opportunities including serving on the SBDM and being chairperson of both the Budget and Needs Assessment committees. I worked closely with the Picadome leadership team and other SBDM members to ensure that budget decisions were based on achievement data and would increase student learning.

As I research the RTI Action Network website, I learned that this is about a program for people with learning disabilities. RTI stand for Response To Intervention which is a multi-tiered approach on how to help struggling learners. As the students progress, it is closely monitored at each step as they move forward. It begins with screenings of all learners, then the struggling learners are provided with interventions at progressing and increasing rates in order to accelerate and expand their rate of learning. The decisions about the intensity and continuation of interventions based on the individual student’s progress and feedback to the instructions.

Marzano, McNulty and Waters propose five steps for a plan of effective school leadership. The first step is developing a leadership team with purpose. The definition used for a purposeful community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish goals that mater to all community members through agreed-upon process (Marzano, et. al, 2005). The second step is distributing some responsibilities throughout the leadership team. The third step is to select the right work. The fourth step is to identify the order of magnitude implied by the selected work. The last step is to match the management style to the order of magnitude of the change initiative. The last step incorporates whether this is first or second order change.

Achieving a school district’s mission and vision requires the commitment of its stakeholders. In order to involve them in the process, it is necessary for educational leaders to “motivate staff, parents, students, board and community members” (Educational Leadership Constituencies Council, 2002, p. 4). The transformational leadership theory emphasizes the importance of educational leaders acting as role-models in order to motivate and inspire the school community. This approach has the potential to involve all stakeholders, leading to increased student success (Bush, 2007). The Assistant Director of Special Education in Northwest ISD directly supervised the school district’s assessment staff. Her education, experience, and passion set an example for her subordinates, stimulating them to achieve more, leading to her promotion to Executive Director of Student Services.

An effective school leader possesses skills to create, implement, evaluate, improve and share a staff development plan. I met with Ben Rhodes, Sandy Creek Middle School’s principal, to interview him on the specific elements of his yearly staff development plan. We began with the design process focusing on the district and school goals. District goals include improving literacy across the content areas in reading and writing, Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum (GVC). Guaranteed and Viable Technology (GVT), and Closing the Achievement Gap (Equity in Excellence). Using a variety of assessments to focus on specific needs, Ben Rhodes and Mary Sonya, our Pupil Achievement Specialist, examined CSAP, Explore, MAP, and RAD data. They use the

Besides Leading Adaptively, Principal Shirley demonstrated how to effectively Managed Resources, Develop Human Potential, and Build Relationships. I learned that Principal effectively managed the aides because she rotated them yearly and placed them

The enormous and daunting task of leading an educational institution has is challenges. The task of taking over an underperforming middle school under the dark clouds of No Child Left Behind can be the greatest challenge of a site-level school administrator. Although it may seem impossible to overcome adversity within a staff that lives each and every day in desperation and negativity, with the help of the right administrator the dark clouds that hover over the school can be cleared by a new vision of healing, building community within and a commitment to the common growth of the organization. It would be easy to take the crystal ball theory and look into the future and change all the problems that have been created

As reported in our Annual Performance Report, we continue to invest in our staff for their professional success. We use our Community School Accountability Rubric to assist our team in identifying areas for growth in the Community School Model implemented at the four schools. This rubric also helps us in identifying areas in which our staff excel and need improvement on. Once areas of common need are identify, we seek for strategic training and resources to increase productivity and enhance quality of services. To address these needs our staff participated in a two-day professional development conference where they broaden their knowledge about Results-Based Leadership and Accountability.

The reading that I felt was the most important for me in both my current role as a PE/Health teacher and in my future role as a possible administrator is “Moving up from Mediocre.” I am going to explain first, why I feel this reading is important and necessary in my current role as a teacher and second, why I believe this is essential for me if I am going to be a successful administrator. ‘PLC’s offer a guiding framework within which district staff learn together and collaborate to improve the achievement of all students” (Curriculum Leadership, pg. 290, 2014.) I really enjoyed reading about School District 54 in Schaumburg, Illinois and the great success that the PLC changes has made for them and their efforts to improve student achievement. One of the great takeaways from the reading for me was the emphasis that they made on leadership from the administration level and how that has really paved the way for the turnaround.

In terms of resources in my past, current, and future classrooms, I find the school’s positive relations amongst the teachers and faculty is a key resource for the success and growth of the students. I know that without my mentor and department during my first year as a teacher, I would have struggled with assessing my students past the typical “exit slip” or “summarized” that is required by our district to be part of the lesson. Fortunately, I was a long-term substitute for a full year and then merged into a permanent position. Therefore, my department assisted me throughout my first year to provide varying forms of Formative Diagnostic Assessments as well as interim assessments. Additionally, the school district is continuing a debate about District Determined Measures to assess the students’ growth within a year, so as a department we come up with a summative assessment to assess whether the goals of the year have been reached. In short, I am fortunate to work with a community of life-long learners, experienced educators, and passionate peers for they have provided me with priceless amounts of advice.