Learning Supports:
When your student needs assistance
Durango School District 9-R
has adopted the Response to Intervention (RtI) model
to support the learning and development of all students.
Response
to Intervention
This is a multi-step process
that provides early and effective assistance to children
who learn differently. When students have not met the
teacher’s learning goals, the teacher and others
identify what changes they need to make in instruction,
and then closely monitor student progress and each stage
of the intervention. Teachers use this progress data
to make decisions about the need for additional evidence-based
instruction or intervention in general education, special
education or both.
Professional
Learning Communities
In addition to the instruction,
assessment, and intervention that occur in the classroom,
teachers also employ Professional Learning Communities
to assess instruction and student learning. Professional
Learning Communities are teams of teachers who analyze
assessment results to determine how well the curriculum
and instruction are helping students learn. When teachers
work together to address student learning needs, they
apply more experience, knowledge, and training to address
a student’s learning challenges than one teacher
alone can do. Your child’s teacher is expected
to tap the wisdom and experience of his or her professional
learning community to identify different strategies to
help your student learn.
Professional Learning Communities
(PLC) and Response to Intervention (RtI) work hand-in-hand
to support each student’s learning while improving
instruction for all students. Within this model, we ask
three questions:
- What do we want all students
to learn?
- How will we know if students
have learned what we want them to learn?
- What will we do if they
don’t know; and what will we do if they already
know?
Teachers and staff who use
the Rti model frequently assess student learning and
provide progressively more intense learning support when
a student does not learn successfully, or already knows
the lesson at hand.
What
do we want all students to learn?
Durango School District 9-R’s
curriculum requires students to learn the skills and
knowledge identified in district, state, and national
standards. Teachers identify what students need to learn
to be ready to move to the next grade level. As students
move through the school system, they should acquire the
skills and knowledge they need to enter college or the
world of work by the time they graduate from high school.
How
will we know if students have learned what we want
them to learn?
Teachers assess student learning
daily to determine whether students have acquired the
skills and knowledge they need to meet academic performance
standards. Teachers use personal observation, student
performance on classroom assignments, quizzes, assessments
aligned with grade-level learning goals, district assessments,
and state and national standardized tests.
What will we do if
they don’t know; and what will we do if they
already know?
When assessments show that
students haven’t learned the concepts that were
taught, teachers use the information to identify the
particular concept or skill that the student has had
difficulty grasping and why. The teacher then develops
and uses an “intervention” -- or an alternative
teaching method -- to address the specific needs of the
student. Ongoing monitoring of student progress helps
to determine whether the intervention was effective,
or whether it needs to be modified. If a student continues
to lag behind grade-level goals despite the interventions
that the teacher and professional learning communities
have used, the student may be referred to a school-level
Student Study Team.
This process is also implemented
for students who grasp concepts quickly and are ready
to move ahead of their peers.
 Levels
of intervention and educational support
Schools are required to show
that all students receive a core curriculum that research
has demonstrated to be effective for the majority of
students. When students struggle (either because they
are having difficulty learning, or because they already
know a concept), teachers are required to change their
instruction address each student’s needs or with
small groups of students.
Teachers will closely monitor
student progress resulting from these educational changes
to be sure that they are effective for each student.
Teachers will share those results with the student’s
parents/guardians regularly. The results again will be
used to determine whether a strategy or intervention
needs to be changed to better support student learning.
The RtI process is often
represented as a circle: teach, assess, intervene; teach,
assess, intervene. As student learning challenges become
more serious, teachers provide students with more intensive
instruction and support. See Colorado Department of Education’s
Multi-Tiered Model of Instruction and Intervention at
right.
Individual students may receive
supports from more than one Tier at the same time. For
example, a student may receive education within Tier
1 (core or general education) for reading, social studies,
or science, and receive Tier 3 supports for math. The
tiers indicate the intensity of interventions rather
than a classification or label for an individual student.
Tiered supports within an
RtI process are available for all areas of instruction,
including academics, behavior/emotional development,
and advanced learning.
Tier
1 – Continuum of interventions available to all
students
Initially, schools check for
overall academic and behavioral achievement through regularly
administered universal screening, district, and state
assessments. We use these assessment results to identify
those students who need more or different opportunities
to address either an area of weakness or an area of exceptional
strength.
Differentiated instruction
and various evidence-based teaching strategies are used
in the general education classroom to address differences
in student learning and student needs. Staff monitor
each student’s response to these educational changes
to make sure the strategies are working.
Individual
Literacy Plans
The Colorado Basic Literacy
Act (CBLA) requires schools to develop an Individual
Literacy Plan (ILP) for students as soon as the “body
of evidence” from a variety of assessments indicates
that students are not reading at grade level. The literacy
plan identifies specific strategies to address a student’s
reading deficits. Any student who reads below grade level
may be placed on an ILP. An important component of the
ILP requires parents to read or practice reading with
their students at home.
Student
Study Team
The Student Study Team may
be used any time a student has a problem that interferes
with learning. The team may include the student’s
teachers, school administrator, counselor, school psychologist,
nurse, and parents. The team reviews available data from
the classroom, school records, and previous interventions
and makes further recommendations in the area of concern.
Tier
2
Some students have needs that
are too great to be addressed effectively through differentiation
and ‘whole classroom’ strategies. For these
students, teachers and other staff work together to select
targeted interventions that are put in place within general
education. Student progress is monitored to be sure that
the intervention is working.
Tier 2 interventions may
include other staff in addition to general education
teachers, such as reading specialists, Title I teachers,
counselors, paraprofessionals, etc. Some examples of
Tier 2 interventions are:
- Additional tutoring with
a parent or community volunteer, before, during, and
after school
- Small-group instruction
with a reading or math specialist
- Participation in supplementary
reading or math program or class
Students who respond well
to the Tier 2 intervention and again are learning at
levels similar to their grade-level peers and consistent
with state standards will no longer need the intervention.
These students will return to instruction through the
core general education curriculum.
Students who are responding
adequately to the intervention but are not yet back at
expected levels will continue with the intervention.
Again, progress is monitored frequently and interventions
are adjusted or changed based upon how the student responds
to the intervention.
A few students will not show
the growth expected as a result of the evidence-based
intervention, and at this point the Student Study Team
again reviews the data and may determine that an additional
Tier 2 interventions should be used, or they may determine
that a more intensive intervention is indicated.
Tier
3
Students who need even more
individualized support move to Tier 3 interventions.
At this point, it is likely that a “problem-analysis” meeting
will be held with school staff, parents and the student
(as appropriate). The problem-analysis meeting will identify
the cause(s) of the academic or behavioral difficulty,
so that a more appropriate and effective individualized
intervention can be used.
Interventions put in place
at Tier 3 are typically more intense and show stronger
evidence of their effectiveness with students who are
struggling. They may be implemented more frequently,
in smaller groups and for longer periods of time during
the school day.
Students who respond well
to a Tier 3 intervention may move back to Tier 2, and
then to Tier 1 core curriculum. Other students will show
a need for ongoing intensive and individualized interventions,
and will continue receiving Tier 3 supports. At this
point, a team (including parents) may recommend a referral
for consideration for eligibility for Special Education
and/or Gifted Education services within Tier 3.
If your child is referred
for special education, will will obtain parent permission
for the evaluation. After you’ve signed the Permission
for Initial Evaluation, we must develop an Individual
Education Plan (IEP) within 60 calendar days.
Evaluation
for consideration for Special Education
We will use avariety of assessment
tools, strategies, interviews, and observations to gather
relevant functional, developmental, and academic information
about your student.
We will notify you in writing,
in advance about your child’s IEP meeting. We will
make every effort to ensure that you understand IEP proceedings.
We can provide an interpreter for parents with hearing
loss or whose native language is other than English.
What
is an IEP?
An IEP is a written summary
that defines activities and goals to meet the student’s
educational needs. It is a collaborative effort to create
the best instructional program for the student who has
an identified disability. It identifies the educational
supports that a student needs to ensure his or her educational
success. We review students’ IEPs annually to ensure
that they’re making progress toward their goals
and to set new learning goals for the following year.
What
to Expect at the IEP Meeting
When the evaluation is completed,
the special education team will meet with you and your
student to share the evaluation results and any other
pertinent information. The team includes the you, the
parent/guardian; the regular classroom teacher; special
education teacher; school psychologist, and district
nurse. The team also may include additional specialists
as appropriate. We will review and discuss the child’s
present level of academic achievement and functional
performance, including educational strengths and needs.
We will identify specifically designed instruction and
accommodations, if necessary, for your student to participate
in the general curriculum and/or appropriate activities.
We’ll also identify accommodations, if needed,
for district assessments and CSAP test administration.
The IEP team will make a determination of disability.
If the team determines that
the child has a disability, we will develop measurable
annual goals and a plan to enable the child to successfully
meet those goals. If the team determines that the student
does not have a disability, we will identify regular
education programming to ensure the student’s educational
success.
In either case, parents will
receive a final copy of the child’s IEP, and the
IEP team will provide key school personnel with individually
tailored recommendations to serve the student.
Types
of Disabilities
The Colorado Exceptional
Children’s Education Act identifies the types of
disabilities that may qualify a student for special education
services. They include:
Physical
Disability * (Physical Disability includes, but
is not limited to the following:)
- Autism / Asperger Syndrome
- Traumatic Brain Injury
(TBI)
- Attention Deficit Disorder
(ADD)
- Attention Deficit Disorder
with Hyperactivity (ADHD)
- Cerebral Palsy
- Vision Disability
- Hearing Disability
- Significant Limited Intellectual
Capacity (SLIC)
- Significant Identifiable
Emotional Disability (SIED)
- Specific
Learning Disability (SLD, formerly known as PC)
**
- Speech Language Disability
- Multiple Disabilities
- Preschool Child with a
Disability
* A
medical diagnosis does not necessarily indicate the need
for special education services.
** Please
note that identification of students with SLD is no longer
determined by the achievement/ability discrepancy formula.
Instead, the Response to Intervention (RtI) process is
used, which examines existing school data as well as
progress monitoring data related to specific interventions.
Through the Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and Response to Intervention
(RtI), we strive to ensure that all students receive the specific services
they need for a successful and satisfying educational experience in the 9R
schools.
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