Reflections for 5352

Campus-Supervised Internship Activities

I am almost 100% complete in completing all of the activities on my internship report. I just have a few of the activities to finalize and a few more that I will be completing at the e beginning of this school year.  One in particular that I will be completing during the first weeks of school is the one pertaining to the Cafeteria Manager and learning what all goes in to her position. I also need to meet with my Assistant Principal to discuss our Master Schedule for this year as many changes have been made from last year. I also need to tweak my activity for Domain II, Competency 08 dealing with technology.  Over the summer I was trained as a co-webmaster for our campus website which has been completely changed.  I will work with our Technology Liaison to implement the new website and train teachers. The Internship Plan and all the activities included in it has been one of my favorite components of this program.  It has enabled me to get invaluable real- world, hands- on knowledge of what I am learning.  I have also been blessed my super supportive site- supervisors that have bent over backwards to allow my to have as many experiences as I wanted.

Action Research Report

I can never say that my Action Research Report will ever fully be completed.  It is definitely an ongoing and ever-changing project that could continue well into the future. It deals directly with my campus’ RTI process and implementation which in itself is ever-changing in nature.  It has definitely allowed us to make some significant improvements and changes that are just the beginning of bigger and better things to come as more and more people get on board.  At the beginning of the school year I will meet with my IAT team to look at the progress we have made and close up my original project.  This project has spilled over into many other projects currently taking place on my campus, specifically the utilization of PLCs both at the team and vertical levels.  It has been exciting for me to see the widespread impact of what started out as a little idea.

Technology Skills/ Knowledge Gained

This course has allowed me to significantly increase my technological knowledge and has equipped me with many new ideas that I can implement on my campus.  The use of group work throughout this course has even increased that learning all the more.  I really enjoyed learning alongside my team members and share all of our new ideas and findings. Some of the Web 2.o tools and trends I look forward to doing more research on, introducing them to the teachers on my campus, and improving on our current use of some of the tools.

Overall Course/Web Conference Reflection 5352

This course has allowed me to get in touch with the latest and greatest technology ideas and how to utilize them in an online community.  I really enjoyed becoming a member of a group to complete activities throughout this class.  It was helpful to see the ideas and information of others in similar circumstances as my own and increased my knowledge to not only the information that I was learning, but also that of others.  I learned many new methods and technology trends that I plan to pass on to the teachers on my campus.  Some of the Web tools we are already using, but I was able to get fresh takes on new uses to implement and present to my teachers.  The Flipped Classroom was one of the ideas that I was particularly interested and I look forward to doing future research and learning on how to implement in an Elementary setting. The idea of freeing teachers of the time it takes to introduce new information, and allow them to utilize that time providing more individualized instruction to small groups of students and even one on one could have a dramatic impact on the increase of student success and achievement.  Project Based Learning was another trend that I enjoyed learning about.  I hope to support my teachers with the use of PBL in their classrooms throughout the upcoming year. The Web 2.o tool project with my group allowed me to gain a bank of awesome tools and ideas to try with my teachers.  I plan to collaborate with our technology liaison in order to train and provide support for teachers as they begin to implement these ideas in their classrooms. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this class and came away with lots of useful information and ideas that I can put into practice immediately.

Reducing the Number of Students Referred for Additional Evaluation in RTI

Action Research Report Template

Abstract or Executive Summary

Completion pending data to be collected analyzed and added at the culmination of this project.

Title and Author

Reducing the Number of Students Referred for Additional Evaluation in RTI

By Melissa Hickman

Introduction / Background (Section One) 

My campus is Moore Elementary in the Pasadena Independent School District.  It is a PK-4 campus with a bilingual class at each grade level, as well as a pull out ESL classroom, which serves grades K-4.  We are a Title I funded campus with 55% of our student population labeled at-risk. My role on our campus is Peer Facilitator/ Instructional Coach.  I assist the teachers with the implementation of the district’s ELA curriculum. I also serve on our campus’ IAT team.

Due to the glaring need for an overhaul of my campus’ RTI process, my Action Research Project was born. Year after year, my campus’ RTI meetings were being flooded with requests by teachers to have more and more students referred for full evaluations by our district diagnosticians.  Time after time they would kick them back due to lack of documentation of classroom interventions. It became apparent that teachers were not following through and documenting interventions that had been discussed at our quarterly RTI meetings. 

In an effort to reduce the number of students being referred on to the district diagnosticians for full evaluations, I envisioned arming teachers with the tools and skills necessary to meet the needs of their intervention students in their own classroom.  My goal was to have teachers address the needs of these students on the front lines, in their classroom in hopes of reducing the number of Tier I and Tier II students who were being referred on for full evaluations. In addition interventions outside of the classroom would also be documented. They would also be given the tools they needed to implement and track these interventions.

This project fundamentally is designed to make sure that we are meeting the needs of at-risk and below level students on our campus. During our RTI process there is much overlap between our special education students, speech students, 504 students, Dyslexia students as well as the rest of our student population.  During our intervention process we take into account home life, behavior issues, experiences at previous schools and the need for counseling.  I would like to think that our IAT team prides itself on covering all of the bases and looking at each student’s situations from a myriad of angles.  The improvements that we are making to our campus’ RTI process based on my Action Research Plan are only strengthening these qualities.

Literature Review (Section Two)

 Upon reviewing the article by Dexter and Hughes entitled “Progress Monitoring Within A Response-to-Intervention Model” on the www.rtinetwork.org website, I discovered research based reasoning on the importance of having a clearly laid out RTI process.  It became more apparent that there was a need for clear-cut guidelines on how the RTI process should be implemented on my campus. As stated in a n article by Mellard found on the www.greatschools .org website, “implementation of RTI will only work when school staff integrate RTI as part of their vision for educating children, and for their roles and responsibilities as professionals”.  In discussing this problem with my principal, assistant principal, school counselor, and other members of my campus’ IAT team, it was decided that action needed to be taken in order to improve our RTI process.  The idea for an RTI binder was realized where teachers would document and track student intervention in an organized manner to be reviewed by the IAT team during our quarterly meetings.

Action Research Design (Section Three)

Subjects

The target population for this project is every student in grades PK – 4 that are in need of classroom interventions through the RTI process. Additionally I must include teachers in my target population, as they will be the ones carrying out student interventions in their classrooms.

Procedures

Prior to our initial RTI meetings with each teacher at the beginning of the school year, the counselor and myself visited with each team.  During this meeting we discussed the need for additional documentation on our RTI students and evidence of interventions being implemented in the classroom.  We also discussed that we wanted to make the process less stressful for the teachers by arming them with everything they needed to be successful with intervention in the classroom and if the need arose, the evidence they needed to show that it was not working. 

I initially organized the purchasing of the RTI binders using campus funds through my school secretary.  The counselor and I researched, selected and created the forms that we wanted to include in the binder and how exactly we wanted it set up.  Teachers were instructed on how to manage and complete the binders and the responsibility of completing them fell solely on them. The IAT Team including myself sat down with each teacher at our quarterly RTI meetings to review the contents of the binders. The implementation of the binders and the intervention tracking forms were put into place to insure that students were receiving the help that they needed in the classroom, first and foremost.

With the support from my principal, I was allowed to place the responsibility of accurately adhering to the process of implementing and documenting classroom intervention to the teachers. I would act as a support to assist them in any way that I could during this process, as well as overseeing the project as a whole.  The IAT team would also assist me in reviewing that the process was being carried out properly by the teachers during our quarterly RTI meetings.  Initially this project was met with some conflict by the teachers, stating that it was only adding more work for them.  I quickly addressed these issues, citing the stricter guidelines that the district had placed on the referral process for intervention students in need of full evaluations.  I explained that in order to truly get students the help they needed, we had to make sure that we were doing everything we could for them in the classroom and on our campus.

Data Collection

Data will be collected, analyzed, and added as it becomes available. This data will be compromised of the number of students in the various Tiers of the RTI process. To analyze if this project is successful, we will compare them to numbers of the past and hope to see a significant decrease, with the largest decrease being in the category of students referred for additional evaluations by the district.

Findings (Section Four)

Findings will be collected, analyzed, and added as they become available.

Conclusions and Recommendations (Section Five)

This project has promoted a positive school culture in addressing the concern that all students are receiving the appropriate interventions in the classroom to insure that they are successful.  Time and effort is being taken to implement and monitor the addressing and meeting of each students needs on an individualized basis.

As the project has been implemented, teachers have been positive about the effect that it is having in their classrooms.  As we have met for our RTI meetings throughout the year, teachers have noted that it is making the intervention process easier to carry out by having all of their tools in one place, as well as having a clear cut plan on how to carry the interventions out with each student.  During our quarterly RTI meetings it has made it easy for the committee to see which students are having success with their interventions and which students are continuing to struggle.

At the culmination of this project I hope to realize what is effective in making the RTI process on my campus successful.  Through student performance and teacher feedback we will continue to modify and adjust the guidelines and procedures to best meet the needs of the teachers and students on our campus, while at the same time fulfilling the district and state requirements for intervention implementation in the classroom. I will share my findings with district personnel who might incorporate into our district curriculum and share it with other teachers throughout the district.

In the future I will be recommending additional staff development and trainings for teachers on how to successfully carry out interventions in their classrooms.  These may be held at the campus or district level.  The trainings may include information on how to come up with effective interventions, how and when to offer these interventions to students, and tools on how to monitor the success of these interventions.

References (Final Section)

Dexter, D. and Hughes, C. (2012). Progress Monitoring Within A Response –to-Intervention Model. RTI Action Network. Retrieved from http://www.rtinetwork.org/

Jones, D. (2010). RTI in Elementary Schools. Louisiana Department of Education. Retrieved from http://www.doe.state.la.us/

Mellard, D. (2011) Responsiveness to Intervention & Implementation in Schools. Great Schools. Retrieved from http://www.greatschools.org/

Mellard, D., McKnight, M. & Deshler, D. (2007) The ABCs of RTI. National Research Center of Disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.nrcld.org/

Stevens, S. (2006). Response to Intervention (RTI) Really Terrific Instruction. RSD Louisiana. Retrieved from http://rsdla.net/

Tackett, K. Baker, S. & Scammacca, N. (2009) Implementing Response to Intervention: Practices & Perspectives from Five Schools. Center on Instruction. Retrieved from http://www.centeroninstruction.org/

Action Research Plan

Action Research Project

Improving the Reading Intervention Component of the RTI Process

1.    Setting the Foundation

After meeting  with my principal, assistant principal and counselor it was determined that their was a real need in improvement of the reading intervention component of our campus’ RTI process.

2.    Analyzing Data

Upon gathering data in regards to this problem, it showed that there were a large number of students being brought up by teachers for entrance in the Tier 1 phase of the RTI process. These students were falling below grade level in reading and the teachers did not have the necessary materials to attempt intervention in their classrooms.

3.    Developing Deeper Understanding

In discussing the problem with my principal, assistant principal, counselor and teachers, it was determined that their was a real need for quality reading intervention materials readily available for teachers to use with these below level students in their classrooms prior to bringing them up for discussion in RTI meetings.

4.    Engage in Self-Reflection

Do I possess enough knowledge of reading instruction to successfully select quality activities for use with reading intervention?

Where will I find the appropriate resources and activities?

How will I distribute these to the teachers effectively?

How will I monitor the success and use of these activities in the classroom?

5.    Exploring Programmatic Patterns

To avoid this project becoming to large and overwhelming, I have decided to narrow the scope of this project to include only third grade students and teachers. This will allow me the ability of closely monitoring the implementation, easily evaluating whether in alterations or adjustments need to be made along the way. If this project is successful, I hope to add in the other grade levels in the future.

6.    Determining Direction

Am I clear in what I am trying to solve?

Have I addressed all skills and resources?

Am I using a collaborative approach?

Are my timelines realistic?

Will I be able to monitor the project?

How will I evaluate the project’s success?

How will I revise and improve the project based on results?

7.    Taking Action for School Improvement

          

Action Planning Template
Goal: To reduce the number of third grade students being moved from Tier 1 to Tier 2 in the RTI process due to below grade reading levels, while enabling teachers to successfully conduct reading interventions with their students in their own classrooms using easily accessible quality activities.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Research, alter and compile relevant and quality reading intervention activities for use by the third grade teachers with their below grade level readers.	-Myself -Counselor	July 1st- August 15th, 2012	-District RTI materials -Assorted RTI/Reading Interventions from other sources (districts, campuses, websites, learning blogs, etc…)	-Relevance to the needs of our campus - Ease of use by teachers - Student gains in reading levels
Meet with the third grade teachers to establish a baseline for making a list of students whom will be looked at during research	-Myself -Third Grade Teachers	September 1st- October 15th, 2012	-WRAP Results -Guided Reading Levels -Reading Test Scores (ITBS) -Reading average	Successful completion of list of third graders who are reading below grade level
Third Grade Teachers will use reading intervention materials in their classroom with their below grade level readers.	Third Grade Teachers	October 15th, 2012 - June 1st, 2013	Reading Intervention Activities	Students reading levels and test scores on the rise, alter and adjust activities as necessary.
Meet with the third grade teachers at RTI meetings, team meetings, and individually to discuss the success of their below grade level readers.	-Myself -Third Grade Teachers -Counselor -Principal/ Assistant Principal	October 15th, 2012- June 1st, 2013	-WRAP Results - Guided Reading Levels - Test Scores	Students reading levels and test scores on the rise, alter and adjust activities as necessary.
Look at the numbers of students remaining in Tier 1, those who have advanced to Tier 2 and those who have been exited from the RTI process.	-Myself -Counselor -Principal/ Assistant Principal	May 1st – June 1st, 2013	-Tier Reports -Intervention Lists	The number of students at various levels of the RTI process. If the project has shown significant declines in the numbers of students advancing and remaining in RTI, then begin to add activities for the remaining grade levels.

8.    Sustain Improvement

Report and share the success of my project with the rest of the campus, other ELA Peer Facilitators and parents. Broaden the project to include the remainder of the grade levels on my campus and strive to research alter and compile quality reading intervention activities for all teachers.