April 2012

Wh o
Wh en
Wh y
?
Wh at
Ho w
Wh ere

Policy
5310
Policy
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ESEA/
IDEA
2004
Policy
2510
Improv ed
Studen t
Outco mes
Policy
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Policy
2512

The West Virginia Support for Personalized
Learning (SPL) framework is a state-wide initiative that suggests flexible use of resources to provide relevant academic, social/emotional and/or behavioral support to enhance learning for ALL students.
SPL is designed to improve outcomes for students with a variety of academic and behavioral needs.

• Effective leadership at all levels is crucial for the implementation of SPL.
• Positive school culture provides the foundation on which all instruction occurs and all students are engaged in learning.
• Collaboration among educators and families is the foundation of effective problem-solving and instructional decision-making.
• Ongoing and meaningful involvement of families increases student success.
• Student results are improved when ongoing academic and behavioral performance data are used to inform instructional decisions.

• ALL Students can learn and achieve high standards as a result of effective teaching.
• ALL students must have access to a rigorous standards-based curriculum and research-based instruction.
• Intervening at the earliest indication of need is necessary for student success (Prek-12).
• A comprehensive system of multi-level instruction is essential for addressing the full range of student needs.
• ALL members of the school community must continue to gain knowledge and develop expertise in order to build capacity and sustainability.

Curricul um and
Instructi on
Assess ments
Leader ship
Improve d
Student
Outcom es
School
Climate and
Culture
Teams and
Proces ses
Family and
Commu nity
Partner ships

State
– Guidance Document
– Self-assessment tools
– Website providing professional development materials and resources
RESA
– Providing Professional Development
– Facilitating sharing and building consensus
– Forming Regional Leadership Team
District
– Developing leadership roles
– Defining and communicating criteria used to make decisions
– Providing professional development
– Acquiring and disseminating relevant resources
School
– Supporting team problem-solving
– Developing a plan to strengthen essential components of SPL
– Managing time and schedules to focus on identified needs

• Positive school climate consists of three primary domains:
• Engagement
• Safety
• Environment
• A positive school culture exists when key elements of a positive school climate are in place.

Practices
• Defining and consistently teaching expectations of behavior for students, parents and educators
• Acknowledging and recognizing students and adults consistently for appropriate behaviors
• Monitoring, correcting or reteaching behavioral errors
• Engaging teachers in a collaborative team problemsolving process that uses data to guide instruction
• Including families in culturally-sensitive, solutionfocused approach to supporting student learning

Problem-Solving Team
• Composed of teachers (general and special educators), specialists, parents and school level administrator
• Plans intensive instruction for students
• Promotes shared responsibility for student learning
• Collects and reviews data
• Evaluates responsiveness to intense instruction

Problem-Solving Process

Problem-Solving Process
Team Members
1. School Level Administrator
2. Meeting Facilitator
3. Recorder
4. Time Keeper
5. Parent
6. Persons with Expertise in:
• Data
• Customized Instruction
—Academic/ Behavioral
• Community Resources
• Progress Monitoring
Steps in the Process
1. Identify and Define Needs
What is the Problem?
2. Analyze the Problem
Why is the Problem Occurring?
3. Develop a Plan
What are we going to do about it?
4. Implement and Monitor the Plan
How will we monitor progress?
5. Evaluate and Adjust the Plan
Did it work?

• Effective partnerships include:
– Parents
– Families
– Students
– Community Members
– Educators
• Indicators of effective partnerships:
– Sharing information
– Problem-solving
– Celebrating student successes
• Central to effective partnerships is the recognition of shared responsibility and ownership of student challenges and successes.

Key Roles
• Collaborate with teachers regarding identified need
• Share information about child and family as appropriate
• Support student learning at home
• Attend Problem-Solving Team meeting
• Partner in instructional planning and progress monitoring

Purpose of Assessment
• Identify strengths and needs of individual students
• Inform problem-solving process
• Inform instruction and necessary adjustments
• Evaluate the effectiveness of instruction at different levels of the system (e.g. classrooms, school, district)
• Inform educational decisions

Screening/Interim
Purpose: Inform determination of risk status and indicate need for additional support and/or assessment
Formative/Classroom
Purpose: Determine response to instruction and indicate direction for most appropriate instructional adjustments
Progress Monitoring
Purpose: Determine if students are making progress toward specific skills, processes and understandings and inform school-wide action plans
Diagnostic
Purpose: Assist teachers in adjusting the type and degree of scaffolding, in differentiating instruction, and in picking up patterns of strengths and weaknesses
Summative
Purpose: Inform the system and provide a longitudinal view of curricular strengths and weaknesses

CORE
• Provides foundation of curriculum and school organization that has a high probability (80% of students responding) of bringing students to a high level of achievement in all areas of development/content
• Choose curricula that has evidence of producing optimal levels of achievement (evidence-based curriculum)
TARGETED
• Supplemental curriculum aligned with CORE and designed to meet the specific needs of targeted group (15%)
INTENSIVE
• Focused curriculum designed to meet the specific needs of the targeted group and/or individual (5%)

CORE Instruction
• Utilizes differentiated and scaffolded instruction to meet students’ needs
• Incorporates small group activities
• Focuses on the most critical standards and objectives
• Utilizes evidence from summative and ongoing formative assessment to make instructional decisions
• Maximizes instructional time
• Emphasizes 24/7 learning

TARGETED Support
SPL endorses the value of instructional supports at the
TARGETED level including:
– Differentiating, scaffolding and using multi-modal strategies to engage students
– Providing explicit instruction that emphasizes skill building as well as contextualized instruction that emphasizes application of skills
– Peer interaction to scaffold student understanding
– Teacher use of learning progressions within the standards and objectives as guidance for constructing scaffolding
– Accommodations that affect how a student learns, not what they are expected to learn

INTENSIVE Support
SPL endorses the value of instructional supports at the INTENSIVE level including:
– Intensified scaffolding and time: suggested to occur 3 to 5 times per week for class sessions of 30 to 60 minutes
– Smaller groups of similarly-skilled and needs-alike students or one-to-one
– Most likely to occur outside the general education classroom
– May occur before, during or after the school day dependent on available resources and personnel.
SPL does not promote:
– INTENSIVE support replacing opportunity to receive instruction in science, social studies, physical education and the arts
– Isolated skill drill requiring students to independently make generalizations and connections back to the CORE content.

CORE
Progress
Monitorin g
Problem
-Solving
Improv ed
Stude nt
Outco mes
Screenin g
TARGET
ED
INTENSI
VE

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FOCUS: all students
INSTRUCTION: WV Next Generation Content
Standards and Objectives and instructional practices that are evidence-based and incorporate differentiated instruction and scaffolding
LOCATION: general education classroom
ASSESSMENT: screening/interim, formative/ classroom; screening all-beginning, some-middle, end

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BEHAVIOR SUPPORT: effective school-wide behavior supports
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GROUP SIZE: flexible grouping-students move to groups as appropriate
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TIME: sufficient time for mastery of content and behavioral expectations
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GOAL: demonstrated learning of grade-level standards or above

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FOCUS: students identified through screening as at-risk or as exceeding grade-level standards
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INSTRUCTION: targeted, supplemental instruction delivered to small groups
LOCATION: general education classroom or other general education location within the school; before, during, after school, interim, summer
ASSESSMENT: progress monitoring every 2-3 weeks; diagnostic

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BEHAVIOR SUPPORT: specialized positive behavior plans provided/monitored by teacher, specialists, parents
GROUP SIZE: small groups of students with similar skills and needs
TIME: 15-30 minutes per session, 3-5 sessions per week
LENGTH: 9 weeks minimum prior to INTENSIVE
GOAL: eliminate gap between present achievement and grade-level expectations and the gap between instruction and what students need

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FOCUS: students who have not responded to
CORE and TARGETED level instruction
INSTRUCTION: intensive, supplemental instruction delivered to small groups or individually
LOCATION: general education location within the school; may be pull-out; before, during, after school, interim, summer
ASSESSMENT: progress monitoring every 1-2 weeks; diagnostic

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BEHAVIOR SUPPORT: assessment of student behaviors (FBA) and development of specialized behavior plans with teacher, specialist, parents
GROUP SIZE: individual or very small groups of students with similar skills and needs
TIME: 30-60 minutes per session, 3-5 sessions per week
LENGTH: 9 weeks minimum prior to referral
GOAL: eliminate or narrow gap between present achievement and grade-level expectations and gap between instruction and what students need