Superintendent’s meeting
December 4 th , 2013
RTI – Response to Intervention
MTSS – Multi-Tiered System of Supports
 RtI/MTSS in Iowa is an every-education decision-
making framework of evidence-based practices in
instruction and assessment that addresses the needs of
all students starting in general education.
 BCLUW CSD, Elementary
 Cedar Falls CSD, Cedar Heights Elementary
 East Marshal CSD, Elementary and Preschool
 Hampton-Dumont CSD, Southside Elementary
 Hubbard-Radcliff CSD, Elementary
 Mason City CSD, Harding Elementary, Lincoln
Intermediate, Roosevelt Elementary
 Cedar Valley Catholic School System, St. Edward
School
Selection Process
 Robust Universal Instruction at Universal Tier
(Content/Instruction)
 Universal Screening (Assessment)
CIA
 Evidence-Based instructional interventions at the
Targeted and Intensive levels (Instruction)
 Progress Monitoring (Assessment)
 Data-Based Decision-Making (System)
December 2011, Iowa DE, Response to Intervention Guidance Document
Reverse Jeopardy – School Improvement for $500
Question: How do we begin implementing RtI/MTSS
processes?
Answer: By establishing solid Universal Tier/core
instruction.
We cannot intervene
our way out of a
core instruction
problem
RtI/MTSS is a
proactive and
preventive process
 Robust Universal Instruction at Universal Tier
(Content/Instruction)
 Universal Screening (Assessment)
CIA
 Evidence-Based instructional interventions at the
Targeted and Intensive levels (Instruction)
 Progress Monitoring (Assessment)
 Data-Based Decision-Making (System)
December 2011, Iowa DE, Response to Intervention Guidance Document
Assessments
Critical Features
Universal
Screening
• Predictive of future academic success
• Identify who is at-risk
• Conducted at least three times a year
• Used with All students
• Brief to administer and score (5 – 15 minutes)
Progress
Monitoring
• Rates of growth and level of performance
• Conducted on a routine basis (weekly)
• Used with students who are at-risk or identified as
having a disability
• Brief to administer and score (1 – 10 minutes)
• Collaborating for Iowa’s Kids • Phase One Implementation • Fall 2013 •
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 Phonemic Awareness – Onset Sounds and Word





Segmenting
Phonics and Decoding – Letter Names, Letter Sounds
and Nonsense Words
Word ID – Sight Words
Rate with Connected Text – Sentence Reading and
Oral Reading Fluency
Concepts of Print – Concepts of Print
Comprehension – aReading Adaptive Assessment
 Oral Language: Picture Naming
 Phonological Analysis: Rhyming and First Sounds
 Alphabetic Knowledge: Sound Identification
 Comprehension: Which One Doesn’t Belong
 Accepts and displays universal
screening and progress monitoring
assessments and data
 Supports tracking individual student
interventions
 Provides secure access to data at all
levels – teacher, building, district,
AEA, state
• Collaborating for Iowa’s Kids • Phase One Implementation • Fall 2013 •
10
 Robust Universal Instruction at Universal Tier
(Content/Instruction)
 Universal Screening (Assessment)
CIA
 Evidence-Based instructional interventions at the
Targeted and Intensive levels (Instruction)
 Progress Monitoring (Assessment)
 Data-Based Decision-Making (System)
December 2011, Iowa DE, Response to Intervention Guidance Document
Standard Treatment Protocol
 Research tells us what works – so why not start there
 Simple rules for selecting students for interventions based




upon screening data
Implementation protocol to improve fidelity
Simple rules (guide points) for examining progress and
moving students to more intensive or less intensive
interventions if needed.
The standard protocols are intimately linked with PD efforts
Iowa will recommend that this approach be used for targeted
(tier 2) instruction.
Standard Treatment Protocol in Iowa – from a recent DE FAQ
document
“A Standard Treatment Protocol (STP) would include a combination of
skills such as decoding, fluency, spelling, vocabulary, and
comprehension. The skills are bundled together across activities so
students have multiple opportunities to practice the skills….
….Regardless of the specific area of need most students will make
gains because the STP will cover multiple skills and bundles them
together to provide meaningful opportunities to practice. This is in
contrast to identifying one skill area and teaching it in isolation without
connecting it to other skills”.
Identifying evidenced-based STP will be part of the work completed by the Iowa Reading Research Center
 Robust Universal Instruction at Universal Tier
(Content/Instruction)
 Universal Screening (Assessment)
CIA
 Evidence-Based instructional interventions at the
Targeted and Intensive levels (Instruction)
 Progress Monitoring (Assessment)
 Data-Based Decision-Making (System)
December 2011, Iowa DE, Response to Intervention Guidance Document
 Membership
 Internal Coach
 Data Coach
 Content Specialist
 Instructional Leader – Building
 External Coach (AEA staff)
Training and ongoing support being facilitated by the DE
(face to face training, coaches webinars, team meeting
structures, knowledge base on TIER)
• Collaborating for Iowa’s Kids • Phase One Implementation • Fall 2013 •
19
Data Based Decision-Making -Collaborative Inquiry:
“Asking the Right Questions at the Right Time”
Q1. Is the Universal Tier
Sufficient
Q5. Have Universal
actions been
effective?
Q4. How will the
implementation of
Universal Tier action be
monitored over time?
Q2. If the Universal
Tier is not sufficient,
what are the needs that
must be addressed?
Q3. How will the
Universal Tier needs
be addressed?
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Collaborative Inquiry Questions:
Operationalizing RtI PracticesUniversal Tier Instruction
1. Is the Universal Tier sufficient?
2. If the Universal Tier is not sufficient, what are the needs that
must be addressed?
3. How will Universal Tier needs be addressed?
4. How will the implementation of the Universal Tier actions be
monitored over time?
5. Have Universal Tier actions been effective?
Evaluation
Needs
Assessmen
t
Implementa
tion
Planning
Collaborative Inquiry Questions:
Operationalizing RtI Practices Targeted /Intensive Tiers
6.
Which students need support in addition to the Universal Tier?
7.
Which of the Targeted and/or Intensive Tier options is needed to meet the
needs of identified students?
8.
How will the Targeted and/or Intensive Tier options be implemented?
9.
How will the implementation of the Targeted and Intensive Tiers be
monitored over time
10. Using the data and information, which students need changes to the Tiers
they are receiving?
Evaluation
Needs
Assessmen
t
Implementa
tion
Planning
 Big Idea- Use data (Universal Screening data) to
determine if universal tier instruction is meeting
the needs of students and to begin identifying
students who are at-risk for not meeting end of
year outcomes
 Connection with CIP - Needs Assessment
RtI
~1-5%
Intensive Tier:
Individualized, intensive,
evidence-based
instruction for a few
students
Targeted Tier:
Small group, targeted,
evidence-based
instruction for some
students
~5-10%
Universal Tier:
Robust instruction
in the IELS & Iowa Core
For All Students
~80-90% of Students
24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkK1bT8ls0M
Percent of students at or above benchmark
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
71%
64%
70%
71%
65%
62%
58%
53%
35%
Overall Pre K
Kdg
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
Area
Result
Number of sites with overall 6 out of approx. 89 sites
results above 80%
(6.95%)
Range of percent of
students on track across
schools
29% to 89%
Average percent of students 63.66%
on track
33%
29 Schools
60%
53 Schools
% of schools needing intensive
universal support
% of schools needing targeted
universal support
% of schools needing no
additional universal support
7%
6 schools
 Big Idea: Multiple sources of data are used to determine
the root cause as to why universal tier is not sufficient.
 Connection with CIP - Needs assessment
 Einstein is quoted as having said that if he had one
hour to save the world he would spend fifty-five
minutes defining the problem and only five minutes
finding the solution.
 This quote illustrates an important point: before
jumping right into solving a problem, we should step
back and invest time and effort to improve our
understanding of it.
Collaborative Inquiry - Question #2:
Digging Deeper – K-6 Building Blocks
- Thematic Organizers
Universal Tier
Triage
- Desired Practices
(coming 2014-15)
Instructional
Time
Collaboration
Q2 – If
Universal Tier
is not
sufficient,
what are the
needs that
must be
addressed?
Assessment for
Learning
Instructional
Materials and
Practices
Enacted
Curriculum
Collaborative Inquiry – Question #2
Digging Deeper – K-6 Leveled Questions
- What questions leading to Why questions and next steps
- Progression of advances in practice
(Level 1 questions will be focused on during the 2013-14 school year)
Building Block
Level 1 Question**
Instructional time
Is there a protected, scheduled 60-120 daily literacy block?
Enacted and Learned Curriculum
Do administrators and teachers regularly engage in
Professional Learning focused on the Iowa Core/Early
Learning literacy standards?
Instructional Materials and
Practices
Do all teachers have access to a comprehensive
Universal/ELA materials for use school-wide?
Assessment for Learning
Are teachers collecting daily evidence of student learning
based on learning goals and success criteria?
Collaboration
Are administrators, teaching staff and parents utilizing data
to work as a collaborative team to promote positive
individual outcomes?
**Currently, there are up to 4 levels of questions developed for each building block
 Standard Treatment Protocol (tier 2)
 Collaborative Inquiry for Question 2 – Levels 2, 3 and 4
 Diagnostic Assessment Processes
 Intensive intervention resources (tier 3)
 Implementation monitoring
 Next “roll out” phase
 Given the current emphasis on Universal Tier instruction
(and at least initially away from the development of
individual interventions), how might the RtI conversations
in your district change?
 How can we improve our conversations around Universal
Tier content, instruction and assessment issues?
 What data do we currently use to answer the question: Is
our Universal Tier Sufficient? How could we get even
better at using these data?
 How do our staff currently use the “collaborative inquiry
questions”? What could be done to make these questions
become more central to our data-based decision-making
discussions?