7:30 - 8:15 a.m. Registration, Continental Breakfast and Exhibit Area open for interaction
8:15 – 9:45 a.m. Session 1 Workshops
Room A
Middle School
Level
Join us on our journey as we guide you over pitfalls to the treasures hidden within the RTI Pyramid. Follow, as we wind our way through student placement & intervention scheduling, the search for appropriate programs & the tools that will monitor progress & drive instructional change, establishment of fidelity, and the building of accountability teams. Come along as we attempt to discover the treasures of success for our most needy students and their families.
Little Mill Middle
School, Forsyth
County
Room B
Cheryl Riddle, Assistant Principal; Robin Clark, School Psychologist/Intervention Specialist; Dawn Hudson, Graduation
Coach; Cindy Evans, Reading Literacy teacher; Kim DeRose, Title 1 Reading teacher; and Arthur Wilbert, Title 1 Math teacher
High School Level Ware County High School in Southeast Georgia has developed a reading and math Response to Intervention program that employs two full time interventionists. Employing creative scheduling techniques within a 4X4 block system and by maintaining a high level of flexibility and ingenuity, the WCHS 9 th grade students are universally screened, exposed to research-based classroom instruction, and progress monitored. Computer based interventions are employed at tiers II and III as well as small group instruction while still allowing these students exposure to regular classroom curriculum and learning. The school principal and members of the RTI team will discuss in detail this innovative program.
Ware County HS,
Ware County
Joe Brasfield, Principal; David Hitt, Assistant Principal; Susan Barrow, Reading RTI Interventionist; and Ronzie
Patterson, Math RTI Interventionist
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Room C & D
School System
Level
Clayton County
Clayton County Public Schools has developed a problem solving model for response to intervention that focuses on an area cluster organization that supports principals, teachers, and parents. Academic Galleries, P4 Plan, and Step
Function design are examples of the many promising practices focused on building instructional leadership capacity through the pyramid of intervention. Clayton County initiatives are creating sustainable professional learning schoolbased teams that meet regularly to determine if progress is made using the RigorMeter.
Dr. Mandy Condit, Coordinator of Psychological Services, Tier 3 SST, and 504; Dr. Diana Dumetz Carry, Chief Academic
Officer; Dr. Audrey Greer, Mathematics Coordinator; Dr. Ebony Thomas, Language Arts Coordinator; and Dr. Natasha
Jefferson, Coordinator of Testing and Assessment
Room G
Special Interest
The purpose of this session is to describe the role of universal behavior screening in comprehensive applications of
RTI. Two measures designed for universal behavior screening will be described, followed by a summary of research of the psychometric properties of the measures, correlations with academic (CRCT, CBM) and behavioral variables, and teacher preference. The session will conclude with an example of how universal screening may be used in a behavioral
RTI model.
Dr. Amy L. Reschly, Associate Professor, School Psychology Program, UGA; and Dr. Kathleen
Presenters
Room H
Special Interest
Throughout the language acquisition process there are still indicators that an ESOL student may have additional learning needs. The value of progress monitoring and providing for identification of those students with possible learning challenges is important. Ware County Schools is in its second full year of implementation of the ESOL Student
& the RTI process. Using the dynamic Pyramid of Interventions, modified for ESOL services, all students are served and provided with a quality education.
Dr. Carolina Faust, System ESOL Coordinator and Dr. Theresa Martin, RTI Coordinator, Ware County Schools
Presenters
Room I & J
Elementary Level
Liberty ES,
Cherokee County
If the purpose of an RTI program is to catch struggling students early, then collaboration, cooperation and effective communication is essential. Our RTI program uses the resources, knowledge and the expertise of special education to assist general education and EIP teachers to improve student outcomes. Our presentation will provide examples and suggestions from our RTI Strategy Team in order to utilize resources and personnel within your building effectively.
Victoria Thom, Assistant Principal, Special Education Administrator; Dr. Erin Poindexter, SST Chair; Emily Weber, EIP
Teacher; and Lauren Roach, Special Education
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9:45am – 10:00 a.m. Break
10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Session 2 Workshops
Room A
High School Level
Carrollton HS,
Carrollton City
The program is an academic intervention designed to eliminate superficial excuses and barriers that retard the accruing of credits. The program targets students primarily in tier II of the Pyramid of Interventions. The ingenious design of the program is inclusive of all students by allowing any student facing an academic challenge to become a candidate for the program. The program’s immediate intervention procedures serve to reduce student failure, reduce the loss of credits, curtail student drop out, and increased the graduation rate.
Mark Albertus, Principal; and Aprill Jones-Byrd, Assistant Principal/Graduation Coach
Room B
Elementary Level
Belmont Hills ES,
Cobb County
The presentation will provide participants with an example of how Belmont Hills Elementary School supports the
Response to Intervention process from the administrative level. Many structures for success have been established including roles, data management system, research-based instructional strategies, and an organizational framework to support success. The majority of students needs are met at Tiers 1 and 2, very few move to Tier 3 and fewer to Tier
4. Students are continually grouped and regrouped for remediation and or acceleration. Over 40% of the students are served through the ESOL program, 48%through the Early Intervention Program and 8% are in Special Education programs.
Stacey Abbott, Assistant Principal; and Diane Hart, K-12 Supervisor of Learning Systems and Programs at Central
Office
Room C & D
Special Interest
Presenters
The presentation focuses on the connection between RTI and the preschool classroom. The session will open with a description of how the RTI process and procedures are outlined throughout the school year. Beginning with professional learning surrounding assessment data and its interpretation and response, the session will then follow the course of the school year, highlighting various activities which promote understanding of the RTI process and its delivery/challenges within the preschool-based learning environment.
Suzanne Kennedy, Principal; Zeke Alejandro, Instructional Coach; and Kim Jeffrey, Speech and Language Pathologist
College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center, City Schools of Decatur
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Room G
Special Interest
Presenters
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is the application of evidence-based strategies and systems to assist schools to increase academic performance, decrease inappropriate behavior, and establish positive school cultures. PBIS is not a packaged curriculum, intervention, or practice, rather a framework for selecting and implementing a continuum of evidence-based practices. In Georgia, over 200 school teams have been trained in PBIS implementation. The participants in this session will be provided with an overview of PBIS, practitioner experiences with implementing PBIS, and readiness activities for districts who may be interested in establishing PBIS.
Dr. Jasolyn Henderson, Program Specialist, Positive Behavior Supports, Office of Standards, Instruction, and
Assessment at Georgia Department of Education; Allison Oxford, Murray County Schools; Spencer Gazaway, Murray
County Schools; Kraig Howell, Butts County Schools; Sandy Bonner, Thomasville City Schools and Mary Friessen,
Thomasville City Schools
Room H
System Level
Lincoln County
Participants will gain an understanding of how a rural school system streamlined their instructional day to include a 30minute daily enrichment and intervention (I/E) period in grades 1-12 that provides dedicated time and resources for
RTI. The system also incorporated the use of district-wide benchmark assessments to provide GPS content- related interventions and enrichment during the I/E period. This initiative has given all schools the capacity to overcome students’ skill deficits through the RTI framework while also providing support to students lacking GPS content mastery.
Brian Campbell, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction; Britt McKinney, Instructional Coach; Christie Mattison,
Elementary Assistant Principal; Howie Gunby, Middle School Assistant Principal; and Brittany Barden, High School
Special Education Teacher
Room I & J
Middle School
Level
During this session, we will provide an overview of the RTI process at Woodstock Middle School (WMS). Included in this discussion, will be both Cherokee County School District (CCSD) and WMS expectations and decision point guidelines for student identification. The primary focus will be the structure and organization of WMS RTI committee and its working relationship with the other faculty and staff of the school. This committee along with differentiation and best practices professional learning has led to a more effective RTI process.
Joey Moss, Assistant Principal and Kim Eidson, RTI Building Chair Woodstock MS,
Cherokee County
11:30 – 1:00 p.m. Lunch Athena Ballroom (Rooms E & F) 2010
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1:00 – 1:15pm Break
1:15 – 2:00 p.m. Session 3 Workshops
Room C & D
GaDOE Special
Session
Presenters
Updates on the Department’s efforts to integrate Response to Intervention, the Georgia Pyramid of Interventions, and
SST will be shared, along with what’s happening at the national level.
Albert Patrick "Pat" Blenke, Program Manager & Academic Standards Leadership and Kim Anderson, Policy and
External Affairs/ SERVE
Room I & J
Room A
System Level
GaDOE Special
Session
Presenters
The Department of Education continues to build resources for schools and systems to coordinate their Response to
Intervention (RTI) initiatives. Are you taking advantage of the resources available to you and colleagues?.
Shaun Owen, Academic Standards
2:00 – 2:15 p.m. Break
2:15 – 3:45 p.m. Session 4 Workshops
CCSD has a district wide plan to screen, assess, and meet needs of students in grades prek-5 th with speech- language concerns. Participants will leave with strategies and tools to support students with these concerns as they move through the POI. Participants will also learn research-based strategies to accommodate needs of students with IEPs who exhibit deficits in other areas not already addressed. Examples, tools, and strategies to implement RTI specific to the needs of students with speech/ language concerns will be provided.
Clarke County
Ashly Albritton, District RTI Coordinator and Janice Barnard, Lead Speech Language Pathologist
Room B
Elementary Level
Villa Rica ES,
Carroll County
In a classroom full of students with diverse needs, teachers are challenged to tailor instruction so every student learns. The focus of this workshop is to explore the process of creating and implementing a forty minute intensive instructional block at the beginning of each day. This block is used to support and extend student learning. You will learn how to design a school-wide intervention time to support the RTI process.
Dr. Marissa Ogando, Assistant Principal and Sally Ganey, Instructional Coach
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Room C & D
Special Interest
Presenters
When Madison County began implementing RTI, we approached student assessment in multiple ways, using various sources (e.g., universal screening, progress monitoring, etc.) to guide decision-making. Since then, we have added numerous assessments without taking time to examine which assessments best measure performance and purging unnecessary assessments. In order to meet accreditation standards and facilitate continuous school improvement, we have set about comprehensively evaluating our practices through an assessment mapping process. Using surveys from district personnel, we plan to develop a core set of terms and reasonable district-wide assessment plan. This process should assist educators in using common terminology and the most effective data to guide instructional conversations,
RTI meetings, PLCS, and school-level planning.
Debbie Williamson, RTI/504 Coordinator & School Psychologist, Madison County Schools, and Courtney Glueck, School
Psychology Doctoral Student, University of Georgia
Room G
Special Interest
(repeat session)
Presenters
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is the application of evidence-based strategies and systems to assist schools to increase academic performance, decrease inappropriate behavior, and establish positive school cultures. PBIS is not a packaged curriculum, intervention, or practice, rather a framework for selecting and implementing a continuum of evidence-based practices. In Georgia, over 200 school teams have been trained in PBIS implementation. The participants in this session will be provided with an overview of PBIS, practitioner experiences with implementing PBIS, and readiness activities for districts who may be interested in establishing PBIS.
Dr. Jasolyn Henderson, Program Specialist, Positive Behavior Supports, Office of Standards, Instruction, and
Assessment at Georgia Department of Education; Allison Oxford, Murray County Schools; Spencer Gazaway, Murray
County Schools; Kraig Howell, Butts County Schools; Sandy Bonner, Thomasville City Schools and Mary Friessen,
Thomasville City Schools
Room H
Elementary Level
Johnston ES,
Cherokee County
In this workshop, you will acquire new ideas and strategies to boost student math performance within the context of the Pyramid of Interventions. At Tier 1, innovative school-wide programs and strategies will be presented. Moving on to
Tiers 2 and 3, specific research-based interventions will be shared. Our school’s practices at Tier 4 will be briefly mentioned. At the conclusion of this workshop, we hope you will share our belief that the whole system of interventions and use of AIMSWEB probes has revolutionized our instructional program which works harmoniously to create a framework of support for all students.
Gena Hood, Principal; Tina Word, RtI Building Level Chair; and Ashley Watson, Early Intervention Specialist
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Room I & J
Special Interest
Presenters
The West Georgia RESA has supported 31 school systems in using different tools and products to identify students in need of intervention and to track progress of the interventions. GRASP was created as an inexpensive, user-friendly system to assist educators in identifying students in need of intervention, provide initial diagnostic information about student’s specific needs, and track the progress of individuals and groups of students. This session will share the ongoing progress of middle and high schools using the math assessment of GRASP.
Rachel Spates, Assistant Director, West Georgia RESA and TBA
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