PROBLEM STATEMENTS
IN
PROBLEM-SOLVING,
RtI PROCESSES
FSSM Summer Institute, June 26, 2007
Charlotte Smith, NCSP,csmith2@nkcsd.k12.mo.us
INTRODUCTIONS
Who I am.....Who are You?
Housekeeping…bathrooms, “Parking Lot”
What my colleagues and I have been doing
on the other side of the state.
2
NEWS FROM OUT WEST
Mid 1990’s North Kansas City School District:
Increasing commitment to early intervention
and School-Based Problem Solving Teams
Mid 1990’s: General Educator hired as full-time
district level problem solving team facilitator
for training and support of gen ed staff
Steadily increasing # school psychologists to
meet the NASP recommended 1:1000 ratio
and serve on each PST; expanding role of
school psychologists
Using 15% of IDEA money for prevention, early
intervention. Ex: Subs for gen ed teachers to3
attend trainings, administer benchmark probes
…MORE NEWS
2005/2006: RtI replaces IQ/Achievement
discrepancy in local compliance plan for
SLD eligibility determination
CBM added to District Assessment Plan
CBM benchmarking for students and
frequent Progress Monitoring used by
teachers to monitor progress of children at
risk, including progress toward iep goals
for students with disabilities.
4
NORTH KANSAS CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
600
500
400
Referrals
SLD
300
ND
200
100
0
1999-2000
2000-2001
2001-2002
2002-2003
2003-2004
2004-2005
2005-2006
2006-2007
Referrals
511
453
511
549
389
299
151
158
SLD
178
130
126
133
77
54
37
59
ND
156
135
198
212
155
105
50
51
5
WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES
At the end of this workshop, learners will
be able to:
1. Give the 5 key elements in an effective
problem statement.
2. Write a good problem statement for
reading, math, and written language.
3. List appropriate baseline measures
for each identified problem.
4. Compare identified student’s
performance with “average”.
6
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM
SOLVING PROCESS?
#1
Problem Definition and
Baseline Measurement
What is the problem?
#4 Evaluation and Data-Based
Decision Making
Did it work? If not,
consider repeating
process
#2
Problem Analysis
and Intervention Development
What will we do about it?
#3
Implementation of Interventions
Carry out the intervention,
collect data, and
revise as needed
Handout: PS 1
7
Team Activity: Problems Statements
Then, Now & Future
8
PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
How do we identify problems EARLY?
How do we identify problems
ECONOMICALLY (time & money)
How can classroom teachers do this and
everything else on their plates?
How do we determine if differences in
performance are important? (How do we
know if it’s really a problem?)
9
HOW TO IDENTIFY PROBLEMS?
UNIVERSAL SCREENING
Just like we screen all kids for vision and hearing, we
need to screen regularly for academic achievement.
We need to screen early before problems become big.
FORMATIVE vs. SUMMATIVE
Universal Screening Tools Need To Be:
• Easy to Administer by classroom teachers
• Direct measures of the skill or behavior to be
changed
• Short, simple & can be repeated frequently.
• Reliable and Valid
• Good indicators of overall performance in an
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academic area
COMMON CBM MEASURES
• Letter naming fluency
• Letter sound fluency
• Phonemic
segmentation fluency
• Nonsense word
fluency
• Oral reading fluency
• Maze fluency
• Written Expression
• Spelling
• Quantity array
• Number identification
• Quantity
discrimination
• Missing number
• Math Computation
• Math concepts and
applications
Handouts: PS 2 “AIMSweb
Probes – General Info.”
PS 3 “Curriculum Bases
Measurement Probes” 11
OBSERVATIONAL TECHNIQUES
• Anecdotal recording
• Frequency and rate recording
• Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC)
recording
• Duration and latency recording
• Interval recording
Collect data on target student
And average peer comparison.
Teach the behavioral skill (eg: Study Skills)
Look at academics first!
Solving ACADEMIC problems usually solves
BEHAVIOR problems!
12
Universal Screening
Benchmark ALL Students
3 Times Per Year (F, W, S)
For teachers and Students
• Early Identification of At Risk
• Instructional Planning
• Progress Monitoring
For Parents
• Facilitates communication
• Accountability
For administrators
• Resource Allocation
• Accountability
13
For Teachers: Classroom Report
From Aimsweb: www.aimsweb.com
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PROBLEM DEFINITION
What is a good problem statement?
What tools and/or resources are needed to
get information for a good problem
statement?
Who should write the problem statement,
and how is the problem statement
presented?
15
HOW DO WE DEFINE A PROBLEM?
Problem Statements
with rhythm…
•
•
•
•
•
Setting (when presented with what task?)
An observable behavior (what skill?)
Measure ( calculate level and rate)
Baseline (defining the level of performance)
Average peer comparison (typical peer)
Beth Wood
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Sample Problem Statement
• S: When presented with a 3rd gr.
oral reading fluency probe,
• A: Wilbur is able to read aloud
correctly
• M: (words) in one minute
• B: thirty-five words
• A: while an average peer* reads
78 words aloud correctly in
one minute.
*handout packet: PS 4 “AIMSweb Growth Table” 17
Sample Problem Statement
• S: When presented with a 6th
grade math computation probe*,
• A: Amy is able to compute and
write correctly
• M: (digits) in four minutes
• B: 20 digits
• A: while an average peer** writes
27 digits correctly in 4 minutes.
*Handout: PS 5 “AIMSweb Growth Chart –
Mathematics Computation”
(Box and Whiskers)
18
AIMSweb / Harcourt with permission 6.07
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Box and Whisker Charts
____________________________________
Student is above the
90 %ile and is well
above average.
90th %ile
75th %ile
50th %ile
25th %ile
Target
10th %ile
20
Sample Problem Statement
• S: When presented with a story
starter*,
• A: Joe is able to correctly write
• M: (CWS) in three minutes
• B: 13 Correct Writing Sequences
• A: while an average 3rd grade peer
writes 17 Correct Writing
Sequences in 3 minutes.
*Example: “I was sound asleep when … ”
Handout: PS 6 “AIMSweb Growth Chart, Written Expression – Correct Writing
Sequences”
21
SCORING WRITTEN EXPRESSION
Total Words Written - TWW (Fluency)
Simple count of the number of words.
Correct Writing Sequences – CWS
Two adjacent writing units that are correct
within the context of what is written.
>All > of > the > kids > started > to > laugh. >
8 CWS
>All > of > the > kids > started > to lauf.
6 CWS
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AIMSweb / Harcourt with permission 6.07
23
SAMPLE PROBLEM STATEMENT
Letter Naming Fluency
Problem Statement (1/08/06)
When given a Letter Naming Fluency probe,
Michael is able to correctly identify
18 letter names in one minute.
The average first grade student
can identify 38 letter names in one minute.
24
SAMPLE PROBLEM STATEMENT
Letter Sound Fluency
Problem Statement (1/08/06)
When given a Letter Sound Fluency probe,
Michael is able to correctly identify
10 letter sounds in one minute.
The average first grade student
can identify 27 letter sounds in one minute.
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.
CLASSROOM TEACHERS WRITE
PROBLEM STATEMENTS
Universal Screening Data Available
For children identified as very low (or high)
Use screening data
Areas without Universal Screening Data
Administer 3 CBM probes and take median
for best baseline estimate. Administer same
probes to three average peers and take
median for average peer comparison.
Handout PS 7: “Sample Problem Statements”
DVD
26
Handout Packet: PS 8
Find “Writing Problem Statements”.
Work with your team to practice writing
problem statements in each of the areas.
Choose one problem statement you’d like to
share with the group, and write it on the
overhead transparency.
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WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
If you are a new principal in a building, and
you discovered through fall benchmarking
that an unacceptable percentage of your
students are at or below the 10 percentile
in measures of reading. What would you
do?
Handout PS 9 “Problem Solving
Team Request for Assistance”
28
K-1 Fall - Spring Progress (CBM)
Percent of students in the bottom 10th Percentile
FALL
WINTER
SPRING
FALL
WINTER SPRING
7%
K(
FL
N)
K(
W
LN
)
K(
SL
N)
K(
FL
S)
K(
W
LS
)
K(
SL
S)
1(
W
RF
)
1(
SR
F)
42%
50%
40% 34%
25%
30%
14%
20%
6% 5%
2.00%
10%
0%
Grade level
Chad Sutton & Briarcliff Staff, North Kansas City SD
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Team Activity: Problems Statements
Then, Now & Future
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Beth Wood, Problem Team Facilitator, North
Kansas City School District
Steven Beldin, Director of Pupil Services,
North Kansas City School District
Dr. Dave Tilly, Heartland AEA, Iowa
Dr. Erica Lembke, University of Missouri
National Center on Student Progress
Monitoring www.studentprogress.org
Harcourt www.aimsweb.com
31
CBM PROBES
www.aimsweb.com (fee based)
www.interventioncentral.org
http://dibels.uoregon.edu
www.studentprogress.org
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Charlotte Smith
North Kansas City School District
2000 NE 46th St.
KC MO 64116
816.413.5113
csmith2@nkcsd.k12.mo.us
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