RTI2 and Multi-Tiered Behavior Support

Tie Hodack, Executive Director Instructional ProgrammingAlison Gauld, Behavior and Low Incidence Disabilities Coordinator

Special Populations

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Our new accountability system has two overarching objectives

and

Growth for all students, every year

Faster growth for those students who are furthest behind

Beliefs

Every student can learn, demonstrate growth, and has the right to actively participate in high quality, research-based education that maximizes their potential in the least restrictive environment.

Specialized education is a continuum of services, not a place. Relationships with all stakeholders, based on respect and understanding

will result in making decisions in the best interest of ALL students. Every staff member has the responsibility to teach, support and encourage

ALL students. Strong leadership at every level is the foundation of a collaborative and

inclusive environment that supports ALL students. High quality professional learning in conjunction with family and

community support, empowers all stakeholders to collaboratively build capacity for the success of ALL students.

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Key Goals of Special Populations

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Improving Student Outcomes Prevention Intervention Achievement Outcomes

Manage Performance Effective employees at every level of the organization with a focus on

improving student outcomes.

Policy Change

• As of July 1, 2014, RTI² will be the framework used by teams to identify a student with a Specific Learning Disability.

• Final reading approval from State Board of Education was June 21, 2013.

• Phase-In for middle schools by July 1, 2015 and for high schools by July 1, 2016

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PBIS in Tennessee

What do you currently know about the PBIS initiative within the state of Tennessee or within your local school district?

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State PBIS Landscape

Strengths:• 7 PBIS Contracts supporting more than 140 schools across all

three grand regions• Opportunities to improve quality and consistency• Focus on data and data-driven decisions

Areas To Improve• Expertise varies from region to region, district to district• Inconsistent training and support of the 7 contracts and their

work• No state framework or policy, (at this time).

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Using What We Already Have to Build PBIS In TN

What do we have in place that can be used to build PBIS in Tennessee?

Response to Instruction and Intervention Framework

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What Is RTI2 and What It Is Not

Response to Intervention Is:

A set of processes for coordinating high quality service delivery in schools

A multi-tiered, layered instructional approach that prevents problems first, and then brings increasingly intense interventions to students who don’t respond

Making instructional decisions based on data Integrating entitlement programs with general education Providing relevant data for SLD identification Primary goal: Improving academic (and behavioral) outcomes

for all students by eliminating discrepancies between actual and expected performance.

Source: Fletcher, Jack (2013) Classifications and Definitions for the Identification of Learning Disabilities: An Evaluation of the Research. Presentation for RTI²: A School Psychologist’s Guide to Implementation. Murfreesboro, TN.

Response to Intervention is NOT:

Just a Special Education initiative Only for students with disabilities Only for beginning reading A new way to identify students with SLD A way of reducing costs or eliminating special education or the LD

category This year’s summer reform or a short-term implementation based on

“RTI in a Box” A way to fix schools with weak core instruction Source: Fletcher, Jack (2013) Classifications and Definitions for the Identification of

Learning Disabilities: An Evaluation of the Research. Presentation for RTI²: A School Psychologist’s Guide to Implementation. Murfreesboro, TN.

Required Elements:

Universal Screening: The Universal Screening tool will be skills-based and provide national norms. It will be administered 3 times a year for grades K-8 and is recommended for grades 9-12 (see Component 1.3 of the Implementation Guide).

Tier I: Core instruction will be provided to ALL students using grade-level Common Core State Standards in ELA and Mathematics.

Tier II and Tier III: Tiered interventions will be provided in addition to the core instruction provided at Tier I. Interventions will be research-based and will address a student’s area of deficit. They will be provided within the time frames described in Components 3.2 and 4.2 of the RTI² Manual.

Progress Monitoring: Progress monitoring will occur in the specific area of deficit at the frequency described in Components 3.3 and 4.3 of the RTI² Manual.

Required Elements:

District and School RTI² Teams: District and School RTI² Teams will be established per the guidelines outlined in Component 1.2. School teams will meet every 4.5 weeks at a minimum to make data-based decisions that inform instruction/intervention.

Fidelity of Implementation: Fidelity monitoring will occur as described in Components 2.6, 3.6 and 4.6 of the RTI² Manual and Implementation Guide.

Parent Contact/Communication: Parents will be notified of student progress as described in Component 1.6 of the RTI² Manual and Implementation Guide.

Highly trained personnel: Highly trained personnel will provide interventions. Highly-trained personnel are those who are adequately trained to deliver the selected intervention as intended with fidelity.

Areas of Deficit: A Universal Screener will explicitly measure…

Basic Reading Skills (letters, letter sounds, phonological awareness, phonics)

Reading Comprehension Reading fluency Written expression Math calculation (column addition, basic facts, complex

computation, decimals, fractions, conversions, percentages, etc.)

Math reasoning/problem solving (number and operations, base ten, place value, measurement and length, fractions, geometry, algebra, expressions, linear equations etc.)

What does your Universal Screener tell you?

Standards based

Intervene on a standard Tells you what to

reteach/remediate (Tier 1) Adaptive. Task changes

based on student performance

Does not consistently measure the same skill over and over to determine if intervention is working

Skills based

Intervene on skill deficit/need Warning system for your most

at-risk students and identifies discrete skill deficit(s)

Not adaptive. Task does not change based on student performance

Consistently measures same skill

Independent of grade level standard

What is the difference?

What is reteaching? What is intervention?

Reteaching VS. Intervention

Reteaching

Tier I-Common Core Standards Goal is to reteach standards

that students are struggling with rather than specific skill deficits. These are your “bubble kids”.

Standards Based Assessment: Benchmark Assessment Summative Assessment Formative Assessment

Intervention

Tier II/III/Special Education Intervention Goal is provide research

based interventions aligned to specific skill deficit(s) as identified by a universal screener.

Skills Based Assessment: Skills based universal screener

aligned to area(s) of deficit Skills based Progress Monitoring

specific to area(s) of deficit Formative assessment

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Behavior related to RTI2 in Tier I - COREPositive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) follow the same format and principles of RTI2

RTI2 is mandatory as of July 1, 2014

PBIS is a voluntary initiative and is customized and designed for an individual school

Tier 1 = Primary Prevention: clear school-wide behavior guidelines stated in the positive and as observable behavior

Meeting expectations or exceeding expectations is recognized school-wideReinforcement, not punitive

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Tier 1 PBIS cont.

Universal Screener = analysis of behavior data for:• repeat offences (the behavior, not the individual) • areas within the school that are trouble locations for many

students,• Unstructured vs. structured settings• Clear, reasonable expectations• Clear, consistent reinforcement of behaviors• Teacher “buy-in”

Tier II Interventions

A change in intervention will be considered within each tier before moving to the next tier of intervention.

8-10 data points (if progress monitoring every other week) OR 10-15 data points (if progress monitoring weekly) are needed to make a sound data based decision.

Number of data points reflects empirical research required to make an informed data based decision.

The intervention must have empirical evidence supporting its use in remediating the area of suspected disability (i.e., Basic Reading Skills).

A skills based progress monitoring tool must be able to provide evidence that the student did not make a sufficient amount of progress in the area of deficit.

Behavior related to RTI2 in Tier II

Tier II = Secondary Prevention

Small groups of students working on skills related to behavior including social skills, managing emotions, problem solving, impulse control, making and keeping friends

This may occur outside the classroom

Who is available in your school to support students in secondary prevention? Counselors? Teachers? Mental health professionals?

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Tier II and PBIS

Progress Monitoring and Intervention=analysis of behavior data for:• Individuals with repeat offences

– Unstructured vs. structured settings– Clear, reasonable expectations– Clear, consistent reinforcement of behaviors– Clear, consistent redirection of behaviors– Introduction of replacement behaviors or compensatory

strategies

Tier III Interventions

A change in intervention will be considered within each tier before moving to the next tier of intervention.

8-10 data points (if progress monitoring every other week) OR 10-15 data points (if progress monitoring weekly) are needed to make a sound data based decision.

Number of data points reflects empirical research required to make an informed data based decision.

The intervention must be more intense than the intervention provided at Tier II.

A skills based progress monitoring tool must be able to provide evidence that the student did not make a sufficient amount of progress in the area of deficit.

Tier II, Tier III or Sped Intervention: Core Instruction Plus A skill specific intervention

Core Instruction

Tier II

Tier IIISped

Intervention

Multi-Tiered PBIS Supports

School-wide expectations

Tier II—small group, or by

setting

Tier III—individualized

with a behavior plan

Sped Intervention—most intensive

behavior support and intervention

Core instruction plus Intervention (Tier II, Tier III or Sp.Ed)

Core Instruction Plus Tier II (30 minutes daily)

Core Instruction Plus Tier III (45-60 minutes daily)

Core Instruction Plus Sp.Ed Intervention (More Intensive than Tier III)

Behavior related to RTI2 in Tier III

Tier II = Tertiary Prevention

Individual students working on discrete skills related to behavior including social skills, managing emotions, problem solving, impulse control, making and keeping friends

This plan will involve each adult the student interacts with daily

A behavior plan should be developed with protocols for recognizing positive behavior, redirecting, frequent check-ins, clear cause and effect, communication between environments

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Tier III and PBIS

Progress Monitoring and Intervention=analysis of behavior data for:• Individuals with repeat offences

– Throughout various settings– Clear, reasonable expectations– Clear, consistent reinforcement of behaviors including

replacement behaviors– Individualized behavior plan (formal BIP, or non-special

education Behavior Plan)– Intensive behavior intervention including discrete skills

identified by the team as deficits

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Exclusionary Factors

There are many functions of behavior, however, it is critical for teams to determine that none of the following exclusionary factors are the leading cause of the behavior concerns:• Vision, hearing, motor deficits• Intellectual disability• Cultural factors• Limited English proficiency• Economical or environmental disadvantage

Consider this…Special Education is not a place! It is the most Intensive Intervention!

Special Education Interventions: • The student will remain in core, differentiated instruction

(Tier I) within the general education curriculum to the greatest extent possible.

• The same problem solving approach used in the general education RTI² framework will be used in special education.

• Interventions will be tailored to the student in the area of identified disability, and progress toward their IEP goals will be monitored weekly or every other week.

• If students fail to respond to interventions provided through special education, an IEP team meeting will be reconvened.

Consider this…Special Education is not a place! It is the most Intensive Intervention!

After the team determines an area of deficit, the student will receive a research based intervention in his or her specific area of need. Students will receive progress monitoring in the area of deficit and parents will be notified.

Students receiving special education intervention will receive their intervention outside of core instruction to the greatest extent possible.

Special education intervention will be the most intensive interventions provided.

Students may receive intervention from special education and general education at the same time. Focus on the data!

EA’s are used to help children access the core instruction. They are not the intervention.

Implementation Guide

Response to Instruction & Intervention

Implementation Guide

Implementation Guide

Resources• Example schedules• Sample forms• Universal Screener and Intervention Rubrics• Guidance for data based decision making• Gap analysis and Rate of Improvement

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Future Goals

One common state-wide vision and implementation model for all Tennessee schools

Common vocabulary Accessible resources and supports Culture of meeting all students’ needs proactively

Contact Information

Tie HodackTie.Hodack@tn.gov

@HodackTie

Alison GauldAlison.Gauld@tn.gov

@AlisonAGauld