Supporting Struggling Students Through Interventions

Teach the ChildrenClick on the picture to show video

Five Steps to Developing a Proactive Intervention Plan

• Identify mastery thresholds• Establish red flags• Develop formative

assessments• Select appropriate

interventions• Monitor your plan

Mastery Baselines• Mastery is not a single point of success,

but a range of successful behaviors.• Mastery is determined by the teacher and

what the standards and curriculum say the students need to know and how well they need to know it.

• Mastery is determined by first looking at a grade baseline for assessments.

• Mastery is also determined through other items that may help you develop a fuller picture.

Mastery Target

Mastery

Proficiency

Minimal

Basic

No Understanding

Red Flags

• “Red Flags” are early-warning signals that students are headed for a destructive struggle and should be:– very clearly defined– hard to ignore– trigger action– focused only on academic concerns, not

student behaviors.

• Example: Students that miss more than 2 problems on a 10 problem math test.

Case Study

• Read the following case study.• Assuming that Principal Mathers has no additional resources to hire after-school tutors, how can he best address this problem.

Here’s How

• Read how Principal Mathers and his school are confronting the question.

• Discuss how this aligns with your decision to deal with the issue.

What is Effective Support?

Effective Support is….• Ongoing• Proactive• Targeted• Accelerative• Learning-focused• Monitored• Managed by a teacher

as advocate

Effective Support is Not..

• As Needed• Reactive• Generalized• Remedial• Behavior-focused• Random• Imposed by a teacher

as adversary

Select Appropriate Interventions

• Interventions provide targeted tools to address a specific concern signaled by a red flag.

• The most effective interventions provide a temporary learning support, are made available on an as-needed basis, and are removed when they are no longer necessary

Consider Progressive Interventions

• Sequencing your interventions so that they progress from least intensive to most intensive gives you options for students who continue to struggle in spite of early supports.

• Progressive interventions help students take ownership over their own learning.

Rules for Interventions

• Interventions should be seamless and unobtrusive.• Interventions should be

designed to get students quickly back on track.• Interventions should be

systematic.

Rules continued

• Interventions should be temporary.• Interventions should be

minimal.• Interventions should be specific.• Interventions should not be

labor intensive

Monitor and Gradually Remove Your Supports

• Use formative assessments to determine whether supports are working.

• Decrease the amount of support you provide for students over time.

• Increase the number of steps students must complete on their own.

• Decrease the frequency of Support.

Instructional Intervention Strategies Handouts

• The packet contains suggested interventions teachers can use to support struggling students.

• The key is determining when a student is beginning to go into a destructive struggle and to have an intervention plan in place to provide them with immediate support.

• Intervention must be proactive!

Planning Interventions

• Interventions should be a part of the lesson planning process.

• Assess what you are teaching and decide what corrective actions will help get my students back on track.

• Be proactive and have these ready to implement the minute a student starts a destructive struggle.

Questions?