SPED 5030 – Required Online Module

RTI frameworkColorado Growth Model

Council for Exceptional Children

Jessica E Hough

RTI FrameworkWhat is RTI?

How does it work?

What is RTI?

Response to Intervention, RtI, is a system put in place in public schools to identify and assist at risk students before they fall too far behind.

The reason for this is because catching an at risk student early and providing them with the support that they need drastically increases the chances of that student being successful.

How Does it Work?

According to National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, the following essential elements can be found when we take a look at how states, schools, and districts fit RTI into their work. In general, RTI includes:

*Screening children within the general curriculum (not recommending for Special Education until after the process is over*Tiered instruction of increasing intensity (within the classroom at first, conscious efforts for differentiation, etc*Action-based instruction*Close monitoring of student progress through intensive and purposeful data instruction*Informed decision making (usually as a team of teachers) regarding next steps for individual students.

The RTI Process

The RtI process can differ from school to school and student to student based on the particular needs of the student, and whether these needs are behavioral, academic, or both.

The most important part of the RTI process is the continual evaluation of data and the action oriented plan that is determined based on this data.

RTI Process –Visual Representation

RTI Process –Visual Representation

RTI - Colorado In the state of Colorado, Response to Intervention focuses

on six components: Leadership - commitment from school and district leaders School Climate and Culture - BPS systems are effective

and behavior needs to be explicitly taught Problem Solving - must involve a team of people looking at

student achievement data Progress Monitoring - diagnostic, formative, and

summative assessments are used to monitor progress Curriculum and Instruction - see three-tiered system below Family and Community Involvement - share information

with parents, they know students best

RTI @ My School – WDP

In support of every student who enters our school doors, West Denver Prep is passionately committed to three Core Beliefs: Every child deserves a demanding, standards-based

education. Accountable community develops character. Great teachers are essential for academic excellence.

RTI @ My School - WDP

To help us achieve our goal of giving every child a demanding standards-based education, we created a student intervention plan to help all students achieve success and support them regardless of their needs. West Denver Prep strives to respond to student needs and provide early interventions to ensure student success. Our Response to Intervention system is comprised of tiered interventions that allow us to respond to students needs more quickly and effectively.

RTI @ My School - WDP All students at West Denver Prep begin the year at a Tier 1 level of intervention.

Tier 1 interventions include a longer school day and year, scaffolded packets, differentiated instruction, 100 minutes of math and 150 minutes of literacy day, graphic organizers, and goal oriented investment and motivation.

Students who receive interventions on a Tier 2 level qualify for 6-week-long tutoring sessions (1 hour a day, 4 days a week). Approximately 25% of West Denver Prep students qualify for Tier 2 interventions by receiving less than 65% on a reading, writing, or math RAP test, having less than a 65% average on exit tickets, teacher referrals, and/or other internal assessments. Math and literacy tutoring at the Tier 2 level can include data driven remediation (from exit tickets and RAP analysis), advisory/parent conferences and communication (phone or written), administrator/student/parent conferences, and/or individual teacher/student conferences around goals, progress, and performance.

Our third tier of intervention supports fewer than 5% of students at West Denver Prep. Teachers can refer students to the Student Intervention Team (SIT) if they believe a student qualifies for Tier 3 interventions. The Student Intervention Team will review all the data that has been compiled on a student and bring together a team of professionals to provide necessary support for individual students. SIT committee members meet once a month to talk about each individual referral to determine what students need to be moved to a level 1 intervention within SIT.

RTI @ WDP – Visual Representation

The Colorado Growth ModelWhy is this model different?

-Video Qs and Answers

The Colorado Growth Model The Colorado Growth Model is a new system for measuring

student growth in Colorado that was applied by the Colorado Department of Education in 2008.

The idea supporting this model is that students need to be looked at over time and not be "rated" on proficiency alone. As a result of this model, students can be compared to their peers in terms of their growth in one year.

Teachers can be evaluated in terms of their student growth instead of their student proficiency. This is much more fair for teachers because students come into our classrooms at all different levels so it makes more sense to measure a students growth instead of their final proficiency.

The CGM tells us how individual students (or a cohort of students) improve from year to year towards the Colorado State Standards.

Why is this model different?

Write the three introductory “new” questions about student evaluation. How do we know if students and schools are making enough

progress?

What needs to be done to meet goals and standards within desired time frames?

How do we close achievement gaps between different groups of students? 

Why is this model different? Summarize the analogy used to explain the shift in thinking

about how students are evaluated (Maya and Emma) The analogy used shows two girls, Maya and Emma, and how they progress within one year and over multiple years. We see that Maya jumps three inches higher than the other. This shows that some students grow within one year and become proficient, while others are not. Then we see that Emma actually jumped five inches higher this year that last, while Maya didn’t show any growth. The Colorado growth model isn’t focused with one single score in one single year. It is focused on growth over time. Rather than evaluate students on one assessment or one data point, we need to look at the academic growth over time and over years to see how students are progressing, or perhaps not progressing over time.

Why is this model different?

What does the narrator mean when he states that “we are taking a longer view”?

The narrator means that the Colorado Growth Model focuses on student’s academic growth over time, instead of on just one assessment within one school year. How is a growth percentile determined?

A growth percentile is determined by what students at a similar proficiency level achieve over time. Students are placed into a cohort with similar performing students across the state. Then, each student’s individual growth is compared against their cohort’s growth. That ratio is the growth percentile.

Why is this model different? What implications does this method of evaluating students have for

proficient and advanced students?This method means that we need to continue pushing these students to reach an even higher level of growth, and we can see that growth relative to their peers in their cohort. These students cannot be satisfied with proficient – they still need to grow and we need to help them grow over time.

What does it mean that the Colorado Legislature has deemed the Colorado Growth Model to be the “Cornerstone of Accountability”?

It is the cornerstone of accountability because it holds schools, teachers, and students accountable to constantly be improving, growing, and learning from year to year. It pushes students to reach high academic growth and to never be satisfied, but to always strive for more learning. Colorado sees growth as the top indicator of school, teacher, and student success. The highest test scores not important in Colorado. Rather, the highest growth is valued.  

Why is this model different? What do you think are the implications of this model for teachers in Colorado?This model puts more work on the teachers to differentiate and to reach kids at all levels so they can continuously grow. This means that the lower students should be showing growth, but also the highest students should ALSO be showing growth. The accountability is on the teacher to support their students’ learning and to hold them to those high expectations of growth for every single student. All students have a potential to grow. It’s up to the teacher to figure out how to support each student. Furthermore, the teacher needs to instill the growth mindset in each of his/her students because a lot of them are used to failing or a lot of them are used to staying where they are at and coasting through. We need to instill the message of malleable intelligence and the growth mindset- work hard, get smart. What does the narrator state are the 3 essential questions about student

performance? What is the achievement level and academic growth of an individual student? What should the growth be in order for a student to reach desired achievement

goals in the future, as set by laws and policies? What is a realistic plan and how far can we help them perform in a given time

frame?

Why is this model different?

Return to the SchoolView page of the Colorado Growth Model website and explore the information about your school.

My school is the godfather campus of the WDP campuses. (Federal Campus) We were in the top 10 in the school accountability framework, and we scored very well in math, reading, and writing. Compared to the other WDP campuses, we did not show as much growth, however.

CGM @ my school - WDP

We continually track CSAP data to see how students improve from 6th – 8th grade at WDP

We also use NWEA as our benchmark to see student growth over time (3 tests within each grade)

We focus on student growth over time, thereby following the Colorado Growth Model

Council for Exceptional Children

What is the CEC?

Council for Exceptional Children

The Council for Exceptional Children provides professional developments for teachers, parents and other educators about several different aspects within special education.

For example, there have been professional development sessions on -Mental Health Disorders, ADHD, Autism, Reading Disablities

Council for Exceptional Children

The CEC has a published journal that is released quarterly and follows several different special education topics. The CEC also contributes to policy and support for students with special needs.

Council for Exceptional Children In order to help teachers and administrators with the

support necessary, there are a variety of services offered by the CEC, including:

Professional development opportunities and resources 17 divisions for specialized information Journals and newsletters with information on new research

findings, classroom practices that work, federal legislation, and policies

Conventions and conferences Special education publications

The Support for Teachers page has a wealth of information and resources that teachers can assist teachers in meeting the needs of their diverse student populations.

Connection to RTI and CGM The CEC is helpful in answering questions regarding the

Colorado Growth Model such as: -“How do we measure Special Education students?" -"What is a valid and realistic measure of growth for students with special needs?“

As teachers, we can use the information we analyze through the CGM and the RtI process to help meet the needs of our students.

All three of these resources provide data that can help tailor our instruction by differentiating for our students and providing each and every one of them with the support that they need to succeed and reach their full potential.

For more information about CEC please visit their website where you will find a wealth of information:http://www.cec.sped.org/am/template.cfm?section=Home

Thank you!