Student Assistance Team Information Session

Presented by Jorge Saenz, SPED Director

October 22, 2015

Agenda

What is RtI? Purpose of SAT Meetings Changes for the 2015-16 School Year SAT Team Required Members Data Sources Online Resources Tiered Interventions Request for Assistance Packet SAT Action Plan SPED Referral Packet Screeners Parent Requests SAT Action Plans (more detail)

Interventions Tasks Data Collection Method Goal Writing

Independent Practice- Team Activity

What is RtI? Let’s look at two different definitions. Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tier approach to the

early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs. The RTI process begins with high-quality instruction and universal screening of all children in the general education classroom. Struggling learners are provided with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to accelerate their rate of learning. Progress is closely monitored to assess both the learning rate and level of performance of individual students. Educational decisions about the intensity and duration of interventions are based on individual student response to instruction. 

Texas Education Agency- Response to Intervention (RtI) is an approach that schools use to help all students, including struggling learners. The RtI approach gives Texas students opportunities to learn and work at their grade level. The idea is to help all students be successful.

What is RtI?

Fabens ISD

Layman’s Terms- The Student Assistance Team (SAT) is the campus-based team entrusted with identifying the academic and/or behavioral needs of struggling students, developing targeted interventions for improvement, and monitoring the effectiveness of those interventions.

Purposes SAT meetings serve the following purposes:

Provide schools with legal safeguards/protection

Provide immediate interventions for students

Increase & enhance teacher capacity, skills, pedagogy

Improve student performance

Foster atmosphere of collaboration

Allow for progress monitoring

Ensure that all measures exhausted before SPED referral

Changes for the 2015-16 school year No longer called TAT, now SAT- focus is on student needs

Flow Chart for SAT process (Tiers 1 & 2)- see handout

RtI Triangles (elementary and secondary levels)

Not an exhaustive list

Will be sent to you in coming weeks

Referrals for SPED will be closely scrutinized

The SPED department may reject parent referral and send referral back to campus SAT Team- PWN

SAT team will develop and implement interventions

Progress monitoring key component

Speech checklist will be part of the Request for Assistance packet

Will be divided into Language, Articulation, Fluency & Voice sections

Will be sent to you in coming weeks

Use of screeners will be made available as a Tier 2 intervention

Academic (Reading, Writing, Math)- Diagnosticians

Speech- Language and Articulation only

Diagnosticians and SLP’s will become part of the Tier 2 SAT meetings

Why make changes??? Special Education

Performance-Based Monitoring Analysis System (PBMAS)

Performance levels (PL)- 0, 1, 2, 3, 4

0 is better than 2, 3, 4

Two indicators of major concern:

Indicator 13- SPED Representation

State Goal- 0- 8.5% of total student enrollment

Fabens ISD (2015)- 10.5%= PL 1

Fabens ISD (projected 2016)- 10.7%- PL 1 but close to PL 2

Indicator 16- SPED LEP Representation

No more than 1% point difference

Data from 2013-14

LEP rate for all Fabens ISD students= 41.9%

LEP rate for SPED students= 48.8%

Difference was 6.9= PL 2 but close to PL 3

Point is that too many students are in special education and too many of those students are identified as LEP!

SAT Team Required Members

Please submit your campus team list to me by October 30th

Administrator

Counselor

Teacher(s) of Record

Regular Education Teacher

LPAC Representative

SAT Team Members- Others to Consider

Dyslexia Teacher

Instructional Facilitator

Parent

Other Core Area Teachers

School Nurse

PE Teacher

Diagnosticians- Upon completion of screeners only

SLP’s- Upon completion of screeners only

Data Sources- What should be reviewed (not an exhaustive list)?

Home life situation

Discipline referrals/incidents

Parent information

Health screening

Medical conditions

Attendance history

Retention history

Chronological Age

Current At-Risk Indicators

Sibling information/history

Emotional status

LEP Status

STAAR

TELPAS

IPT

DRA/EDL

Benchmark results

TPRI/Tejas Lee

Motor skills

Achieve 3000

Grades

Any other achievement data

Data Sources- What can we use to implement effective interventions?

PRIM Manual- You should have this manual at your respective campuses.

Online Resources (see next slide)

TEA Accommodations Triangle

Program summary/interventions/scaffolds- ex. Achieve 3000

Screener results/recommendations

Tiered interventions triangle

Curriculum supports- ex. TEKS Resource System

***Human capital

Any other resources available at your respective campuses.

Online Resources (not an exhaustive list)

Texas Education Agency Response to Intervention http://tea.texas.gov/Curriculum_and_Instructional_Programs/Special_Education/Programs_and_Services/Response_to_Intervention/

Intervention Central http://www.interventioncentral.org/

Response to Intervention- Special Education Guide http://www.specialeducationguide.com/pre-k-12/response-to-intervention/

RtI Action Network http://www.rtinetwork.org/learn/what/whatisrti

What Works Clearinghouse http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/

Tiered Interventions

A tiered triangle will be sent to you in the coming weeks once the triangle is finalized.

Assistance with what can be offered at different tiers (not an exhaustive list) Tier 1- 85-90% of student needs met

Tier 2- 5-10% of student needs met

Tier 3- 1-5% of student needs met

Request for Assistance Packet

Fill out paperwork as completely as possible!

Request for Assistance

Interventions- Can be filled out by teacher AND parent

General Ed Teacher Input- Can be filled out by multiple teachers

Current information- Pay close attention to scientific, research-based interventions

Additional Information

Health Screening- rule out hearing/vision issues

SAT Action Plan

Filled out at SAT meeting

Heart of the SAT process

Multiple action plans can be filled out for same student

Monitoring of plan key!!

If not proceeding to Tier 3 (SPED referral), only first 2 pages need to be completed

Set timeline for follow-up meetings and stick to those timelines!

Action Plan

Goal Page- observable, measureable and specific goals

Environmental and Cultural Factors Worksheet- to be completed by entire SAT team

Direct Observation- may be conducted by any member of the SAT team

Psychological Evaluation Checklist- for psychological evaluations only

SPED Referral Packet

Fill out ONLY for SPED referrals

Checklist page

Referral for SPED Services- Pay close attention to Reason for Referral and Subject Area

Information from Classroom Teacher or Parent- both can fill out form

Parent Questionnaire

Attendance Report

Speech Referral- This part of the packet will be moved to the Request for Assistance section and will be revised Changes to be shared in November

Screeners Now part of Tier 2 process

Academic

Reading, Writing and Math

Completed by diagnosticians

Speech

Language & Articulation

No screeners for Fluency and Voice

Completed by SLP’s

Can be requested if SAT team has questions as to whether a SPED referral is warranted

Case-by-case basis

Not appropriate for majority of students

Not meant to delay a referral

Helps provide SAT team with more specific data/interventions

Interventions recommended need to documented on SAT Action Plan

Consent for Screener form (see attachment) Parental permission required for use of screener

Completed by TAT Coordinator with Parent

Send to diagnostician/SLP immediately upon parental consent

Timeline for completion is 30 school days (at the latest)

Parent Requests

Parents have right to request a SPED evaluation Discuss with parent reason for request at campus level

Appropriateness

Proactive interventions

Fill out Parent Written Request form with parent and submit signed form to Mr. Saenz immediately (see attachment)

If sent to SPED, referral can be sent back for further interventions at campus level

Will only be considered for rejection if referral is clearly inappropriate

Majority of parental referrals will be completed

SAT Action Plan (more detail)

Description of Interventions

List of interventions to assist student

What has been tried AND what will be implemented?

Tiered Triangle can help you with this section

Examples- After school tutoring, Saturday Camps, Lexia, small group assistance, ICU, Grammar Bytes, Parent Contact, Thinking Maps, SIOP, etc., etc., etc.

Task/Resources Needed/Person(s) Responsible

Identify tasks that you would like for the student to be able to do

List any resources needed

Who will assist the student carry out the task(s) developed?

Examples

To able to complete assignments/Use of timer & tangible rewards/Regular Education Teacher & Counselor

To improve in reading comprehension skills/Thinking Maps, Read 180 instruction, & STAAR Coach workbooks/Regular Education Teacher

SAT Action Plan continued (more detail)

Data Collection Method

How is data being collected on intervention(s) utilized?

Examples- Lexile reports, benchmark results, student work samples, discipline referrals, attendance reports, grades, etc., etc., etc.

Academic/Behavioral Goal(s)

State clearly what you want for the student to be able to do

Related to task, but more in depth, targeted & specific

Documented intervention(s) to be used

Set timeline for goal(s) developed

No more than four goals

Goal(s) must be measureable and specific

Improve reading skills- Is that measurable?

Improve reading Lexile level to 800/Achieve 3000, Reading Lab, After-school Tutoring

Read 50 sight words from Dolch/Fry list- Small group instruction, flash cards, Peer Tutor

Let’s Practice!

Case Study #1- Juan is a 2nd grader reading at the preprimer level. He can read 11 sight words from the Dolch List. He has poor phonetic and phonemic awareness skills. He also has a tendency to squirm in his seat, fails to complete assignments on a consistent basis, and tends to bother other students.

Case Study #2- Juanita is a 9th grader struggling in reading. She has not passed the STAAR Reading test since 4th grade, is currently failing in all core areas except for math, and has shied away from hanging out with her friends or talking to her teachers.

Thank you for your time, attention, positive attitude and professionalism!