New York State is on a mission to improve outcomes of students with disabilities and the State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) is our blueprint for achieving that. “The SSIP is a multi-year, achievable plan developed by NYSED, in consultation with stakeholders, that is designed to increase the capacity of school districts to implement, scale up, and sustain evidence-based practices to improve outcomes for students with disabilities.” (NYSED OSE, 2017) The evidence-based practice that NYS is choosing to implement through the SSIP is the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework. MTSS is a decision-making framework to guide schools and districts in selecting and implementing evidence-based practices for improving students’ academic, behavioral, and social-emotional outcomes (McIntosh & Goodman, 2016).

The Lower Hudson RSE-TASC has been tapped to help develop and implement the SSIP. The initial pilot is occurring in a transformation zone of 15 schools across the state, and six of the 15 schools are in Lower Hudson districts —Carmel, Green Chimneys, North Rockland, and Peekskill. The RSE-TASC is collaborating with, and providing professional development to, these schools, and by June 2019 these schools and districts will be sharing the model practices they have implemented so they can be scaled up across the state. This past year, the SSIP Implementation Design Team, along with expert-member work groups, reviewed research and models used in other states to define and

Multi-Tiered Systems of Support – Lower Hudson Schools Are Models for NYS!

By Andrew J. Ecker, Ed.D. and Patti Slobogin, Ph.D.

News from the Lower Hudson Regional Special Education Technical Assistance Support Center (RSE-TASC) June 2018

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operationalize a MTSS, data systems, and professional development structures for New York state. Work group members were selected for their expertise in areas such as cultural responsive education, family and community engagement, Response to Intervention (RtI),

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Volume 7, Issue 10

MTSS &

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

MTSS 1

School Tool: Alignment Tool 2

RSE-TASC Workshops 3

Community Events 3

Bright Spot 4

Contact Information 4

Lower Hudson Regional Special Education Technical Assistance and Support Center serving districts in

challenges schools face is that new initiatives compete for resources with previous initiatives, and/or they contradict existing resources (McIntosh et al., 2013).

You can read about this alignment process in pages 1-6 of this month’s school tool, Technical Guide for Alignment of Initiatives, Programs and Practices in School Districts. This tool is endorsed by the Office of Special Education Programs, and its alignment structure comes from The National Implementation Research Network (NIRN). Currently, it is being utilized to align evidence-based practices in School Mental Health into existing PBIS, and now MTSS, frameworks at the school, district, regional, and state levels (Perales, Pohlman, Eber, & Barrett, 2017).

RSE-TASC Reporter | Volume 7, Issue 10, June 2018 2

MTSS

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and professional development. Work group members included expert representatives from our region’s schools: Janet Warden (Carmel), Toni DeMato (Green Chimneys), Letitia Payne & Tim Scholten (Ossining), and Mary Foster (Peekskill). Thanks to the efforts of the SSIP work groups, we now have a well-informed draft of our NYS MTSS model. The MTSS Work Group identified these six underlying values and guiding principles, which promote consistency, integrity, and sustainability: An unwavering focus on student

growth A commitment to cultural

responsiveness and equity Engagement of all stakeholders A whole child/whole school

approach Proactive problem-solving Full access for every student.

Our NYS MTSS model is being finalized as this goes to press, and we will have more updates in the year to come.

In August, pilot schools and SSIP partners will convene a leadership institute to begin the next stage of MTSS implementation. One foci of the institute will be facilitating an alignment process to help school teams identify what they are already implementing, and how implementation is going as it pertains to fidelity and outcomes; i.e., are we implementing it the way we are supposed to, and are we seeing student growth? We are engaging in this process because we know two important facts: (a) schools are often implementing more initiatives/practices than they can do well (Sugai & Horner, 2006), and (b) one of the biggest

“In many districts and schools, educators are faced with the challenge of having to implement, sustain, and evaluate several different innovations, initiatives, programs or practices at the same time....In some instances, new or existing initiatives may actually be in conflict with each other philosophically, creating confusion and dissonance among leaders and practitioners.”

Sound familiar? If so, you might want to read the rest of the Technical Guide for

Alignment of Initiatives, Programs and Practices in School Districts(2017) from the National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavior Interventions and Support: https://www.pbis.org/Common/Cms/files/pbisresources/Alignment%20Brief.%20for%20posting.1.16.17.docx.

The Center created the guide to help district examine the fidelity and impact of current practices, and establish systems to effectively select and install new practices.

School Tool: A Technical Guide for Alignment of Initiatives

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Community Events

From PNW BOCES www.pnwboces.org/catalog

Skills Training for Emotional Problem Solving for Adolescents (STEPS-A), begins 6/11

Lyric Study: The Key to the Common Core, Close Reading, and Analytical Writing, 6/23

NYSUT - Multiple Intelligences: Theory & Practice, 6/25

From SW BOCES www.swboces.org

Web Tools for Student-Centered Creative Expression, 6/5

From Rockland BOCES www.rocklandboces.org

Youth Connections Orientation, 6/4 or 6/18

Parent Support Group, 6/21 mquinn@rboces.org

From WIHD www.wihd.org

Self-Directed Funding: Exploring Housing Opportunities, 6/13

From WILC www.wilc.org

Ins and Outs of Autism, 6/12

RSE-TASC Reporter | Volume 7, Issue 10, June 2018

Behavior & Discipline Supports June Team Implementation Guidance for

Social & Behavioral Supports, 6/6 PBIS Tier 2 Overview for Principals

and Directors, 6/12

Instructional Practices June

Special Ed 101 for ENL Teachers, 6/5 July Explicit Direct Instruction—The Key to

Effective Lessons (3-Day), 7/9, 7/10 & 7/13

*BY INVITATION ONLY* Explicit Direct Instruction—The Key to Effective Lessons (3-Day), 7/31, 8/1, & 8/2

Individualized Educational Planning & the CSE Process

July New CSE/CPSE Chairperson Training

(3-Day), 7/10, 7/17 & 7/18

Transition Systems June WE-CAN (Westchester Educators

and Community Agencies Network), 6/13

Putnam County Transition Consortium, 6/14

July *BY INVITATION ONLY*

Developing Work-Based Learning Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (3-Day), 7/11, 7/17 & 7/18

Exploring CareerZone, 7/12 *BY INVITATION ONLY* Rockland

Road Trip: Programs for Students and Young Adults, 7/25

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View the RSE-TASC Training Calendar and Register at rsetasc.pnwboces.org/

Come Learn with us at our Upcoming

Regional Trainings

Join us at SOCon! (Student Outcomes Conference)

Thursday, June 7, 2018 8:00am – 3:00pm

Join 250 of your regional colleagues as we celebrate our 2017-18

improved student outcomes!

The Double Tree Hilton 455 S. Broadway, Tarrytown

References McIntosh, K., & Goodman, S. (2016). Integrated multi-tiered systems of support: Blending RTI and PBIS. New York: The Guilford Press. McIntosh, K., Mercer, S. H., Hume, A. E., Frank, J. L., Turri, M. G., & Mathews, S. (2013). Factors related to sustained implementation of

schoolwide positive behavior support. Exceptional Children, 79(3), 293–311. New York State Education Department, Office of Special Education (2017). New York State systemic improvement plan: Phase III. Retrieved from

NYSED website: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/spp/documents/new-york-state-systemic- improvement-plan.pdf Perales, K., Pohlman, K., Eber, L., & Barrett, S. (2017, December). PBIS forum in brief: Aligning and integrating mental health and PBIS to build

priority for wellness. Mental health integration roundtable dialogue. Symposium conducted at the 2017 PBIS Leadership Forum of OSEP TAC on PBIS, Chicago. Retrieved from https://www.pbis.org/Common/Cms/files/Forum17_Presentations/RDQ%202%20Brief% 20-%20Mental%20Health.pdf

Sugai, G., & Horner, R. R. (2006). A promising approach for expanding and sustaining school- wide positive behavior support. School Psychology Review, 35(2), 245-259.

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RSE-TASC Reporter | Volume 7, Issue 10, June 2018 4

RSE-TASC Staff 914-248-2289 rse-tasc@pnwboces.org www.pnwboces.org/rse-tasc Follow us on Twitter: @lhrsetasc

Patti Slobogin, Director

Leslie Zedlovich, Jr. Administrative Assistant

Felecia Morris, Sr. Office Assistant

Megan King, Office Assistant

REGIONAL TRAINERS: John Boniello, Bilingual Special Education Specialist

Kit Casey, Transition Specialist

Sara Fienup, Behavior Specialist

Dale Langley, Behavior Specialist

Erin Leskovic, Preschool Behavior Specialist

Laurie Levine, Regional Special Education Specialist

Ann Narcisse, Regional Special Education Specialist

Stephanie Wozniak, Transition Specialist

SPECIAL EDUCATION SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT SPECIALISTS (SESIS): Randy Ascher, Yonkers Public Schools

Andrew J. Ecker, Putnam Northern Westchester BOCES

Fran Fernandez, Special Act and Approved Private Schools

Denise Jaffe, Southern Westchester BOCES

John McCabe, Special Act and Approved Private Schools

Donise Robinson, Southern Westchester BOCES

Nicole Scariano, Rockland BOCES

Martha Trujillo-Torp, Yonkers Public Schools

This month’s Bright Spot comes from Karen Kushnir, Megan

DiDomenico, Amy Cohen and Cynthia Giumarra from Byram

Hills. Teams from Byram Hills have been attending the Student-

Directed IEP book study series.

What were students able to achieve? Students with

disabilities in Byman Hills are setting their own learning goals,

monitoring their progress towards achievement of those goals,

and engaging in self-advocacy to ensure they receive the

supports they need. They are able to identify and articulate

what instructional strategies and supports work for them. As

the team says, the students are taking ownership and becoming

more invested in their educational planning and annual review

meetings.

What practices or systems made this possible? Here are just

a few of the practices that Byram Hills staff are putting in place:

Teaching self-awareness and goal setting to students as

early as Kindergarten

Involving all student in understanding their current IEP goals

and brainstorming ways to achieve them

Explicitly teaching students how to advocate and how to ask

for help

Recognizing the responsibility educators have to prepare

their student to be independent learners, thinkers and active

members of society

What can we learn from this?

Here’s what two of the teachers had to say:

“When a student’s voice is heard and they are part of their own

educational planning in a developmentally appropriate manner,

they are invested in their own education and become more self-

aware and self-confident.”

“Students are the “I” in IEP. Their role is an integral part of the

process.”

BRIGHT SPOT!