Q+&+A+Session

Facilitated by Kristend Marchiole, Steve Graser (Erie 1 BOCES) and Joanne Inzinnia (SETRC - Erie 2 BOCES)**
 * Q & A Session

Minutes: // Participants were asked to introduce themselves to each other (5minutes) // // What were some of you Ahahs for today? // Michelle (Hamburg) – discussed how she will now implement blending words in her class // Steve – What criteria are you using to establish which students need AIS? // Michelle (Hamburg) – Currently they use Dibbles and Scott Forsman baseline. The kindergarten benchmarks are not appropriate so they have implemented other assessments. // Kristen – What other questions do you have from this afternoon? // Participant 1 - Wanting to learn how to use her child study team/response to intervention model. It needs to be more proactive, not reactive. The process is too timely and non-productive. // Steve – Is there a criteria that teachers must follow to bring students to committee? // Participant 1 - Teachers should not have to prove themselves before coming to the child study team. Participant 2 – We used to bring the children to the team, now we have to implement the strategies ourselves, collect data then see the team. Sometimes this is difficult because there are instances when the team can provide some suggestions and support. // Kristen – I worked with a district who create a ‘bank’ that provided 4 strategies for teachers to use that gave them a sense of support. It also gives the teacher a proactive approach, plus it allows teachers to give the team data.. ‘I have tried this, now what can we do next?’ // Participant 1 – We now have PLCs in our district, and now I am wondering if these are topics that should be addressed Theresa (Erie 2 BOCES) – We have a district that has been working well together, highly functioning team. Participant 1 - How often and how long? Theresa - ½ day or full day depending on the slate // Kristen – interventioncentral.org is great resource. // Participant 3 – We have a Grad Success Team, which looks at specific criteria established (such as absences, grades). Unfortunately, time is limited and at times we are unable to spend time on students, especially in a follow up situation. Students are on a rotation because each meeting focused on a particular student. Anyone who has met the criteria is automatically referred to the committee, without a teacher referral. Participant 4 – We have a policy that requires any student to be taught for 30 days before they can be referred. Where does that policy come from? // Steve – The 30, or 4 – 6 weeks with the supporting documentation. The intervention should start in the classroom first, thus providing appropriate strategies and documentation before the team meets. // // Kristen – It is important that we do not use assumptions to base your recommendations on. You need to provide data that supports your efforts and student response to them. // Participant 3 – Our school requires 7 points of data. It is very difficult to keep up with all of the effort. This year we have a new form on-line that we have been asked to pre-fill and put it on our desktop, so that if something should happen, your are prepared. // Kristen – One of the things we hear a lot from teachers is that is very difficult to compile and organize the data during a regular lesson. However, it provides very powerful artifacts for the child studies team. // // JoAnne – A really solid, documented approach will justify decisions and actions. // // Kristen – The reason why we have the RTI model is to ensure that student behaviors are because of a need for interventions, and not just the style and methods of a teacher. // Michelle - AIS Bank? It would be nice to have a data bank for teachers to have when they are completely confused about what to do. // Kristen – passed out worksheets from **Student Progress Monitoring**. This is great resource to help get you started. // Participant 5 – Wouldn’t it be great if we had some sort of compilation that has these best practice strategies. // Kristen – We are developing a wiki site for people to collaborate with others from this conference. // // Steve – People are receiving a lot more strategies, such as Marzano, so now they are better equipped to discuss with teams interventions they have put in place already. // Participant 5 – I agree, however, many people do not know all of the catch phrases or where to place each strategy. It would be nice to have a place where educators can go that develops this common language. // Kristen – We are currently working on a project, Deep Curriculum Alignment, in which we are developing a common, regional curriculum. // // The most effective way to streamline the process, comes from good preparation and clear objectives for implementing and assessing strategies. //