Response to Intervention (Feb 2019)

Happy Early Valentine's Day! My name is Kimmie L. Conlon and I am the Response to Intervention (RtI)/Multi Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) Consultant for Region 10. I struggled with my decision to say RtI/MTSS Consultant as there is a misconception that I have seen recently at a few conferences that RtI is equivalent to MTSS. RtI (along with her brother, PBIS) is just one component of the bigger picture which is the MTSS framework.

Since the Corrective Action Plan rolled out, there has been an influx in conferences and trainings about what MAY happen due to the experts' interpretation of the Special Education Strategic Plan (April 2018). It is important to remember that RtI along with Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) are fundamentally about two things: philosophy (Prevention, Enrichment, and Intervention) and systems. MTSS should be looked at as the infrastructure of spreading the philosophy and maintaining the systems.

So how does MTSS tie into the Special Education Strategic Plan (April 2018)? The Special Education Strategic Plan (April 2018) is about communication, timely identification, parent engagement, and building every stakeholders knowledge base in regards to supporting the WHOLE child for ALL students.

MTSS is the framework of systems that brings an entire campus together in order to work as one seamless group. Please see the Important Resources Section of this newsletter to read more about MTSS.

Every question is an important question because it moves us one step closer to our goal of growing our understanding and capacity in all things intervention and support related. Please feel free to email me your questions.

Should all students be removed from intervention with the end of year PEIMS coding submission? I would not do that until TEA has officially advised you to do so. The idea behind the PEIMS coding of intervention students is to see how students are progressing. If you take them off before they officially exit intervention supports and then put them back on at the beginning of the year, you accidentally skew the data and possibly "lose" students.

How do we get secondary up and running in regards to RtI and PBIS? The keys to implementing at secondary are staff buy-in, master schedule and efficient use of staff. The hardest part of secondary implementation is willingness to look at your campus data with a critical eye and rethink the way you utilize your data. If you do not see student growth for all students, then you may need to move from what you have always done that hinders student growth to something that goes against the "norm" inside your current structure, procedures and processes. Fear of the unknown is always the brick wall of change.

Do I have to progress monitor with graphing data points? Best practice says that progress monitoring with graphing is the most definitive way to determine growth towards closing the identified gap. Progress monitoring should not be overwhelming to the teacher or the student. That is why quick and easy "probes" are highly recommended.

This is our second year of implementation, but it is not working. What should we do? I highly recommend reviewing your systems. In particular, how you are training/coaching your staff? It is about fidelity of implementing your systems as well as building the capacity of your staff by teaching and reteaching as necessary.

March 2019 - Intervention Coordinator/Director Meeting

March 25, 2019 - MTSS Consortium

Summer 2019 - R10's Summer Roadshow

September 2019 - R10's Multi Tiered Systems of Support Conference

Want to know more about the differences between MTSS, RtI and PBIS? This is a quick and easy read to get you started.

https://www.illuminateed.com/blog/2018/11/mtss-vs-rti-vs-pbis-whats-the-difference/

This link will take you to various tools for educators. Of note, there is a tool chart to help determine which progress monitoring/assessment is appropriate to use.

https://intensiveintervention.org/audience/educators

This link will take you to R10's PBIS Wiki: http://tinyurl.com/R10MTSS

Here you will be able to access a brief overview of R10's PBIS Model.

If you have never read the Special Education Strategic Plan (2018), I highly recommend that you take a moment to familiarize yourself with it. TEA's Special Education Strategic Plan (April 2018)

If you have read the Special Education Strategic Plan, then you know there are new TEA Networks of Support launching. In order to get an insight into what they are all about, I encourage you to read the Letter of Interest and the Rubric for each network's Request for Proposal. TEA's Special Education Strategic Plan Networks of Support

R10's Multi Tiered Systems of Support Team is here to help LEAs across the region build systems to meet the needs of ALL students and staff.

Students. Service. Solutions.

Email: kimmie.conlon@region10.org
Website: region10.org
Phone: 972-348-1166
Twitter: @RtIRegion10