Response to Intervention leads to improved student achievement

Matt Bower
Posted 9/18/14

Two years ago, the Warwick School Department began implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) measures in an effort to track the academic progress of students and identify areas where they may be …

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Response to Intervention leads to improved student achievement

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Two years ago, the Warwick School Department began implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) measures in an effort to track the academic progress of students and identify areas where they may be struggling, either socially or academically, so those areas could be targeted with interventions to resolve those issues and increase academic proficiency.

During last Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, Sara Monaco, federal grant program coordinator for the school department, provided an update on the progress of RTI through a PowerPoint presentation entitled “Data-Driven Instruction in Warwick.”

Monaco explained that RTI features a multi-tiered system of supports. The first tier is the biggest tier and utilizes the best practice for all students, where the goal is to have 80 percent of students meeting expectations. If 80 percent of students aren’t meeting expectations, Monaco said changes are made in Tier 1. Second tier students receive additional instruction and supplemental supports, such as intervention blocks and differentiated instruction, two to three times a week in a group setting, while third tier students receive supports and additional instruction on an individual basis five times a week.

“The goals of RTI are to meet the needs of 80 percent or more of our students through Tier 1 instruction and supports; provide research-based interventions for those students requiring more intensive supports; gap closures; and progress for students at all achievement levels,” she said.

To illustrate how RTI is working, Monaco presented a series of graphs using 2013 data showing the percentage of students achieving expectations in both math and reading increased from the fall to the spring, 9 percent in math and 5 percent in reading.

“Keep in mind we’re implementing Common Core-aligned reading this year; we implemented math last year,” she said.

Looking at 2013 math data, Monaco said in the fall 595 students were achieving 10 percent proficiency or less (Tier 3), but that number dropped by 56 students to 539 in the spring, while the number of students achieving 50 percent or greater proficiency rose by 801 from 4,192 in the fall to 4,993 in the spring. She said 72 percent of elementary students were meeting expectations in the spring, as compared to 58 percent of secondary students.

Moving on to 2013 reading data, Monaco said in the fall 718 students were achieving 10 percent proficiency or less but dropped by 23 to 695 in the spring, while the number of students achieving 50 percent or greater proficiency rose by 563 from 3,444 in the fall to 4,007 in the spring. She said 63 percent of elementary students were meeting expectations in the spring, as compared to 44 percent of secondary students.

Monaco said the RTI process was started in the 2012-13 school year with professional development sessions working with principals and elementary school faculty. That same year, the school department purchased the STAR assessment system, which is used to screen students, and held further professional development sessions to train staff on how to use the new system. A spring pilot program was then launched at the junior high level.

“We did the pilot so teachers could have easily accessible data,” Monaco said. “The first year is always the hardest because you have a lot of needs and you have to decide what areas you want to focus on.”

The second year, 2013-14, saw the initial implementation of the STAR screening program, with all students kindergarten through grade 11 being screened in the fall, winter and spring.

Monaco said grade-level data meetings were also held at this time.

“Substitutes were provided after each benchmarking period,” she said. “Meetings focused on action planning for classroom instruction and creation of intervention blocks.”

Intervention blocks were offered two to five days per week, initially focused on at-risk students, and progress was monitored.

Monaco said professional development continued, with a focus on the connection between RTI, IEPs (Individualized Education Program), educational evaluations and special education eligibility, as well as differentiated instruction for students who are achieving in the above average range.

Also during this time, Monaco said Early Warning System teams expanded to each secondary school to analyze school-level data, focusing on attendance, behavior, course failures and student achievement.

“Substitutes provided for teacher teams to meet in grades 7 through 9 to examine student data and create plans to get students back on track,” she said.

Monaco said in year three of RTI, which the school department is now entering, elementary intervention blocks will be featured five days per week at each school, they will be expanded to include instructional planning for students requiring enrichment, and they will involve more frequent data analysis and instructional decision making.

School Committee member Jennifer Ahearn said there’s a significant drop in Common Core math and English language arts (ELA) scores going from elementary to secondary and asked what else the department needs to do to close that gap.

“In grade 5, we start to see a drop in achievement in math, and in grade 4 we start to see a drop in reading,” Monaco said. “That’s one of the areas the administration is looking at and problem solving about.”

Superintendent Richard D’Agostino said the department is introducing a new Common Core curriculum for ELA that is better aligned to the STAR system, which should help.

“We’re hoping to get higher achievement at the secondary level by aligning Common Core with STAR,” he said. “We need to find out why we’re not at 80 percent in some areas. Some schools made a 20 percent increase, while others made only 2 percent. We can look at the 20 percent [improved] schools to see if the same practices are in use at the other schools.”

D’Agostino said screening data is still being collected over the next week and will then be reviewed.

Dennis Mullen, director of secondary education, said RTI looks different at the secondary level but hopefully it’s accomplishing something similar.

“Attendance and behavior issues are much different at the senior high level, especially in grades 7 through 9,” he said.

Monaco said RTI looks completely different at the secondary level compared to the elementary level.

“There are many other factors at the secondary level that impact achievement,” she said. “Homework organization and planning skills are lacking and it’s negatively affecting academic performance in secondary schools.”

School Committee member Eugene Nadeau said he was concerned about how much time and attention teachers have to devote to the RTI system.

“Teachers are analyzing NECAP, STAR, PARRC, Common Core … the time given to analyzing is taking away from the teaching of students,” he said. “We’re making it so complex in the classroom that we’re hurting education by giving teachers too many other things to look at instead of the faces of the students in front of them.”

Monaco said when teachers analyze data; they are actually saving time instructionally.

“Teachers can determine how deep the instruction needs to be based on the data,” she said. “We need to know where the above-average students are so we can challenge them.”

Rosemary Healey, director of human resources and compliance for the school department, reminded everyone that RTI is federally mandated.

“It’s a federal mandate passed down through the state; we have no choice,” she said. “The goal is to help kids avoid going the IEP route.”

Monaco said while the department is on the right track with RTI, the funding needs to continue to be there to support it.

“The teachers did a lot of hard work to get these results, but we need to continue it,” Monaco said. “Currently, we only have enough professional development funds for the first set of meetings through October.”

Later in the meeting, Schools Chief Budget Officer Anthony Ferrucci highlighted a number of budget cuts, one of which is professional development, which could become problematic down the road if funding is not reseeded. He said $640,808 of uncommitted surplus funds is still available to be reseeded.

The School Committee held a special meeting Monday night to discuss budget revisions and approved by a 4-1 vote, with Karen Bachus dissenting, the restoration of $566,000 of surplus funds to be reseeded to the current budget. The funds will go to three key areas, including professional development ($140,000); textbooks ($176,000); and sports and extra-curricular activities ($250,000). The move leaves $74,000 of unrestricted, uncommitted surplus funds available for use in the budget.

Comments

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  • JohnStark

    Wading through second-hand data is always a challenge. But if I have it right, 42% of Warwick's public high school students are not meeting expectations in Math, while 56% of Warwick's public high school students are not meeting expectations in Reading. These numbers are STAGGERING!! And what's truly outrageous is this quote: "“The teachers did a lot of hard work to get these results..." These "results" are more than deplorable. When you ask yourself why corporations (i.e. employers) are not moving to RI, think about a potential workforce in which one of every two job applicants could not meet basic Math or Reading expectations in high school. And the fact that not a single WSC member expressed outrage is a public embarrassment. If I were the parent of a current 8th grader, I'd think long and hard before exposing my child to this academic morass.

    Thursday, September 18, 2014 Report this

  • falina

    This is one of the reasons parents are leaving Warwick in droves. Can't blame them!

    Friday, September 19, 2014 Report this

  • sadforspeced

    Sara Monaco is an asset to the Warwick Schools - progressive, professional and on the "cutting edge"; but how can she show any great results working with a "so called" school leader - D'Agostino - who has no idea how to run a school district that is looking to rise to the standards that she would like to see achieved? Warwick could raise its scores if there was someone in the superintendent's position who had some progressive, professional and "cutting edge" leadership ideas.

    Tuesday, September 23, 2014 Report this

  • Ward5resident

    Just keep throwing tax dollars at the problem. Maybe a few more 6 figure administrators or another 10 sick days for every teacher will fix it!!! This will be the Mayor's legacy - a school system in shambles - because he was unwilling to take on the union/administration and make any difficult decisions.

    Tuesday, September 23, 2014 Report this

  • JohnStark

    One problem is that this article was written as a puff piece claiming "...improved student achievement". When nearly half of the secondary students are not meeting expectations in Math, and MORE THAN HALF are not meeting expectations in Reading, there is a rather glaring problem. But you have to wade through reams of data to identify that. Based upon the article's title, you would think things are going swimmingly in the Warwick public schools. Mr. Bower, perhaps it's time to take a critical and objective look at what all this data represents: Failure. You did, however, manage to report the requisite and tired "funding issues". And if you are a member of the Warwick School Committee, please post a comment because it appears you were bewilderingly silent during this presentation.

    Wednesday, September 24, 2014 Report this