In Partnership with The

In Partnership with the Georgia Department of Education SSTAGE Presents

Georgia’s Promising Practices for RTI, Pyramid of Interventions, and SST

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

7:30 - 8:15 a.m. Registration, Continental Breakfast and Exhibit Area OPEN

8:15 – 9:45 a.m. Session 1 Workshops

Room A Little Mill Middle School and the Journey Through RTI Middle School Join us on our journey as we guide you over pitfalls to the treasures hidden within the RTI Pyramid. Follow, as we wind . Level our way through student placement & intervention scheduling, the search for appropriate programs & the tools that will m .

a monitor progress & drive instructional change, establishment of fidelity, and the building of accountability teams. Come

5 along as we attempt to discover the treasures of success for our most needy students and their families. 4 : 9

Little Mill Middle

– Cheryl Riddle, Assistant Principal; Robin Clark, School Psychologist/Intervention Specialist; Dawn Hudson, Graduation

. School, Forsyth Coach; and Cindy Evans, Reading Literacy teacher m

. County a

8 Room B Making RTI Work at the High School Level

High School Level Ware County High School in Southeast Georgia has developed a reading and math Response to Intervention program

1 that employs two full time interventionists. Employing creative scheduling techniques within a 4X4 block system and by

th n maintaining a high level of flexibility and ingenuity, the WCHS 9 grade students are universally screened, exposed to o i

s research-based classroom instruction, and progress monitored. Computer based interventions are employed at tiers II s

e and III as well as small group instruction while still allowing these students exposure to regular classroom curriculum S and learning. The school principal and members of the RTI team will discuss in detail this innovative program. Ware County HS, Joe Brasfield, Principal; David Hitt, Assistant Principal; Dr. Susan Barrow, Reading RTI Interventionist; Ware County Ronzie Patterson, Math RTI Interventionist, and Dr. Lisa Hinely, Assistant Superintendent SSTAGE Conference Agenda Page 1 January 12, 2011 Room C & D It’s All About the Children: Rigorous Learning through the Clayton County Pyramid of Intervention School System Clayton County Public Schools has developed a problem solving model for response to intervention that focuses on an Level area cluster organization that supports principals, teachers, and parents. Academic Galleries, P4 Plan, and Step Function design are examples of the many promising practices focused on building instructional leadership capacity through the pyramid of intervention. Clayton County initiatives are creating sustainable professional learning school-based teams that meet regularly to determine if progress is made using the RigorMeter. Clayton County Dr. Mandy Condit, Coordinator of Psychological Services, Tier 3 SST, and 504; Dr. Diana Dumetz Carry, Chief Academic Officer; Dr. Audrey Greer, Mathematics Coordinator; Dr. Ebony Thomas, Language Arts Coordinator; and Dr. Natasha Jefferson, Coordinator of Testing and Assessment

. Room G Behavior Screening in Response to Intervention m . a Special Interest The purpose of this session is to describe the role of universal behavior screening in comprehensive applications of RTI.

4 Two measures designed for universal behavior screening will be described, followed by a summary of research of the : 9

psychometric properties of the measures, correlations with academic (CRCT, CBM) and behavioral variables, and –

. teacher preference. The session will conclude with an example of how universal screening may be used in a behavioral m

. RTI model. a Presenters Dr. Amy L. Reschly, Associate Professor, School Psychology Program, UGA; and Dr. Kathleen R. King, School 5 1

: Psychologist, Madison County Schools 8

: Room H The ESOL Student and the RTI Process: A Model That Works! 1 Special Interest Throughout the language acquisition process there are still indicators that an ESOL student may have additional n o i learning needs. The value of progress monitoring and providing for identification of those students with possible s s learning challenges is important. Ware County Schools is in its second full year of implementation of the ESOL Student e

S & the RTI process. Using the dynamic Pyramid of Interventions, modified for ESOL services, all students are served and provided with a quality education. Presenters Dr. Carolina Faust, System ESOL Coordinator and Dr. Theresa Martin, RTI Coordinator, Ware County Schools

Room I & J Key Elements of Best Practices for RTI are Collaboration, Cooperation, and Effective Communication - Strategies for Improving all Three Areas in Your School Elementary Level If the purpose of an RTI program is to catch struggling students early, then collaboration, cooperation and effective communication is essential. Our RTI program uses the resources, knowledge and the expertise of special education to assist general education and EIP teachers to improve student outcomes. Our presentation will provide examples and suggestions from our RTI Strategy Team in order to utilize resources and personnel within your building effectively. Liberty ES, Victoria Thom, Assistant Principal, Special Education Administrator; Dr. Erin Poindexter, SST Chair; Emily Weber, EIP Cherokee County Teacher; and Lauren Roach, Special Education SSTAGE Conference Agenda Page 2 January 12, 2011 9:45am – 10:00 a.m. Break

10:00 – 11:30 a.m. Session 2 Workshops

Room A Now What is Your Excuse? (Starfish) High School Level The program is an academic intervention designed to eliminate superficial excuses and barriers that retard the accruing of credits. The program targets students primarily in tier II of the Pyramid of Interventions. The ingenious design of the program is inclusive of all students by allowing any student facing an academic challenge to become a candidate for the program. The program’s immediate intervention procedures serve to reduce student failure, reduce the loss of credits, curtail student drop out, and increase the graduation rate. Carrollton HS, Mark Albertus, Principal; and Aprill Jones-Byrd, Assistant Principal/Graduation Coach

. Carrollton City m . a

: Room B Response to Intervention: The Power of Data 1 1

Elementary Level The presentation will provide participants with an example of how Belmont Hills Elementary School supports the –

. Response to Intervention process from the administrative level. Many structures for success have been established m

. including roles, data management system, research-based instructional strategies, and an organizational framework to a support success. The majority of students needs are met at Tiers 1 and 2, very few move to Tier 3 and fewer to Tier 0 0

: 4. Students are continually grouped and regrouped for remediation and or acceleration. Over 40% of the students are 0

1 served through the ESOL program, 48%through the Early Intervention Program and 8% are in Special Education

programs.

2 Belmont Hills ES, Stacey Abbott, Assistant Principal; and Diane Hart, K-12 Supervisor of Learning Systems and Programs at Central

n Cobb County Office o i s s e

S Room C & D RTI & the Preschool Classroom: A Model for Recognition and Response Special Interest The presentation focuses on the connection between RTI and the preschool classroom. The session will open with a description of how the RTI process and procedures are outlined throughout the school year. Beginning with professional learning surrounding assessment data and its interpretation and response, the session will then follow the course of the school year, highlighting various activities which promote understanding of the RTI process and its delivery/challenges within the preschool-based learning environment. Presenters Suzanne Kennedy, Principal; Zeke Alejandro, Instructional Coach; and Kim Jeffrey, Speech and Language Pathologist College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center, City Schools of Decatur

SSTAGE Conference Agenda Page 3 January 12, 2011 Room G Establishing Positive School Culture: Implementing and Sustaining Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Special Interest Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is the application of evidence-based strategies and systems to assist schools to increase academic performance, decrease inappropriate behavior, and establish positive school cultures. PBIS is not a packaged curriculum, intervention, or practice, rather a framework for selecting and implementing a continuum of evidence-based practices. In Georgia, over 200 school teams have been trained in PBIS implementation. The participants in this session will be provided with an overview of PBIS, practitioner experiences with implementing PBIS, and readiness activities for districts who may be interested in establishing PBIS. Presenters Dr. Jasolyn Henderson, Program Specialist, Positive Behavior Supports, Office of Standards, Instruction, and . Assessment at Georgia Department of Education; Allison Oxford, Murray County Schools; Spencer Gazaway, Murray m .

a County Schools; Kraig Howell, Butts County Schools; Sandy Bonner, Thomasville City Schools and Mary Friessen,

0 Thomasville City Schools 3 : 1 1

RTI: It’s Just a Matter of Time

. Room H m

. System Level Participants will gain an understanding of how a rural school system streamlined their instructional day to include a 30- a minute daily intervention and enrichment (I/E) period in grades 1-12 that provides dedicated time and resources for 0 0

: RTI. The system also incorporated the use of district-wide benchmark assessments to provide GPS content- related 0

1 interventions and enrichment during the I/E period. This initiative has given all schools the capacity to overcome

: students’ skill deficits through the RTI framework while also providing support to students lacking GPS content 2

mastery. n o

i Lincoln County Brian Campbell, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction; Britt McKinney, Instructional Coach; Christie Mattison, s

s Elementary Assistant Principal; Howie Gunby, Middle School Assistant Principal; and Brittany Barden, High School e

S Special Education Teacher

Room I & J Together We Can! Middle School During this session, we will provide an overview of the RTI process at Woodstock Middle School (WMS). Included in Level this discussion, will be both Cherokee County School District (CCSD) and WMS expectations and decision point guidelines for student identification. The primary focus will be the structure and organization of WMS RTI committee and its working relationship with the other faculty and staff of the school. This committee along with differentiation and best practices professional learning has led to a more effective RTI process. Woodstock MS, Joey Moss, Assistant Principal and Kim Eidson, RTI Building Chair Cherokee County

SSTAGE Conference Agenda Page 4 January 12, 2011 11:30 – 1:00 p.m. Lunch Athena Ballroom (Rooms E & F)  Join us for a delicious hot buffet lunch sponsored by McGraw-Hill.  Meet the recipients of the 2010 SSTAGE STAR Awards for Promising Practices.  Be inspired by Dr. JoAnn Moss, Principal, Elm Street School, Rome City Schools and Dr. Joseph C. Barrow, Jr., Superintendent, Ware County Schools.  Stay for the door prizes!

1:00 – 1:15pm Break

1:15 – 2:00 p.m. Session 3 Workshops

Room C & D Moving Forward with RTI/POI from the State and National Perspective GaDOE & SERVE Updates on the Department’s efforts to integrate Response to Intervention, the Georgia Pyramid of Interventions, and Special Session SST will be shared, along with what’s happening at the national level. Albert Patrick "Pat" Blenke, Program Manager, Academic Standards & Leadership, Georgia Department of Education . Presenters m and Dr. Kimberly Anderson, Senior Policy Research Analyst, Policy and External Affairs, GaDOE / SERVE . p

: Room I & J Georgia Dept. of Education Resources to Support RTI/POI, Instruction and Assessment 2

– GaDOE Special The Department of Education continues to build resources for schools and systems to coordinate their Response to

. Session Intervention (RTI) initiatives. Are you taking advantage of the resources available to you and colleagues? m . p

Presenter Shaun Owen, Program Manager, Academic Standards, Georgia Department of Education 5

RTI: Catch Them Before They Fall Room A : 3

Sponsored Session This session will provide an overview of research-based, direct reading instruction for elementary, middle, and high

n By McGraw-Hill school students. Participants will see common elements in direct instruction that meet the needs of at-risk readers o i

s identified as Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 4. Direct instruction provides systematic and explicit instruction in: phonemic s

e awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. Participants will leave with strategies they can S import into a classroom setting and determine whether intensive reading intervention is needed for RTI by administering a screening tool during their SST meeting for at-risk readers. Learn how professional development support will help ensure fidelity of implementation. Presenter Thomas W. Longstreth, National Consultant with the McGraw-Hill Intervention Team

SSTAGE Conference Agenda Page 5 January 12, 2011 Room B AIMSweb Behavior Module and AIMSweb Academic Data Reports Sponsored Session As the AIMSweb manager in one of the largest school districts in Virginia and consultant for school districts across By AIMSweb the USA on RTI and AIMSweb implementation, Regina Pierce will provide a brief overview of the new AIMSweb Behavior Module and a brief demonstration of AIMSweb data reports for different grade levels in reading and math. Regina will open a discussion with the session participants regarding implementing AIMSweb in your school(s) and she will respond to questions from the participants.

. Presenter Regina Pierce, Educational Consultant and Certified AIMSweb Trainer (CAT), Virginia m . p

0 Room G The RtI Revolution – What Does It Mean for My School? 0 :

2 Sponsored Session Reaching All Learners through Response to Intervention – Know the essential components of Response to Intervention

By Voyager (RtI) from the district, school, classroom, and student perspectives. Define what tenets a multi-tiered model should .

m follow, as well as tools and resources on how to implement each of these tiers of instruction. Discover how assessment, . p

instruction, and professional development need to come together in a cohesive manner to support each of the tiers, in 5

1 order to meet the needs of all student populations. : 1

Presenter Helen C. Long, Strategic Executive, Cambium Learning

n o i Room H EXCEED/RTI Demonstration s s Sponsored Session e EXCEED® RTI is a web-based application that automates and delivers any districts’ RTI process, simplifying an other- S By SpectrumK12 wise cumbersome and paper driven process. EXCEED RTI drives day-to-day activities, monitors academic and behavioral progress, and shows which interventions are most effective. Tracking, monitoring and managing intervention and student performance data for all students from pre-K through graduation and beyond. EXCEED RTI ensures fully-in- formed decision making and high quality instruction to help all students succeed. EXCEED RTI is part of the EXCEED Student Achievement Manager suite of products. Presenters Tricia Jordan, Regional Director/ RTI Solutions, Spectrumk12, Beth DuBose, Marketing Specialist, SpectrumK12, and Tanya Walker, Account Executive, Scantron

2:00 – 2:15 p.m. Break

SSTAGE Conference Agenda Page 6 January 12, 2011 Don’t forget to pick up your certificate of attendance after Session 4. Safe travels home! 2:15 – 3:45 p.m. Session 4 Workshops

Room A Speech -The Big Unknown in RTI System Level CCSD has a district wide plan to screen, assess, and meet needs of students in grades prek-5th with speech- language concerns. Participants will leave with strategies and tools to support students with these concerns as they move through the POI. Participants will also learn research-based strategies to accommodate needs of students with IEPs who exhibit deficits in other areas not already addressed. Examples, tools, and strategies to implement RTI specific to the needs of students with speech/ language concerns will be provided. Clarke County Ashly Albritton, District RTI Coordinator and Janice Barnard, Lead Speech Language Pathologist . m . p

5 Room B Creating and Implementing A School-Wide Response to Intervention Period 4 : Elementary Level In a classroom full of students with diverse needs, teachers are challenged to tailor instruction so every student 3

learns. The focus of this workshop is to explore the process of creating and implementing a forty minute intensive –

. . instructional block at the beginning of each day. This block is used to support and extend student learning. You will m m . . learn how to design a school-wide intervention time to support the RTI process. p p

5 Villa Rica ES, 1 4

: Dr. Marissa Ogando, Assistant Principal and Sally Ganey, Instructional Coach :

2 Carroll County 3

. : 4 m

. Room C & D Assessment Mapping: Supporting Teaching, Learning, and RTI p n

o 5 i Special Interest When Madison County began implementing RTI, we approached student assessment in multiple ways, using various 1 s : s

2 sources (e.g., universal screening, progress monitoring, etc.) to guide decision-making. Since then, we have added nu-

merous assessments without taking time to examine which assessments best measure performance and purging unnec-

: essary assessments. In order to meet accreditation standards and facilitate continuous school improvement, we have 4

Establishing Positive School Culture: Implementing and Sustaining Positive Behavioral Room G set about comprehensively evaluating our practices through an assessment mapping process. Using surveys from district n Interventions and Supports (PBIS) o i personnel, we plan to develop a core set of terms and reasonable district-wide assessment plan. This process should as- s Special Interest Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is the application of evidence-based strategies and systems to assist s sist educators in using common terminology and the most effective data to guide instructional conversations, RTI meet- e (repeat session) schools to increase academic performance, decrease inappropriate behavior, and establish positive school cultures. PBIS

S ings, PLCS, and school-level planning. is not a packaged curriculum, intervention, or practice, rather a framework for selecting and implementing a continuum of Presenters Debbie Williamson, RTI/504 Coordinator & School Psychologist, Madison County Schools, and Courtney Glueck, School evidence-based practices. In Georgia, over 200 school teams have been trained in PBIS implementation. The participants Psychology Doctoral Student, University of Georgia in this session will be provided with an overview of PBIS, practitioner experiences with implementing PBIS, and readiness activities for districts who may be interested in establishing PBIS. Presenters Dr. Jasolyn Henderson, Program Specialist, Positive Behavior Supports, Office of Standards, Instruction, and Assessment at Georgia Department of Education; Allison Oxford, Murray County Schools; Spencer Gazaway, Murray County Schools; SSTAGE Conference Agenda Page 7 January 12, 2011 Kraig Howell, Butts County Schools; Sandy Bonner, Thomasville City Schools and Mary Friessen, Thomasville City Schools

Room H Solving the Puzzle of Incorporating Math into RTI Elementary Level In this workshop, you will acquire new ideas and strategies to boost student math performance within the context of the Pyramid of Interventions. At Tier 1, innovative school-wide programs and strategies will be presented. Moving on to Tiers 2 and 3, specific research-based interventions will be shared. Our school’s practices at Tier 4 will be briefly mentioned. At the conclusion of this workshop, we hope you will share our belief that the whole system of interventions and use of AIMSWEB probes has revolutionized our instructional program which works harmoniously to create a framework of support for all students. Johnston ES, Gena Hood, Principal; Tina Word, RtI Building Level Chair; and Ashley Watson, Early Intervention Specialist Cherokee County

Room I & J Improving Outcomes in Secondary Math with GRASP – A Universal Screening Tool for Math (and Reading) Special Interest The West Georgia RESA has supported 31 school systems in using different tools and products to identify students in need of intervention and to track progress of the interventions. GRASP was created as an inexpensive, user-friendly system to assist educators in identifying students in need of intervention, provide initial diagnostic information about student’s specific needs, and track the progress of individuals and groups of students. This session will share the ongoing progress of middle and high schools using the math assessment of GRASP. Presenters Rachel Spates, Assistant Director, West Georgia RESA; Ann Marie Johnson, School Improvement Specialist, West Georgia RESA; Dr. Joyce Lambert, Title One School Improvement Specialist, West Georgia RESA; and Susan Roach, Instructional Coach, Newnan High School, Coweta County

SSTAGE Conference Agenda Page 8 January 12, 2011