Response to Intervention: Safe Spaces for Math and Literacy Video Lecture | Understanding Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): Better Life - Personal Skills

>>Teacher: We're going to
do some practice, okay?
Did you hear "e" in "feet"?
Thumbs up!
>>Dawn: Since we've implemented
our current Response
to Intervention structure, we are
providing such intensive interventions
that students are getting caught up and
are not ending up in special education.
>>Teacher: Did we hear "e" in "fuss"?
No. Good job.
>>Dawn: We all believe that kids
can be a hundred percent successful
if we give them what they need.
The Response to Intervention
Program is built
to have all students
meeting those standards.
>>Teacher: Is that what everybody got?
>>Class: Yeah!
>>Teacher: All right.
>>Nicole: So Tier 1 at Drew is
just your typical instruction,
what happens in every classroom,
and all students get that.
What we do for Tier 2
Interventions, in the morning,
we have an hour-long intervention block.
And we do this K-2, so that by the time
they get to third grade we don't have
such a large number of kids who
need really intensive interventions.
And then, of course, those kids that
do are coming to the Literacy Center.
>>Barbara: Tier 3 is where the
Literacy Center would come in.
Not only the Literacy
Center, but the Math Lab, too.
>>Teacher: Here you go.
>>Barbara: We have created a
Literacy Center and a Math Lab.
And we're taking those children
that need that added assistance,
and they're getting targeted
interventions that are really specific
to what their deficits are.
>>Nicole: So the first year
of the Literacy Center,
we realized what we were
currently doing wasn't working.
Kids were getting pulled out in large
groups, out of grade level instruction,
to try to catch them up, and
the gap was just not closing.
So at Drew, the kids go
to two Enrichment Classes.
So they'll go to PE, and Art.
And we looked at how can we
use that time to provide some
of the interventions rather than
pulling them out of their reading class?
>>Dawn: Our goal is to make it a
different enrichment option for them,
instead of going to Music, they
get to come to the Literacy Center.
Or instead of going to Robotics,
they get to go to the Math Lab.
>>India: We see about 20
percent of the school population.
These are the students
with the greatest need.
And we specialize in very
intense modified instruction.
And this is to pinpoint their
exact areas of difficulty.
>>India: Can you write
down your explanation?
>>Student: Okay.
>>India: Okay.
>>India: The kids are
missing numeracy skills.
If their framework in the numbers is
very weak, we know that we need to target
those students and
start right away with them.
>>Marlowe: If it's something you
don't understand, you just have to ask
for help, and she'll break it down.
But in the regular classroom,
the teachers don't have
enough time to do that.
>>Nicole: What we tried to do
is keep the groups very small,
so we're really able to create groups
with kids that have a similar area
of weakness, and really
push them through.
>>Dawn: What they do in here
is always built around learning
to decode, and read fluently.
But it's also built around having fun.
And they do have to burn some
energy, because it is their time away
from the general classroom.
So there has to be opportunities
for them to talk,
to move, to get up and down.
They might write in shaving cream.
They might write in sand.
We let them write on the tables.
Things that are fun for them.
Opportunities to get
lots and lots of praise.
>>Dawn: Shout!
Awesome! You're definitely getting
one of these awesome stickers.
>>Dawn: You know, that's their
time to really feel safe,
and to really feel secure,
and to, you know, be the best
and be in charge of something.
>>Melissa: And how many
sounds was it, Thomas?
>>Thomas: Three!
>>Melissa: Three!
I think you guys are ready
to do this on your own.
So we're going to get
out the dot-to-dot sheet.
>>Nicole: Definitely something we had to
look at over the years was the programs
that we were using in order
to provide the interventions.
Now, we use a stand-alone
phonics program K-2.
So it's the same program that
we're using in the Lit Center.
So they get it from their
teachers in the classroom,
and then they get a double dose
of it in the Literacy Center,
and that has really impacted
students meeting their goals here.
>>Nicole: Mr. Jocks,
is this one of yours?
>>Jocks: Yes, that's one of my students.
>>Nicole: All right, let's see here.
>>Nicole: We do progress
monitoring weekly.
As a team, we look at
that data and decide,
"Is the intervention
working for these kids?"
>>Nicole: She's right on that goal line.
So let's just keep going with what
we're currently doing with her.
>>India: We retest the
children in December.
Students who have made substantial
gains, may exit the Math Lab
or the Literacy Center if
they reach their goals.
Typically about 30 to 40 percent of the
children exit out after the first year.
>>India: If you have any
questions, let me know, okay?
All right!
Good job!
>>Dawn: Since the Literacy Center has
come along, it's rare that you get kids
in your classroom who
can't decode the words.
Which is obviously a great
thing as a classroom teacher.
>>Melissa: The RTI has had some
wonderful effects in my classroom.
Sometimes it is hard
to juggle everything,
and to know that we have colleagues
giving our students extra support
in reading and math, it
lessens the burden a little bit.
>>Nicole: Since we've implemented our
current Response to Intervention structure,
our percent of students who
qualify for Special Ed has dropped
from thirteen percent to eight percent.
Almost all of our kids pass
the State test every year.
And we even have some exceed.