Schools learn new ways to help kids

May 08, 2008 10:35 am

— Listen To The Story
By TESA CULLI
tesa.culli@register-news.com
MT. VERNON — With the first deadline looming for school districts to submit initial assessments on the nationally mandated Response to Intervention program coming up at the end of the month, school officials and teachers attended a seminar designed to train them on the Rti program and how it works in the school setting.
The seminar, hosted by the Jefferson-Hamilton Counties Regional Superintendent of Schools, was conducted by Dr. W. Alan Coulter of Louisiana.
“Every state has to develop rules and regulations relating to rules for intervention,” Coulter told the crowd of 200-plus educators gathered at First United Methodist Church on Wednesday. “Many states haven’t finalized the regulations, but Illinois is one that has.”
Rti is a program which uses instructional strategies for all learners, providing all learners with scientific, research-based interventions, continuously measuring student performance and making educational decisions based on a student’s response to interventions, according to the Illinois State Board of Education. All school districts are required to have an assessment on file with the ISBE by May 23 and a detailed plan of implementation of Rti on file by Jan. 1.
District 80 Assistant Superintendent Tyler Brown said Rti can be summed up as “helping all kids where they’re at, and exactly in those areas where they need it at any given time.”
Coulter explained that some students need very little help to master material, whereas other students need more help. Some need more help in many areas, whereas some need help occasionally. It has been proven that those students which receive the additional educational opportunities are able to excel at the same rate as those who need little intervention.
“You ask yourself what it takes to go from ignorance to knowing the material automatically,” Coulter said. “Knowing the performance of a kid is only the first step. Using that information is important — knowing who needs a little something more and who doesn’t.”
Four states are already using Rti: Colorado, Georgia, West Virginia and Delaware. Illinois is “in the middle of the pack” in the implementation state, Coulter said.
Coulter said the way to help all students excel — those with and those without special needs — is giving more opportunities to those who need more help.
Getting geared up for the Rti program has been a priority at District 80 for more than a year, Brown said. A grant for the ASPIRE team provides monthly training to prepare the district for implementation of Rti.
“We’ve tried to be proactive to get a year ahead of where we need to be,” Brown explained. “There are a lot of pieces to Rti. There is an academic component, but also a behavior component. The Positive Behavior Intervention System is the leader across the nation, and we’ve already implemented it.”
Brown said in addition, the district has teams of teachers who identify and target students they see struggling in a subject and provide the mentoring and extra tutoring needed to help the child succeed.