District Level Leadership: Supporting A Rigorous Response to Intervention Framework

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District Level Leadership Supporting A Rigorous
Response to Intervention Framework

• The Shape of Innovation
• Response to Intervention for Academics and
  Behavior to Meet the Needs of All Learners
• Idaho RTI State Conference April 13, 2010
• Paula Kellerer Gary Larsen from Nampa ID NSD
  131 School District and
• Daryl Mellard from University of Kansas,
• National Center on Response to Intervention

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• When the district embraces and promotes the use
  of RTI as the primary method for determining the
  instructional and behavioral needs of all
  studentsnot just those experiencing difficulties
  learningimplementation proceeds more smoothly
  and is more likely to be successful.
• George Batsche, Ed.D

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There is growing evidence that the actions of
district and school leaders can have a
substantial effect on student achievement when
they ensure that specific interventions are
enacted in every classroom in every school.
(Robert Marzano, 2008)
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What are todays RTI related learner outcomes?

• Broad goal of how district-level efforts for can
  support implementation and sustainability of an
  RTI framework in their schools
• Participants will have
• A theory of institutional, personal and social
  change
• Steps that can support the districts efforts

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Our Assumption

• We assume that you know the RTI framework of
  components and processes
• Screening
• Progress monitoring
• Data-based decision-making model
• Tiered levels of intervention
• Fidelity of implementation
• If not, review the ISDE RTI archived webinars

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Why a District Level Perspective?

• Because of the impact on student outcomes
• District level decisions have five unique
  influences
• Specificity
• Stability
• Consistency
• Authority
• Power
• Which have three very important results
• Degree of implementation fidelity
• Immediacy of effect and
• Long-lasting change

(Porter et al., 1988 Porter, 1994)
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Why District Leadership?

• Who is in a better position to
• Develop and support a district-wide strategy for
  improving classroom instruction and the
  organization to implement it?
• And support through
• Creating a plan
• Identifying and spreading best practices
• Developing leadership skills at all levels
• Building information systems to monitor all
  students achievement
• Holding people accountable for results
• (Elmore, Childress, Grossman, 2006)

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Relationship Between District Leadership and
Student Achievement
50th
59.5th
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What will it take?

• We are working for
• Broad participation/ Collective Efficacy
• Substantial agreement/Agreed Upon Outcomes
• Systemic leadership
• Observable change

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Making Change (Prestine Bowen, 1993)

• So, that

• So, how do you achieve

• Maintain commitment and involvement
• Everyone who wants, stays everyone who stays
  changes
• Assures continuation after key personnel change
• Visible evidence notes the changes

• Broad participation?
• Substantial agreement?
• Systemic leadership
• Observable and sustained change?

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How Does Change Happen? With Wisdom and Patience
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Allow time for

• Human sense-making
• Most conventional theories of change fail to take
  into account the complexity of human
  sense-making.Sense-making is not the simple
  decoding of the policy message. In general, the
  process of comprehension is an active process of
  interpretation that draws on the individuals
  rich knowledge base of understandings, beliefs,
  and attitudes.

Spillane, Reiser, Reimer (2002)
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So, now where to begin?

• Put an emphasis on the activities that facilitate
  human sense making.
• The human sense making is personal.
• And the social structure will change as well.
• Know that your district will be different from
  other districts, schools within your district
  will vary because of your context.

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Magnitude of Change
Do stakeholders perceive the change as.

• An extension of the past?
• Consistent with prevailing organizational norms?
• Congruent with personal values?
• Easily learned u sing existing knowledge and
  skills?
• First Order Implications

• A break with the past?
• Inconsistent with prevailing organizational
  norms?
• Incongruent with personal values?
• Requiring new knowledge and skills?
• Second Order Implications

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McRels View of Change
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When implementing change, a leader

• Acts as an optimizer by
• Inspiring staff to accomplish things beyond their
  ability
• Portraying a positive attitude about the ability
  of staff to accomplish substantial outcomes
• Demonstrates their knowledge of curriculum,
  assessment and instruction by
• Providing conceptual guidance regarding effective
  classroom practices
• Being informed on current research and theory

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Critical Information for Sharing

• How will you develop a consensus around?
• The problems you are solving
• How to involve your stakeholders
• Your RTI definition
• Your RTI components
• Addressing priorities, strategies and barriers

• How will you communicate?
• The consensus statements
• Research on RTI
• Implementation timeline
• Required commitments
• Outcomes

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When creating demand, a leader

• Acts as a change agent by
• Challenging the status quo
• Leading when outcomes are uncertain
• Intellectually stimulates his/her staff by
• Being informed on current research and theory
• Systematically exposing staff to current research
  and theory and creating discussion around these
  topics
• Shares his/her ideals and beliefs about effective
  schooling and aligns behaviors with those belief

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When monitoring and evaluating the change
initiative, a leader

• Continually remains aware of the impact of the
  change on student achievement by
• Monitoring the effectiveness of curricular
  practices
• Monitoring the effectiveness of assessment
  practices
• Monitoring the effectiveness of instructional
  practices

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When managing the personal transitions of staff,
a leader

• Adapts their leadership style depending on the
  needs of staff
• Encourages staff to express their thoughts and
  constructive ideas to move forward in the change
  process

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Thoughts on Change

• The art of progress is to preserve order amid
  change and preserve change amid order.
• Alfred North Whitehead

Its not so much that were afraid of change or
so in love with the old ways, but its that place
in between we fearits like being between
trapezes. Its Linus when his blanket is in the
dryer. Theres nothing to hold on to. Marilyn
Ferguson
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District Level ImplementationNASDSE RTI Blue
Prints (2008)

• Consensus Building
• Examining district structure, change
  conversations, shared vision
• Building District Infrastructure
• Common components to support schools
• Needs assessments, policies, procedures,
  technical assistance, data management
• District Level Implementation
• Multiyear implementation, PD plan
• Evaluation/fidelity, sustainability

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District-Level Efforts to Enhance Your
Infra-structure Implementation Fidelity

• Organizational capacity
• Facilitative administration
• Provider characteristics
• Staff selection
• Decision support systems
• Intense/on-going staff development
• Coaching
• Staff assessment
• (Fixsen, 2007 Durlak Dupre, 2008)

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District Level ImplementationNASDSE RTI Blue
Prints (2008) with Durlak, Dupre and Fixson

• Consensus Building (Examining district structure,
  change conversations, shared vision)
• Organizational capacity
• Facilitative administration
• Provider characteristics
• Building District Infrastructure (Components to
  support schools, needs assessments, policies,
  procedures, technical assistance, data
  management)
• Staff selection
• Decision support systems
• District Level Implementation (Multiyear
  implementation, PD plan, Evaluation/fidelity,
  sustainability)
• Intense/on-going staff development
• Coaching
• Staff assessment

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Consensus BuildingA. Organizational Capacity

• Having an organization that is innovative which
  cultivates an atmosphere that is conducive to
  trying new approaches
• Shared decision-making leads to better
  implementation

(Durlak Dupre, 2008)
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Consensus Building Organizational Capacity

• Action 1 Form District Leadership Team
• Action 2 Review the 5 unique roles of district
  level actions
• Specificity
• Stability
• Consistency
• Authority
• Power

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Building Level Plans

• What happens at the building level?
• What are the timelines?
• What are the expected, observable changes?

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Consensus BuildingB. Facilitative Administration

• Facilitative administration provides leadership
  and makes use of a range of data inputs to inform
  decisions on curriculum and instruction and
  continue to work for desired intervention
  outcomes.

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Consensus BuildingAdministrative Facilitation

• Action 3 District Level Needs Assessment
• What are the current initiatives?
• You have to align these initiatives to conserve
  energy, keep momentum
• What are your targets, current performance, and
  supports for
• Tier 1
• Tier 2
• Tier 3
• Whats the gap between current practice and the
  goals?

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Consensus BuildingC. Provider Characteristics

• Providers more likely to implement a program at
  higher levels of fidelity
• recognize a specific need for the innovation,
• believe the innovation will produce desired
  benefits,
• feel more confident in their ability to do what
  is expected, and
• have the requisite skills

Its all about recognizing and preparing for 2nd
order change.
(Durlak Dupre, 2008)
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District InfrastructureD. Staff Selection

• Certain teacher characteristics are difficult to
  teach in training sessions so this must be part
  of selecting teachers in implementing certain
  interventions (e.g., progress monitoring)
• Knowledge of field, professional skills, common
  sense, social justice, good judgment, empathy,
  etc.
• Defining the roles and clarifying expectations

(Fixsen, 2007)
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District Infrastructure E. Decision Support Data
Systems

• Assess key aspects of the organizations overall
  performance and look at implementation of core
  elements over time
• Graph results against goals
• What are your progress indices to share monthly
  with the board and community?

(Durlak DuPre, 2008)
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District Infrastructure Staff Selection and
Decision Support Systems

• Action 4 Reach consensus on necessary
  components
• What does Universal Instruction (Tier 1) look
  like?
• What does Strategic Instruction (Tier 2) look
  like?
• Problem-solving vs. Standard Treatment Protocol
• What does Intensive Instruction (Tier 3) look
  like?
• Do our screening and progress monitoring
  assessments fit?
• Action 5 Review Current Student performance
• Action 6 Determine Criteria upon which you will
  evaluate your progress
• Action 7 Develop an action plan to guide
  implementation

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Action 5 Review Students Current Performance

• How would you fill in your triangle?

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Action 6 Checking our Progress

• What are the data on which we decide our
  progress?
• Student outcomes
• Implementation level (Exposure fidelity)
• Adherence fidelity
• Student engagement

• Whats the criterion for judging progress?
• x Tier x Grade
• Movement among tier x time
• NCLB data
• Reading First indicators

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Action 7 Action Plan to Guide Implementation

• How is our RTI initiative integrated with our
  district level reform, improvements?
• How are our Evaluation Data (Action 6) our metric
  for change? How do we publicize these data to
  keep the focus?
• How is our staff development planning responsive
  to our implementation barriers and successes?
• How do we integrate student responsiveness in our
  comprehensive evaluation plan?

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District ImplementationF. Intense/Ongoing Staff
Development

• Training needs to be frequent and of a certain
  intensity to ensure proper development of skills
• Training needs to be followed up with guided
  practice with experts as well as discussions

(Durlak DuPre, 2008)
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District ImplementationG. Coaching

• A coach provides craft information along with
  advice, encouragement, and opportunities to
  practice and use skills specific to the
  intervention
• Engagement, treatment planning, clinical judgment

(Fixsen, 2007)
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H. Staff Assessment

• The first and most important use for staff
  evaluation information is to help the teacher
  continue to improve his or her effectiveness with
  students.
• Fidelity measures can also provide feedback
  regarding the progress of implementation efforts
  and the decisions made about a practice and
  procedure.

(Fixsen, 2007)
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So, in Summary, District Leaders

• Set the RTI vision
• What are examples, non-examples?
• Protect the effort (e.g., policy, resources,
  hiring)
• Set a high standard for fidelity
• Check on the progress revise as needed
• Insure stability during change
• Start aggressively tomorrow
• Celebrate the successes and encourage

• Include
• School board, parent
• Superintendent and assistants
• Directors of special services
• Whose role includes
• Establish and maintain the relationship network
  with the Board, schools, parents and community
• (Prestine Bowen, 1993)

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Reflections for Your Next Steps

• Which will be your first focus?
• Suggestion Need a functional, talented
  leadership team
• Which poses the greatest challenge?
• Suggestion Reflect on the human sense-making
  issues
• What resources will be most helpful in meeting
  that challenge?

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Leadership Resources

• Council of Chief State School Officers
  http//www.ccsso.org
• International Center for Leadership in Education
  http//www.leadered.com
• Natl Assoc. of State Directors of Special
  Education http//www.nasdse.org
• Learning First Alliance http//www.learningfirst.
  org
• US Dept. of Ed Institute of Education Sciences
  What Works Clearinghouse http//ies.ed.gov/ncee/
  wwc

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For more about RTI, Training Research

• Center on Instruction
• http//www.centeroninstruction.org/
• IDEA Partnership
• http//ideapartnership.org/
• IRIS Center
• http//iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/rti/chalcycle.h
  tm
• Florida Center on Reading Research
• http//www.fcrr.org/Curriculum/PDF/PrincipalWalkth
  roughThirdGradeFinal.pdf
• RTI TA Center
• RTI4success.org

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Thank YouOn the web _at_ RTI4Success.org
Paula Kellerer PKellerer_at_nsd131.org Gary
Larsen GLarsen_at_nsd131.org Daryl
Mellard DMellard_at_ku.edu 785-864-7081