Be realistic

Teachers are some of the most generous people I know. They will go to great lengths for their students and often times carry the weight of their students’ struggles with them even when they’re outside of the classroom. It’s hard to be reasonable about the improvement your students will make.

Years ago, I had a student who was several years behind. Despite being a 3^rd grader, his beginning of the year assessments showed he was working on a kindergarten level in math. I worked with him all year whenever I could, but it still wasn’t enough to pass the 3^rd grade state test. I was devastated- I felt like I had failed him and I carried that with me for a while.

What I failed to realize, is that I should have been celebrating the growth he achieved by finishing the year at a 2^nd grade level in math.

Be kind to yourself. You’re not going to completely close gaps that are years wide. Do the best you can and the development will come at a healthy pace. On the flip side, don’t modify grade level expectations by providing certain students with a curriculum that requires less work. Find the right balance for both you and the student in need and celebrate successes no matter how small with that student.

Understanding the intervention process

I have worked with a lot of teachers on intervention and there are occasions where the teacher isn’t familiar with the tiers of remediation.

“Jimmy struggles with every new skill in math”

“How often do you work with Jimmy in small groups or 1:1?”

“I work with Jimmy when I’m teaching the whole class.”

The most basic level of intervention occurs when you are with the whole class, but the most critical steps of remediation take place in a more isolated setting such as small group instruction or 1:1. This is not easy. You are short on time. Try carving out 10-15 minutes a day to provide Tier II and III interventions. There will never be enough time in the school day to achieve everything you want, so go back to prioritizing the skills that are most important. For one student in particular, it might be just multiplication; just one skill that you cover both procedurally and conceptually.

Have a baseline set of data

You need to identify the academic deficiencies of your students. Before you can provide intervention, you need to know the skills to reteach. I use these beginning of the year assessments to pinpoint class needs and specific needs of individual students. These free assessments have questions that specifically target procedural and conceptual understanding for each standard.

It can feel overwhelming when you look at student scores. It feels as though the needs of just one student are so wide and impossible to achieve. In this case scale it back. Focus on prerequisite skills that are continuously needed. Focus on the four operations of math, number sense, fluency, and problem solving. Quadrilaterals are important but not as important as conceptually understanding multiplication.

Keep it short and sweet

The #1 struggle with implementing intervention is TIME. There is never enough time to achieve everything you as it is, and adding another thing to your schedule seems impossible. Allocate 10-15 minutes a day for intervention, that’s it! In the past I have had students silent read for 10-15 while I worked with a small group or one student. It’s not always perfect but you make it work.

Monitoring progress

Without a doubt the most important part of intervention is to decide how you will track student progress. Administration, parents, support staff, and of course you will want to know if the remediation is actually working. In the past, I have used a schedule that provides intervention on a new topic/standard for 4 days. Then I assessed on Fridays. You don’t want to assess too often nor do you want to wait too long. I find that most intervention plans last about 6 weeks before the team wants to meet and discuss progress. With this schedule you can collect 6 points of data to share during those meetings.

Using standards based mini assessments

What will the assessments you use to track data look like? Use quick and easy to complete assessments that isolate and focus on specific skills. These will be the skills that you are reviewing during intervention time. I use assessments that are standards based so I know exactly where the student’s understanding lies. The assessments I use also cover procedural and conceptual understanding.

Keep records of everything

Data tracking is EVERYTHING in intervention. Keep records of student work, assessments, and notes. This will help you during parent conferences, RTI meetings, and/or conferences with admin. Here are the four pieces of data I bring to every meeting related to the remediation needs of a child:

1. Standardized test scores – from previous year to current year
2. Graphs showing student progress – this includes the mini assessments I administered during the intervention process
3. Graphs comparing the student in RTI with the class – class averages and student averages of assessments that everyone is completing
4. Work samples of the resources and activities we completed together during small group/ 1:1 instruction

Don’t give up

It may be hard to see the effect of your efforts and hard work but it will come. Stay consistent and it will start to pay off. Remember you and your students are doing a great job! Our Math Intervention Resources for grades K-8 eliminates all the prep work for you so you can focus on what really matters- helping your students!

The post Short and Effective Strategies for Math Intervention appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

In Part 1 we went over general RTI info and procedures. In Part 2 we took an in-depth look at the materials you need for each stage of the math RTI process. Now, in Part 3, we’re going to discuss the all important data tracking.

“I became a teacher because I love meetings with parents and administrators.”

So said no teacher, ever.

I don’t know about you, but I became a teacher to interact with my students. But don’t forget that outside of the little world of your classroom are parents and administrators who rightfully want updates on your students’ progress.

Parents’ Perspective on RTI Data Tracking

It’s especially important to understand the parents’ perspective when you have students doing RTI. A parent may be unsettled to learn that their child needs intervention. Some schools require a written intervention plan. Even if your school doesn’t require it, every teacher should make it a standard part of the process. RTI (or anything else) will be far more successful when the parents are fully on board.

Parents also want to know whether the interventions are working. Fortunately, RTI is, at its core, a data driven process. This is especially true in math, where it’s easy to isolate specific skills. You can show proof of your students’ progress or lack of progress. When you come to RTI meetings be prepared with samples and lots of data. Remember that your recommendations and reports will mean nothing if you can’t back it up!

There are two ways to prepare for an RTI meeting. Option 1 is to panic the day before. Then spend hours going through weeks of assessments and practice pages. Finally, try to pull together relevant, organized, meaningful data.

Option 2 is to consistently and carefully record your children’s data before and after each intervention. The night before the RTI meeting, calmly pull the student’s file and look over the data. Then go out to dinner with your spouse.

Does Option 2 seem to good too be true? Not at all. Let’s talk about types of documentation to have in your math RTI students’ files at all times.

Math RTI Data Tracking

Here are 4 types of math RTI data tracking:

1.) Graphs showing a student’s progress –

We’re math teachers so we know all about graphs! Make it a bar graph, a line graph or a scatter plot. It doesn’t matter as long as your students’ data gets recorded for every assessment, quick check, pre-test, and post-test. You’ll want a different graph for each skill that you work on with your student.

2.) Graphs comparing the student with the class –

This is important information for you, parents and administration. When you administer class-wide assessments, chart your RTI student on a bar graph compared to the class average. As the year progresses, this will clearly indicate if your student is keeping up or falling farther behind.

For both types of graphs, do yourself a favor and record the data in real time after each assessment. You’ll save yourself hours later. When I couldn’t find ready-made templates to document my students’ progress, I created them myself. You can check out my data tracking templates in the FREE SAMPLER of my math intervention packs.

3.) Work samples –

Save your student’s independent work. Make a copy of a practice page or worksheet and file it away. Keep an anonymous copy of another student’s work to have as a “control.”

4.) Test scores –

When you start a file for an RTI student, look at last year’s records. You can pull and copy test scores, including standardized testing. The more data you can provide, the better!

As hard as it may seem to keep up with all the data tracking, it will be much harder to start from scratch before a meeting!

Best Practices, Materials, and Data Tracking – Pulling it All Together for Math RTI

Why do we do RTI? We do it because it works. But it only works if we do it right:

1. Use the three tier RTI structure to ensure that each student gets the level of intervention he needs.
2. Administer pre and post-year assessments to your entire class.
3. The right materials are crucial! Choose practice pages that focus on a single skill.
4. Research proves that CBM is most effective for progress monitoring. Use frequent mini-assessments and quick checks for each skill.
5. Track data as you go to create a robust file for each math RTI student.

Lots of research has been done on RTI. Originally, most of it focused on reading interventions. Over time there’s been more research on math RTI, too, giving us proven methods and tested interventions. With the right materials and procedures, you’ll find that math was made for RTI.

Check out our math intervention resources in our TpT store so you can get started with intervention in your classroom!

The post The Importance of Data Tracking During The RTI Process – Part 3 appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

If only it had turned around and seen the open door on the other side of the room.

As teachers, we’re all that poor fly sometimes. We have the best intentions to help our students succeed. When a method isn’t working, we’ll try harder, putting in more time and resources to solve the problem. Sometimes, though, we need to try smarter instead of trying harder.

That, in a nutshell, is what RTI is all about. For years teachers saw students struggling, but didn’t have an effective system for evaluating and assisting those students.

RTI is that elusive system. It’s a roadmap for assessing students’ skills and then using the data to choose the proper interventions.

What is RTI?

RTI stands for Response to Intervention. Throughout the process, the students are evaluated based on how they respond to the teacher’s interventions. The term became widespread starting in 2004 when IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act) was reauthorized. The goal was two-fold:

• Make sure that students weren’t diagnosed with learning disabilities before having a fair chance with appropriate teaching best practices.
• Identify and address weak students before they fell so far behind that they needed special ed services.

Is RTI effective? According to famous researcher John Hattie, the answer is a resounding yes! Hattie’s research concluded that when teachers implement RTI properly students can advance by 2 to 3 grade levels in just one year!

Three RTI Tiered System

The RTI Model has three tiers of instruction:
1. Tier 1 is the strong, core teaching that every student should receive. In this tier, students are assessed two or three times a year to find weaknesses. Within this tier, a teacher will provide differentiated instruction to groups of students with particular gaps. If that strategy doesn’t work within 8 weeks or so, Tier 2 is introduced.

2. Tier 2 is specialized instruction that students receive in small groups a few times a week. Extra help is provided during enrichment activities or electives. That way, they don’t miss out on core instruction. We assess students in Tier 2 approximately every other week to track their progress. By the end of a grading period, a student should either be ready to go back to Tier 1 or moved into Tier 3.

3. Tier 3 is the highest level of intervention. Students receive data based individualized instruction targeted to their weaknesses. These children may be assessed weekly or even daily to make sure that they’re meeting their goals. If a student doesn’t show improvement the next step is an educational evaluation to facilitate movement into the special education framework.

These tiers should be fluid. Sometimes process needs to give way to common sense or parent/teacher intuition. A parent or teacher can ask for a special ed eval for a student at any time.

The Benefits of RTI

Why have educators jumped on the RTI bandwagon? Because it works!

Teachers who use RTI see multiple benefits:

• Early intervention means that fewer students enter the special education system. This saves the precious special education resources for the kids who truly need them.

• Students who need help can still receive their core instruction in the general education classroom.

• A child can get help before they fall so far behind that they need to attend summer school or repeat a grade.

• If a child is referred for special education services, there’s already lots of documentation about the child’s needs.

Pages and pages of research are available on all aspects of RTI. (If you like data, statistics and meta-analyses, check out rtinetwork.org.) Teachers can use RTI to improve outcomes in reading, math, behavior and more.

How to Implement RTI for Math Instruction

So far, we’ve been talking about RTI theory and concepts.

Now it’s time to get down in the trenches. In Parts 2 and 3 of this series, we’ll be looking at hands-on, practical tips for math-focused RTI.

The success of RTI is directly tied to the quality of the screenings and assessments you use. That’s why Part 2 will be packed with practical information on the materials you need for the RTI process. Look out for tips on how to find the best teacher-tested assessments to monitor and track your students.

Part 3 will focus on another crucial part of RTI: data tracking. We’ll cover the hows and whys. You’ll learn proven tips and best practices. You’ll see how to use your data to get top results for your students and collaborate with your administration and parents.

Stay tuned for more. Sign up for my newsletter or follow me on Pinterest to make sure you don’t miss out on the rest of this series.

The post What Every Teacher Needs to Know About RTI in the Math Classroom – Part 1 appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.

Every classroom has a range of ability. As teachers we target those different levels of ability to maximize student development. In the past I have found myself providing blocks of intervention for students to prepare for our state test and ensure their success in day to day class activities. The problem was I had little to no resources. The textbook provided by the county had “intervention resources,” but it wasn’t enough. One page of extra math questions wasn’t closing the gaps in my class and the resources lacked key components. There were three things I was looking for in math intervention resources; data tracking, ample student practice, and targeting specific skills and levels of understanding.

How do I track progress?

I created my own math intervention packs to cover all my needs. I was asked to attend RTI meetings and bring graphs and data with me for those students needing intervention. Where do I get these graphs and data pieces? No one was offering to search for these materials for me. I used my usual class assessments for data tracking, but I also needed mini assessments exclusively for my intervention students.

These mini assessments gave me insight as to how my students were performing before and after intervention. My Math Intervention Packs also have a baseline pre-test and matching post-test for every math domain. You also get mini quick checks to track progress by skill . Then you can use these data pieces to give to administration and parents for tangible documentation of your support.

Not Enough Resources

I found myself using all the resources I had during the intervention process and still needing more. My Math Intervention Packs provide many pages of practice for each standard.

What Am I Targeting?

The one question I would repeatedly ask myself during intervention time was “Is this student struggling with procedural or conceptual understanding of this standard/skill?” It’s important to ensure you are targeting the child’s specific needs. I wanted resources that targeted specific levels of understanding. Classroom time is so precious and every minute counts. I wanted to maximize the 10-15 minutes I had for intervention to its fullest potential. I created practice pages specifically for procedural practice of each math skill, along with conceptual practice. The pre-tests included in the Intervention Packs provide you with information on whether the questions on the tests assess procedural or conceptual understanding. You can provide intervention with confidence knowing that you have data showing the needs of your students.

I have two free samplers of my math intervention packs (one for Kindergarten and one for 3rd grade) in my TpT store. You can review the layout of the intervention packs and what you can expect in each resource.

Be sure to check out our intervention resources for K-8th grade; everything you need to provide intervention that will make a difference in your classroom! CLICK HERE to find your grade level!

Teacher Feedback on our Math Intervention Packs:

“Tanya has created a wonderful, comprehensive resource here, complete with record-keeping which is often challenging to figure out the logistics of sometimes. From pretest to posttest and all the tasks in between, this is a must-have for intervention groups!”

“I LOVE this packet. I am using it to guide my small group instruction and by conducting the pre-test, I found that many students I thought had it, didn’t. Thanks for the detailed packet!!”

“I love how everything is laid out! It’s super helpful to have a chart to tell you what type of misunderstanding the student has on the pretest.”

WANT A FREE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR BENCHMARK MATH TEST?

COLLECT DATA ON YOUR STUDENTS THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL!

The post Math Intervention that Will Make an Impact In Your Classroom appeared first on Tanya Yero Teaching.