Group+9+Module+11

1. What does research say about the topic? SUSANNAH: Sudents who used to be positively described as having improved their reading skills, are now categorized as special ed if they do not achieve an "established absolute standard". So, although reading standards are higher than ever, this new way of interpreting the scores creates an abundance of failing students. As more and more students have been mainstreamed, there have been fewer reading courses for regular ed teachers, but an increase in reading classes for speial ed teachers. Yet, it is the regular ed teachers who hasve more control of reading curriculum in the regular ed classroom where the special ed students have been mainstreamed.

RENEE: According to the text research shows that "there are more intervetions that demonstrate improved pseudo-word reading and word recognition in isolation than intervetions producing children who actually meet the new literacy standards." Students need a balance of prevention interventions, acceleration interventions and longer term support interventions. As a special education teacher I feel one of the best reading interventions is small grooup instruction. I feel all students can benefit from small group instruction, too bad our classrooms are going to have more students in them. MANDY: This chapter was the most intersting chapter to me. I guess because it involved special education and reading disabilities. Anyways, this chapter talks about how more and more schools are cutting out remedial reading programs. The students that just have reading disabilites are no longer placed into remedial programs, but into special education classes instead. The government is no loger funding readin progams, but giving more money to special education programs.

PEGGY: The text offers many designs for interventions for students with reading disabilities. The text suggest a need to restructure the instructional programs and resources to produce more coherent and more powerful intervention designs and more expert classroom literacy instruction. The article provides valid information for understanding dyslexia and reading disabilities. A design for intense instruction along with suggestions for parents working with their child at home is outlined in the article. Over the years I have seen the inclusion design, the resource classroom design, the individualized instruction from the special education teacher, and now the RTI is being pushed in many of our districts. I still feel it is the one-on-one intense tutoring that helps the truely reading disabled student, however, student number ratio to teachers does not allow this in our schools.

2. Share the types of interventions that your school does use. SUSANNAH: When a student is not passing their test scores, we have a Child Study meeting to discuss what we can do to help the student. After a semester or so of interventions, the student's test scores are re-evaluated. If the student has not made suitable progress, that sudent is evaluated for special ed, and usually qulifies because there is such a large discrepancy between their high intelligence and their achievement on the standardized tests. Voila! Yet anothe special ed student! Usually the parents are relieved because the main thing they are concerned about is their child being retained due to low test scores and special ed students are rarely retained. Some of the interventions we use is tutoring the student during "specials" (P.E., music, art) (so teachers are using their planning time to tutor), getting paras & TAs in the regular ed classroom to assist students as they attempt regular classroom work. tutoring after school in small groups (Title I money),giving them extra time on the computer with programs to "fill in the gaps" such as the phonemic program System44, and math facts learned with FAST MATH. Almost all the reading intervention is done using Focus and Buckledown books. I may be able to change some of this next year - we have a new principal who will hopefull be so overwhelmed with her first year that she will not be micromanaging my classes, or exactlt how I work with my students. If she does I'm going to try sticking to my guns (politely but firmly) and if that doesn't work, I will find anoter place to teach next year, when I am offically at reading specialist!

RENEE: My school also has a child study team, I am a member of. Just like Susannah's school, child study is the process of finding out if a student qulifies for special education and services. As a Title I school, we have a reading intervention program. A teacher works with 3rd-5th grade students in small groups that are struggling to read and are not on an IEP for special services. (we cannot double dip.) Title I money also provides for during and after school tutoring for reading and math. The focus is mostly for students that take the state test, 3rd-5th. We also have Fast Math for 3rd -5th grade students and SsuccessMaker for all students. Our students recieve two free RIF books every year, which is a wonderful program. The regular education teachers also use the buckle down books to get students ready for state test.

MANDY: Our school really doesn't have any intervention programs. The only program we have is RtI but I am not sure how well it works. The way we identify kids is a teacher thinks something is not right with the student, then they ask for them to be tested, and about six months later they are tested (what a JOKE!!!). By the time the student gets the help he/she needs its time to go to the next grade and they are about one year behind.

PEGGY: The Sand Springs District uses RTI and special education teachers for reading instruction to serve students with below level reading abilities.

3. How does this area relate to RtI that you read about already? SUSANNAH: It does not relate much because the targeted interventions are not what a reading specialist or highly trained reading teacher would do. My school's interventions are not the interventions mentioned by RtI because RtI says that "the success of the program depends on the teacher's use of research-based practices". As far as I can tell Focus and buckledown books target teach some test-taking strategies, but they do not teach reading. Yet, in our school, they are used to teach reading, almost exclusively with tutors. The main assessments that classroom teachers use are DIBELS and standard tests. DIBELS does not test what it claims to test (for example, to test "fluency" students score higher by reading quickly with more miscues and less comprehension than they would if they slowed down and read for comprehension; and, since comprehension and expression are an important part of "fluency", then "fluency" is not even really being tested) and the students never get their standardized tests back in a timely manner, or so that they can correct and learn from specific mistakes. So, the teacher is left to their own devices to test the students, and that varies from teacher to teacher. Heaven help us! I am going to push for my own assessments this year - I will try to find to assess students this year with assements that are actually helpful, and share the results with the teacher, if she is interested.

RENEE: I think how Chapter 12 and RtI relate the most is because they both focus on interventions to imporve students reading skills. RtI interventions are used mostly with regular education students and Chapter 12 focused on interventions used mostly with students in special educaion.

MANDY: We have a RtI program. It really only serves first and second graders. The program focuses on reading improvement. The teacher works with like five students at a time during the students regular classtime reading.

PEGGY: The district uses RtI to screen students not only in reading but also in math before referral for special education services. The text offers many options for interventions, however, I believe the RTI is being pushed more than any other intervention design.

RENEE: I would suggest the regular education teacher sit each student on an IEP next to a student on or above grade level. The higher student can assist the lower student with teacher instruction, like finding the page number in the text, etc...The teacher may need to make some changes for a good match. Some regular education students will do the work for the students on IEP. It is going to be interesting next year with the larger classroom rosters and fewer teachers and no subs. I am so sad that we lost our art teacher and art program at our school for next year. PEGGY: Renee, I agree peer tutoring would be a good way to assist the teachers, however, who is really doing the teaching. Over crowding our classrooms is only going to create more problems that we will all have to address in years to come.
 * SUSANNAH's question: I think there are many good points to mainstreaming special ed students, but this year our 4th grade classes are going to have 27 students each. We had five 3rd grade classes last year. Budget cutting recommended that we place two additional students in each class (that were over 21 students each already). If you do the math, that leaves 3/4s of a class left over with no place to go, so those students are also divide between the four 4th grade classrooms and - viola! 27 students per class. I think this will radically challenge the classroom and special ed teacher's ability to address the needs and acommodations of the special ed students. For one thing there is not enough room for 27 desks in some classrooms, so they will have to share desks, or just sit around tables. Does anyone have any suggestions on classroom management strategies with such a huge group of students where up to 12 of them may be identified special ed, and the special ed teacher is only available for support in the afternoons?

RENEE's QUESTION: Does your school offer any successful parent support programs to increase student success? MANDY: No. I wish they would. SUSANNAH: There are a few parents who come to help, but most of our parents are working two jobs and still at poverty level, with no time or energy left over. They do attend afterschool functions when we play BINGO and offer food - but that is us doing things for them & not visa-versa. Maybe we could do better with this. Also more than 30% of our parents do not speak English and definitely cannot read at 4th grade level, even if it was in Spanish. We think it is miraculous if the parents get their kids to a library. I wish we could bring our students on field trips to the library so the kids would know what to do at the library and teach their parents.

PEGGY: Unfortunately I haven't had the pleasure of working with parents for the past 8 years. Next year will be my first time back in the mainstream district and unfortunately I will not be teaching reading or special education, my transfer was to teach an elective humanities class, but like everyone keeps telling me I have a job.**

MANDY's QUESTION: How high are RtI programs supposed to service kids? (What grade?) RENEE: I am not for sure. I work in an elementary school and we will have RtI starting next year, I thought it would go up to 12th grade. I guess that is something we need to look into. SUSANNAH: I assumed it was through 12th grade, but I do not know, either.

PEGGY: Mandy, in our district it is through the 12th grade.


 * PEGGY'S QUESTION: Will RTI replace special education for serving students who read below reading level ?**