Who Knew It Could Even Work HERE!

Jean Heideman, MPP, MS, RN

Director, Rush Day School, Chicago, IL

Mary Jo Lynch, MS, MA Consultant, Rush Day School, Chicago, IL

Teri Hull, PhD Psychologist, Rush Day School, Chicago, IL

Kelly Brennan, MEd Teacher, Rush Day School, Chicago, IL

Marsha Geller, MEd Consultant, Geller Educational Resources, Inc., Mundelein, IL

What We’ll Discuss Today

• Who We Are

• Background of Rush Day School

• Process

• Reflections from Teachers

• Results

• What’s Next

Introductions

• Jean/Mary Jo

• Teri

• Kelly

• Marsha

Key Values In RTI

• “Two key values underlie the framework of the RtI model: believing every child can learn, although learning may be at a different rate than others, and believing every staff member has a responsibility to be responsive to student needs in order to help the student achieve success.” - Khan & Mellard (2008)

Background on Rush Day School

• Who We Are

• School Demographics

• Assessment History

• Change Philosophy

• Timeline

About Rush

• Rush is a not-for-profit health care, education and research enterprise established in Chicago, Illinois in 1837, and comprising Rush University Medical Center, Rush University, Rush Oak Park Hospital and Rush Health.

About Rush: Mission

• The Rush University Medical Center mission is to provide the very best care for our patients. Our education, research endeavors and community service programs are dedicated to enhancing excellence in patient care for the diverse communities of the Chicago area now and in the future.

Rush’s new hospital building opened in January

2012 and has transformed the patient

experience at Rush. This welcoming, patient-

and family-friendly hospital building features the

latest technology, sophisticated centers of

specialty care and one of the nation’s most

advanced emergency departments with the only

bioterrorism preparedness center in the country.

Rush Day School

Empowering Minds For A Brighter Future!

Rush Day School Demographics

• Part of a large academic medical center; Our mission, vision and values follow RUMC

• 33 student capacity

• 1st through 8th grade (4 classrooms)

• 5 LBSI teachers

• Eligibilities served: Emotional Disability, Autism, Other Health Impaired

• Student body represents 16 different school districts

Rush Day School (continued)

• Have always focused on academics as a priority

• Depending on the year, at least half of our students return to public or private schools with a large part of their day in regular education classes and some years it has been as high as two thirds

• Rush is a tertiary care medical facility; we do have students where parents see us as the last step before residential placement

Length of Stay

Enrolled Discharge Avg LOS

2010 10 13 2 yrs

2011 13 14 2 yrs

8 mths

2012 11 14 2 yrs

5 mths

2013 14 11 2 yrs

6 mths

Where Our Students Went

2011 2012 2013

Regular Education with Support

4 6 5

Special Education 0 0 0

Therapeutic School

5 5 3

Residential 1 2 1

Other 1 1 2

Assessment History

• Employ a full-time psychologist-psychological testing that includes cognitive, academic and social/emotional functioning

• WRAT (Wide Range Achievement Test)-abbreviated version was given in Reading, Math and Spelling at least twice annually to all students from 2008-2011

• RDS administrative team wanted a measure more closely linked to our referring school districts and a more specific and timely measure to the curriculum

Why RtI in our Setting?

• A good question considering our population

• Since we have 1st through 3rd graders, a learning disability may not have been ruled out

• While less than 10% of our students have a diagnosed learning disability, most have missed a great deal of instruction in their previous school(s).

• Many of our high performing students may have missed key concepts in mathematics

• Always seeking answers to puzzling questions

Change Process

Process

• Identifying Needs

• Use of Consultant

• Determining the Tools

• Implementing Instructional Decision Making Meetings

• Coordinating Intervention Strategies Across Grades

• Including Common Core Standards in the Process

Change Process

• Support

• Communication

• Personnel

Questions We Were Asking

• Do we have students that need more support?

• Will assessment be beneficial to ALL students?

• Do we have the right staff members to help us?

• Do we have enough data?

• How can we find the time to work together to analyze the data, discuss student needs and make good decisions for our students?

How It Started

• Our consultant provided a 2 day training in AIMSweb to all teachers and members of the administrative team

• RDS psychologist listened to a webinar on the data system for AIMSweb; Consultant and psychologist conferred on setting up the data and determining cutoffs

• Benchmarking dates as well as consultation meetings were determined

Consultant’s Role

• LISTEN!

• Evaluate current assessments

• Discuss needs

• Clarify what assessment can/can not do

• Suggest tools

• Train on administration, scoring and interpretation

• Facilitate data review meetings

• Suggest intervention strategies

• Coordinate intervention strategies across grade levels

2012-2013 School Year Timeline

• 2012 – Spring: Met with staff to determine assessment needs – Late summer: training on AIMSweb Administration and

Scoring – Fall: First Benchmarking Assessment – Whole school

• Assessed both reading and math

– October: First data meeting • Discussed every student’s assessment • Determined if academic support was needed, if so what specifically

should be done, by whom, when • Set progress monitoring schedules

– December: First progress monitoring data meeting • Interpretation of graphs • Effectiveness of interventions

2012-2013 School Year Timeline, Cont’d

• 2013 – January: Second Benchmarking Assessment and second

data meeting

– Spring: Internal progress monitoring data meeting

– May: Final Benchmarking Assessment • Reviewed year long data

• Planned for summer and following year

AIMSweb Results

• Administered Reading, Math, Behavior & Social Skills measures – R-CBM, MAZE, M-CAP, M-COMP, BESS, SSIS

• Examined results by grade level

• AIMSweb software provided several charts we will use as artifacts for AdvancED re-accreditation visit in 2014

BESS & SSIS Measures

• Behavior and Emotional Screening System (BESS)

• Social Skills Improvement System Performance Screening Guide (SSIS)

• Completed at Fall 2012 benchmarking period

• Designed to screen for students at risk for behavior or social skill problems that interfere with academic success

Utility of BESS & SSIS

• Given our particular population of students, all of the students were categorized in Tier 3 at fall 2012 benchmarking

• Decision to discontinue use of BESS & SSIS

• Beginning 2013-2014 school year, each student will be administered the following 2x/year: – Children’s Depression Inventory, Second Edition (CDI-2)

– Revised Children’s Manifest Anxiety Scale, Second Edition (RCMAS-2)

– Behavior Assessment System for Children, Second Edition (BASC-2), Teacher & Self-Report forms

Teacher Concerns

• Time and training

• How would I be trained ?

• Would the testing significantly minimize my instructional time?

• Would the interventions shift the classroom climate?

• Effectiveness in environment

• Would the data reveal any new information?

• Would the data be useful in developing interventions?

• Would the data be reliable given our student population?

Implementation

• Administration

• Quick

• Clear directions and expectations

• Can administer to multi-grades at once

• Scoring

• Simple and immediate

• Functional report features

Results

• Consultation • Reports

– Useful – Direct – Individualized

• Goal setting – Balanced – Individualized

• Interventions – Clear and actionable – Realistic about time

• Progress Monitoring – Individualized frequency – Practical way to obtain improvement data – Monitor interventions effectively

Goal: Shifting Responsibility

• Began very hands on – Training on measures: Screening & Progress Monitor

– Training on interpretation

– Facilitating data meetings

– Suggesting interventions/strategies

• This year: – Same number of meetings

– Goal is to move responsibility to staff for • Meeting facilitation

• Data interpretation

• Interventions/strategies

Reflections

• Jean/Mary Jo

• Teri

• Kelly

• Marsha

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Contact Information

• Rush Day School 2150 W. Harrison St. Chicago, IL 60612 Jean Heideman, Director

312-942-3535 Teri Hull, Clinical Psychologist

312-942-3549

• Marsha Geller, Consultant Geller Educational Resources, Inc. 3039 Province Circle Mundelein, IL 60060 info@gellereducational.com 847-821-9609