Vignettes
ADD IN—DROP OUT
MTSS Implementation gets bogged down because it almost always adds more to everyone’s plates. It’s important to think about thinking about doing somethings LESS while we do other things MORE.
THINKING DIFFERENTLY—AT RISK KIDS NEEDS ARE MORE ALIKE THAN DIFFERENT
For years, we’ve planned—and delivered-interventions 1 kid at a time, often with very separate services (e.g., Title 1, reading specialists, teachers’ aides, parent volunteers, Reading Recovery or other special programs), even “inventing” unique programs for students who are well behind. Let’s think differently. We know from research what are the components of interventions for at risk students. Let’s team up and deliver them powerfully..as soon as students need them.
PROGRESS MONITORING—GET GOOD AT R-CBM
The answer for high quality progress monitoring that is scientifically sound for basic skills reading in MTSS—across Tiers, across GE and SE decisions, is Reading Curriculum Based Measurement or R-CBM. It is a component of just about every commonly used data system, a simple oral reading test where students read passages for 1 minute and the number of words read aloud are counted. This progress monitoring tool remains the gold standard for growth and development and we should all excel at collecting and interpreting these simple data!