I’ve been hearing from more and more district administrators who are asking, what about our secondary level students? Should we implement MTSS/RTI at the middle and high school?
The answer to this question is, yes!
While 2020 went in a different direction than we expected, it allowed us to pivot and think creatively. We’ve put together a summary of our year in review.
Over my years as a special education director and work in the ed tech sector, I have often heard from districts that the burden of documentation and other rules are too great for them to actively claim Medicaid reimbursement.
Social Skills, Behavior or Both? Building an Effective Behavioral RTI Model Now, more than ever, the need for districts to design a multi-tiered system of support is crucial to student success. As students transition back to school from a lengthy stay at home period, districts need to ensure there is Read more…
A Checklist? A few years back, I read The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande. I find it helpful to read about organizational management as it pertains to other professions and gain different perspectives since my work is so ingrained in education. In his book, Gawande Read more…
This particular blog is personal to me as I share my experience as both a parent and as an administrator. In my household, we have two completely opposite kids who have completely different academic needs. The child I want to focus on is an outgoing, social, fearless little diva, but presents with some issues in the area of reading, specifically in phonics. Upon exiting preschool, we noticed some concerns beginning with handwriting. She was unable to form all of her letters and numbers correctly, some with reversals. She also struggled with spelling her name and recognizing basic sight words. As parents, we did consider that all kids reach different developmental milestones at different times and so, we committed to working on those skills over the summer and letting them develop naturally with home support.
As a school administrator, one of the key responsibilities is to observe teachers within the classroom and to provide feedback. As part of these observations, we tend to focus on the classroom environment, lesson preparation, behavior management, assessment and teacher professional responsibilities. Take a moment to think about an observation that you conducted this year and reflect on the following:
At one point in my career, I had a principal call me and ask me for advice. She said, “Christie, I have a student who needs placement in special education. He has demonstrated some significant behavior concerns and his academics are suffering.” At that point, I began to ask my typical round of questions: what have you seen going on with the student in the classroom? What types of behavioral challenges is the student exhibiting? What types of interventions and/or consequences have you provided to support the student and try to correct the behavior?
Covid-19 continues to be a cause of concern for many school administrators as we begin to determine how to best meet safety guidelines while bringing our students back to school in September. As I continue to have conversations with colleagues and fellow educators, the largest area of concern is not academics or how much students have struggled during virtual learning. It is how do we address social/emotional well-being as we reenter school? What type of support do students need in order to transition back successfully? And what do we do when students do exhibit problem behavior?