RtI~ Decision Meetings

Today is my 3rd installment in how our school implements RtI.  You can read about Tier 1 here and Tiers 2 and 3 here.  We are in no way experts and the way we do it is certainly not the only way RtI can or should be done.  But what we are doing is definitely working for us and we are seeing a lot of good growth with our students. 

After students have completed whichever tier they are in it is time to give our universal screening again to check on their progress.  We are using the DRA for our universal screening.  When all students have been tested and scores have been turned in, it is time for me to gather up all the information from the DRAs and from the weekly progress monitorings.  I create graphs with the data for our RtI team to use during our decision making meeting.  

I make up folders for each team member to use during our meeting.  Team members include me, the leader of RtI, mostly I act as a facilitator during meetings by helping the classroom teacher to be feel at ease during the meeting, run the meeting, facilitate communication between members, and keep things moving.   Also on our team:  principal, counselor, two special ed teachers, Reading Recovery teacher, preschool teacher, and one classroom representative from K-1, 2-3, and 4-5.  Our speech teacher also joined us this year.  

In the folders that I make up, I include our RtI agenda for the day, schedule of which classroom teachers will be meeting with us and when, our RtI rubric to help with decision making, and a data graph.  Here is our agenda:

  Here is a picture of our data page.  I include the old DRA score plus the most recent score, how many levels of improvement, whether they are on grade level reading now or not, and if they are enrolled in Title 1 Reading or tutoring.  I leave spaces for team members to write in whether the graphs showed improvement on the interventions and what was voted on for each student.

We vote on each student that goes through tiers 2 and 3, so I keep a recording sheet for me to record votes on so that I have a paper copy of what was decided on for each student.  Then I file these.

Now for the meeting!  Our wonderful speech teacher loves to cook and she fixes all kinds of goodies for us for our meeting.  Think cheese cakes, cookies, appetizers, etc....Whatever she brings, you can count on it being wonderful!  Our principal buys snacks and drinks and we are set for the day.  It really does make this stressful day a bit easier.  We have a floating sub who travels that day to each teacher scheduled to come to our meeting.  The teacher comes in and we discuss each of her students that were in tiers 2 and 3.  Each student's graphs have been scanned and the graphs are displayed on the Smartboard.  We look at how much progress was shown on each graph and how much progress was made on the most recent DRA.   We have a rubric that guides us with decision making.  We discuss what we see and the progress shown in class.  Then we take a vote on which tier the student qualifies to move into next.

This meeting lasts all day long and is taken very seriously.  Sometimes the discussions can get a little heated, but that is because we try to make the best decision we can in the best interests of the students.  After the meeting is over, it is time to start the cycle all over again.  Students will be placed into Tiers 1,2, or 3 depending on how we voted.  Also, students who had not been in tiers 2 or 3 for this cycle get looked at to see if they are progressing.  If they fall below a certain level, they automatically are placed into tier 2.  This is to hopefully keep any student from falling through the cracks in our system.

It takes a LOT of work to get things ready for the meeting and to keep track of each student and the tier they are in for each cycle.  I keep files on each student and after each meeting I mark in their file what tier they were voted on to go into and their DRA score.  Graphs are kept in their files too.  That way if a student goes out of tiers 2 or 3 and then shows back up later, we  have records of what has happened in the past with them.  It is mostly about getting a system down that works for you!  

Hope this abbreviated version of what we do helps in some way for your school's RtI development!  I have not been able to tell you every single thing we do, but I have tried to hit the highlights for you.  I am sure I have forgotten some things that I should have included, but it is hard to include it all.  Let me know if I have forgotten something that you were hoping would be in this!