No, it's not 'teacher appreciation week,' but it is the season of love. ❤️
Teachers have a tremendous impact on their students' learning and lives. Although showing them love and appreciation for all the fantastic work they do should not be limited to a season or a day of celebration, it is still worth the spotlight in February when the topic is ever present.
I often find myself taking a walk down memory lane and thinking back to when I was in graduate school completing my clinical hours for my M.A.T. in special education. I will never forget my excitement for learning about teaching and for understanding how to comprehensively meet all students' needs. Today, as a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) consultant, I am still experiencing that excitement daily, and I often like to take a few moments to think about how significantly processes have changed over the years to ensure all students can succeed, and why those changes are more critical now than ever.
An effective core reading curriculum, as well as differentiated support for struggling readers, is essential for any MTSS practice. But with the hundreds of reading programs available for districts and schools, it can be difficult to determine which one is the most effective.
Below we outline the five most frequently used reading programs and platforms by Branching Minds school districts throughout 2020. We provide a critical overview of the research and evidence base for these programs and outline what educators should be aware of when implementing these approaches. We also include some general recommendations for teachers, principals, and administrators to ensure that their reading curriculum is effectively meeting the needs of all students.
The impact of remote instruction on students has been discussed a great deal during the past ten months, while our nation’s teachers grapple with the complexities of implementing distance learning. As teachers and students engage daily in e-learning, with some schools pivoting back and forth between a hybrid model of remote and in-person schooling, the topic of what it actually means for students to be at “grade level” has been trending. Prior to COVID-19, students were considered to be on “grade level” if they had mastered the skills and concepts at their expected level of difficulty as measured by formal assessments and district/state standards.
A strong and effective MTSS model should support all students, no matter their language preference and background. Despite the number of students in the United States who come from diverse linguistic backgrounds, the programs and supports provided often do not meet the needs of non-English speakers. In addition, students who do not speak English as their first language are often identified as having underlying reading issues, when the problem lies in the proper translational skills from one language to another.
For students in Bilingual or Dual-Language programs, the support being provided should also address the learning needs in both languages. The following are examples of programs and practices that can specifically be used within Bilingual and Dual-Language classrooms as well as with students who are English Language Learners (ELLs) to better support their development of reading across languages.
In a healthy RTI/MTSS practice, a data-driven approach is not only important for guiding decisions for individual student needs, but it’s also critical for evaluating the quality and impact of the practice at the school and district level. We recommend that school and/or district leadership meet three times a year, following the administration of universal screening assessments, to reflect on and evaluate their practice. The goal of this meeting is to understand the health of school-level RTI/MTSS practice by looking at the percent of students who are adequately being served by the core, the equity of instruction across demographics, and improvement in student outcome measures since the last meeting. These metrics are used to evaluate the quality of practice across tier 1, 2, and 3 levels of support and guide school-level improvement plans.
When it comes to improving students’ understanding of math skills and concepts, it is essential for them to feel a sense of efficacy, motivation, and engagement with the material. One way to ensure this is by implementing methods that not only help students solve the problem in front of them but also develop cognitive skills to solve more difficult and complex problems independently.
This week we are summarizing our top 10 most commonly used interventions, supports, and strategies for high school students. When implementing MTSS district-wide, secondary students can sometimes fall through the cracks. However, supporting these students to ensure they develop the skills and competencies to graduate and be successful beyond high school is essential. If you are looking to support your secondary level students in 2021, here are some strategies and programs you can check out:
Discover the Top 10 Used Behavioral Strategies in 2020, and How To Implement Them Effectively
Supporting students who exhibit challenging behaviors in the classroom and struggle socially and emotionally is an important part of the MTSS framework. In this blog, we provide the most commonly used behavioral interventions and strategies from 2020.
Although these are popular strategies that teachers use with students, there are always ways to improve upon them and strengthen their implementation and impact. Along with the strategies, we provide suggestions for ensuring students are being supported through their development of positive classroom behaviors and their social-emotional well-being.