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Frequently
Asked Questions
Q. Are we supposed to automatically write a plan of improvement on a student who scores in the lowest range on state assessments? What if their day to day school work is average or above?
Q. Go over the team representation again, who should be at the table?
Q. What is the difference between preassessment and SIT?
Q. How long should our team give an intervention before follow-up?
Q. How long should we keep kids on plans?
Q. How does an eligibility team know whether to go with an IEP or 504 Plan?
Q. How long should the process take?
Q. Do speech and language concerns go through the SIT process?
Q. Would you ask a parent to be on the Student Improvement Team involving discussion of a student other than his or her own child?
Q. Are there required State forms for SIT or General Education Interventions?
Q. How do teams manage the process when large numbers of students are flagged on the State assessments?
Q.
Are we supposed to automatically
write a plan of improvement on a student who scores in the lowest range
on state assessments? What if their day to day school work is average
or above?
A.
No, schools are not supposed
to automatically write a plan of improvement if the student is flagged
for low performance on the state assessments. Basically, when a student
is flagged, they should be taken to your team for discussion. The team
needs to determine whether or not this performance is consistent with
what we know about the student's performance on other local assessments
and the student's performance in the classroom. Given this review, the
team shall determine whether or not a plan is appropriate.
Q.
Go over the team representation
again, who should be at the table?
A.
Your team is a subset of
your entire school. As such, team members should be representative of
the expertise in your building or district. We recommend 6-8 people who
represent different disciplines. For example, it is common to include
on a team the principal, nurse, a few general education teachers representing
different grade levels, a special education teacher and school psychologist
or social worker.
Q.
What is the difference between
preassessment and SIT?
A.
One of the purposes of
preassessment was to increase the appropriateness of referrals that would
be pursued as comprehensive evaluations for special education. The idea
was that a team of individuals would review information about the concern
and implement interventions so that if the interventions worked, the school
didn't expend time and resources on a comprehensive evaluation that wasn't
necessary. I didn't create the preassessment process in Kansas, but in
looking at the training materials, I think those that were saw the potential
of a multidisciplinary team and the power that could come from good interventions.
Unfortunately, the system was still housed in the special education arena.
And the system was still premised upon a "cooperating" model,
rather than "collaboration" model. Further, success with an
intervention meant additional resources wouldn't be necessary. It is these
three things: how we work together, the intent of our work, and the issues
we address that distinguish preassessment from SIT.
With SIT, the model asks that schools design their process to cut across our traditional lines of operating. To truly collaborate means we bring our resources and talent in our school and community to the table and use the resources as best fits the student's needs. Secondly, the intent of our work is to find something that works for the student. We are talking about the WHAT of the intervention... not the who, but the what. What strategies or level of supports are necessary in order for the student to demonstrate progress? This means a focus for the team on success... no on documenting that doesn't work. Lastly, because SIT is presented as an education initiative, the issues addressed are defined as any that are of concern with the child being successful at school. This reaches beyond the traditional reading and on-task concerns that are very common and could include issues such as potential drug and/or alcohol use, absenteeism, or anger management... SIT is a process used to address the complexity of concerns that hinder our students from being successful. We accomplish this by making the best use of our school, district, and community resources within a process that results in logical individualized plans.
Q.
How long should our team
give an intervention before follow-up?
A.
Your team needs to determine,
on an individual basis, how long you think the intervention needs to be
implemented before you can determine if the intervention is working or
not. You need to take into consideration what we know about learning,
behavior, and the student. Some interventions may take only a few weeks,
other a month. This doesn't mean that those implementing the intervention
aren't asking themselves daily if the intervention seems to be working
and making necessary adjustments... It just means that you don't want
to risk abandoning an intervention too soon, or keeping an unsuccessful
intervention too long.
Q.
How long should we keep kids
on plans?
A.
The answer to this seems
almost caddy... As long as they need the interventions being implemented
in order to be successful in school. Does this mean some children will
be on a plan for the duration of their educational career? Not likely,
but it could happen. We know that some children have difficulty learning,
so while their plan will change as they move through the years, they may
need some type of intervention until they graduate. The key to managing
plans for children that have ongoing plans is to make sure the intervention
being implemented is effective. If it is not, it needs to be changed.
If it is successful, the team should be looking to reduce the level of
support, if possible, so the child can demonstrate success without the
supports.
Q.
How does an eligibility team
know whether to go with an IEP or 504 Plan?
A.
There has long been confusion
about IEP's and 504 plans. While a Student Improvement Team will not be
making this determination, the eligibility team will. If a child is found
to be a child with a disability under IDEA, the child will have an IEP
and is automatically protected by the rights provided in Section 504.
A child who is not a child with a disability under IDEA, but is considered
a child with a disability under 504, is written a 504 plan. The definition
of a disability under 504 is much broader than IDEA and 504 protects that
child from being discriminated against because of their disability.
Q.
How long should the process
take?
A.
This seemingly simple question
is often asked with much urgency and frustration. The urgency is understood...
your team is dealing with students who are struggling with an academic
or behavioral issue that we are concerned about worsening or impacting
other areas. The frustration can be a result of this, or the recognition
that our system isn't as seamless as we would like it to be. While the
answer may not appear as helpful, it is a reality that should be seen
as the heart of this process. The process takes as long as it takes
for us to understand an individual child's needs and respond with interventions
that either allow the child to benefit, or direct our efforts down a different
path as a result of learning what did not demonstrate benefit for the
child.
Something to keep in mind that may decrease some of the frustration is to evaluate the degree to which your intervention plan matches the demonstrated need of the child. It is not uncommon to see intervention plans that put in place interventions whose strength would be considered a 3 and the problem severity would be ranked an 8. The team has set itself up for frustration when it comes time to review student progress. Either match the intervention strength to the severity of the concern, or narrow down the concern and recognize that we will be slowly chipping away at it over time.
Q.
Do speech and language concerns
go through the SIT process?
A.
As addressed in the Processes
and Procedures for Assessing and Serving Students with Communication Disabilities
in Kansas Schools, speech and language concerns do go through the SIT
process (general education intervention process). The focus, though, is
on the process, not necessarily the team. The goal of
the process is to be able to determine the strength of intervention necessary
to adequately address the concern. Because problem solving begins with
the general education teacher, parent(s), and, in this case the speech
language pathologist, a SIP can be written and implemented without the
necessity of going to the team. Think about the use of the team when the
various expertise on the team will contribute to the richness of the intervention
plan, or when coordinated efforts with other agencies is necessary. The
necessity of going to the team will be made on an individual student basis.
Does this mean the teacher, parent(s), and SLP may decide, based on the student's response to the interventions, to carry efforts forward into an initial evaluation without going to the team? Yes, this may occur. You don't want your team to merely serve as "gatekeepers" to initial evaluations. Determine on an individual basis when the team is necessary and when they are not. On the other hand, local teams may establish parameters of their process which everyone is encouraged to follow.
Q.
Would
you ask a parent to be on the Student Improvement Team involving discussion
of a student other than his or her own child?
A.
No, parents would be involved
in the Student Improvement Team process for their child only.
Q.
Are
there required State forms for SIT or General Education Interventions?
A.
No. We provide sample forms
that are acceptable for SIT and GEI. Your school or district will adopt
what works for you. Because most all schools are utilizing the Student
Improvement Team process to meet the requirement for General Education
Interventions (required by Special Education Regulations) you need to
make sure your school works closely with your special education administration.
We strongly encourage you to have a serious talk about what will work
best for you. We often hear that our systems continue to have separate
paperwork. It is important to discuss the necessity of anything above
and beyond what is on the SIT forms. Only add when it is CRITICAL TO PROBLEM
SOLVING. Remember that people may think things are important because they
are coming from different perspectives. Seek to understand the perspective.
We certainly don't want paperwork to be the collapse of your process.
As a compromise, some schools are piloting the use of different paperwork
prior to going full scale. This is a good approach if administration is
not convinced the paperwork used by SIT is adequate for documentation
of GEI.
Q.
How
do teams manage the process when large numbers of students are flagged
on the State assessments?
A.
We are excited to get this
question, only because it demonstrates that schools are utilizing the
Student Improvement Team process as a way to address individual student
needs in ways other than a staff referral. Here are some guiding thoughts:
Remember that problem-solving should be outside of the Core Student Improvement
Team. This means that a Student Improvement Plan can be written at Level
I or Level II. (Although we usually don't refer to rigid levels, the plan
can be written by whoever the teacher and parent thinks needs to be included
to write a plan that has a good chance of working)
Keep in mind that if you have several students with similar needs, you
may be writing a group plan that will be monitored for each student.
Make sure that if large numbers of students are flagged, your school or
district puts into motion taking a critical look at curriculum and instruction
factors. It is likely that there is misalignment of the use of materials
or strategies that are incompatible with the learners in your school.
Your Student Improvement Team may be of assistance at the moment, but
can not continue trying to create numerous individual plans that are only
symptomatic of broader systems level issues.
Lastly, remember to look at other sources of data. If the student is demonstrating
learning in the classroom and on other local indicators, a plan may not
need to be written.