milc Matters 
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| Volume #1, Newsletter #3 | October 2011 |
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Hello,
The 2011-2012 school year is now underway. Though there are many challenges that we face in education these days, there is also an incredible sense of hope for the future which emanates from the passion and commitment that you bring to your district, your school, your classroom, and most importantly, your students.
We at the Midwest Instrucitonal Leadership Council deeply appreciate all that you do for students and want you to know that you are doing the most important work there is - shaping the future.
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Upcoming Events
| * Assessment 101 Webinar -
October 26, 2011 * Secondary RtI Institute - November 7, 2011 * Early Learning Institute - March 2, 2012 |
 Let's Get Social!
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A Systems Approach to Early Learning:
Lessons Learned from Monona Grove [WI] Together 4 Kids Program Christa Macomber, T4K School Psychologist and Data and Assessment Coordinator Monona Grove School District, Monona, WI The following article gives a brief overview of the history of implementation of 4-year old kindergarten in the Monona Grove School District [Wisconsin]. The goal is to share some lessons learned and key components of effective practice. Specific emphasis is on the importance of assessment data and the use of a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework with early learners. Setting the Stage: Research and Context |
Despite a recent series of misguided
allegations in the media, the long-term positive outcomes associated with high quality
early childhood education have been well documented since the 1960's. According
to Masse, L., & Barnett, S. (2002), benefits of 4-year old kindergarten
programs include higher test scores, lower rates of juvenile arrests, enhanced
school success, and lower rates of dropout and grade retention. In addition,
student participation in high quality early childhood settings is also associated
with higher academic functioning, increased student engagement and attention,
increased self-regulation and improved kindergarten readiness (Rimm-Kaufman et
al., 2005; Gallagher & Lambert, 2006; Howes et al., 2008; Gruba, 2008). The critical common denominator necessary
to achieve the positive benefits outlined above is the need for high quality
preschool programming. The National Association of School Boards of
Education Study Group examined critical features of programs, classrooms, and teachers
that predict quality in academic and social development beyond kindergarten.
This group concluded that what is most critical in quality early learning
environments is having highly trained and well-supported teachers who
nurture children's dispositions to learn, respond to interpersonal
relationships, and cultivate their emerging talents. They concluded the
following components are elements behind high-quality early education programs. *
Comprehensive state standards for preschool programs *
Rich, coherent curriculum *
Language and emergent literacy *
Assessment *
Responsiveness to cultural and linguistic diversity *
Inclusion of children with disabilities *
Partnerships with parents *
Class size/teacher ratios *
High quality teachers Read more...
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Alignment Foundations Blog Series by Brad Niebling
|  Last month, I "officially" kicked off my Foundations Series on Curriculum Alignment, although I technically started the month before by broadly defining curriculum alignment.
The topic for this months' blog in the Foundations Series is exploring the question "What is Curriculum?" This is actually, in my opinion, going to be the most challenging blog post to write and discuss in the Foundations Series. Why?
Read more...That Alignment Guy Blog
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It Works in My School: Lessons Learned Regarding RtI Implementation at Northside Elementary School Amy Timmerman, Principal Northside Elementary School Monroe, Wisconsin
Over the past eight years, I have been
fortunate to contribute to the implementation of RtI at all stages within the
same elementary building, first as a school psychologist and now as principal.
While there is still enormous work to do in this journey, the student and
staff successes have been well worth all of the frustrations and challenges. What
I have grown to appreciate most about RtI is that it forces educators to step
back, look at the entire educational system, and question OUR practices.
We embarked on our RtI journey in 2005 by having
open, honest, and difficult conversations about our belief system and instructional
service delivery. There were some harsh truths that we were forced to face. In
essence, our practice was a “wait to fail” approach with little to no early
intervention and the belief that not all students can learn. Our academic
expectations for students were often based on their socio-economic status,
background knowledge, and family. When students struggled, we placed them in
another classroom to receive specialized support with little to no monitoring
of progress. We were complacent with minimal progress because it was the “best”
the student could perform.
The leadership from our district leaders
and key stakeholders were instrumental in ensuring that this was not a special
education initiative but rather one that helps all students. At the building
level, the most important change was when our principal made the difficult
decision to change the way that our special education teachers practiced. A
co-teaching model was established in which the majority of students identified
as having a specific learning disability participated in the core instruction
and received additional “doses” of instruction as deemed necessary. We modified
our building schedule and built in time for each grade level to provide a Tier
2 intervention or “double dose,” for at least twenty minutes, four days per
week. Additionally, we learned that our Intervention Team Meetings (i.e.,
problem-solving teams) are only as good as our entire intervention system.
These meetings help to ensure that all of our tiers are in place since students
are only referred to this step when our Tier 2 standard treatment protocol is
not meeting a student’s needs. Our Director of Pupil Services along with the
school psychologists have spent considerable time enhancing our Intervention
Team forms that model the five-step problem-solving process |
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Upcoming Events
| Assessment Webinar - October 26, 2011 - 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Are We testing Too Much? Evaluating Existing Assessment Procedures to Maximize Efficiency and Effectiveness
Ed O'Connor, Ph.D. - Presenter
We are pleased to announce a free webinar on the foundation of assessment in response to intervention models of educational service delivery. This webinar will focus on the types of assessments, the purposes of those assessments, and the use of data and assessment in making instructional, programmatic, and systemic decisions, such as resource allocation.
To learn more about this webinar, please click here.
This webinar is free of charge, but registration is still required. To register for the event, please send an email to John Faust at mailto:jhfaust.milc@gmail.com and indicate that you would like registration information. You will be sent a link for registration. Once you receive the link for registration, please complete the registration form and click submit. You will automatically receive instructions on how to access the webinar.
Secondary Level Applications of Response to Intervention - November 7, 2011 - Stoney Creek Inn - Onalaska, Wisconsin
Secondary Applications of Response to Intervention: Emerging Frameworks and Effective Practices
Registration for the inaugural secondary level institute on response to intervention is now open. This one day institute occurs on Monday, November 7, 2011 and is being held at the Stoney Creek Inn located in Onalaska, Wisconsin.
The institute features an opening keynote address by Holly Windram and Sara Johnson who are leaders in response to intervention on a local, regional, and national level. The institute also provides strands that focus on specific topics and areas of response to intervention specifically targeted for the middle and high school levels. These strand topics include:
- Problem-solving
- Assessing the effectiveness of the core curriculum
- Assessment at the supplemental and intensive levels of instruction
- Evidence-based academic interventions
- Differentiation of instruction to increase student outcomes
- Curriculum alignment in the core
In addition to keynote and strand sessions, you will also be able to hear from schools that are implementing models of response to intervention at the middle and high school levels. Showcase schools presenting at the institute are Chippewa Falls Middle School, Apollo High School, and Monona Grove High School.
Planning time is also built into the event so that you can work with team members to incorporate the knowledge and skills learned into an action plan to take back to your district and/or school.
Please refer to the registration brochure for more information.
Registration information can be found here . We encourage early registration in order to ensure that there are sufficient registrants to hold the event. We respectfully request, if at all possible, that you register on or before October 5, 2011 although registration will continue and be accepted after that date.
Early Learning Institute 2012 - March 2, 2012 - Wilderness Territory - Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin
RtI: It All Starts Here
The second Early Learning Institute is scheduled for March 2, 2012 and will be held at the Wilderness Territory in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. This year's institute builds upon the foundations laid in last year's institute held in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Planning for this event is underway and more information regarding the Early Learning Institute 2012 will be included in the November issue of miLc Matters. Registration is targeted to open on November 28, 2011.
For more information or to be included on our mailing list, please send an email to John Faust at mailto:jhfaust.milc@gmail.com.
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Meet the Staff - Ed O'Connor
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Ed O'Connor, Ph.D. is the lead
consultant and data analyst for the Midwest Instructional Leadership Council.
Previously, he served the Monona Grove School District in Wisconsin for 15
years as a school psychologist and most recently as the Director of Continuous
Improvement and Assessment. Ed has worked in the schools at all levels from
4K-12. Ed also has worked at the collegiate level as he frequently is a
lecturer in the School Psychology Program at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. Ed earned his undergraduate, masters, and doctorate degrees
at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ed has longstanding research interests
in the areas of reading instruction, bridging the research-practice gap,
systems change and models of continuous improvement in education, problem
solving/response to instruction. Ed has published several articles in
professional journals and newsletters and is a frequent presenter on these
topics at state and national conferences.
Ed is a foundational member of the Midwest Instructional Leadership Council and has been with the organization
from its humble origins in January 2007 to the present day where the organization is now a legally recognized nonprofit organization. Ed’s passion is data and using the right kinds of data to inform instruction, increase outcomes for all students, and allocate resources. He is a strong advocate of models of continuous school
improvement and believes that in order to increase outcomes for all students and to support administrators and teachers in doing this important work, that the system must be designed to do so. Educational systems are designed to get the results you are getting, so if you are unhappy with your outcomes, examine your system, Ed would advocate.
Ed is married and has three children. He is an avid hunter and fisherman and enjoys spending time outdoors. He
enjoys making maple syrup from scratch and spending time at his cabin.
Ed can be reached via email at mailto:eoconnor.milc@gmail.com
To learn more about Ed, please refer to his vita.
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With thanks...
Thank you for taking time to peruse this issue of miLc Matters. If you have comments, suggestions, or topics that you would like included in future issues, please send an email to John Faust at mailto:jhfaust.milc@gmail.com.
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Regards,
John H Faust, Executive Director
Midwest Instructional Leadership Council |
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