Portage School interventions see progress, find ‘consistency,’ leaders report – WiscNews

Interventions for struggling students in the Portage Community School District were effective in 2016-17 and will see some changes in the coming school year, specialists reported to the School Board.

Kellie Kilde and Jolene Routson, intervention specialists at Rusch Elementary and John Muir Elementary, respectively, identified for the Board several trends theyve seen over the past school year, particularly in Tier 3 interventions, which are for students who test below the 10th percentile.

Students in Tier 3 interventions receive one-on-one help for identified skill deficiencies, but they still get classroom time with their peers. Students in Tier 2, meanwhile, are those testing below the 25th percentile, and while they might also receive some targeted interventions, it is to a lesser extent than for those in Tier 3, Routson said. Tier 1 is the basic instruction all students receive every day.

Interventions were held in grades K-6. In the spring, 10 percent of all students in K-6 were in Tier 3 interventions.

Interventions focus primarily on improving literacy, Kilde explained. We see the number of students in Tier 3 interventions increase at the end of kindergarten and throughout first grade, Kilde said, a trend that was expected, since, as we see kids get further into reading, (were) noticing where their errors are and how we can help them, to intervene early.

We also know that by intervening early with our younger learners, Kilde added, we decrease the need for long-term interventions, which aligns with our district goal (of) ensuring that all students are (performing) at grade level by third grade.

Interventions, as they are employed today, are relatively new in Portage, Routson said this week. Beginning four years ago, interventions have targeted foundational skills that are lacking, using state benchmarks, teacher input and other data to make decisions. I would say its just a more intentional process to catch students early, she said.

Every student is accounted and literacy plans are created.

Such work in recent years is paying off, Routson added. Were seeing more students graduating out of Tier 2 (than in the past). So were intervening early and with consistency and being intentional, closing the gap early so that they dont need Tier 3.

Interventionists are also seeing the number of students needing Tier 3 interventions drop in the higher grade levels, she said, which is exactly what they want to see, Routson said.

Interventions usually dont begin until the end of kindergarten, and in 2016-17 they didnt go beyond sixth grade. But last school year was the first time interventions were implemented at Bartels Middle School, and in 2017-18 they will also include the seventh grade.

Interventions in the middle school went well, Kilde told the board. As the year went on, everybody (at Bartels Middle School) was so invested and really looked forward to working with the data. The number of sixth-graders who needed Tier 3 interventions went down as the school year progressed, with those students transitioned into a monitoring approach.

Next year, Kilde added, the middle school will implement Tier 2 interventions, too, as staff there continues to be trained.

Students are tracked as they move through the interventions, sometimes qualifying for special education. Interventions, of course, depend on the student and grade level, Kilde said. In third grade students are moving out of phonics and into phonemic awareness developing their fluency and comprehension at which point the number of students needing interventions go up.

You see our numbers start (to go up), Kilde said, but we get them through intervention, and by end of the year (the numbers show) that we get them out of intervention by fifth grade.

Our numbers in fifth grade are quite low, Routson said, and we expect to see that with a successful intervention program.

Another change ahead includes some tweaking to interventions that involve math, though interventions will continue to focus mainly on literacy.

School Board President Steve Pate asked how often students who graduate out of interventions need to be brought back into them, to which Director of Student Services Barb Wolfe replied, very rarely.

Less than a handful over the past several years, Wolfe added.

Routson noted that some students who graduate out of interventions are put on watch.

We try to do a good job not dismissing them until were sure, she said, but there may be a student who slips a little and so we keep them on watch.

In 2016-17 the school district had eight interventionists across grades K-6. Next year, one of those eight positions will be split between Rusch and John Muir as half-time behavioral interventionists, along with dean responsibilities, positions that the district will be interviewing for in July, Kilde said.

Kilde in 2017-18 will be the elementary intervention specialist, supporting the interventionists in all five elementary buildings.

Routson is set to become the new principal of West Side Elementary in Mauston in July.

Follow Noah Vernau on Twitter @NoahVernau

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Portage School interventions see progress, find 'consistency,' leaders report - WiscNews