Chapter 1 Action Steps

4Tier 3 Design to Ensure High Levels of Learning 73 The Foundation at Tiers 1 and 2 75 The Design of Tier 3 76 Critical Questions for Designing Tier 3 81 Conclusion 88 Chapter 4 Action Steps 88

5Convergent Assessment for Targeting at Tier 3 91 The Foundation at Tiers 1 and 2 91 Identifying and Targeting Needs at Tier 3 95 Establishing Learning Progressions 100 Monitoring Student Progress 104 Revising and Extending Support at Tier 3 110 Using Tools to Support Your Work 112 Conclusion 116 Chapter 5 Action Steps 116

6Behavior Supports at Tier 3 119 The Foundation at Tiers 1 and 2 120 Social and Emotional Learning 122 The Roles and Responsibilities of Teams in Behavior Interventions 131 The Need for Varied Team Expertise 133 How to Target Students’ Behavior Needs 134 Progress Monitoring for Behavior 142 Self-Monitoring and Self-Management at Tier 3 146 Safe and Inclusive Schools 160 Conclusion 161 Chapter 6 Action Steps 162 Behavior Observation Tool 164 Individual Behavior Tracking Sheet Example 165 Individual Behavior Tracking Sheet 166

7Academic Instruction at Tier 3 167 The Foundation at Tiers 1 and 2 167 Instructional Design for Diverse Learners 170 The Significance of Collaborative Teams 177 Roles and Responsibilities of Teams at Tier 3 180 Collaboration to Determine Targeted Needs at Tier 3 184 Strategies for Best Practice 187 Conclusion 197 Chapter 7 Action Steps 198

8Personalized Learning for Teams 199 Activity 1: Planning Instruction for All Students 200 Activity 2: Teaching Essential Academic and Social Behaviors 204

Activity 3: Using Collaborative Structures to Ensure High Levels of Learning at Tier 3 206 Activity 4: Determining Learning Progressions 209 Activity 5: Determining Team Membership 212 Activity 6: Targeting Individual Student Needs 214 Activity 7: Leadership Team Monitoring Plan 216 Activity 8: Getting to Know Our Learners 216 Conclusion 221 Chapter 8 Action Steps 221 Epilogue: Final Thoughts 223 Appendix: Resources and Tools 227 References and Resources 231 Index 241

About the Authors

Paula Rogers retired in 2015 after a career in public education as the deputy superintendent for instruction, accountability, and human resources for Hallsville Independent School District (ISD), a midsize district in East Texas with five Title I campuses. Paula led the implementation of professional learning communities (PLCs) districtwide, beginning in 2004. As a result of this work, the district earned the highest level of accountability awarded by the state of Texas, and AllThingsPLC.info named it as a model professional learning community.

Paula has seen the powerful results of building a team that embraces the collective responsibility for all students reaching high levels of achievement. Being part of this team of educators and seeing the results in student outcomes are the most rewarding experiences of her educational career. Prior to Hallsville ISD, Paula served as the Assistant Superintendent and Director of Federal Programs and Special Education in Pine Tree ISD in Longview, Texas.

Paula now works with schools across the United States and in Canada as they implement PLC at Work® and RTI at Work™ practices. She passionately believes in these practices and the outcomes for students that are a result of their implementation.

Paula is a contributing author to the book It’s About Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Elementary School edited by Austin Buffum and Mike Mattos, published by Solution Tree.

She has experience as a general education teacher, a special education teacher, and an educational diagnostician. Paula holds a master’s degree in education from Stephen F. Austin State University and certifications in general education, special education, and school administration.

To learn more about Paula’s work, follow her @Tools4Teams on Twitter.

W. Richard Smith was deputy superintendent of the Sanger Unified School District, which serves more than thirteen thousand students with a large population of minority and highpoverty students. He has been involved in public education for more than forty years. Richard has presented on the power of professional learning communities throughout the nation. During his time in Sanger Unified, more than three hundred districts from across California and the United States visited Sanger to see its collaborative culture firsthand. He has taught at the elementary and high school levels and has served as a special education resource teacher. He was principal of four elementary schools and was a high school administrator for nine years. He also worked at the district office level for fifteen years.

When Richard joined Sanger in 2004 as assistant superintendent for human resources, the district was one of ninety-eight in California to be named a program improvement district due to low performance. Two years later, Sanger became one of the first districts to rise above this status and is now one of the highest-performing districts in the Central Valley. Among all eighteen schools, Sanger has won multiple state and national awards, fifteen California Distinguished School awards, ten Title I Academic Achievement awards, and two National Blue Ribbon Schools awards.

Richard was named the 1998 Crystal Award Winner for the Clovis Unified School District for his leadership and work at the high school level. In 2010, he was named a distinguished alumnus by the Kremen School of Education and Human Development at California State University, Fresno. California State University, Fresno, honored Richard as the 2014 Top Dog Distinguished Alumni Award winner.

Austin Buffum, EdD, has fifty years of experience in public schools. His many roles include serving as former senior deputy superintendent of California’s Capistrano Unified School District. Austin has presented in over nine hundred school districts throughout the United States and around the world. He delivers trainings and presentations on the RTI at Work model. This tiered approach to response to intervention is centered on PLC at Work concepts and strategies to ensure every student receives the time and support necessary to succeed.

Austin also delivers workshops and presentations that provide the tools educators need to build and sustain PLCs. Austin was selected 2006 Curriculum and Instruction Administrator of the Year by the Association of California School Administrators. He attended the Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was greatly inspired by its founder, Roland Barth, an

early advocate of the collaborative culture that defines PLCs today. He later led Capistrano’s K–12 instructional program on an increasingly collaborative path toward operating as a PLC. During this process, thirty-seven of the district’s schools were designated California Distinguished Schools, and eleven received National Blue Ribbon recognition.

Austin is coauthor with Suzette Lovely of Generations at School: Building an Age-Friendly Learning Community. He has also coauthored Uniting Academic and Behavior Interventions: Solving the Skill or Will Dilemma; It’s About Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Elementary School; It’s About Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Secondary School; Simplifying Response to Intervention: Four Essential Guiding Principles; Pyramid Response to Intervention: RTI, Professional Learning Communities, and How to Respond When Kids Don’t Learn; Taking Action: A Handbook for RTI at Work; Personalized Learning in a PLC at Work: Student Agency Through the Four Critical Questions; and Best Practices at Tier 2: Supplemental Interventions for Additional Student Support, Secondary.

A graduate of the University of Southern California, Austin earned a bachelor of music degree and received a master of education degree with honors. He holds a doctor of education degree from Nova Southeastern University.

To learn more about Austin’s work, follow him @agbuffum on Twitter.

Mike Mattos is an internationally recognized author, presenter, and practitioner who specializes in uniting teachers, administrators, and support staff to transform schools by implementing the RTI and PLC processes. Mike cocreated the RTI at Work model, which builds on the foundation of the PLC at Work process by using team structures and a focus on learning, collaboration, and results to drive successful outcomes and creating a systematic, multitiered system of supports to ensure high levels of learning for all students. He is former principal of Marjorie Veeh Elementary School and Pioneer Middle School in California. At both schools, Mike helped create powerful PLCs, improving learning for all students.

In 2004, Marjorie Veeh, an elementary school with a large population of youth at risk, won the California Distinguished School and National Title I Achieving School awards. A National Blue Ribbon School, Pioneer is among only thirteen schools in the United States that the GE Foundation selected as a Best-Practice Partner and is one of eight schools that Richard DuFour chose to feature in the video series The Power of Professional Learning Communities at Work: Bringing the Big Ideas to Life. Based on standardized test scores, Pioneer ranks among the top 1 percent of