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RTI Change Initiative Case Study

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The implementation of the RTI change initiative gave the greatest autonomy to remediation teachers. Before the remedial classes were implemented, these teachers regularly led their common planning teams, differentiated instruction for students, and consistently involved parents in their classrooms. Consequently, the administrative team asked these “master” teachers to not only instruct the remedial courses, but to help implement the RTI process as a change initiative. Having these teachers as a part of the planning team helped further define their roles as instructors of remedial courses. They were able to analyze data together, assess needs, choose targeted curricula for those needs, and design procedures for the entire school to implement …show more content…

This goal did not appear to be farfetched in the planning stages. The teachers of Florence Middle School were engaged in a culture where subject area teams regularly planned lessons together. Furthermore, grade level teams were meeting once a month. These teams already had a history of clearly articulating their ideas, goals, and plans to the administrative team on initiatives other than the RTI process. On the outside looking in, it appeared professional learning communities (PLCs) were in place at Florence Middle …show more content…

149). While our plans for the grade level meetings did not require outside professional learning, we hoped to see these five elements manifest as the intervention meetings progressed. Conversely, we would have been better served if we had first assessed the existing PLCs according to the five critical elements. Although teachers planned together at FMS, they were not in the habit of reflecting deeply on their practice together. Further, shared norms and values did not exist consistently among all planning teams. For example, one of the English teams shared the same lesson plans. However, only one teacher actually wrote the lesson plans. The other two teachers on the team passively followed her lead. Another subject area team shared their lesson plans with one another and reflected briefly on activities. These teachers then chose individually if they would use the recommended activities. Essentially, FMS had “planning teams,” but not “professional learning

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