Supporting Struggling Students Through Interventions

Teach the ChildrenClick on the picture to show video

Five Steps to Developing a Proactive Intervention Plan

• Identify mastery thresholds• Establish red flags• Develop formative assessments• Select appropriate

interventions• Monitor your plan

Mastery Baselines• Mastery is not a single point of success,

but a range of successful behaviors.• Mastery is determined by the teacher and

what the standards and curriculum say the students need to know and how well they need to know it.

• Mastery is determined by first looking at a grade baseline for assessments.

• Mastery is also determined through other items that may help you develop a fuller picture.

Mastery TargetMastery

Proficiency

Minimal

Basic

No Understanding

Red Flags• “Red Flags” are early-warning signals that

students are headed for a destructive struggle and should be:– very clearly defined– hard to ignore– trigger action– focused only on academic concerns, not

student behaviors.• Example: Students that miss more than 2

problems on a 10 problem math test.

Case Study• Read the following case study.• Assuming that Principal Mathers has no additional resources to hire after-school tutors, how can he best address this problem.

Here’s How• Read how Principal Mathers and his

school are confronting the question.• Discuss how this aligns with your

decision to deal with the issue.

What is Effective Support?Effective Support is….• Ongoing• Proactive• Targeted• Accelerative• Learning-focused• Monitored• Managed by a teacher

as advocate

Effective Support is Not..• As Needed• Reactive• Generalized• Remedial• Behavior-focused• Random• Imposed by a teacher

as adversary

Select Appropriate Interventions

• Interventions provide targeted tools to address a specific concern signaled by a red flag.

• The most effective interventions provide a temporary learning support, are made available on an as-needed basis, and are removed when they are no longer necessary

Consider Progressive Interventions

• Sequencing your interventions so that they progress from least intensive to most intensive gives you options for students who continue to struggle in spite of early supports.

• Progressive interventions help students take ownership over their own learning.

Rules for Interventions• Interventions should be

seamless and unobtrusive.• Interventions should be

designed to get students quickly back on track.• Interventions should be

systematic.

Rules continued• Interventions should be

temporary.• Interventions should be minimal.• Interventions should be specific.• Interventions should not be

labor intensive

Monitor and Gradually Remove Your Supports

• Use formative assessments to determine whether supports are working.

• Decrease the amount of support you provide for students over time.

• Increase the number of steps students must complete on their own.

• Decrease the frequency of Support.

Instructional Intervention Strategies Handouts

• The packet contains suggested interventions teachers can use to support struggling students.

• The key is determining when a student is beginning to go into a destructive struggle and to have an intervention plan in place to provide them with immediate support.

• Intervention must be proactive!

Planning Interventions• Interventions should be a part of the

lesson planning process.• Assess what you are teaching and

decide what corrective actions will help get my students back on track.

• Be proactive and have these ready to implement the minute a student starts a destructive struggle.

Questions?