Taking Action. Austin Buffum
of collectively analyzing targeted evidence to determine the specific learning needs of each child and the effectiveness of the instruction the child receives in meeting these needs.
By answering the first two critical questions, the school is now prepared to successfully intervene for students who need extra help mastering essential curriculum and to extend the learning for students that have. These two outcomes are captured in critical questions 3 and 4.
3. How will we respond when some students do not learn?
4. How will we extend the learning for students who are already proficient?
We define a school’s systematic response to answering these two questions as certain access—“a systematic process that guarantees every student will receive the time and support needed to learn at high levels” (Buffum et al., 2012, p. 10).
Because RTI is proven to be the best way to intervene when students need additional time and support, schools that function as a PLC should not view RTI as a new initiative but instead, as deepening their current intervention practices. For schools that have not embraced PLC practices, RTI might seem like a nearly impossible undertaking. Trying to implement RTI without creating a school culture and structure that aligns with PLC practices is like trying to build a house starting with the roof—without a proper foundation, no structure can stand. RTI is an essential piece of the puzzle to ensure student success—PLC is the puzzle.
The Design of This Book
The goal of this book is to dig deeply into critical questions 3 and 4 of the PLC at Work process (DuFour et al., 2016):
3. How will we respond when some students do not learn?
4. How will we extend the learning for students who are already proficient?
Undoubtedly, answering these questions requires a school to address the first two critical questions regarding curriculum and assessment and also to consider the cultural beliefs and collaborative structures it requires to collectively respond when students need additional time and support. While this book addresses these foundational PLC building blocks—especially in the chapters that focus on creating a strong Tier 1 core instructional program—it is insufficient in creating a deep understanding of the entire PLC at Work process.
This book is modeled after the handbook for the PLC at Work process, Learning by Doing, Third Edition (DuFour et al., 2016). We do not intend to replace this invaluable resource but instead, complement it. We purposefully align our critical concepts, essential actions, and vocabulary to this resource. Additionally, where appropriate, we reference chapters and tools in Learning by Doing that will help support and extend our RTI recommendations. We highly recommend that this book’s readers also read and reference Learning by Doing.
Taking Action is divided into three parts. Part one includes chapters 2–4 and focuses on the essential actions necessary to build a highly effective Tier 1 core instructional program. Chapter 2 addresses how to create a schoolwide culture of collective responsibility and how to form the collaborative teams necessary to guide the RTI process. Chapter 3 digs deeply into the essential work of teacher collaborative teams at Tier 1, while chapter 4 describes the schoolwide responsibilities of site leadership.
Part two of the book targets Tier 2 interventions. Chapter 5 reviews how teacher teams should lead supplemental interventions for students who need additional time and support to learn team-identified essential standards. Chapter 6 describes the schoolwide actions of the site leadership team at Tier 2, including scheduling time for supplemental help during the school day and how to utilize site support staff to lead supplemental behavior interventions.
Part three, chapters 7 and 8, addresses the schoolwide essential actions needed to plan and target Tier 3 interventions for students who need intensive remediation. Chapter 7 examines the essential responsibilities of the site leadership team, while chapter 8 focuses on the formation and tasks of the school’s intervention team.
Each chapter focuses on a specific part of the RTI at Work pyramid, which is highlighted so you can see how each part relates to the whole. Within each chapter, we also describe the specific essential actions schools must take to create a highly effective system of interventions. Consider for a moment the meaning of the word essential. When something is essential, it is so important to the whole that the whole cannot survive without it. The analogy we like to use is this: Is your arm essential to your whole body? Can you cut it off and live? Yes, so then it is not essential. It’s very useful but not essential. Now, is your heart essential? Yes. Every other part of your body can be perfectly healthy, but if your heart stops working, everything else soon follows. We are not suggesting that the specific steps we present at each tier are the only beneficial actions a school can take to improve student learning. Other elements (like arms) are good too. This book focuses on the absolutely essential elements—the hearts—that, if we skip any one of them, will ultimately kill the effectiveness of the overall system of interventions. Many of these essential elements are the practices a school must be tight about in the PLC at Work process.
For each essential action, we clearly and concisely describe the specific outcome and who should take lead responsibility to ensure that it happens. Similar to Learning by Doing (DuFour et al., 2016), we then address the following elements.
► Here’s why: We provide the research, evidence, and rationale behind the recommended action.
► Here’s how: We provide a step-by-step process to successfully implement the essential element.
► Helpful tools: We provide tools needed to support the implementation process.
► Coaching tips: We provide reminders, ideas, and strategies for engaging and supporting educators in learning by doing. Based on the belief that staff members should solve their own most complex problems, it is essential to create a culture in which the adults effectively collaborate and learn together. These tips are meant to assist leadership team members as catalysts of change—promoting inquiry into current practices and, in turn, working to create an environment conducive to growth for teachers and students alike.
While we designed the content of this book to sequentially address each tier of the RTI process, you do not have to read the book sequentially. We want this book to be an ongoing resource, so we have written each chapter so it can stand alone. This design required us to repeat some key ideas more than once in the book, when specific content was relevant to multiple steps in the PLC and RTI processes. So, as you read the book, if you have a déjà vu moment and think, “I’ve read that idea already,” you’re right. We hope this repetition also helps solidify and reinforce key concepts.
Finally, while we designed this book to specifically address and help you avoid the most common RTI implementation mistakes, we know this to be true—you are going to make mistakes. We tell stories about our own mistakes on the journey to teach specific points in the book. These mistakes were unintentional but ultimately critical to our subsequent improvement.
However, one mistake is a sure death knell to the process—failing to put what you learn into action. This