Our mission as a school district is to provide an effective education for all children.  We  know that students do not come to us as “one size fits all” learners, and have different learning styles.

Providing an effective education for all children requires monitoring their progress.  This way we can spot when children are having difficulty achieving grade level content standards (also known as benchmarks as required by the State of Michigan), and make adjustments to our teaching to better meet their needs.  In our district we have a process for monitoring progress and making adjustments, and it is called “Response to Intervention” or “RtI”.  Here is how it works:

RtI is a step by step plan of instruction for helping students academically and behaviorally. 

Step 1:  Assessments

All students are given reading and math assessments at the beginning of the school year.  These are called MLPP and DIBELS testing as well as grade level assessments.  All students will be given the assessment again mid-year and at the end of the school year.

Step 2:  Interventions for students with different learning styles and rates are used (extra classroom help in a small group setting for additional instruction).   These interventions occur in a three-tiered approach.

Tier 1:   Involves good classroom instruction from the classroom teacher.  We have designated specific uninterrupted times throughout the day for the class not to be interrupted while curriculum materials are being taught.

Tier 2:  Beyond good classroom instruction already occurring in the classroom, we will provide additional small group instruction for 2-3 times a week for 6-8 weeks during which time progress will be monitored.  Many children are successful in meeting standards with the combination of Tier 1 instruction and Tier 2 supplemental help.  If that is the case, we will decide whether the current interventions should continue or may be ended.

Tier 3:  Involves an individualized Tier 3 intervention plan that will be developed for your child.  Instruction will be tailored to specific learning goals.  We may need to do some assessment at Tier 3 to help develop the intervention plan.