RtI Back to School Checklist



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    It’s that time of year!  It seems right after Fourth of July holiday we start seeing the Back to School rally in all the retail stores. On a more recent shopping trip I found 3 different “Back to School Checklists” ranging from school age supplies to outfitting a dorm.  I have my own “to do” list sitting right next to me at the computer and it seems to be growing by the day!  I thought a post covering some good “to do’s” related to RtI would create a nice jump start to the year.  See the list I’ve generated below and compare it to your own.  If I left off some “must have” items, enter them as a response below so we’ll collectively create a comprehensive list that will help launch our fall efforts.

    RtI Back to School Checklist


    Core Curriculum

    Academic
    • Take inventory to ensure each teacher has been provided staff development in the core curriculum. Conduct a needs assessment to assist with planning staff development and support for the year. *Be particularly mindful of new teachers and teachers who have changed grade levels.
    • Take inventory to ensure each teacher has all the materials he/she is supposed to have for the core. (We created our Materials Inventory to include those materials that were part of the district adoption. Buildings can create an addendum for additional materials purchased by the building.)
    • Ensure the master schedule allows for the proper instructional time required for the core.
    • Review district-level supports that are available to the building or individual teachers.

    Social
    • Find and distribute lesson plans that will be used to launch and explicitly teach school-wide expectations.
    • Confirm consensus on school-wide plan for expectations and acknowledgement system.
    • Review office disciplinary referral system – majors/minors, function, etc.
    • Refresh on district and community supports that are available to the building.

    Interventions

    Academic
    • Confirm model of support that will be used to provide targeted intervention.
    • Ensure master schedule allows for the proper intervention time for students needing tiered support.
    • Ensure locations for intervention groups at each grade level.
    • Take inventory to ensure each teacher who will be teaching the interventions has had proper staff development. (We created an Intervention Inventory for Staff Development.)
    • Take inventory to ensure each teacher has the materials he/she is supposed to have for the interventions.
    • Review intervention fidelity checklists as a group and provide opportunity for questions/thoughts. (In our district, some of our interventions have fidelity/observation tools that we use and we created them for those that did not to capture the essential components.)

    Social
    • Review matrix of intervention supports for social/emotional concerns.
    • Update list of community resources available for schools, families, students.
    • Plan for preventive check-in or continuation of previously written student plan for returning students who received intervention support last year.

    Assessment

    Screening
    • Secure dates for data collection – double check with master calendar to avoid potential conflicts.
    • Organize all data collection materials for each teacher (i.e., materials, stopwatches, clipboards, etc.)
    • Update student rosters in database for efficient data entry
    • Double check that each new staff member has necessary passwords and training for assessment database.
    • Take inventory to confirm that each staff member has been properly trained on the screening measures for administration and scoring. *Be particularly mindful of new teachers and teachers who have changed grade levels.
    • Conduct refreshers at a faculty meeting or at grade-level meetings prior to data collection.
    • Organize a data support system so that each data collector has shadow scoring for a few students. This allows for stronger confidence in reliability and allows questions to be addressed.

    Diagnostic
    • Take inventory of training provided to each staff member regarding diagnostic assessments
      • Diagnostics included with core program and interventions. Additional diagnostics selected by the building or district
      • Take inventory to ensure each staff member has the necessary testing materials needed for the diagnostic assessment process
    • Take inventory to ensure each staff member has the necessary testing materials needed for the diagnostic assessment process.
    • Review the district/building process to answer how, when, and by whom diagnostic data are collected.

    Progress Monitoring
    • Organize all data collection materials for progress monitoring.
    • Review guidelines for frequency, level of material, person responsible for collecting, etc.
    • Review and organize core and intervention embedded progress monitoring materials.

    Data Review and Problem Solving
    • Ensure the following meetings are established on the building master calendar:
      • Building Leadership Team data review
      • Grade-Level Team data review
      • Individual Student Problem-Solving Meetings
    • Organize materials for building and grade-level team data reviews.
      • Materials for data walls
      • Materials used to sort through data and form intervention groups
      • Team worksheets to track initial status, set goals, capture group dialogue, and track progress.
    • Review process for problem-solving with entire faculty.
      • Review expectations for grade-level data reviews.
      • Review expectations for participation and process for tertiary individual student problem-solving.

    Family Engagement 

    • Review information provided at back-to-school night regarding the core curriculum.
      • Common core standards
      • Grade-level expectations (For example, we distribute handouts providing parents with information on the big five components of reading.)
      • How families can support their child's growth in academic areas that would be consistent with the building's core program
    • Review information provided at back-to-school night regarding intervention efforts.
      • Overview of intervention model at the building
      • How families will be engaged in the process
    • Review information provided at back-to-school night regarding the district/building assessment system.
      • Overview of screening measures
      • Overview of reporting process
    • Review basics for communication
      • Address whom families should contact or expect contact from regarding their child's performance and progress.
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