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2009 NASP Summer Conference - Albuquerque, NM
Full-Day Preconference Workshops
Monday, July 20, 2009
8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Helping the Older Struggling Learner: Making RTI Work at the Middle and High School Levels
Jim Wright, MS, School Psychologist, Tully, NY
To be effective at the middle and high school levels, Response to Intervention (RTI) must be tailored to accommodate teams of teachers, compartmentalized instruction, highly demanding curriculum expectations, complex schedules, and students who are approaching adulthood and have a significant voice in their own educational program. This full-day workshop presents an RTI problem-solving model specifically designed for the realities of middle school and secondary educational settings.
Participants who attend this intensive, cutting-edge session will review a core collection of academic and behavioral intervention ideas and progress-monitoring methods that can realistically be used and immediately applied in middle and high school settings.
The RTI Secondary School model also includes a streamlined and flexible intervention team problem-solving process, as well as “best practice” strategies to motivate struggling learners in secondary grades to become invested in their intervention plans. Effective techniques for troubleshooting problem or resistant situations will also be discussed.
As part of this workshop, school psychologists will explore guidelines for linking students to appropriate community services and resources—if and when those students' primary barriers to academic success fall outside of school. All workshop ideas are tied to a three-tier Response to Intervention framework now being widely adopted in schools across the nation.
School psychologists who work with middle and/or high school students will find this workshop invaluable, regardless of whether they are relatively new to RTI or have been using such techniques for some time.
A Comprehensive, Multidimensional Approach to the Assessment of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students
Matthew Lau, PhD, NCSP, Minneapolis Public Schools, Monticello, MN
Federal and state regulations, as well as principles of professional ethics and standards, provide the context in which English language learners (ELLs) have the rights to receive unbiased evaluation and appropriate special education services. However, issues related to culture, language, individual experiences, and acculturation are almost inseparable from the presented concerns when working with culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. Very few research studies have contributed to the development of a theoretical framework on culturally competent assessment. While more research studies are needed in this area, there is an immanent need for best practice guidelines to minimize biases on service delivery and assessment for these students. Moreover, it is argued that a comprehensive “assessment” model should begin in the general education classroom where relevant data are collected to inform the instruction for the diverse learning needs of these students. The purpose of this presentation is to offer holistic, cohesive, practical, and theoretically sound guidelines to address the assessment needs of diverse learners. By attending this workshop, participants will:
- Understand the requirements of the law and how these requirements are translated into everyday practices
- Understand the importance of gathering relevant data beginning in the general education classrooms to inform instructional decisions
- Understand the process of second language acquisition
- Understand the impact of cultural and linguistic factors on the assessment process
- Understand the essential role of a cultural “broker” and the dos and don’ts when working with interpreters
- Understand the essential components of a multidimensional multitask approach to assessment for diverse learners