• Tries to prevent failure and optimize learning by offering the most effective instruction possible to the greatest number of students
• Takes place in a regular education setting and is, for the most part, whole class (scientifically based) instruction that produces good results for most students
• Involves all students

Tier II Supplemental instruction (15-20% of all students)

• Tries to address instructional challenges that could be contributing to individual students' learning difficulties
• Takes place in a regular or special education setting; features instruction to small groups of students; some students might need more support than others, but most students will respond quickly and make good progress
• Involves students who experienced difficulties with Tier I instruction

Tier III (5-15% of all students)

• Tries to accelerate learning for students who need more intensive help and who are lacking effective strategies for learning
• Is likely to take place in a general education (or part-time special education) setting, with small groups of students or with 1:1 attention
• Involves students who did not respond to Tier II intervention

Tier IV (up to 5% of all students)

• Addresses students' individual learning and behavioral needs through special education services
• Takes place in part- or full- time special education setting; intensive and highly focused, intentional, research-based instruction, possibly over a long period of time
• Involves students who did not respond to Tier III intervention; these students undergo more formal evaluation, have (or are eligible for) IEPs

Features of Successful RTI Approaches

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• Has the school adopted a school-wide (or district-wide) curriculum and is the chosen program consistent with current research-based practices?
• How much time is devoted to individual, small group or whole class instruction?
• How will teachers learn about and gain proficiency in the use of research-based instructional teaching tools and methodologies?
• What kinds of ongoing professional development and teacher support is provided to ensure that students make (and sustain) progress?
• What professional resources (i.e., psychologist, special educator, speech-language pathologist, reading specialist) are needed (and available) to contribute to student progress?
• How will student progress be assessed (i.e., mastery of skills, rate of learning) and monitored over time? And how will these data be shared among faculty and with parents and students themselves?

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RTI and the Special Education Evaluation and Eligibility Process

RTI (Response to Intervention) plays a critical role in how students are identified as having a disability and needing special education services.

… The RTI process gets help to struggling learners faster, making interventions more successful and keeping students from becoming frustrated. The information collected along the way such as progress monitoring data becomes an important part of determining if a student needs to be formally evaluated for special education.

The use of a RTI process as part of a school's procedures for determining whether a student has a learning disability and needs special education services can potentially:

• Reduce the time a student waits before receiving additional instructional assistance, including special education if needed
• Reduce the overall number of students referred for special education services and increase the number of students who succeed within general education
• Provide critical information about the instructional needs of the student, which can be used to create effective educational interventions
• Limit the amount of unnecessary testing that has little or no instructional relevance
• Ensure that students receive appropriate instruction, particularly in reading, prior to placement in special education
• Increase collaboration among school staff and parents

Tags: RTI, Response to Intervention

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On the Front Lines of the Future

In Birmingham, high school education is being redefined. Learning is no longer tied down to the traditional notion of a classroom. Lessons are shifting away from teachers lectures and towards collaborative student inquiry.

For students, it has become rare to go a day at Seaholm without experiencing some aspect of the 21st Century Teaching and Learning initiative. The initiatives already significant influence has elicited a broad spectrum of responses from students and faculty, and although many signs point to the promise the new approaches hold, dissidents of the program are steadfast in their opposition. After only 12 weeks, the jury is still very much out on the success of 21st Century Teaching and Learning.

…

The future of education has also become a topic of national conversation. On October 2011, Stanford University broadcast a roundtable discussion entitled Education Nation 2.0. Moderated by PBS host Charlie Rose, the discussion brought to together influential individuals on the forefront of contemporary education.

One of the panelists was Salman Khan, founder of Khan Academy, a nonprofit website which provides free videos of over 2900 micro lectures on various academic subjects. Khan discussed how a new approach to traditional classroom structures (i.e. flipped classrooms) can actually foster a more intimate environment for students.

Where we have every student working at their own pace, its making [the education] a more human experience. You dont have a teacher lecturing anymore, now you have a teacher sitting sitting next to the students, you have the students interacting with each other, theyre all engaged the entire time, Khan said. Theres a lot of debate about the student-to-teacher ratio. Whats important is the student-to-valuable time with the teacher ratio. Its increasing the humanity in the classroom by an order of magnitude.

Another panel member was the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, Cory A. Booker. Under his administration, Newark has received over $1 billion in new economic development, with Facebooks founder Mark Zuckerberg donating $100 million to the citys schools. Booker emphasized that the future of education cannot hinge on a single idea or approach.

To systematize great education, were going to have to find a model that works and can be sustained over long periods of time. That is sort of the tumultuous cauldron of conflict thats going on, Booker said. In the end, we cannot be loyal to a single distribution mechanism. We have to be, as a nation, loyal to the results that are produced for our children.

Tags: 21st Century Teaching and Learning

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What Exactly is Blended Learning?and Five Ways it Can Transform The Way Your Students Learn

With that in mind, whenever you're using an online platform that allows student control as part of student learning, you're participating in blended learning. Simple, right? So, how can the blended learning concept help your students to learn more effectively? Greg LongSenior Vice President of Product Development at Dreambox Learning recently talked with EdTech Digest about the ins and outs of its thoroughly researched blended learning platform, went into detail about all the ways blended learning can impact student learning. We summarized five of the many ways below. (Feel free to click over to read the entire article to get more details.)

1. Blended learning platforms mimic what the best teachers docreating a learning environment that is similar to one-on-one instruction.
2. Blended learning platforms create a game-like learning experiencewhere students play and interact with the materials in a fun and interesting way.
3. Blended learning platforms provide consistent assessment without formal tests and quizzes. Instead, engagement with the platform allows for consistent and effective student evaluation.
4. Blended learning platforms are adaptive and treat each student differently depending on how they interact with the materialsallowing students to learn at the pace and in the style that works best for their individual needs.

Tags: blended learning

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Metronome device improves brain's processing

WHAT IS INTERACTIVE METRONOME?

Interactive Metronome is a computerized training program for the brain. It involves having patients listen to a rhythmic beat, then trying to synchronize hand clapping or foot tapping. The computer program measures and assesses rhythm and timing, and in some cases patients are given immediate feedback letting them know whether to speed up or slow down.

Proponents say it improves the brain's efficiency by strengthening motor skills and neurological functions related to planning, organizing and language.

The therapy has been used for children and adult patients to help with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, stroke and Parkinson's disease, among other conditions

Interactive Metronome was first developed almost two decades ago to help children diagnosed with learning disabilities, attention and motor problems. But in recent years it also has been used with adults dealing with traumatic brain injury, stroke and Parkinson's disease. Researchers in North Carolina are using the program with veterans to help them regain the natural rhythm of walking. Even some professional hockey players have used Interactive Metronome to improve speed and reaction time.Sheri Dawson, a physical therapist at duPont Hospital, said the computerized program helps improve the brain's processing, specifically attention, motor planning and sequencing. The goal is to cause changes in the brain's functional neuroplasticity, which is how the brain changes in structure and function as a result of learning.

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A New and Innovative Learning Method – Education with a Mix of Fun, Jokes, Facts, Game and Inspiring Quotes

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Dynamic Maps Key to Improving Assessments for Students with Disabilities

The University of Kansas has made progress in developing a new generation of assessments for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

The grant was awarded to fund development of the Dynamic Learning Maps Alternative Assessment System, known as DLM. Thirteen states are participating in the project: Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

Set for large-scale use during the 2014-2015 school year, the DLM alternate assessment system will let students with significant cognitive disabilities show what they know in ways that traditional multiple-choice tests cannot. The system is designed to more validly measure what students with significant cognitive disabilities know and can do. The assessment system is structured around a learning map, which models many potential pathways students may take on their path to gaining academic content.

Set for large-scale use during the 2014-2015 school year, the DLM alternate assessment system will let students with significant cognitive disabilities show what they know in ways that traditional multiple-choice tests cannot. The system is designed to more validly measure what students with significant cognitive disabilities know and can do. The assessment system is structured around a learning map, which models many potential pathways students may take on their path to gaining academic content.

The map is populated by a connected network of thousands of sequenced learning targets, or skills, that students need to learn by the end of high school. It is dynamic because it selects test items and tasks for a student based on that students previous responses. It is a connected network because skills build upon other skills, and students need to demonstrate prerequisite knowledge and ability before advancing from one skill to another.

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Five minute primer: Flipped classes

some educators say that flipping is an effective way to teach a generation thats grown up on YouTube. Not familiar with flipped classes? If you've got five minutes, you can learn about the concept right here.

Defining flipping

District Administration magazine calls flipping a type of "blended learning"that is acombination of onlineand face-to-face approaches. Flipping capitalizes on technology to allow students to watch online video lectures and explanations of content for homework. Students can replay the lectures several timesifthey need toto get a better grasp of the material while they are at home. The next day in class is spent doing what is traditionally considered homework completing assignments like working on math problems, for example with the teacher as more of a learning facilitator than lecturer. Classmates contribute to the learning process by working together on in-class assignments.

Capitalizing on technology

Technology is the key ingredient in flipping, because students must have Internet access after school hours in order to watch the lessons that educators record and upload. There are many flipped class facilitators online as well as social networks for flipping, like the Flipped Class Network. Instead of creating videos, teachers could assign Internet video tutorials that are already available. One of the most widely watched online teachers is Salman Khan, who started by doing math tutorials for his cousin on YouTube. He has since founded the Khan Academy, which now offers over 2700 instructional videos online.

Benefits of flipping

Educators whohave flippedclassessay thatthe practice isbeneficial. For example, a recent USA Today article describes how flipping has changed one calculus teachers role in the classroom and helped her students perform better on AP tests. Flipping proponents say that this method allows for more teacher-student interaction, because the teacher is spending more time working with students one-on-one rather than standing at the front of the room lecturing. Flippers report thatthis approachhas hadpositive effects on both student attendance and academic scores….

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Is the IPAD Good for Kids Attention?

… I strongly believe that it is time that parents are educated, empowered, and given the tools to provide their children with the right balance of benefits from media to assure sound development, especially of attention skills.

So parents heads up. Pay attention to your childs paying attention.

- Make the act of paying attention a distinctive behavior to notice, monitor, discuss, learn, and teach.

- Children vary in their auditory and visual attention among each other and over time. A young childs attention span in minutes is roughly twice his age in years.

- Limiting overstimulation by restricting the number of choices and blocking distractions online teaches children to sharply focus attention and gives opportunities for pleasure accompanying mastery and learning.

- As skills improve gradually with age and practice, increase challenge of greater focus time and resisting more potential distractions.

- Reinforce with specific praise and rewards persistence and discipline of paying attention.

- Teach self awareness of media consumption its duration and benefits/ disadvantages.

- Teach recognition of information overload, potential distractions, and attentional drifting and strategies of stopping, taking a break, etc.

- Play games to teach visual and auditory attention skills like taking turns closing eyes and asking What color was that car? or What ad did you see that you avoided? or what did that radio announcer just say?

Tags: education, learning disabilities, ADHD, assessments, cognitive

January Learning Disabilities & Special Education News

How Sequential Spelling stacks-up to the different learning styles in our home.

… Sequential Spelling builds on bases or word families that use the same letter endings. The idea is get children to see patterns of spelling that exist in many words, from the very simple to the more complicated. For example, by introducing the word at a child should be able to spell bat, cat or scat, but will also quickly be able to draw on this knowledge to spell rattle and batteries.

However, what distinguishes Sequential Spelling the most to me is that children are given a test every day, as opposed to every week. The test isnt a real test in the traditional sense. Instead, tests are viewed as learning devices, not methods, for evaluation. If a child makes a mistake writing a word, they immediately correct their mistake right when they make it, not hours, days, or weeks later.

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Low GI diet bears fruit in classroom

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/diet-and-fitness/low-gi-diet-bears-fruit-in-classroom-20120128-1qmzw.html#ixzz1l1xgVj1Q

Now an increasing body of research linking low GI and academic performance is prompting doctors to urge parents to consider changing their children's diets.

Alan Barclay, chief scientific officer at the Glycemic Index Foundation, a partnership between the University of Sydney and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, said parents wanting to improve their childrens' school performance should give them a breakfast with about 35 to 40 grams of carbohydrate with a low GI.

"That should translate into improved performance in various tasks at school which ultimately should lead to better marks at the end of the year," Dr Barclay said.

"Glucose is the primary fuel for our brain. If we don't have enough in the right amounts over the right period of time we basically can't think properly and can't remember things."

Research by British academics published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2010 found a low GI/high carbohydrate breakfast improved the cognition and attentiveness of children and helped them complete maths tasks more quickly and accurately.

Amir said his his concentration levels had massively improved and he no longer felt tired during the day. He also lost about 15 kilograms in seven months.

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Brain scans bring researchers closer to early dyslexia diagnosis

Children with learning disabilities often find the first few years of school harrowing. But brain scans of

at-risk children may catch signs of dyslexia before problems emerge, a new study suggests.

Children at risk for dyslexia show differences in brain activity in MRIs as early as age 4 or 5, the study shows. The study was conducted by a team from Childrens Hospital Boston and was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week. Most children are not diagnosed untilabout third grade, but earlier treatment is usually more effective, researchers noted.

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Let students play with Vedic math

HYDERABAD: The biggest monsters are examinations and syllabus in an education system which promotes learning by rote, observes Dilip Mukerjea, a mind mapper. In the city for a session on learning better at BITS, Hyderabad, the author of a sizeable number of books on memory skills, he spoke of a roadmap for Indian students in a world of exponential competition.

Show me one system where students learn all the parameters of vocabulary and memory. Across the IITs and IIMs, all the institutes promote learning by rote, points out Dilip who runs Braindancing International in Singapore. The recently released Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report on performance of 73 countries ranked India second-last. There has to be a change in the curriculum as well as methods of teaching, opines the author of Unleashing Genius.

HYDERABAD: The biggest monsters are examinations and syllabus in an education system which promotes learning by rote, observes Dilip Mukerjea, a mind mapper. In the city for a session on learning better at BITS, Hyderabad, the author of a sizeable number of books on memory skills, he spoke of a roadmap for Indian students in a world of exponential competition.

Show me one system where students learn all the parameters of vocabulary and memory. Across the IITs and IIMs, all the institutes promote learning by rote, points out Dilip who runs Braindancing International in Singapore. The recently released Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) report on performance of 73 countries ranked India second-last. There has to be a change in the curriculum as well as methods of teaching, opines the author of Unleashing Genius.

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Apple Reinvents Textbooks with iBooks 2 for iPad

NEW YORKJanuary 19, 2012Apple today announced iBooks 2 for iPad, featuring iBooks textbooks, an entirely new kind of textbook thats dynamic, engaging and truly interactive. iBooks textbooks offer iPad users gorgeous, fullscreen textbooks with interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos, unrivaled navigation and much more. iBooks textbooks can be kept up to date, don't weigh down a backpack and never have to be returned. Leading education services companies including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill and Pearson will deliver educational titles on the iBookstore with most priced at $14.99 or less, and with the new iBooks Author, a free authoring tool available today, anyone with a Mac can create stunning iBooks textbooks.

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Trying Not To Smash The Tablets

… Early in the year, on a rare occasion when a student was using his tablet computer for non-academic purposes, I didnt even have to say anything, Werdesheim recalled. I just went over there and said, Sports, huh? And I took away the iPad and that was the end of it. No one wants their iPad taken away overnight.

Ohr Chadash is one of a handful of Jewish day schools throughout the United States that are pioneering the iPad this year. Only two years old, iPads are still a rarity in most schools, although growing numbers of public and private schools are beginning to experiment with them. And with Apples launch last Thursday of iBooks2 for distributing interactive, digital K-12 textbooks, the number of schools purchasing these devices is poised to grow dramatically.

…

Rabbi Eric Grossman, Frankels head of school, says the iPad has already proven successful in helping to mainstream learning disabled students, making it easier to offer individualized learning and to help kids with organizational difficulties keep track of their homework and other assignments.

Susan Stein, coordinator of general studies at Ramazs middle school learning center, echoed that assessment, noting that the iPad is a wonderful choice for some kids with learning challenges.

They dont lose their papers, they dont lose their notebooks, they dont have to carry heavy backpacks. It helps keep them focused and organized.

Poor readers can easily convert their reading material to large font, while others can listen to an audio download when they read, she says, adding that its handy to have everything all in one place.

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U46s chief of equity, social justice speaks about position

… These ideas are beginning to be translated into the field of teaching and learning. Instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach, universal design for learning asks, How can we design curriculum and classroom experiences that are as effective and inclusive as possible? she said.

When we do this in the design of our curriculum and how we design our classroom instruction, then we will serve the needs of more students and well see better results for everyone.

…

We dont have as many in our country examples of district-wide successes where this work is happening where the sheer commitment to equity is operationalized far and wide across the organization. In order to do this, we need to a have a bold, integrated and systemic approach to closing the achievement gap, Shah said.

Destination 2015 holds us accountable to be one of the districts that shows how to do this work of closing the achievement gap to scale.

… I became really intrigued by the idea that our schools are the places to build the society we want to create. Thats how the program was constructed around equity and social justice in teaching, she said.

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5 Things Parents Need to Know About Inclusive Education

… If you are a parent of a special needs child who is in an inclusive classroom or being considered for inclusive placement, this article will give you a brief overview of inclusive education and 5 things you need to know.

ALWAYS TOGETHER – A truly inclusive environment is one in which a special needs child is a fully active member of a general education classroom not just for PE, Art or Music but for all subjects. An inclusive school provides equal access to school routines and programs. Lunch and recess are together, students participate in assemblies and extracurricular activities are timed to include as many children and families as possible. Inclusion is a way of interacting with one another, not a place to go to for an hour every day.

ALWAYS PARTICIPATING – Inclusion promotes social interactions between students, teachers, parents and school. Relationships develop and are strengthened in an inclusive environment.

ALWAYS SUPPORTED – Support services for children with special needs are brought

to the child in the classroom through paraprofessionals and resource staff. Parents are also included in this process! Inclusive classroom teachers have a significant understanding of the various needs that students have and use resources, support staff and assistive technology to meet those needs.

ALWAYS LEARNING- Inclusion provides opportunity and equal access to schooling regardless of childs ability level. Inclusive practice benefits ALL learners in the classroom. It involves accommodating and modifying the curriculum to reach all learners. Students become more engaged, feel more successful and develop confidence in their ability to learn. Inclusion promotes a greater understanding of diversity and the world in which we live.

ALWAYS WELCOME children with special needs are welcomed in the inclusive school, regardless of ability, age and needs!

Tags: inclusive education