From the NCLD Back to School Issue

Making Technology Part of Your Back-to-School Planning
This article helps parents, students, teachers, and administrators use technology to complete their back-to-school planning.

Universal Screening for Reading Problems
This resource from the RTI Action Network will give you an in-depth introduction to the theory and practice of universal screening.

TALKS AND EVENTS
Webinar: Screening for Reading Problems in an RTI Framework
On September 17, 2009 at 2 p.m. ET, Evelyn Johnson and Juli Pool will summarize and discuss the challenges of screening for reading problems in an RTI framework.

Creating Great Public Schools for All: Using Universal Design for Learning and Inclusive Practices
On Wednesday, September 16, at 9 a.m. ET join this interactive presentation by the National Education Association and the Including Samuel Project at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire.

Everything RTI

This is the kind of thing that makes my head want to spin.

The Center on Instruction offers materials and resources to build educators’ knowledge on instruction for students with disabilities, including guidance on the application of scientifically based research and, specifically, Response to Intervention. 80 resources are listed at this site, including webinars, podcasts, publications, presentations, etc. They cover the broad range of need: implementation, progress monitoring, math, reading, little kids, big kids, struggling learners, learning disabilities, etc. You can see these resources here.

Meeting with the RTI Team

Yesterday evening, the LDA of Michigan's Response to Intervention (RTI) workshop team met to discuss ways of continuing to connect and share ideas with the participants in LDA of Michigan's RTI workshops. These workshops were initiated several years ago under the leadership of Bernie Travnikar, who recently passed away. Delia Laing, chair of the Professional Advisory Board is continuing the work by leading the planning of next year's presentations at the LDA of Michigan Conference, to be held on November 17 and 18, 2009 at Kellogg Center on the Michigan State University campus in East Lansing.

One proposal for keeping participants connected was to work with university faculty members in Michigan to identify a relevant course or courses, and ask graduate students to contribute to a website, wiki or blog--with the university maintaining the site on their server. There are some issues relating to a university putting its stamp of authority on recommendations, or endorsements of particular methods, or supporting such a venture. It might also be a problem to assign students to making such contributions as part of their coursework, if the course content is not well aligned with the content needed for web-posting. If they were to voluntarily contribute their time and skills to such a venture, then the concern would be relative to a university's hosting such a site.
A "web 2.0" site such as this blog is not associated with a university, but neither is it "authoritative" in the sense that it assures expert advice to the reader. However, this argument reflects similar arguments made about Wikipedia, and other collaborative community sites where there is sufficient traffic and readership that errors of fact are often corrected in a matter of seconds. This site offers some assurances about its postings since only authorized people may post on this site. Anyone may read its content and post comments, but the original thinking about this blog was that it would be for presenters from the workshops to interact with participants. Participants might post comments, but the presenters would be responsible for content on this blog. They might respond to comments, or post content sent by participants to them, but the blog would maintain its integrity by limiting the people who could post original content.

Another suggestion was to work with the Michigan Department of Education's Center for Educational Networking (CEN), writing articles or posting items on their site. This may be an area to explore as a place to contribute articles on an occasional basis.

Based on information shared at the June 2008 meeting of the Special Education Advisory Committee, the team was referred to the Michigan Integrated Improvement Initiative (MI3) headed by Beth Steenwyk, former deputy director of Michigan's Office of Special Education-Early Intervention Services. An article about the MI3 appears in Leading Change, Volume 6, Issue 2, page 6 at the CEN website.


The MI3 is briefly described in a National Implementation Research Network (NIRN) newsletter online. Michigan is one of six states to receive grant funding for a five year rollout of coordinated efforts to bring research-supported practices into schools with fidelity, to embed continuous evaluation to ensure that the practices are effective, and to provide ongoing professional support through coaching and through learning communities. The latest revision of Michigan's IDEA State Performance Plan, Part B (dated 2/1/09) references the MI3 and the NIRN as resources to support improved outcomes for students with disabilities. Given the IDEA Mandated Activities Projects (MAPs) that are encompassed by the MI3, the outcomes for all students are expected to be improved.

Mandated Activities Projects (MAPS) Descriptions and Links:

• Center for Educational Networking (CEN)
• Citizen’s Alliance to Uphold Special Education (CAUSE)
• Continuous Improvement and Monitoring System (CIMS-2)
• Michigan Alliance for Families (MAF)
• Michigan Department of Education Low Incidence Outreach (MDE-LIO)
• Michigan Special Education Mediation Program (MSEMP)
• Michigan Transition Outcomes Project (MI-TOP)
• Michigan’s Integrated Behavior and Learning Support Initiative (MiBLSi)
• Michigan’s Integrated Technology Supports (MITS)
• Michigan Mathematics Program Improvement (MMPI)
• Project Find Michigan
• Reaching and Teaching Struggling Learners Initiative (a secondary school initiative)
• Statewide Autism Resources and Training (START)

It may be worthwhile to consider linking our work into the work of some of these initiatives, and either offering support through them, or getting support from them. I look forward to reading your comments on this blog.