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5 Strategies to Build Your and Students’ Resilience

Stress and unpredictability are not foreign concepts for most educators and other school personnel ― far from it. But the kind of stress the K-12 education community faces now, during the COVID-19 pandemic, differs in many ways from the norm. As stated in a recent EdWeek article, the scramble to provide remote student support has caused many educators to feel exhausted and uncertain. Meanwhile, on the other side of the virtual classroom, students and their families are feeling much the same way.

So, how can those working on the front lines of education help students, families, and each other navigate this uncertain and unprecedented time? We asked Dr. Kenya Coleman, LICSW, LCSW-C, Senior Director of School Mental Health at District of Columbia Public Schools, for guidance on how to build resilience. Here is what she shared.

We are resilient. Most of us have endured several significant challenges and have overcome them. For example, two decades ago the world looked on in horror as the events of the Columbine Massacre unfolded. We had never before witnessed a mass shooting inside of a school, and the unfamiliarity initially led most to feel overwhelmed. The Washington Post estimates that the United States now averages 11 incidents of mass gun violence at K through 12 schools each year. Are we no longer concerned? No! These incidents continue to be disheartening, but we now have policies and procedures in place that detail how to respond effectively, and they help us to feel more secure.

We’re currently “alone together” as we respond to a pandemic as an international community. This, too, is a new experience that has given us pause. Nevertheless, we adapt with each passing day. We continue to engage in as many normal day-to-day activities as possible, and our efforts help us gain a sense of control during what could easily be described as a traumatic experience. Our resilience is demonstrated when we participate in our standard routines in the aftermath of a situation that is out of our control. Our rigidity is revolutionary in the face of chaos. Strictly adhering to our daily schedule plays a pivotal role in our ability to obtain a sense of normalcy and allows us to return to our baseline functioning.

Adhering to a schedule is not the only strategy available to us though. Here are five additional strategies you and your students can use to cope with anxiety and other challenges during uncertain times:

1. Move

Physical activity in almost any form can act as a stress reliever. Walking up the stairs, using resistance bands, doing pushups or squats, taking virtual yoga or HIIT classes, stretching, et cetera will boost your endorphins, your body’s feel-good neurotransmitters, and help improve your mood.

2. Create healthy distraction

Laughter is a good thing! Search social media sites to find memes and videos that make you chuckle as you enjoy the spontaneity of others. You may also want to consider attending a virtual concert, participating in video chats with family and friends, and/or preparing a new recipe. Whatever healthy distraction you chose, try to make sure it adds value to your day.

3. Be mindful

“Mindfulness” is the ability to pay careful attention to what you’re thinking, feeling, and sensing without judging those thoughts and feelings as good or bad. Countless studies link mindfulness to better health, lower anxiety, and greater resilience to stress. Mindful breathing in particular is helpful because it gives you an anchor — your breath — on which you can focus when you find yourself carried away by a stressful thought. Mindful breathing can build your resilience to sudden and expected change.

“When we are faced with a crisis, we learn to appreciate the small things that we may have taken for granted before we experienced a crisis.”

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4. Manage your environment

Incorporate wellness into your environment. Place an image, picture, or other memento in your room or on your desk that creates the thoughts or energy that you know you will need. For example, a succulent next to your computer could remind you to give life to yourself. Environments that mimic nature have a big effect on minimizing stress and improving overall health. Even viewing representations of nature helps reduce stress. I’ve read that some hospitals often put fake skylights above beds to create calming environments. Use what you have to create the same effect in your space, or just look out of the window and take in the natural landscape.

5. Journal

Journaling can be a fun way of engaging in self-care while tapping into your creativity, and it has many benefits. For example, research suggests that journaling stimulates an area of the brain called the reticular activating system (RAS), which filters and brings clearly to the forefront the information you are focusing on. Journaling also strengthens T-lymphocytes, is associated with reduction in depression and anxiety, and increases positive mood, social engagement, and the quality of close relationships. It provides you with some health benefits such as reducing heart rate, increasing serotonin flow, and decreasing stress responses. Most important, journaling is free of judgment. You should not edit your words, poems, or pictures. Instead, use them as a reminder that it’s OK to make “mistakes.”

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All of these strategies foster a sense of gratitude. We absolutely do not celebrate our circumstance. We’d much rather live in a predictable world. But when we are faced with a crisis, we learn to appreciate the small things that we may have taken for granted before we experienced a crisis. Our long walks may include a family member with whom we may have spent very little time in the past, giving us an opportunity to reconnect and rekindle stale relationships. Attending a virtual concert gives us a chance to dance, laugh, and be silly when we’d previously been bogged down with work and feeling very serious as a result. Ultimately, our newfound appreciation of what we already have is what I would call the quintessential cherry on top. It reminds us that all is not lost.

I have no desire to downplay the seriousness or the severity of the difficulty we are currently facing or the difficulties we have faced in the past. The health and welfare of many people have been compromised, and the situation is scary given its unpredictability. My goal is to remind you that you have the capacity to cope with crises. You have the psychological resources you need to keep moving forward despite the myriad of feelings that are undoubtedly surging through your body at this very moment. Trust yourself and do what comes naturally. Utilize the strategies that have helped you effectively overcome difficulty in the past. YOU and your students are resilient!

This Is What’s at Stake in Gifted & Talented Programs

“Special student populations” usually conjures images of students in special education, English learners, or those who need extra classroom support for various reasons.

One special population that is often overlooked? Gifted students.

Schools rightly spend substantial time and resources ensuring that those students with learning disabilities or who face other challenges receive the support they need to thrive. But, argues Kim Stewart, an Instructional Support Teacher for Gifted/Talented at Northside Independent School District in San Antonio, gifted students also need specialized instruction to grow to their fullest potential.

Kim joined us for a conversation in April to talk about Gifted and Talented programs, the opportunities and challenges facing such programs, and why these programs are so important not just to gifted students, but for entire schools.

Kim also invited Stephen McNierney, a GT (gifted/talented) student she taught in elementary school who’s now a sophomore Aerospace Engineering major at the University of Maryland, College Park. Stephen is currently taking part in a co-op with NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Note: This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Kim, could you first give us an overview: what are gifted programs all about? Who are you trying to reach?

Kim Stewart: There are lots of definitions, but typically we’re looking at students who display high capability in one or more areas. Some of those areas might include intellectual, creativity, artistic, even leadership. They could be exceptionally advanced in a specific academic area like math or science. But you’re comparing this in relationship to same-age peers with similar experience and background, which is critical in identifying gifted students.

Oftentimes the term ‘asynchronous development’ is used when describing giftedness, and that just generally means a child’s development is somewhat out of sync with itself. In other words, one or more areas are typically more advanced than others.

Let’s look at a history for a minute. When did gifted programs start to gain traction, and how have they evolved over time?

Kim Stewart: I honestly believe now is the best time to ever have been identified as gifted. Giftedness as a special diagnosis, if you will, emerged back in the mid-70’s.

A lot of districts will identify [gifted] students but not necessarily serve them in a particular way. It’s handled in a regular classroom, where the teachers are expected to differentiate for these highly advanced learners.

The problem with that is, when you have a general classroom with lots of different abilities, especially if you have both ends of the spectrum, teacher attention is going to need to be focused. It’s natural to get those kids who are below grade level up to speed, and that often leaves our advanced learners in situations where they’re utilized as peer tutors or asked to “Just go read a book at your desk.”

While there’s nothing wrong with reading books, our priority is to make sure all kids grow to their maximum potential. When we don’t address the needs of our advanced learners, that doesn’t always happen.

Stephen McNierney: It’s a double-edged sword, because being able to teach other people is a sign that you have a really firm understanding of that material in the first place. It was beneficial for me because I learned how to absorb knowledge at one end and then present it at the other.

But by the same token, that meant that I was not able to engage in new content. If that becomes the norm, then there’s a a real possibility to lose interest or to disengage from the learning environment because I’m not being challenged or stimulated.

So that’s where Ms. Stewart and my GT program came in. I needed that extra challenge.

Northside ISD is a large district. What other challenges does a district the size of yours have in offering a gifted program?

Kim Stewart: One of our hurdles is not just a local trend, but something we’ve seen nationally, and that is the underrepresentation of certain populations, such as economically disadvantaged, special education, and African American students. They are under-identified in our gifted programs. So I’m really proud of some of the initiatives that we have been taking.

First of all, we have been using local norms for as long as I can remember in efforts to combat this. We give a CogAT test to all third graders. We can take each campus and look at their top 5-10%. It’s critical that we look at the abilities of students in relation to their same-age peers with similar experience and background. Our district is extremely diverse, our campuses don’t all look the same, so when we look at a campus local norm, we’re able to identify students for a gifted program per campus as opposed to per district.

Once students are identified as part of the Gifted program, how do you support them? Is it solely by pulling them out of the regular classroom for special instruction?

Kim Stewart: One of the hurdles in gifted education in general is trying to meet the needs of gifted students in their regular classrooms. In elementary we do have a pull-out program — we have designed a very deep and rich curriculum that’s rooted in critical and creative thinking. Students are taught from a young age how to think through a lens using Depth and Complexity, which is a framework of thinking tools that pushes students to really extend their thinking to master content.

But a pull-out program only happens once a week. So we implemented a program that we call Mac-GT: Math and Clustering with GT students. It’s one way we aim to meet the needs of our gifted students all day, every day, and not just once a week during their pull-out GT class. GT students are clustered with high-ability math students who may not be identified for GT, but math is kind of their strength, and they’re clustered together in their general education classroom.

There are also students of average ability in that classroom. But the goal is not to have students who have true learning deficits — those students who need a great deal of teacher attention in which to grow — because then the teacher will have to spend her time bringing those kiddos up to speed.

For those teachers who have a Mac-GT group, they receive a series of professional development trainings that show them how to work with kids that can move faster, that can understand things at a deeper level than those at average grade level.

What effect does that have for the rest of the students, those who aren’t in the GT program or in the Mac-GT classroom?

Kim Stewart: We’re really proud of the results that we’ve seen so far — not just for the kids in our Mac-GT classes, but we’re actually getting to see what research had told us would happen: the kiddos who are not in the Mac-GT classroom, they have new leaders arising. Those kids who may have been overshadowed by the GT kids… oftentimes, for better or worse, they sit in the background and let those GT kids answer. The same kids like to raise their hands over and over.

It’s a natural instinct for teachers to choose the kids who are raising their hands, and that gives permission to the other kids. They know, “Hey, somebody else has me covered.” But when we pulled those Mac-GT kids out, those other classrooms began seeing new leaders arise. That’s good news.

Stephen McNierney: She’s right. When I was 10 or 12, I didn’t have the social skills to understand that I was running other people out of the conversation. But I can look back now and say, “Oh yeah, I answered way more questions than I should have.” To some extent, that could have been a barrier to other people wanting to get involved. Now I go to college and I’m not the smartest person in the room. I can see that those people step up and want to be the ones to answer the questions, and everybody else takes a back seat.

Kim Stewart: I think a lot of districts do what we did for many years, which is kind of farm out your GT kids so that all teachers have one or two or however many it is. I think that’s lonely for our GT kids when they don’t have peers to collaborate with.

Peers who are more like them academically?

Kim Stewart: We call those “like-minded peers,” other peers that they can really talk to. Otherwise, you’re the only one in a class. Again, you’re often used as a peer tutor, or you’re reading a book in a corner while the teacher’s working with the kiddos to bring them up to speed. And so this is an opportunity for kids to have a little group to collaborate with.

I won’t say there aren’t struggles — We have a lot of dominant personalities in one class. That presents other issues. But ultimately, we feel like kids are benefiting from being together and getting to work with kids that are more in sync with them in how they think.

Stephen McNierney:  If you’re sitting around in a classroom with no real motivation to push yourself, there’s only so far you’re going to go. If now you’ve got 10 of these GT students all together, you’re going to have them pushing each other, ideally in a friendly and competitive way, and it’s going to raise the overall performance of each of those students.

Do GT students face added pressures — either from their families or from schools or from themselves — that other students don’t?

Kim Stewart: One of the big pressures that we see among your stereotypical gifted students, if there is such a thing, is perfectionism. So many of our gifted students impose pressure upon themselves. Anything less than a hundred percent is not good enough.

However, that doesn’t always come from the students themselves. We, as teachers, sometimes impose pressure without intending to. Just because a student has the label of ‘gifted,’ we expect them to be gifted in everything — and that is absolutely not the case and we can’t expect that from them.

Also, parents. And I’m not advocating that we should not have high expectations for our very capable kids. I tend to have very high expectations for my own children, my own students. Steven can attest to that, I’m sure. But we need to be cautious about imposing unrealistic expectations.

Kids suffer from anxiety. Anxiety is very common among perfectionists, but there are lots of different types of giftedness. Stereotypically [gifted] kids often have what we call ‘multipotentiality.’ And that describes the student who is good at many, many things, and they enjoy many things, so they often try to do it all.

We don’t recognize this as a problem, necessarily, kind of like feeling sorry for the rich —nobody really has a lot of empathy for that — but it does cause stress and anxiety, because students are forced to make choices in how they spend their time. It’s very difficult for some of our kids to make those decisions, because they know that they’re giving up something in lieu of something else.

Do either of you have anything else you’d like to tell someone who might be trying to improve the GT program at their school or district?

Kim Stewart: I think an all-too-common misconception is that these kids will be okay with minimal intervention, without some direct intervention for them. When that philosophy is enacted, students do not learn at the rate at which they’re really able. But it’s more than that — sometimes we lose them. Today we’re talking to Stephen who is a self-motivated kid, but they’re not all like that. And sometimes they get lost in the system. Sometimes they give up on school, and sometimes they give up on more than school.

What I would hope people listening would take away is to recognize gifted students as a special population who need direct intervention in order to maximize their full learning potential. I truly believe that we have students sitting in our classrooms right now who can find ways to improve cybersecurity and solve real world problems like how we’re going to feed the masses as our population continues to grow, and even cure and prevent diseases so that we may never again see a pandemic of this proportion, right?

But they’re not going to do that alone. As educators, we absolutely need to meet the needs of our struggling students, but that cannot be at the expense of our more advanced students who are ready for more.

Stephen McNierney: This is a letter that I wrote a year and a half ago to my state representative when there was a house bill being debated that would have eliminated mandatory funding for GT programs. So districts could have chosen to fund the GT programs if they wanted to, but no longer would have been mandated to do so. Something I wrote was:

Contrary to popular belief, GT students don’t just ‘get by’ in regular classrooms. Instead, these students are often at risk of being left behind by an educational system that fails to push them to achieve their full potential.

If we leave these GT students to themselves and expect them to be peer mentors or to just read books, that’s our greatest source of untapped potential.

RTI/MTSS & COVID-19: 3 Steps to Regain Control

This post is for you if you have wondered:
  • How can we tell which learners are most affected academically by the school shutdowns?
  • What will the academic impact be? How can we even start to measure it?
  • Can we still successfully implement RTI/MTSS programs during distance learning? How?
  • What can we do NOW to lay the groundwork for RTI/MTSS needs when school reconvenes?
  • How can we triage RTI/MTSS services fairly and equitably when buildings reopen?

In mid-March 2020, schools across the nation closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This sudden and massive interruption of instruction is unprecedented and represents a cataclysm with no playbook on how schools should respond. And there is the further possibility that — even after schools reconvene — future instructional lockdowns may be ordered due to flareups of the virus.

Most schools are regularly delivering some form of online instruction during the current COVID-19 lockdown. However, schools are reporting that numerous students — perhaps as many as half in some low-income school districts — are not participating in online learning1. The medium- and long-term consequences are likely to be dire for this large group of “digitally absent” students. Not only are they failing to receive new instruction, but they are also missing opportunities to review and reinforce previously taught skills and academic content. As a result, when schools return to session, this substantial group of students is predicted to have large learning gaps that must be identified and remediated.

Students who received RTI/MTSS academic support prior to school closure are at even greater risk for academic regression. These learners typically show deficits in such basic academic skills as math-fact fluency or reading comprehension, reducing their ability to work independently. To compound the problem, these RTI/MTSS students also often lack strong self-management skills — such as the ability to schedule their time, organize their workspace, study — that are necessary components of home instruction. RTI/MTSS students may also face additional risk factors, such as parents who struggle to adequately supervise and coach their learning or having little or no access to home Internet service.

It is understandable that RTI/MTSS Teams might feel helpless when faced with the colossal impact of the COVID-19 interruption to schooling and uncertainty about its duration. In fact, however, there are three important tasks that your RTI/MTSS Team can take on immediately to assert control even as this crisis continues to unfold: The Team can:

  • While schools are closed, coordinate problem-solving conversations with parents of at-risk home-bound students
  • When schools reopen, lay plans to rapidly screen students for academic risk
  • When schools reconvene, triage future intervention services to ensure that the widest range of eligible students are matched to RTI/MTSS academic support

Taking these three steps can help you minimize disruption for your students and regain control of your RTI/MTSS efforts. Keep reading for an outline and examples of each step.

1. Schools Closed: Create RTI/MTSS Home-Based Intervention Plans

The current education lockdown can seem bewildering to school staff because the learning environment has been relocated to the home — and therefore lies outside of teachers’ direct control. One complication is that the parent(s) or guardians may need direction and guidance to take on an unfamiliar educational role as onsite supervisor of their child’s learning. Another is that the home setting offers many distractions that can interfere with learning.

Despite such hurdles, RTI/MTSS Teams should remember that the essential elements of instruction are still in place in home-based distance learning: teachers deliver instruction, assign academic work, and provide performance feedback/grades to evaluate student work. It follows that, even via online instruction, teachers should be able to identify which of their students fail to engage in, or are doing poorly in, schoolwork and would benefit from an RTI/MTSS intervention. With only minor modifications, then, the RTI/MTSS Team should be able to adapt its familiar school-based process of teacher referral and intervention planning to home-based instruction.

It should be acknowledged, though, that most schools cannot offer intensive-intervention services such as Tier 2 reading groups during the lockdown period. Instead, intervention attempts centering on home learning will be modest in scope — equivalent to Tier 1/classroom support. Still, such interventions are worth attempting and documenting as they may help to salvage at least some learning for the student. The steps below sketch out a general process that the RTI/MTSS team can follow to find learners struggling with home-centered instruction and provide and document RTI/MTSS support plans.

  • Survey teachers. The RTI/MTSS Team contacts all teachers and requests that instructors send them names of any students who are substantially underperforming or failing to participate in online instruction.
  • Schedule parent problem-solving conferences. The classroom teacher or other school representative (e.g., school counselor, school psychologist, reading or math interventionist) schedules a phone call or video conference with parent(s) of at-risk students. During this call, parent(s) and school personnel identify what blocker(s) appear to prevent student success and develop a brief written intervention plan to address these blockers. (For a teacher protocol with guidelines for conducting a parent conference by phone, access the handout RTI/MTSS in the time of COVID-19: Writing a Home-Based Academic Support Plan.)
  • Archive RTI/MTSS plans. The school saves and archives these home-based RTI/MTSS plans as part of the overall intervention record of at-risk students.

When students return to school, the race will be on to speedily match those requiring RTI/MTSS support to the appropriate level of intervention services.

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2. Schools Reopen: Strengthen Academic Screening and Diagnostic Capacity

The reality haunting district and school leaders and their teams during the closure period is that instruction has been interrupted for months for an unknown but potentially large number of students. While there is no recent parallel in America for the current pandemic lockdown, one way that you and your teams can better understand its likely academic impact is by looking at the pattern and magnitude of “typical” student academic regression during summer recess (the so-called summer slide).

Research indicates that when schooling is interrupted for summer vacation, the majority of students exhibit at least some academic loss, math shows a greater decline than reading, and there is a greater proportional impact on learning in the upper grades2. So, the probability is high that the COVID-19 “school closure slide” will result in a similar pattern across students but with greater losses in learning corresponding to the longer period of school interruption.

When schools reconvene, this group of delayed learners will need timely remediation to “catch up” on missed instruction. The question of exactly how schools will provide such large-scale remediation lies beyond the scope of the RTI/MTSS Team, as this decision is complex and will require input from important stakeholding groups such as school boards, teachers’ unions, and state education departments.

However, when schools are back in session, the RTI/MTSS Team can play a vital role in measuring the scope and magnitude of academic delays in the student population. Applying its existing skills in school-wide screening, the team has the tools to rapidly tabulate the number of learners at each grade level with substantial instructional gaps and highlight the specific “lost” curriculum content from the closure period that teachers will need to reteach to the entire class or grade.

While school-wide academic screeners can give general information about student skill gaps, instructors may wish to supplement screeners with their own teacher-made assessments that evaluate targeted skills and content originally taught during the lockdown period.

Example:

If schools reopen in the fall of 2020, a 4th-grade math teacher may administer a test within the first week to survey students’ mastery of important grade 3 math skills and concepts first covered during the spring school closure.

The combination of RTI/MTSS screening data and teachers’ supplemental assessments should supply sufficient information to reveal how much time instructors will need to set aside to review past learning and the specific curriculum content to revisit.

There will be considerable pressure to conduct these assessments as quickly as possible when schools reconvene, to make up for lost instructional time. For this reason, schools should lay the groundwork for these screenings now, during the closure period.

Example:

The RTI/MTSS Team should consider reviewing its schoolwide academic screener(s) (e.g., Measures of Academic Progress/NWEA; STAR Reading or Math, etc.) and familiarize itself with any reports generated by the screener(s) that summarize group academic performance. These group reports analyzing shared skill deficits will be extremely helpful in gauging the pattern of “school closure slide” experienced by each grade level.

Similarly, teachers can use the lockdown period to review the academic curriculum currently being as delivered in home instruction and develop classroom assessments that will allow them to rapidly assess degree of student mastery as soon as classes reconvene.

3. Schools Reopen: Create a Plan to Triage RTI/MTSS Services

When students return to school, the race will be on to speedily match those requiring RTI/MTSS academic support to the appropriate level of intervention services. In an average school, about 10 to 15 percent of students may typically qualify for Tier 2/3 services at any one time3. However, if substantial numbers of learners have regressed in academic skills because of their “digital absence” during the closure period, you may find that the pool of eligible RTI/MTSS students has swelled to a level that potentially could overwhelm that building’s capacity to provide those services.

While the lockdown phase continues, the RTI/MTSS Team will probably find it impossible to estimate with any accuracy how many students might qualify for RTI/MTSS Tier 2/3 support when schools eventually reopen. Still, schools recording high numbers of non-participating learners during closure are likely to experience a spike in Tier 2/3-eligible students down the road. But even without clear projections of at-risk students, the RTI/MTSS Team should develop contingency plans in case they encounter an unexpected demand on intensive-intervention services in the near future.

One idea for schools overwhelmed with potential Tier 2/3 referrals might be to place on a “Tier 1 watchlist” those students falling in the mild to moderate risk level (e.g., 15-25th percentile) on a building-wide RTI/MTSS screener. As an RTI/MTSS service, these students would receive Tier 1/classroom instructional review of curriculum originally covered during the closure period. Those watchlist students flagged again with mild to moderate risk on the next school-wide academic screening would then be placed in Tier 2/3 services.

Another expedient to manage a possible surge of Tier 2/3 students may be to identify a cadre of non-instructional personnel within the school community (e.g., paraprofessionals; adult/parent volunteers; cross-age peer tutors; etc.). These personnel could be supervised by intervention teachers and would assist in delivering intervention instruction4.

Example:

In one urban elementary school, 5th-grade students trained and overseen by adults successfully provided intervention support to 2nd-grade children to promote reading fluency.5

Key Takeaway: The RTI/MTSS Team Replaces “Chaos with Order”

During the current COVID-19 educational closure, schools might feel that they are in free-fall with little sense of how to reconnect with disengaged home-bound students, assess the magnitude of lost instruction across the school, or triage RTI/MTSS services fairly and equitably when buildings reopen. And we should be under no illusions: the negative effects of the pandemic will probably reverberate through our school systems for years to come.

During this difficult time, however, the RTI/MTSS Team can follow the recommendations shared here to replace COVID-19 chaos with order, assisting their schools with the continuing mission to deliver timely academic support to their most vulnerable learners.

Whether remote or in-district, collecting high-quality, actionable RTI/MTSS data is critical for assisting struggling learners. Frontline can make RTI/MTSS data collection easier for you and your team. Learn how

1 Goldstein, D., Popescu, A., and Hannah-Jones, N. (2020, April 6). As school moves online, many students stay logged out. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

2 Kuhfeld, M., & Tarasawa, B. (2020). The COVID-19 slide: What summer learning loss can tell us about the potential impact of school closures on student academic achievement. NWEA. Retrieved from https://www.nwea.org/

3 Wright, J. (2007). The RTI toolkit: A practical guide for schools. Port Chester, NY: National Professional Resources, Inc.

4 Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. A. (2008). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary schools. New York: Routledge.

5 Wright, J., & Cleary, K. S. (2006). Kids in the tutor seat: Building schools’ capacity to help struggling readers through a cross-age peer-tutoring program. Psychology in the Schools, 43(1), 99-107.

What the Data Says: K-12 Hiring During COVID-19

Eight weeks. That’s how long it’s been since the President declared a National Emergency on March 13, calling for measures to fight COVID-19. The following days brought restrictions and stay-at-home orders in nearly every state.

You’ve seen the bad (overwhelmed ERs, stratospheric unemployment) and the good (schools providing lunches, cheers for medical workers). You’ve probably become accustomed to wearing a mask. You’ve made tough decisions about schooling — and more tough decisions lie ahead. At a time when the teacher shortage already makes it difficult for many districts to fill open positions, some fear that this year could be even worse if large numbers of experienced teachers decide to exit the field once schools reopen in the fall.

The stakes are high, and it’s never been more important to make data-driven decisions about hiring for your schools. So today, we’re looking at data from the Frontline Research & Learning Institute to see what can be learned about how this crisis is impacting districts and job-seekers in K-12.

In the charts below, “Week 11” refers to the 11th week of 2020: Sunday, March 8 through Saturday, March 14. This appears to be the last week of relatively normal applicant data — not surprising, as it corresponds with the Declaration of National Emergency. Depending on where you live, schools and businesses also began sending people home around this time.

Above, we can see that up through Week 11, the number of 2020 job applicants in Frontline Recruiting & Hiring and K12JobSpot tracks closely with prior years. Beginning in Week 12, the number drops noticeably. Did job seekers simply stop applying for jobs at that time?

Looking at the average number of applicants per district, the same trends appear: job seekers applied in similar numbers to 2018 and 2019 through Week 11, and there is a sharp dip in Week 12 — the very week that in prior years saw a notable increase.

Again, this was around the time schools and businesses closed and states began issuing stay-at-home orders. Were applicants reluctant to go out in public to interview? Did districts decide to limit the number of applicants? Did applicant pools simply dry up?

At least part of the answer seems to be that beginning in Week 12, districts as a whole posted fewer jobs than they did in prior years.

That’s a noticeable shift from 2018 and 2019, and the line correlates with how many districts posted jobs — a number that also declined in Week 12 and remains lower than the previous two years.

However — and this is where it gets interesting — it appears that not all districts are responding to the crisis in the same way. Districts as a whole posted fewer jobs, and fewer districts posted jobs, but those districts who were hiring were doing so at similar rates to the past two years:

We can see even more noteworthy data when we look at the number of jobs filled.

Although there was a slight dip in Week 12, the trend bounced back and is now at similar levels to previous school years. Fewer districts were posting jobs, fewer jobs were posted, but roughly the same number of jobs were filled compared to 2018 and 2019.

And (drumroll, please) take a look at the average number of days it takes to fill jobs posted:

2020 appears to be an anomaly, and since the beginning of the year the average days to fill have been lower than previous years, so it’s unlikely COVID-19 is responsible for that trend. However, it’s interesting that in Week 11 the average time to fill drops even faster than before.

How job applicants are faring during the COVID-19 shutdown

Applicants to jobs at school districts have noticed the change as well. An overwhelming majority of respondents to a survey on K12JobSpot (data collected between April 6 and April 21) said that COVID-19 has impacted their job search.

Has your job search been affected by COVID-19?

The “why” is especially compelling. When asked “How has our job search been affected by COVID-19?” more than half of respondents said that districts have delayed or frozen hiring. Others noted challenges presented by physical distance, uncertainty, loss of a job or job opportunity, or said that they are looking for remote work.

How has your job been affected by COVID-19?

How has hiring gone for you?

What have you noticed about hiring in your school system since states began shutting down? Take our instant poll and let us know your experience.

Remote Security Threats Are Real: 4 Steps to Keep Your District Safe

With COVID-19 sweeping the globe, many school districts around the country find themselves in the midst of an unprecedented shift from the routine of a normal spring on campus to a largely remote work and distance learning experience. This crisis has revealed remarkable strength: teachers, administrators, and other essential school personnel are showing creativity and tenacity as they continue serving students remotely, while students, parents, grandparents, and guardians rise to the occasion from home. And behind the scenes are tireless district technology teams that make it all possible.

Even under normal circumstances, school districts face an increasing risk of data breaches; EdWeek reports that the number of K-12 cyber attacks more than doubled from 2018 to 2019. And as the far-reaching ripple effects of the current pandemic become clear, many districts will find that this crisis only exacerbates those vulnerabilities. According to Doug Levin of the K-12 Cybersecurity Resource Center, devices and networks that are not secured are at the center of increased security threats. With staff, teachers, and students working remotely, the risk increases.

Another source of increased risk: regular cybersecurity policies are easily overlooked in the midst of changed routines. And with near-constant news alerts related to the crisis, users are more likely to trust a phishing email that promises timely information, or requires immediate attention or action and demands urgency. All of these factors lead to greater risk for cyber criminals to capitalize on uncertainty and lack of ordinary structure.

But there’s good news, too!

Many of the best cybersecurity measures are simple and possibly already in place. And taking the time to address cybersecurity now means that, on the other side of this pandemic, your district can return to a normalcy that is more secure and more flexible than ever before ― an opportunity worth seizing! Here are a few best practices to keep your district “cybersafe.”

1. Train Students and Staff

According to Amy McLaughlin, cybersecurity director for the Consortium for School Networking, the first thing a district should do to ensure cybersafety (a term she recommends over “cybersecurity,” which may sound too techy to some users) is train staff to be on the lookout for potential problems. School districts have an opportunity to use the present moment to make this a regular part of their staff’s functioning. As you establish protocols for remote work, include regular reminders — what McLaughlin calls “an ongoing marketing campaign” — for staff and students alike to report every possible phishing scam or suspicious activity.

And make it easy for staff and students to report anything suspicious. Enabling a one-click reporting mechanism can help encourage reporting. If the one-click functionality also includes an automated message that appears after someone clicks, that is an opportunity for you to use that message to remind staff and students how their actions are helping your district stay safe. Positive reinforcement will go a long way in encouraging the reporting of suspicious emails and websites.

Consider testing staff and students by using phishing simulations and sharing out the results to further raise awareness. For example, if 25% of users failed a simulation, that lets your community know to strive for even greater vigilance.

See: Cyberattacks Force Schools to Bolster Online Security

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Cyber Attack at Springland City Schools: Walk a day in the shoes of an IT director working to make sure his district is ready for whatever comes its way.

2. Maximize Security

Ensure that, whatever programs your district is using, your users are making the most of the security features that are already available to them. EdWeek tells the story of one district that ― only after a significant data breach ― moved to a cloud-based email system with two-factor authentication to avoid further compromise. Proactively check to be sure that you are requiring the most secure options, such as two-factor authentication, and make cybersecurity best practices part of your district’s routine. Educate staff on these practices so that they understand why they are required to regularly change passwords, and make district-wide security practices a priority before an attack makes it a priority for you.

See: Cyberattacks Force Schools to Bolster Online Security

3. Maintain Backups

Regular backups should be a part of every district’s protocol, now more than ever. And backups should be encrypted and segregated and secured at a site that is easily accessible (for example, a vendor that can ensure security and availability of the backup files). Having takes or files secured by a trusted vendor helps keep them separate from the rest of the network. So, in the event of an attack, backups won’t be affected.

In the wake of a ransomware attack, compromised backups limit your district’s ability to recover. Jason Dial, a superintendent whose district experienced an attack, says it’s wise to be ready: “If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it’s going to happen.” Being prepared for a quick return to normal makes the difference between an inconvenience and a disaster.

See: Cyberattacks Force Schools to Bolster Online Security

4. Beware of the Seemingly Simple

A data breach often comes down to just one person clicking on just one suspicious link or attachment. McLaughlin notes that one of the greatest dangers to school cybersafety is a classic phishing attack, often an email that requests information or money under the pretense of an emergency. She’s backed up by Paul Lipman, of BullGuard cybersecurity, who says, “We’re seeing a rise in phishing attacks as a result of the rapid move to remote working for a large number of people.” Remind remote workers and learners to approach their emails with healthy skepticism. When in doubt, report!

See:

Coronavirus Compounds K-12 Cybersecurity

How to Protect Your Organization from Security Threats amid the Rise in Telecommuters

We’re being reminded regularly that the simplest measures can be the most effective: wash your hands well, cover your mouth when you cough, and wash your hands again. The same principle goes far for districts feeling overwhelmed by the need to keep sensitive data safe in an unprecedented, remote situation. Simple measures can be very effective, and their usefulness will remain long after the crisis has passed.

Learn about digital security safeguards built into Frontline Education solutions, and our commitment to helping you keep your district’s data secure. See how we can help

3 Summer Tips to Ease Substitute Teacher Management

At the end of each school year, — and what’s best to tackle with fresh eyes in August make sure to your substitute management program

Review the Past School Year

Take a moment to look back and use harness insights from the past year to reflect, plan and make next year even more successful. Explore your employee absence data and ask the following questions:

  • How often were teachers out of the classroom, and for what reasons?
  • How does your school district’s data compare to national norms?
  • Which employees had perfect attendance? How can you acknowledge and thank these staff members for their commitment?
  • What can you do to promote fewer of these absences next year?

Don’t forget to look at the other side of the employee absence coin, too — your substitute pool. Which substitutes hardly accepted any jobs this year, despite being called? Should any substitutes be removed from your list? Have this data in mind for the next step: preparing your substitute program for the upcoming year.

Prepare Your Substitute Teacher Pool

With insights from your absence management software in hand, prepare your substitutes for next year. 

First, communicate with your substitutes. Start by sending letters of reasonable assurance and other necessary documents to discuss the upcoming year, if these haven’t already been distributed.

Then, look for ways to cultivate a healthy substitute pool. With substitute shortages plaguing schools from California to Connecticut, it’s more important than ever to have engaged, active substitutes ready to work in your district. So, if your list of substitutes is sparser than you’d like, focus on recruiting and, just as importantly, retention.

Wrap up the school year on a positive note by getting in touch with those substitutes who worked a lot over the past year and received glowing feedback from your full-time staff.

And don’t forget to reach out to substitutes who haven’t been taking jobs — maybe you can find ways to encourage them to work more next year. For example, offering training on how they can be more effective in the classroom can help prevent substitutes from feeling overwhelmed or under-confident. These trainings don’t have to get in the way of your summer plans, either — high-quality online training courses are available so substitutes can learn on their own time.

Get Your Systems Ready for Summer

Technology should make your work easier. Set up your district’s systems now, so you don’t have to worry about making changes throughout the summer. For example, in Frontline Absence & Time, you may want to do the following:

  • Adjust your system to reflect 4-day workweeks and allow your employees to create absences for modified work schedules.
  • Add a summer school location and set it up with the necessary staff
  • Roll over your employees’ absence reason balances
  • Inactivate substitutes (or those not involved in summer school)
  • Set an end date (and “Return to Previous Assignment” date, if needed) for users who don’t work a full year

The more you can automate your work with solutions like ours, the more time you can reclaim for yourself — meaning you can head out for those long weekends knowing that everything that needed to be handled right away has been put into motion.

Effective Dating & Conditional Workflows in Position Management

Behind the scenes at any school district, there are playmakers at work — including business officials who keep the gears moving with systems and processes. While tried and true methods get the job done, innovations save time and foster higher-level strategy for HR, Finance, and Payroll teams. 

Those professionals focus on Human Capital Management (HCM) — an HR practice of creating an environment that supports people and optimizes their output based on their knowledge, skills, assets, preferences, and needs. Within that practice is position management, which allows roles to be separated from people.

The Four Stages of a Position Management Plan

Without position management, vacancies can be a surprise and often go unfilled until it becomes an emergency. HR and Finance often find themselves at odds between yesterday’s hiring needs and today’s budget constraints.

With a plan, the group can become strategists, advisors, and high-level playmakers. A quality plan serves as a bird’s eye view into the personnel landscape at your district and supports proactive, intentional work. A good position management plan includes:

  1. Organizational mapping
  2. Designating information at the position level
  3. Planning and forecasting with effective dating
  4. Using conditional workflows for approvals, vacancies, and requests

Organizational Mapping

This means to dive into data to figure out:

  • How many employees work in the district, and where they work
  • Which employees plan to vacate their role temporarily or permanently (planned leave, retirement, etc.)
  • Where those vacancies are and where the budget can support the roles
  • What the recruiting effort will look like to maintain quality staff in the district

It allows you to look ahead to plan, prepare, and execute to keep your staff strong and full next year and in year’s to come.

Designating Information At The Position Level

This means treating roles as separate from the individuals who hold them at that moment; after all, people move on. You wouldn’t field a team without first communicating what each player must accomplish to win, right? You’ll see personnel gaps, opportunities, and needs exist. When you start taking addressing those gaps, opportunities, and needs — moving and shaking — you need two key processes in place to make it work: effective dating and conditional workflows.

Planning and Forecasting With Effective Dating

Effective dating allows you to work in the past, present, and future. Without it, the only personnel information available to you is what is true on that very day. This means that your hands are tied — or you’ll be putting in a lot of extra hours — if a stakeholder asks for data and stats from prior years, or projections into coming years. It means that you don’t have the full scope of employee data at your fingertips for your own efforts to get strategic at a high level. Old spreadsheets pile up and manual analysis grows tedious.

Effective dating helps you be proactive in managing the fluidity of positions in a school as teachers take on different roles throughout the year, such as a sports coach, club leader, or grade team lead.

Add-on roles like these mean that stipends are tacked onto salaries at different variables and timeframes throughout the year. And of course, sometimes unexpected staffing issues pop up. With effective dating, you can easily pivot when a last-minute change happens.

Looking into the future can be even more important than seeing the past. With a clear view of the organizational map and position-level designations, the grasp of HR and Finance on personnel needs grows as well. With effective dating, you can date a vacancy that you know is coming (planned leave, retirement, etc.) and begin the approval process for hiring long before it becomes a scramble to fill the classroom.

Add-on roles like these mean that stipends are tacked onto salaries at different variables and timeframes throughout the year. And of course, sometimes unexpected staffing issues pop up.

Looking into the future can be even more important than seeing the past. With a clear view of the organizational map and position-level designations, the grasp of HR and Finance on personnel needs grows as well. With effective dating, you can date a vacancy that you know is coming (planned leave, retirement, etc.) and begin the approval process for hiring long before it becomes a scramble to fill the classroom.

Conditional Workflows for Approvals, Vacancies, and Requests

So, let’s say you begin that approval process for hiring. What does it look like? There’s the old way, and then there’s the more efficient way, supported by conditional workflows. In the old way, a seasoned HR professional, Amy, has been manually processing approvals for years:

  1. She prints the form
  2. She walks the halls over the course of a few days, seeking signatures from the principal, Finance officer, and department chair
  3. She catches the Finance officer on day one, department chair on day two, and principal on day three (after an email thread, of course)
  4. She stays late a few days during the week, finishing up work that didn’t get done during the day

It’s not that Amy doesn’t want to say hello to colleagues or get a few steps in — it’s just that time-consuming, unsuccessful laps in the hallway pour her valuable time down the drain. She’d rather choose where to take that walk — say, in her own neighborhood after the workday is done.

A Better Way

With conditional workflows, approvals become part of an automated process. Each stakeholder in the role is included in the workflow and receives an alert when it’s time to review the role, materials, and give approval. HR and Finance are connected, with all the pertinent information in a shared space to work from, together. And as for Amy’s hellos, well, they feel a lot better when the work is getting done.

A strong position management plan in place gives time and power back to HR, Finance, and Payroll professionals. Vacancies can be identified and filled early with a position management plan, and conditional workflows support the approval process so that the right hire can begin with confidence before it’s an emergency.

Conditional workflows make room for easy human interaction by connecting all the people in the hiring process. In fact, they do a few things:

  • Break down repetitive tasks into a logical sequence
  • Help HR and Finance process data more easily
  • Eliminate bottlenecks in recruiting, so stellar candidates are hired and onboarded faster

A strong position management plan in place gives time and power back to HR, Finance, and Payroll professionals. Vacancies can be identified and filled early with a position management plan, and conditional workflows support the approval process so that the right hire can begin with confidence before it’s an emergency.

The right process enablement software that supports organizational mapping, role-based effective dating and details, and proactive recruiting, are powerful tools. It connects HR and Finance in invaluable ways to turn those professionals from number-crunchers and hallway-walkers to advisors and project champions.

Frontline can help you implement a position management plan at your district. Learn more here.

4 Steps for Managing Trauma-Informed Classrooms

Take a random walk through any school on any day and you may see challenging behaviors like these:

  • Sean walks into class with an “attitude.” He is argumentative with peers and fails to comply with adult requests.
  • When his classroom becomes too loud, Ahmed will suddenly bolt from the room.
  • Alyssa is generally well-behaved, but when asked questions by the teacher in front of the class, will shut down and not respond.

These surface behaviors are easily observed. However, what may remain hidden from the observer (and perhaps from the teachers of Sean, Alyssa and Ahmed, is that each of these students engage in these behaviors as a fight-flight-or-freeze survival response triggered by their unique history of complex trauma[1][2].

Definition of Complex Trauma

Complex trauma can occur when a child is repeatedly exposed to adverse experiences, such as abuse, neglect and dysfunctional family interactions[3]. When incidents of trauma are frequent or ongoing, the child may develop chronically heightened stress levels that can be expressed in various ways, like aggression, inattention, hyperactivity, depression, or anxiety[4]. A danger is that educators might fail to realize that these challenging behaviors are trauma-related and instead punish the student for seemingly willful misconduct.

What is a trauma-informed school?

Many schools across the nation have discovered that substantial numbers of their students have experienced long-term negative effects of trauma and are taking steps to create supportive, non-threatening learning environments and to provide services for these learners[5]. These “trauma-informed schools” usually have these three things in common:

  • Training their educators to recognize signs of trauma
  • Encouraging teachers to structure their classrooms to minimize potential stress triggers
  • Providing additional therapeutic supports such as counseling to students most impacted by complex trauma
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Overview of trauma-informed schools and related free resources from the Administration for Children & Families

Using RTI/MTSS to help students who have experienced trauma

The good news is that schools that adopt a 3-tiered model of RTI/MTSS for behavior have already assembled at least some of the practices necessary to successfully support students with complex trauma, such as:

  • Teaching and reinforcing expected behaviors
  • Employing school-wide behavioral screeners and teacher referrals to identify these students
  • Providing an array of positive behavioral and social-emotional interventions.

By far the most important setting for identifying and supporting those with complex trauma, however, is the general-education classroom (RTI/MTSS Tier 1). When chronically stressed students encounter demanding academic settings, there is an increased probability that these school environments will trigger maladaptive fight-flight-or-freeze behaviors. However, teachers may have only limited knowledge of these students’ background—and not realize that their behaviors are a reaction to the effects of complex trauma.

Trauma-informed practices for managing classrooms

A proactive solution is for instructors to adopt a “universal” foundation of positive routines, instructional practices and communication strategies in their classrooms, one that promotes a positive environment for all learners—while most benefiting students with complex trauma[6].

In the trauma-informed classroom, the teacher:

  1. Promotes positive interactions with all students
  2. Establishes a predictable, non-threatening learning environment
  3. Encourages learners to communicate their needs and exercise autonomy
  4. Ensures that the disciplining of individual students is fair and focused on teaching and reinforcing expected behaviors.

Steps you can take

These strategies are adapted from ideas previously posted on interventioncentral.org.

1. Promote positive interactions

Students with complex trauma often have a history of problematic relationships with adults that results in their adopting a guarded or defensive stance during teacher interactions. Instructors can work to overcome this relationship barrier by employing a range of positive communication strategies to convey student acceptance and to foster interpersonal connections.

Promote Positive Interactions: Teacher Strategies

As students arrive at the start of class, stand at the door and briefly greet each student by name. This modest effort has been shown to substantially increase student attention and focus.

To increase desired behavior, praise the student in clear, specific terms whenever the student engages in that behavior. Praise statements should clearly describe the noteworthy behavior singled out for praise. (NOTE: Teachers who routinely use praise statements tend to be viewed as friendly and caring by their students!)

To keep relationships with a student on a positive footing, set the goal of having at least three positive interactions for each disciplinary interaction. Positive teacher-student interactions can vary in format: for example, greeting, praise, conversation, smile, thumbs-up sign. By maintaining at least a 3:1 ratio between relationship-enhancing vs. disciplinary interactions, you shift the odds in your favor that your target student will view you as fair and caring.

To increase the likelihood that the student will comply with your requests, state them in positive terms (e.g., “John, I can help you just as soon as you are back in your seat.”) rather than in negative terms (e.g., “John, I can’t help you unless you are sitting in your seat.”).

One strategy to increase positive behaviors is to “catch the student being good” with regular doses of “scheduled attention”:

  1. Decide on a fixed-interval schedule to provide attention (e.g., every 8 minutes).
  2. At each interval, observe the student.
  3. If the student is engaged in appropriate behaviors at that moment, provide a brief dose of positive attention (e.g., verbal praise; non-verbal praise such as thumbs-up; brief positive conversation; encouragement). If the student is off-task or not behaving appropriately, briefly redirect the student to task and return immediately to instruction until the next scheduled-attention interval.

Jump-start a more positive pattern of interaction with a student through the “two-by-ten” intervention. With this time-efficient strategy, you commit to having a positive two-minute conversation with the student at least once per day across 10 consecutive school days. The active ingredient in this intervention is regular, positive teacher attention.

The active ingredient in behavior intervention is regular, positive #teacher attention.

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2. Establish a predictable and safe learning environment

A common behavioral trigger for the complex-trauma student is that he or she is suddenly and unexpectedly faced with an adverse academic task. The teacher’s goal is to minimize unpleasant surprises for students during the academic day, as well as to teach learners appropriate coping responses when the unexpected does occur.

Establish a Safe Learning Environment: Teacher Strategies

Establish clear routines to deal with common classroom activities. These routines might include start-of-class “bell-ringer” activities, assigning and collecting homework and classwork, transitioning students efficiently between activities, etc.

Provide the student with an academic agenda or schedule for the class period or school day, to include instructional activities, independent assignments, and other tasks to be covered during the period, as well as their approximate duration. Preview with the student to prepare for upcoming activities.

A frequent trigger for behavior problems is that the student lacks the skills necessary to do the assigned schoolwork. To verify instructional match, you can:

  1. Inventory the target student’s academic skills.
  2. Adjust assignments or provide additional academic assistance as needed to ensure that the student is appropriately challenged but not overwhelmed by the work.

Assign a peer helper who is willing and able to repeat and explain directions to the student and assist in starting an assignment.

Permit the student additional time to complete in-class activities or assignments. (For longer assignments, you can announce to students at the start the amount of extra time available for those who need it.)

Provide samples of successfully completed academic items (e.g., math computation or word problems) or exemplars (e.g., samples of well-written paragraphs or essays) for the student to refer to when working independently.

Promote student motivation on worksheets and independent assignments by presenting easier items first and more challenging items later.

 

3. Encourage student autonomy

During academic tasks, students with a history of trauma will be less prone to triggered misbehavior when they are encouraged to voice their learning needs and to exercise choice in aspects of their academic tasks.

Encourage Autonomy: Teacher Strategies

Students find it motivating to have opportunities to choose how they structure or carry out their academic tasks. You can allow choice on any of a variety of dimensions of a classroom activity, such as where the activity takes place; whom the student works with; what materials to work with (e.g., choosing a book from several options); when to begin or end the activity; or how long to engage in the activity.

To accommodate the highly active student, negotiate appropriate outlets for movement (e.g., allowing the student to pace at the back of the classroom during a lesson).

Sometimes misbehavior is an attempt by the student to engineer a break from an academic task. You can choose an alternative method for the student to use to communicate that he or she would like a brief break, such as requesting that break verbally or pulling out a color-coded break card. Of course, the student will also require clear guidelines on how long the requested break will last and what activities are acceptable for the student to engage in during that break.

Teach the student steps to follow when stuck during independent work: e.g., “If I don’t understand what I am reading, (1) slow my reading; (2) focus full attention on the reading; (3) underline unfamiliar words and try to figure them out from context.”

 

4. Ensure fair discipline

Learners with complex trauma may have experienced discipline at home or school as capricious, unpredictable, and largely punitive. In contrast, the trauma-informed educator has the goal in any disciplinary conversation of reteaching behavioral expectations; providing these students with whatever tools and supports might be necessary for behavioral success; and ensuring that they perceive any disciplinary consequences as fair and transparent.

Ensure Fair Discipline: Teacher Strategies

Students must be explicitly taught behavioral expectations before they can be held accountable for those behaviors. You can model positive behaviors, provide examples and non-examples of appropriate behaviors to clarify understanding, have your student practice those behaviors with instructor feedback, and consistently acknowledge and praise the student for successfully displaying positive behaviors.

Consider adopting a continuum of ascending positive-behavior responses when problem student behaviors occur — e.g., (1) give a non-verbal reminder; (2) give a verbal reminder; (3) offer assistance or modify the task; (4) provide a safe space for de-escalation.

Soon after any significant in-class incident of student non-compliance, defiance, or confrontation, make a point to meet with the student individually to discuss the behavioral incident, identify the triggers in the classroom environment that may have led to the problem, and brainstorm with the student to create a plan to prevent the reoccurrence of such an incident. Throughout this conference, maintain a supportive, respectful tone.

 

Your efforts have impact!

The lesson that trauma-informed schools can teach us is that teachers can take proactive steps to make their classrooms accepting and supportive havens for children and youth with complex trauma. And research shows[8] that instructors also achieve better academic outcomes across all learners when they interact positively with students, make learning a safe and engaging endeavor, promote student autonomy, and treat discipline as an opportunity to reteach and reinforce expected behaviors.

1 Cavanaugh, B. (2016). Trauma-informed classrooms and schools. Beyond Behavior, 25(2), 41-46.

2 Rosenbaum-Nordoft, C. (2018). Building teacher capacity for trauma-informed practice in the inclusive elementary school classroom. Early Childhood Education, 45(1), 3-12.

3 Cavanaugh, B. (2016). Trauma-informed classrooms and schools. Beyond Behavior, 25(2), 41-46.

4 Cavanaugh, B. (2016). Trauma-informed classrooms and schools. Beyond Behavior, 25(2), 41-46.

5 Howell, P. B., Thomas, S., Sweeney, D., & Vanderhaar, J. (2019). Moving beyond schedules, testing and other duties as deemed necessary by the principal: The school counselor’s role in trauma informed practices. Middle School Journal, 50(4), 26-34.

6 Cavanaugh, B. (2016). Trauma-informed classrooms and schools. Beyond Behavior, 25(2), 41-46.

7 Mendler, A. N. (2000). Motivating students who don’t care. Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service.

8 Chafouleas, S. M., Johnson, A. H., Overstreet, S., & Santos, N. M. (2016). Toward a blueprint for trauma-informed service delivery in schools. School Mental Health, 18, 144-162.

A Teacher, a Superintendent, a Special Ed Director: 4 Real-life Stories About Equity in Education

Coming from a small town in the not-Philadelphia-and-not-Pittsburgh part of Pennsylvania, the idea of equity in education wasn’t top-of-mind for me when I was a high school student. Nor was the whole idea that some kids might not have the same kind of opportunities as others.

Sure, some came from families with more money than others, but the faces in the hallways were mostly shades of white. And if college wasn’t on the horizon for some, that seemed to be more a matter of choice than of access.

We know, of course, that it’s far more complex than that – a myriad of factors determine what doors are open to students. Everything from family life to school funding to systemic racial issues all play a role in determining who does and doesn’t go on to achieve that sparkly American dream.

That’s why Frontline’s podcast, Field Trip, released a short series on equity. Four episodes, four educators, four stories about working for equity in schools. I hope you enjoy them.

Part 1: One District, Two Communities

How does a district strive for equity when it serves two distinct, racially diverse communities?

 

Part 2: Fifty Years Later

15 years after Brown v. Board of Education, schools in Louisiana were often still segregated in practice. Here’s the true story of one teacher’s experience, and how it impacted her in the following decades.

 

Part 3: Special Education is an Equity Issue

Racial equality is an important factor in ensuring every student has access to the general education curriculum. But achieving equity in special education goes deeper yet.

 

Part 4: Equity for English Learners

2020 was tough on everyone, especially leaders, teachers, and students, but English Learners faced additional hurdles as teachers and families often struggled to communicate.

 

Stories worth sharing.

Every other week, Field Trip releases new stories highlighting the work of educators and district leaders across the country who are moving mountains to serve students and support teachers. Get ‘em delivered to your phone:

 

Best Practices for Service Documentation

 

 

In the world of IDEA, documentation is a requirement. However, documentation practices in school districts have no universal standard. This can lead to major problems both for students and districts ― like due process hearings and issues with continuity of service. So, in the absence of universal standards, your district should create best practices of its own. Here is some information to help you get started.

School-based health services documentation serves multiple purposes. Each purpose must be examined to create a comprehensive approach to best practices.

The primary role of documentation is to monitor and assess student progress, both to communicate with other therapists and present to parents and school administrators. Documentation must also adhere to state-specific Medicaid requirements to support billing. Finally, in a due process hearing, consistent and thorough documentation is vital to support decisions made toward a student’s special education treatments and determination.

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[Podcast] Working with Families in Special Education

As you examine service documentation practices in your school district, these questions can guide your strategy:

 

  • Does my district have standards for therapy documentation? Do all therapy groups practice the documentation standards?

  • Does the documentation in my district meet the requirements for IDEA? Does it meet license requirements within each scope of practice?

  • Does the documentation in my district meet the requirements for Medicaid billing? Will the documentation fully support the district in case of an audit?

  • Is there a central location for all of our service documentation? Can case managers access this information during IEP or other special education meetings? Can administrators access this documentation as needed for due process or other legal proceedings?

  • Is there any impediment to implementing a universal standard to documentation in my district? How can I incentivize therapists to adopt these practices?

    •  

     

    Documentation standards across common school-based therapy types

    The main therapy associations all provide standards for documentation within their specialty. Examining the varying standards helps administrators create a unified approach to documentation in their school districts.

    According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the base requirements for documentation include:

    • The purpose of the session
    • The date and start time
    • Progress monitoring data, including the level of assistance, the student progress towards the goal for the session and any recommendations for future services[1]

    The American Physical Therapy Association and American Occupational Therapy Association include the same requirements as ASHA but expand their standards to include:

    • Cancellation documentation
    • Specific identification of interventions
    • Current patient impairment or disability status
    • Communication or consultation with other stakeholders
    • A signature, title and license number
    • In addition, it is recommended the documentation be completed as close to the session as possible[2]

    The common theme for documentation in all practices is the development of a SOAP, or a comment that includes Subjective (S), Objective (O), Assessment (A) and Plan (P) data, to allow other therapists to quickly grasp the student’s progress and current status.

    You may enjoy this hand-picked content:

    Sample Documentation Checklist from The American Physical Therapy Association

    Medicaid documentation requirements

    Medicaid documentation requirements can vary within each state, but generally include:

    • The student’s identifying information
    • The date of the service
    • Service location
    • Procedure code
    • Diagnostic code
    • A description of the session
    • Signatures[3]

    The below table shows the various requirements around service documentation and Medicaid requirements surrounding IDEA documentation in sample states:

    Benefits of a single, central documentation system

    Documentation is only as useful as it is accessible. If we revisit the primary goal of documentation ― to assess student progress ― the means of delivering this information to other therapists and administrators or parents is best handled in a universal manner.

    Why?

    Caseloads shift. Students change schools year over year, or mid-year. When that happens, access to prior treatments, methods, and a thorough understanding of the student’s present levels will allow therapy to remain consistent and protect against the risk of deterioration of functionality.

    A central system that manages this Medicaid service data and provides instant access mitigates risks when therapists are no longer employed by the district, go on leave, or simply don’t have time to collect and send therapy summaries to the new therapist.

    In the case of due process, documentation is paramount to preventing due process cases and reducing the timeline of proceedings. Findings by the Los Angeles Times report that school districts in California have seen an increase in due process cases from below 3,000 in the 2010-2011 school year to nearly 5,000 in the 17-18 school year.

    Schools are commonly asked to pay not only for legal teams to protect themselves but are often obligated to pay the legal team hired by the parent. Due process legal fees were reported as $610,000 annually for the San Diego Unified Schools, and Poway Unified paid $489,000 in legal fees for the district, in addition to $487,000 for parent generated legal fees. Due process settlements cost Poway $1.1 million.[4]

    School districts often settle ― even if they are in the right ― due to lengthy proceedings, but the best way to eliminate the cost of due process is to prevent the practices that lead to complaints in the first place. Documentation, not only of services provided but of services missed or cancelled, especially due to student absences, can build trust with parents through transparency.

    “The best way to eliminate the cost of due process is to prevent practices that lead to complaints in the first place.”

    How to start maintaining documentation standards

    If your district doesn’t have best practices for documentation, collaboration with key stakeholders is the best way to begin the process. To start, include therapy leads in the conversation and get feedback on realistic timelines to implement new best practices.

    Ensuring equitable treatment of providers is also important. Documentation should have a universal standard across all disciplines, so therapists feel they are being treated fairly in workload expectations. Education and incentivization are also excellent tools. A good first step in education is to review the documentation guidance issued by each therapy discipline.

    Remember that stakeholders should be fluent in the various license and regulatory requirements that support universal service documentation. In addition, giving providers some transparency into your district’s due process budget and its impact on staffing levels, salaries and professional growth support can help therapists and other special education stakeholders understand why a best practice approach to documentation is vital to your district.

    Finally, make sure you recognize individuals who exemplify your documentation standards. You can do this by using contests or opportunities for public recognition. These incentives will reward work well done and provide therapists with tangible examples that the documentation practices your district chooses are achievable.

    Simplify the documentation, management and tracking of student services and strengthen compliance with Frontline’s Service Management and Medicaid Reimbursement software.

    [1] The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. (n.d.). Documentation in Schools. Retrieved from: https://www.asha.org/PRPSpecificTopic.aspx?folderid=8589942597&section=Key_Issues

    [2]American Occupational Therapy Association. (2014). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (3rd ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68, S1–S48. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2014.682006

    [3] New Mexico Human Services Department Medical Assistance Division School Health Office. (2014). New Mexico Medicaid Guide for School Based Services. Retrieved from: https://www.hsd.state.nm.us/uploads/files/Looking%20For%20Information/Information%20for%20Recipients/Special%20Programs%20and%20Waivers/School-Based%20Health%20Overview/MSBS%20Guidebook%20Jan%202014%20Updates%20Final%20010914.pdf

    [4] The Los Angeles Times. (2019). Families endure costly legal fights trying to get the right special education services. Retrieved from: www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-06/legal-fights-families-special-education-services

Infographic: How to Gauge the Impact of Your Professional Learning Program

Infographic

How to Gauge the Impact of Your Professional Development Program

Most schools dedicate a good deal of time and money to professional learning for teachers and staff. But not all schools can confidently say that all that time and money makes a difference where it counts: in the classroom. So, how do you gauge the impact of your program?

The answer: program evaluation.

Program Evaluation Can Help You:

  • Make data-informed decisions. Should your professional learning program be expanded, discontinued, or changed?
  • Keep all stakeholders in the know. How’s it going? Who is participating? Does it meet learners’ needs?
  • As an early warning system. What’s going well? What’s not? Will the program’s goals be reached?
  • Understand why the program is (or isn’t) successful. What factors influence the success of the program? What barriers might be getting in the way?
  • Show your success. Document your accomplishments and be able to justify the need for funding and resources.

The 5 Phases of Program Evaluation

1. Engagement & Understanding
Engagement & Understanding

Get all stakeholders on the same page: what are the stated outcomes of the program? What are participants expected to learn? What student outcomes are expected?

2. Evaluation Questions
Evaluation Questions

Come up with a few broad questions to investigate, such as “To what extent is the program changing teacher practice?” or “What evidence of student learning can be attributed to the program?”

3. Data Collection
Data Collection

There are many ways to collect data to answer your evaluation questions. A few examples:

  • Surveys & questionnaires
  • Interviews
  • Focus groups
  • Observations of the professional learning program
  • Classroom observations
  • Teachers journaling about their learning
  • Student data (achievement, attendance, discipline, work samples, etc.)
4. Data Analysis & Interpretation
Data Analysis & Interpretation

Don’t be intimidated by the idea of analyzing data! Most of the time, you just need to know how to calculate simple frequencies and averages, to answer questions like:

  • How satisfied were teachers with a professional learning activity?
  • What percentage of teachers intend to try a new instructional strategy as a result?
  • Did more novice teachers or veteran teachers participate in this activity?
  • How many teachers have used the new resources they were given? How often?
5. Reporting & Use
Reporting & Use

Once you’ve collected your data, it’s time to put it into the right hands. A comprehensive report might include:

  • A detailed description of the professional learning program, including goals and how it was expected to drive outcomes
  • Findings and conclusions
  • Recommendations for decision-makers to consider
  • The evaluation questions you explored
  • How you collected and analyzed the data

Be creative (and visual!) with your report — it can be helpful to think beyond written reports or presentations.

infographics
Infographics
infographics
Videos
infographics
Interactive Websites
infographics
Social Media Sharing

Program Evaluation is Critical to School Success

A rigorous program evaluation process will help you understand how professional learning programs are performing in your school environment, and is key to educator growth and continuous school improvement.

Learn More

Source: Robinson, S. B. (2019). Professional Development Program Evaluation for the Win: How to Sleep Well at Night Knowing Your Professional Learning is Effective. Retrieved from https://www.frontlineeducation.com/program-evaluation/

Want more?

Our eBook “Professional Development Program Evaluation for the Win: How to Sleep Well at Night Knowing Your Professional Learning is Effective” looks at each of the above steps in detail.

Read It Now

eBook Professional Development Program Evaluation

5 Ways Video Can Transform Classroom Instruction

 

Expand the classroom with video

Educators often look at a new technology and wonder how it will support ongoing improvement in teaching practice. Will it be cost effective and easy to use?

Early attempts to harness video weren’t always successful because, frankly, videos were hard to share in a useful context. But today, advanced video tools (such as, well, your phone) make it possible to use this medium to benefit classroom instruction in a meaningful way. Using video to support ongoing improvement for teachers is easier than it has ever been.

There are several creative ways to do this. Here are just a few:

1. Self-reflection and self-evaluation

New teachers often have trouble keeping up with everything going on in a dynamic classroom. Guided self-reflection with video helps a teacher see what students and observers see, creating a dramatic leap forward in teaching practice. Videos can be stored in easily accessible libraries to record progress over time.

But what about those who are uncomfortable filming themselves teaching and then replaying the footage? That’s not at all unusual, but there are specific things you can do to make it easier.

2. Coaching

Coaching is kept on target as video guides a continuous improvement process. After coaches review the recording, the feedback is integrated by teachers in the classroom and then reviewed again — creating a continuous cycle of improvement until goals are met. A huge advantage of video is that constraints of time and travel are eliminated.

Listen to our interview with Dr. Jim Knight about using video as a professional development tool for teachers. (28 minutes)

3. Video libraries

Ever been inspired by a great teacher? Watching experienced teachers in the classroom can lead to growth when coupled with interactive exercises and commentary. Plus, sharing a library of videos that teachers can access for just-in-time support provides the kind of classroom-focused, job-embedded learning opportunities that have meaningful impact.

4. Learning Communities

Best practices can easily be defined in videos of familiar teachers and students. These videos can then be shared with student teachers and other peers. Using video for peer mentoring and collaboration within a district or educational community is a powerful way to increase knowledge and share best practices.

Additionally, video allows teachers to share examples of practice with colleagues who may work in other buildings or districts, even other states.

See how Frontline’s Learning & Collaboration Resources makes it easy to provide targeted professional learning opportunities through videos, courses, collaborative groups, and micro-credentials.

5. Observation

Use video to create an authentic window into the classroom. Video observation allows teachers to be reviewed more accurately and efficiently. Video can also be used remotely, allowing for classroom observation without an observer having to be physically present.

Whether by supporting evaluations or equipping teachers and coaches with useful tools for reflection, increasingly video is helping educators improve their practice.