 Hi, welcome to the MTSS Series Scheduling Interventions. I'm Steph Lundgren, the PDE Coordinator at ESU-8 in Nealey. And I'm Tony Earhart, the MTSS and Pete Coordinator at the ESU-8. Welcome. So let's talk about scheduling today. How does this all work when we're scheduling MTSS? It sometimes can be a little bit daunting, but if you follow some of the steps that we're going to talk about today, I think it's more manageable. So of course, we'll show you our graphic that describes MTSS. We look at this pyramid and we have Tier 1 as our core support for students. Then we have a layering of Tier 2 targeted interventions if needed and Tier 3 intensive interventions for a small percentage of our students. When we talk about these core supports and interventions, we're talking both academic and behavior programs in our schools and SEL. And as we work through this program, we're also addressing the tenets of A-Quest. So some of the components we're going to talk about today are listed here. So you see that there are a lot of considerations, but I think once you get a routine down in your school, all of this just kind of falls into place and can work from year to year for you. So it really is important that we pay attention to scheduling. We make sure that students have enough time for learning and that's just really key is making sure interventions and things like that have the right amount of time scheduled for them. School schedules help optimize time on learning for students and really, you know, using our time wisely. A lot of kids love to have routine and structure and so that helps out and yeah, different instruction needs different kind of structure too. So when we're scheduling, we can kind of think of time as an instructional tool. I think all teachers always say we just don't have enough time, but when we regard it as a tool that we have that we have to really guard and use, use our time to our best ability, then you know it helps with the best outcomes for students. So remembering about scheduling, it's a process not just a moment in time and that all stakeholders need to be involved. I think it's not well received by teachers if you just hand them a schedule and say this is how it will be. If they don't have any input, you know, it's hard for that buy-in piece, but also we might not be considering something that's really important in their classroom. Some hard decisions need to be made and that's always true. That's why you get everybody in the room and sometimes it comes down to an administrative decision that, you know, everybody's time is precious, so scheduling can be difficult and very small changes make big differences. Things like transition time, like two minutes of transition time. If you can shave that off and make it two more minutes of instructional time, it seems like nothing, but it's a big deal when you think of the course of the whole year. So where do we start? You might list out what is working well and what is not working so well, right? Talk to your teachers, get that list going. You might also identify what needs to change and why. So they're kind of your goals in this, right? And post these items at MTSS meetings so everybody can see them so that they're at the forefront and you're really paying attention to them. And then where do we start? So you might determine a process of how to schedule, of how schedule changes will take place, create a timeline of decisions, empower all to have a voice, schedule changes based on what is best for your students, not staff. And that's a hard one. I think we adults get into a rhythm and a routine and we kind of like how things flow and it's hard to make changes, but we really need to be focused on what those students need, not just what we prefer. And then once made, review the schedule and make changes as needed. So it's not always set in stone. You try to follow it as best you can, but when you see something just isn't working, you make a change. All right, now we'll go over the components of how to complete your schedule. So number one, it's important to really set your schedule before school starts. This is important so teachers can prepare. And I think if you ask your teachers, you'll find out that teachers want that time to prepare and if you give them a schedule before the year, they'll have time to really think about what they want to teach, what they need to teach, how they want to teach it and you're going to get better outcome from the teachers rather than just throwing a schedule out then right at the beginning of the year, they're not going to have that time to plan effectively. So it's really important to give that schedule before school starts. It also sets the school year on track and then your interventions and extra support can start when school starts because you're going to be looking at that data from before to start those interventions and then the interventionists can look at the schedule also and make changes if they need to be. And you can make time to come to your ESU trainings over the summer, right, Tony? Yep. And get your intervention trainings. Yep. And then number two is the scheduling priorities. So this is going to be different depending on the needs of your school. So you're going to want to prioritize instruction, schedule that instructional time first, then your other activities that your school feels aren't prioritized, the most important. You're going to want to develop blocks devoted to instructional time and make this uninterrupted time. I've seen at some schools, if reading is their priority, they may have posters posted outside on that door that this is their instructional reading block. Please do not interrupt unless it's, of course, an emergency. So some things to think about, what is your priority as a school? Continued with priorities, then keep going on with those instructional priorities. What are the non-negotiations goals which must be in the daily schedule, your instructional content, your breaks, what are your highest and lowest priorities? Again, I think it's just important to communicate as a school what your teachers have to have in their schedule and how many minutes. And I think, Tony, too, remembering from when I was in the classroom, you know, trying to schedule our field trips or our classroom celebrations around interventions and things like that and not interrupt those times that those are non-negotiables and we can still celebrate, but it just has to be at a different time. Yeah, announcements over the intercom when they can and can't be. That's some very good points to take up. Even on assemblies and things like that when we can avoid interruptions, it's best. Yep. So now we're going to talk about each tier's schedule according to the MTSS tiers. So here's tier one schedule. It should include a mixture of pole group and small group activities. Differentiate that instruction. And here are some recommended minutes for your reading instruction. We suggest 90 minutes per day for K through 4, 60 minutes per day, 5 through 6, and then in math, 60 minutes per day for K through 5. Again, with the tier two schedule, so tier one before is your core, just so you know that. So then tier two and tier three, those are going to be your intervention. So the students that need an addition, their extra help. So here for your tier two schedule, this is a time block for intervention that works best. Most schools have found out that if they figure out they find an intervention block, then the title teacher and the support staff can help along with the teacher give those students what they need. It's typically 20 to 30 minutes a day, but it goes off your school's needs. These blocks can be used for remedial and enrichment instruction also. So if you have other kids that are in the room that might be your average or high kids, so they might be your tier one kids that don't need any extra support, you can give them support and enrichment. So give them an activity or a project to do. And a lot of times those higher kids, they don't need a teacher with them. They can do independent activity in the classroom, whereas then the teacher is going to work with the neediest students with an intervention during that time. And then you may also have a title teacher and a pair of working with a group. So all of your students during that intervention block are receiving the support that they need. And this is all based off of data too. So whatever that data is suggesting their intervention or their enrichment be, that's where you're going to gear that. So then tier three, these are the students that need even more support than the tier two. So you're layering on that support. So they have that core first, then they may receive an intervention from tier two, and then they still need more time to get on track. And remember the amount of time needed to get students on track grows by grade level and by level of student need. So tier three requires a larger amount of time. So we're going to talk about where to get that time then. And this is the tricky part. So there are two options. You can either add more intervention time by replacing the other instruction. So this is the most one that we would recommend. You're going to add whatever time needed with something else. And this is where as a school district, you need to decide what you are allowing teachers or the title teacher or whoever to pull from to get that intervention. So for example, a school may say social studies is allowable. Now it might not be in other schools. That's okay. It's whatever you guys decide. But so this student would add 30 minutes of reading in place of the 30 minutes of social studies. So you're going to replace other instruction. Okay. So you guys, that's where that prioritizing really becomes important. And you can also add this information in your decision rules and add what is okay to pull from if a student needs extra time. The second option is if you replace core instruction with a highly intensive program and keep the tier two intervention program. So this is important. These are bolded. This is only recommended if the student is not capable at all to understand the core curriculum. So this student would maybe be two to three grade levels behind. This student is probably in your SAT process or in a SAT or may have an IEP. And this needs to be a team decision. And also this would be a place where you could add these into your decision rules is if they could not be in the core. Because we recommend that all students receive their core reading program or their core math program. They need to have that instruction at grade level to learn those items. So again, this would be a team decision if you chose to go this route. And there are some cases that have to go that route also. All right. So the schedule should foster success for all students. So it's not just for your low kids or your high kids. It's for everybody, right? All right. So some questions that you should think about when you're working with your team is how much time do we need for intervention? So it might be determined on the intervention that you're using. And so different intervention programs might suggest that they need 20 minutes, four days a week or 20 minutes, five days a week or something like that. And again, how many days per week are we going to be working on this? As you go up in your tiers, you need to have more time and more days per week. And then you might decide on which interventions. So what are available? What can we get training on in our area? What are the most effective or evidence-based? And we've shared lots of websites for those like Evidence for ESSA, Nebraska Materials Matter, What Works Clearinghouse. So we have lots of ideas we can share for you there. Just contact us if you need those links. And then who will teach the intervention? So who's available and who's qualified and how can we maximize our results? So like Tony said before, we always think about the most highly qualified teacher working with the neediest students. So if you have a reading specialist in your school, an interventionist, you might want them working with the most needy students. And maybe your parents could work with the higher students in your classroom. We always want to have teachers trained on the interventions that they're using. Interventions have lots of very detailed parts and pieces that you need to be instructing in the right way and assessing in the right way. So you want to have people trained. But that's definitely something to work through with your team. So we have tiered intervention blocks. So we schedule those tiered blocks in our schedule. So again, maybe your tier two interventions are going to be 20 minutes and your tier three interventions are going to be 30 minutes. You know, these are just examples. This is something that you work out with your MTSS team and you really talk through because again, scheduling is difficult. But when you try to put all those puzzle pieces together, it really can work out well. So also when you're scheduling this time, you're looking at structure. So is it going to be in the classrooms? Is it, you know, like within one classroom that you have the interventionist and maybe a para go work in? Can you offer that intervention time throughout the grade level? So maybe kids are even switching classrooms throughout the grade. Or is it across grades? Like are all of our grades having intervention time at the same time? If you have enough manpower in your building and that works, that can be done. Otherwise sometimes you like to get all those specialists to one grade level at one time and then have them switch to the next grade level. So it really is dependent on your school. And for lots of ideas, you can talk with other schools or with us because we talked to the schools and kind of find out what might work and could help you brainstorm that. But you really here are considering what's going to provide the greatest number of student interventions using the least number of resources. The most help for our kids and, you know, using the least amount of time and time and all those things. But we also know that sometimes you just have to allot some of those resources. It's worth it to allot those resources. Okay, so when we're progress monitoring, you know, this is really just making sure our kids are making their progress, right? So you have to consider how often will we do this? Who's going to do it? Is it going to be the classroom teacher progress monitoring? Is it going to be the interventionist? Or just one delegated person in your building that does all the progress monitoring? How are you going to fit it in the day? You really have to schedule some time in for it. You know, and it works differently with different buildings. I know in my own classroom, I just fit it in. You know, at the very beginning of every end of my reading time, I'd pull one or two students a day. And when I did it in those manageable chunks of just one or two kids per day, it didn't feel so daunting. But you know, you really do need to have this assigned to somebody in your school. Otherwise, it kind of is one of those things that gets kind of forgotten. So you know, is it the classroom teacher's responsibility? Is it the interventionist that's going to do it weekly? Who's going to do it? When's it going to get done? So, you know, it's a decision to decide how often someone gets progress monitored. Using a cadence, like most of our schools do, you can decide, hey, you know, maybe tier two kids get progress monitored every other week, but tier three kids get progress monitored every week. You know, that's really a building decision that you need to talk about with your team. And just know that there are a limited amount of passages to progress monitor with. I believe it's 20 per year. So you have to ration those out throughout the year and see how that'll work. But this can look different ways. This is just an example. All right. So some of the next steps as you're scheduling are to create a calendar for your MTSS process. This will help your MTSS team really focus in on what needs to be done for the entire year. And then it'll help you remember the tasks that you need to complete each month. You can create your own template, list the tasks needed to complete and who's going to complete them. And you can add this in your implementation plan for MTSS also. And here's some examples of templates. If you need any help creating these, I can come out and meet with your team or Steph and I can both help with this. But this is just a template of, again, what's going to happen in that month and who's responsible. So this is going to help your MTSS team focus in on what needs to be done throughout the year. And it definitely be flexible with this. Add to this. Change it to meet the needs of your school. And then create an MTSS team and or grade level team. And you might already have this done. But if you don't decide as an administrator, are you going to decide and delegate your leaders? Are you going to ask for volunteers? That's up to your school. We would suggest two to three teachers if an elementary have an upper or lower, but maybe the middle or high school level will have a core and a non-core. Your title teacher, an instructional coach, an administrator, and you could have the special ed teacher depending on your needs. We just recommend that you have a mixture of backgrounds of the leaders in your school that are going to make a difference on your MTSS. So then when you have your MTSS members, please add that to your MTSS implementation plan. It looks like this. And then you'll list their name, position, and then the role on their MTSS team, what they're going to do. Here's some more forms for you. These forms can be found on the any MTSS website or you can get a hold of Steph or myself for these forms. But here are some forms of examples of agendas to record the decisions that you make at your MTSS meeting or their templates for agendas so that your MTS agenda is focused because it's found in research that if you guys have an agenda that you're going to stick to that agenda and you're going to make informed decisions on that. And then you got to stay on task in order to get that done. If you'd like myself to come to those meetings, I can sit in on them and just add input. I've done that before. I can lead them or teach you how to lead them. I've had some people reach out to me on just they want to be taught on how to have MTSS meetings. So I'm going to do that with that district. So it's totally up to you on how you want to use your ESU resources to help you have meaningful MTSS meetings. And then here's just another template also and you can find it on the any MTSS website to record tasks that need to be completed. So this would be a little different than your agenda. This would be like things that need to be done. You're just writing in one spot so that everyone can see, oh, what do we need to do? Who's going to complete it and the date that it's completed? I love a checklist like that. I don't know about you, Tony, but it keeps me focused. Yep. Here are some other forms. So each of our MTSS districts all have an MTSS written implementation plan. This is important to keep this up to date throughout the year. This just helps make sure that you have things written down that you're doing in your district. It's also a place to keep everything, your decision rules, your team members so that everyone can go back and look at the things that you're doing in MTSS. You can use the any MTSS one, which is the one on the left. And then the one on the right is the MTSS implementation plan. That's very similar to that one also. You can choose whichever one you prefer. And like I said, I think all of you have it, so just keep updating that. If you have any questions on any of those documents on there or need help pulling that out, please let us know. And then another thing to think about is how do you guys document your interventions? We have a few forms available. Just go ahead and email Steph or myself if you're interested in these forms. You may have your own forms, and that's totally okay. Or some interventions come with their own forms also. But when you look at documenting interventions, it's important to look at the attendance of the student, how accurate they are, their engagement. Just because sometimes we're quick to change the intervention, the person or the time when the intervention isn't working. When truly the intervention could be working, it could just be that the student wasn't really there that week or the student wasn't engaged or the student wasn't accurate and may need to go back over those lessons and master them. So that's why it's important to document your interventions to get this extra data when it's time to look at intervention changes. You look at this first. We do have an electronic version and it actually graphs it out for you. So if you're interested in that, please let me know. And then the one on the right is the paper version. And then not only, I know this is a lot of forms and it does become a little bit overwhelming, but once you get used to it, I think you guys will be fine and figure out that it's really meaningful to have this extra data. But along with documenting just the individual interventions, you're going to want to track your interventions. So this would be what each student is receiving for their intervention and then the changes that you make. So this would be probably after if your changes you make are after each benchmark, then you would list if you've changed the time of days, the number of students in the group, the interventionist, the person, the intervention itself. So you would document those. And then this would be good to keep for the next year. You can show the next year's teacher and then the interventionist also on what those students are receiving or have received in the past. So this is just a good document to look at and just document all this information on. So some other things you need to think about scheduling are benchmark testing. So lots of times a school picks a window like a week and all benchmarking will be done in that time at the beginning of the year, the middle of the year, the end of the year. Also schedule those team meetings and have them pretty set whether you're going to schedule them after school or before school or if it's going to be during the day and you need to get subs. Kind of think that through. Again, like we talked about before, schedule that progress monitoring in. When will each teacher or the interventionist get that progress monitoring done each week or every other week or whatever? Professional development. What does your staff need training on? We get those calls a lot. We book for things like August or days off of school or some trainings or refreshers can even be done after school in a short window of time. Lots of times speaking of progress monitoring people like an Acadian's refresher for their staff which is really important to make sure that we're using our tools as they're supposed to be used. So maybe we're going to schedule our other testing like we want to get our map testing on our schedule for teachers to plan for. So lots of schedules but I think it keeps us all focused and kind of in line with each other on what we're doing. And then we'll really just focus on that big picture and remember that we're really doing this all because we're focused on what's best for students and for student learning. We have lots of examples of schedules we can share with you. Sometimes people get a little hung up on. I mean, I think any kind of scheduling is really difficult. Would you agree, Tony? You were a counselor. You probably helped with that a lot. And it can be daunting. But I think looking at some examples from your peers can give you some starting points on how it could look in your building. Every building is a little bit different. On this one we see PE and music scheduled in. I think that's a hard thing. Lots of times in our smaller schools we have to schedule those on when the teacher's available because they might be at the high school part of the day too. So we are happy to get you other schedules or ask your neighbors for those. But I think starting out with an example helps. And then remember that any MTSS website has a lot of resources for you and actually had to move our pictures here because the resource tab was hidden. And then when you click there you're going to see a lot of those forms that we just talked about and different resources there for you. So the ideal schedule, well, it might take a while for you to figure that out for your building. So you have to get started and you have to make some decisions you think are going to work well. But just know, you know, you might need to review it annually and see, hey, what was working there? What wasn't? What do we need to tweak a little bit? Ann, thank you for joining us. And here's our contact info. Yeah, definitely. Let us know if you need help with anything. We know scheduling can be tough. But once you find that process and use this information, we hope this will be helpful to you. Thank you. Thanks.