PROBLEM STATEMENTS

IN PROBLEM-SOLVING,

RtI PROCESSES

FSSM Summer Institute, June 26, 2007Charlotte Smith, NCSP,csmith2@nkcsd.k12.mo.us

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INTRODUCTIONSWho I am.....Who are You?

Housekeeping…bathrooms, “Parking Lot”

What my colleagues and I have been doing on the other side of the state.

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NEWS FROM OUT WEST Mid 1990’s North Kansas City School District:

Increasing commitment to early intervention and School-Based Problem Solving Teams

Mid 1990’s: General Educator hired as full-time district level problem solving team facilitator for training and support of gen ed staff

Steadily increasing # school psychologists to meet the NASP recommended 1:1000 ratio and serve on each PST; expanding role of school psychologists

Using 15% of IDEA money for prevention, early intervention. Ex: Subs for gen ed teachers to attend trainings, administer benchmark probes

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…MORE NEWS

2005/2006: RtI replaces IQ/Achievement discrepancy in local compliance plan for SLD eligibility determination

CBM added to District Assessment Plan

CBM benchmarking for students and frequent Progress Monitoring used by teachers to monitor progress of children at risk, including progress toward iep goals for students with disabilities.

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0

100

200

300

400

500

600

Referrals

SLD

ND

Referrals 511 453 511 549 389 299 151 158

SLD 178 130 126 133 77 54 37 59

ND 156 135 198 212 155 105 50 51

1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006 2006-2007

NORTH KANSAS CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

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WORKSHOP OBJECTIVESAt the end of this workshop, learners will

be able to:1. Give the 5 key elements in an effective

problem statement.2. Write a good problem statement for

reading, math, and written language.3. List appropriate baseline measures

for each identified problem.4. Compare identified student’s

performance with “average”.

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WHAT IS THE PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS?

#2 Problem Analysis

and Intervention Development What will we do about it?

#3 Implementation of Interventions

Carry out the intervention, collect data, and

revise as needed

#4 Evaluation and Data-Based Decision Making

Did it work? If not, consider repeating

process

#1Problem Definition andBaseline MeasurementWhat is the problem?

Handout: PS 1

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Team Activity: Problems Statements Then, Now & Future

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PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

How do we identify problems EARLY?

How do we identify problems ECONOMICALLY (time & money)

How can classroom teachers do this and everything else on their plates?

How do we determine if differences in performance are important? (How do we know if it’s really a problem?)

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HOW TO IDENTIFY PROBLEMS? UNIVERSAL SCREENING

Just like we screen all kids for vision and hearing, we need to screen regularly for academic achievement.

We need to screen early before problems become big.FORMATIVE vs. SUMMATIVE

Universal Screening Tools Need To Be: • Easy to Administer by classroom teachers• Direct measures of the skill or behavior to be

changed• Short, simple & can be repeated frequently. • Reliable and Valid• Good indicators of overall performance in an

academic area

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COMMON CBM MEASURES• Letter naming fluency• Letter sound fluency• Phonemic

segmentation fluency• Nonsense word

fluency• Oral reading fluency• Maze fluency• Written Expression• Spelling

• Quantity array• Number identification• Quantity

discrimination• Missing number• Math Computation• Math concepts and

applicationsHandouts: PS 2 “AIMSweb

Probes – General Info.”

PS 3 “Curriculum Bases Measurement Probes”

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OBSERVATIONAL TECHNIQUES• Anecdotal recording• Frequency and rate recording• Antecedent-Behavior-Consequence (ABC) recording• Duration and latency recording• Interval recordingCollect data on target student And average peer comparison.Teach the behavioral skill (eg: Study Skills)Look at academics first!Solving ACADEMIC problems usually solves

BEHAVIOR problems!

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Universal Screening Benchmark ALL Students 3 Times Per Year (F, W,

S) For teachers and StudentsFor teachers and Students• Early Early IdentificationIdentification of At Risk of At Risk • Instructional PlanningInstructional Planning• Progress Monitoring Progress Monitoring For ParentsFor Parents• Facilitates communicationFacilitates communication• Accountability Accountability For administratorsFor administrators • Resource AllocationResource Allocation• AccountabilityAccountability

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For Teachers: Classroom Report

From Aimsweb: www.aimsweb.com

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PROBLEM DEFINITION

What is a good problem statement?

What tools and/or resources are needed to get information for a good problem statement?

Who should write the problem statement,

and how is the problem statement presented?

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Problem Statements

• Setting (when presented with what task?)

• An observable behavior (what skill?)

• Measure ( calculate level and rate)

• Baseline (defining the level of performance)

• Average peer comparison (typical peer)

with rhythm…

Beth Wood

HOW DO WE DEFINE A PROBLEM?

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Sample Problem Statement• S: When presented with a 3rd gr.

oral reading fluency probe,• A: Wilbur is able to read aloud

correctly• M: (words) in one minute• B: thirty-five words• A: while an average peer* reads 78

words aloud correctly in one minute.

*handout packet: PS 4 “AIMSweb Growth Table”

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Sample Problem Statement• S: When presented with a 6th grade

math computation probe*,• A: Amy is able to compute and write

correctly • M: (digits) in four minutes• B: 20 digits• A: while an average peer** writes 27

digits correctly in 4 minutes.*Handout: PS 5 “AIMSweb Growth Chart – Mathematics

Computation” (Box and Whiskers)

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AIMSweb / Harcourt with permission 6.07

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10th %ile10th %ile

90th %ile90th %ile

75th %ile75th %ile

50th %ile50th %ile

25th %ile25th %ile

Student is above the90 %ile and is well above average.

Student is above the90 %ile and is well above average.

TargetTarget

____________________________________Box and Whisker Charts

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Sample Problem Statement• S: When presented with a story

starter*,• A: Joe is able to correctly write • M: (CWS) in three minutes• B: 13 Correct Writing Sequences• A: while an average 3rd grade peer

writes 17 Correct Writing Sequences in 3 minutes.

*Example: “I was sound asleep when … ” Handout: PS 6 “AIMSweb Growth Chart, Written Expression – Correct Writing Sequences”

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SCORING WRITTEN EXPRESSION

Total Words Written - TWW (Fluency)Simple count of the number of words.

Correct Writing Sequences – CWSTwo adjacent writing units that are correct

within the context of what is written.>All > of > the > kids > started > to > laugh. >

8 CWS>All > of > the > kids > started > to lauf.

6 CWS

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AIMSweb / Harcourt with permission 6.07

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SAMPLE PROBLEM STATEMENT

Letter Naming Fluency

Problem Statement (1/08/06)When given a Letter Naming Fluency probe,

Michael is able to correctly identify 18 letter names in one minute. The average first grade student

can identify 38 letter names in one minute.

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SAMPLE PROBLEM STATEMENT

Letter Sound Fluency

Problem Statement (1/08/06)When given a Letter Sound Fluency probe,

Michael is able to correctly identify 10 letter sounds in one minute. The average first grade student

can identify 27 letter sounds in one minute..

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CLASSROOM TEACHERS WRITE PROBLEM STATEMENTS

Universal Screening Data AvailableFor children identified as very low (or high)Use screening dataAreas without Universal Screening DataAdminister 3 CBM probes and take medianfor best baseline estimate. Administer same probes to three average peers and take median for average peer comparison.

Handout PS 7: “Sample Problem Statements” DVD

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Handout Packet: PS 8

Find “Writing Problem Statements”.

Work with your team to practice writing problem statements in each of the areas.

Choose one problem statement you’d like to share with the group, and write it on the overhead transparency.

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WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

If you are a new principal in a building, and you discovered through fall benchmarking that an unacceptable percentage of your students are at or below the 10 percentile in measures of reading. What would you do?

Handout PS 9 “Problem SolvingTeam Request for Assistance”

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K-1 Fall - Spring Progress (CBM)Percent of students in the bottom 10th Percentile

34%

2.00%

42%

25%

7%5%6%14%

0%10%20%30%40%50%

Grade level

Chad Sutton & Briarcliff Staff, North Kansas City SD

FALL WINTER SPRING FALL WINTER SPRING

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Team Activity: Problems Statements Then, Now & Future

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Beth Wood, Problem Team Facilitator, North Kansas City School District

Steven Beldin, Director of Pupil Services, North Kansas City School District

Dr. Dave Tilly, Heartland AEA, IowaDr. Erica Lembke, University of MissouriNational Center on Student Progress

Monitoring www.studentprogress.orgHarcourt www.aimsweb.com

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CBM PROBES

www.aimsweb.com (fee based)

www.interventioncentral.org

http://dibels.uoregon.edu

www.studentprogress.org

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Charlotte SmithNorth Kansas City School District2000 NE 46th St.KC MO 64116816.413.5113

csmith2@nkcsd.k12.mo.us