WYSIS Newsletter Vol 1
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Transcript of WYSIS Newsletter Vol 1
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7/29/2019 WYSIS Newsletter Vol 1
1/4
The anxiety that opposes
change is not addressed with
speeches and memoranda;
rather, it is addressed by affirm-
ing what is not going to change
and then demonstrating that the
effects of the change is in the
best interests of all stake-
holders. The fear of changetends to stem from the fear of
the unknown or the fear of fail-
ure, or both. By understanding
and affirming what is already in
place that works well, as well as
identifying what is not working
well and what can be done to
improve the situation, fear and
anxiety can be mitigated, con-
sensus can develop and the
opportunity for change can blos-
som. After all, change is not
proposed when all is as it should
be.
The investment of time in build-
ing consensus for RTI or PBIS is
a critical piece of successful
implementation of the change.
Consensus would mean that the
belief in the need and in the RTI
and PBIS frameworks is solid,
the vision is clear and agreed
upon, and the implementation
requirements are understood. It
may not be possible to have allstaff on board and supportive,
but it is important to have the
majority of staff supportive of
implementation.
There are many activities that
can support consensus building,
but perhaps one of the best to
start with is to simply provide
the opportunity for other
schools successes to be
shared. Professional develop-
ment such as attending confer-
ences where RTI or PBIS, orboth, is a focus, visiting schools
where implementation is already
underway and looking at student
improvement data from schools
where RTI and/or PBIS have
been implemented are all ways
to observe these successes and
to gain a better understanding of
the impact on the students that
such changes would have.
Teachers enter the profession
with the desire to help studentslearn, which is exactly what RTI
and PBIS both do.
The second step would be com-
ing to the table to actually start
the consensus-building activi-
ties. Consensus does not mean
that everyone thinks alike and
agrees on everything. Consen-
sus means that thoughts are
shared and decisions for a com-
mon goal are made collectively.
All voices matter, and all opin-
ions and facts are considered.
(contd on page 2)
Building Consensus: Understanding and Supporting Change
WYSIS Newsbits
The initiation of the WYSIS
framework does not impact
your status in existing RTI
cohorts. You will continue to
receive technical assistance
and support from the WDE;
however, we will be transi-
tioning the title of our train-
ings to WYSIS.
Mike Krupp and Teddi Ben-
son from the University of
Wyoming are two new WYSIS
coaches. Schedules permit-
ting, they may be involved
with onsite visits to RTI co-
hort schools.
A critical element of WYSIS
is data-based decision mak-
ing. Please continue to par-
ticipate in the evaluation
measures so that the WDE,
your school and your district
can evaluate the impact of
implementation on student
achievement.
The WYSIS What Works
Summit is tentatively sched-
uled for February 16, 2010.
This will be an opportunity to
share data, interventions,
strategies and success sto-
ries with colleagues.
The WYSIS community in
Fusion has been developed.
Web resources, upcoming
trainings and new research
are just some of what will be
located there. We are also
exploring ways to provide
additional trainings via alter-
native formats (webinars,
See and Share, Community
of Practice, etc). Please
request access.
Remember homework as-
signments in preparation of
Novembers trainings!
Wyoming Department of Education
Fall 2009
Volume 1, Issue 1
RTI and PBISImplementer: WYSISTying It All Together
Upcoming Trainings:
Rock Springs: Nov 12-13, Feb 18,
April 19
Casper: Nov 23-24, Feb 16, April
20
Inside this issue:
Building Consensus: Understanding
And Supporting Change
1
WYSIS Newsbits 1
Leadership: How Does Your Garden
Grow?
2
Building Blocks 2
The Coaches 3
WYSIS in the Secondary School 3
Resource Review 3
Coordinators Corner:
WYSIS WhatIsit?
4
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7/29/2019 WYSIS Newsletter Vol 1
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In the book
Douglas B. Reeves
talks about a gardener who pur-
chases new plants from a nursery
in anticipation of planting eachone is a special place in his gar-
den. At home, the gardener real-
izes that he has a bit of cleaning
up to do, with weeds and other
rubbish scattered about. The
gardener now has some choices:
Drop the plants off close to
where he wants them
planted hoping some of
them take;
Plant the new flowers among
the weeds
Give the plants a stern lec-
ture about growing smarter
Pull the weeds and then
plant the flowers.
Reeves contends that every
school, every district, in fact,every organization has at least a
few weeds that could be pulled
that would help combat initiative
fatigue, the overwhelming numb-
ness that arises when another
request is made to do more with
the same amount of time, money
and energy. Reeves suggests
that, before adding any new pro-
gram, the remove at least one
existing activity, plan, unit, or
other time-consumer.
How do you begin the weedingprocess?
Use multi-grade dialogue to
find the essentials and
identify the nonessentials.
Encourage teachers to
share their best time-savingtips. Small matters like
having the computers up
before the students enter
the room add up to valu-
able time over the long run.
Set the standards for a
weed-free garden, namely
by respecting the time of
your teachers. A meeting
for every bit of new informa-
tion when an email would
have sufficed is a great
start..
Any weeds growing in your gar-
den?
Does this mean opposition is not
valid? No. As a matter of fact,
opposition is inevitable and quitevaluable. Opposition commands
examination of facts and motive
and sets the stage for the intro-
duction of new information and
ideas as well as healthy discus-
sion. A variety of consensus-
building tools are available to
facilitate this process. The im-
portant thing is to find what
works for your school and use it.
Leadership: How Does Your Garden Grow?
Building Consensus: Understanding and Supporting Changecontd from page 1
Caption describing picture or graphic.
All group members contrib-
ute-everyones opinions are
voiced, heard and encour-
aged.
Differences are viewed ashelpful.
Everyone agrees to not sabo-
tage the action or decision
made by the group.
Members agree to take re-
sponsibility for implementa-
tion.
Making a commitment.
Adapted from material provided by
Heartland
Building Blocks
Consensus is...
Derived from Latin roots and
means shared thought.
A process for group decision
-making.
A gathering and synthesis of
ideas.
Arriving at a final decision
acceptable to all.
Achieving better solutions.
Page 2 RTI and PBIS Implementer: WYSIS Tying It All Together
Ibelieve the group
heard me; I can ac-
tively support the
groups decision as
the best possible this
time even if it was
not my first choice
The professional learning community model is a powerful way of
working together that profoundly affects the practices of schooling.
initiating and sustaining the concept requires hard work. It requi
the school staff to focus on learning rather than teaching, working
collaboratively on matters related to learning, and hold itself accou
able for the kind of results that fuel continual improvement.
Richard DuFour, educator of 34 yearss, author and consultant
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=picture+of+consensus -
7/29/2019 WYSIS Newsletter Vol 1
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Mike was a
special education teacher for 11
years in a junior high school
setting. He primarily taughtstudents with emotional and
learning disabilities. Mike is
currently pursuing a PhD. in
special education at the Univer-
sity of Wyoming in Laramie. He
has experience team teaching,
collaborating on student behav-
ioral issues, inclusive practices,
teacher beliefs, and theoretical
perspectives in disability stud-
ies.
Teddi is origi-
nally from Ohio and has 28
years of experience serving
as a special education
teacher, general education
teacher as well as a teacher
for accelerated students in
Ohio, North Carolina and
Wyoming. She is National
Board Certified as a Middle
Childhood Generalist and
she works with the Ellbogen
Foundation to support teach-
ers pursuing national board
certification in our state.
Teddi is married with 3
grown children, lives in Lara-
mie with her husband Jon, and
is currently working on her PhD
in education with concentration
on special education.
Key concepts and building
blocks for creating an effec-
tive RTI model for literacy
programs
Determining schools unique
needs, abilities and readi-
ness for building an RTI
framework
Assessing and analyzing the
needs of struggling secon-
dary school learners
Implementing appropriate
literacy interventions
by Denise P. Gibbs
This book delivers the frame-
work, tools, resources and strate-
gies for developing and imple-
menting an effective RTI model
that meets all secondary stu-
dents literacy needs. This book
walks schools through:
The facets of RTI unique to
secondary schools
Monitoring progress
A 28 min-
ute video that covers the basis
of RTI, its importance and core
principles and practical applica-
tions of the tiered RTI process.
Topics include universal screen-
ing, intervention effectiveness,
reliability and fidelity and pro-
gress monitoring elements.
The Coaches:
Resource Review
a disability.
The systems approach of WYSIS
builds efficiencies for meeting
the needs of all learners. At the
high school level, this data-
driven approach would help
schools identify students who
truly have a learning disability ,
while appropriately serving
those students who are at-risk
and far behind for other rea-
sons . This would also possibly
mean an accelerated or more
flexible way of applying inter-
ventions due to the sense of
urgency that exists once a stu-
dents enters high school. These
students simply do not have
much time to respond to the
sort of interventions that would
allow them to catch up to their
piers. This has led many dis-tricts to start the process at the
(contd on page 4)
WYSIS in the Secondary School
Secondary level adoption of
braided academic and behavior
supports presents unique chal-
lenges statewide and nationally.
Barriers to common planning
time for teachers, uneven liter-
acy supports, and building size
are often cited as features of
high school reform that makethe work difficult. The resulting
structure often guides struggling
students into special education
even if they do not actually have
The systems
approach of
WYSIS builds
efficiencies for
meeting the
needs of all
learners.
Page 3Volume 1, Issue 1
I never cease to be amazed at the power ofthe coaching process to draw out the skillsor talent that was previously hidden withinan individual , and which invariably findsa way to solve a problem previously thoughtunsolvable.
John Russell, managing director,
Harley Davidson Europe, Ltd.
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7/29/2019 WYSIS Newsletter Vol 1
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and their peers is reduced and
post-secondary outcomes are im-
proved. In addition, systems of
behavior and literacy support are
created for teachers, processesare streamlined, classroom man-
agement improves, teaching time
increases, and professional devel-
opment is targeted to teachers
needs.
Susan Shipley
WYSIS Coordinator
WYoming Department of Education
320 W Main StreetRiverton, WY 82501
Phone: 307-777-6231
Fax: 307-777-2556
E-mail: [email protected]
The is com-
mitted to supporting schools and districts who wish to
implement a systems approach of instructional practices
that result in improved student outcomes. Research has
shown that if schools improve student achievement, be-
havior incidents decrease; and, when behavior problems
decrease, student achievement improves (Hawkins,Catalano, Kosterman, Abbott, & Hill, 1999).
State of Wyoming
WYSIS...Wyoming System of
Instructional Support...what
exactly is it? Is it a new pro-
gram? No. Is it a new plan? No.
Is it new research? No. Is it aseminar or a conference? No.
Ok, so what is it?
WYSIS is the framework that
the Wyoming Department of
Education is providing that
braids RTI and PBIS, recognizing
the interdependent relationship
of academic and behavior devel-
opment for all students to truly
receive a high-quality education.
It is a framework that will allow
schools to better work with stu-
dents universally, proactivelyidentifying struggling students
early so that they are supported
and served effectively, before
they are failing.
WYSIS is to education what a
foundation is to a housea rela-
tively universal structure that
has the same basic purpose yet
ultimately looks different from
house to house, or in this anal-
ogy, school to school.
Coordinators Corner
tiered reform at Doherty include:
Increase in graduation rate from
76.1% in 2000 to 84.1% in 2006
Decrease by 57% in 2006 of theFreshman Failure Rate of 40% in
2000
Only 15% of students with disabilities
were measured unsatisfactory in read-
ing in 2006
91% of ninth graders reported a
smooth adjustment from middle to
high school.
To view the full report, please visit http://
www.betterhighschools.org/docs/
ReportOfKeyPracticesandPolicies_10-31-
06.pdf
WYSIS in the Secondary School contd from page 3
middle school level, before the strug-
gling student has reached the ninth
grade.
Tiered interventions for behavior and
academics have been successfully im-plemented at the secondary level
across the nation. One such school is
Doherty High School in Colorado
Springs, Colorado. Some results of
Tying it all together
One of the goals of WYSIS is to
provide tools for each school to
overhaul their own toolboxes to
fit each individual school and
ultimately, each district in thestate. RTI helps organize and
monitor good teaching practices,
academic and behavior-oriented,
that have existed for years. It
also infuses many research-
based and validated practices
that didnt existed even 15 years
ago.
Is WYSIS a special education
initiative? The answer is no.
WYSIS does not provide RTI and
PBIS principals as part of a spe-
cial education, general education,Title 1 or Accelerated Student
initiative. A basic principle from
the training that WYSIS provides
is that students can learn and
that available resources
should be used to meet the
needs of students, whether
they are on IEPs or highly profi-
cient students.
So, why integrate RTI and
PBIS? Reading competency, as
measured by DIBELS, has been
noted to be a powerful predictor
for office disciplinary referrals
and problem behaviors
(MCIntosh, Horner, & Chard,
2006). When students improvetheir reading scores between 3rd
and 6th grades, they have been
found to have significantly less
problem behaviors in 7th grade.
In addition, one of the National
Performance Goals states that
All students will be educated in
learning environments that are
safe, drug free and conducive to
learning. To improve the aca-
demic success of our children, we
must also improve their social
success. Academic and social
failures are reciprocally and inex-tricably related (Eric Mann,
LICSW, New Hampshire Center for
Effective Behavioral Interventions
and Supports, 2009). By improv-
ing social and academic success,
improving reading proficiency on
statewide assessments, and re-
ducing discipline referrals, sus-
pensions and expulsions, drop-
out rates are reduced, graduation
rates are increased, the gap be-
tween students with disabilities
WYSIS: What is it?