Yeah Lisa, I did mean flex staffing. Which someone else mentioned Richard
Allington's book on Struggling Readers. That's where I got the idea. We have
3 reading specialists in my building. One other and myself come in early 3
days a week (and leave early). We're doing fluency work with 3rd graders
trying to alleviate some of the need before we get them. She does 5th and I do
4th currently. Obviously this is with only some of those who need help and is
dependent on them getting rides. We did it for the 1st half of the year. 5
out of 11 moved out and now see the other reading specialist once a week and
we're now seeing the rest of them and 5 new kids moved into the open slots. We
just felt that if we could assist some that were good candidates for fluency
intervention (which doesn't solve the problem for everyone) that hopefully our
caseloads would eventually go down.
A recent PD day in which the reading spec. from K-2, 3-5 and 6th grade met, we
found out that 2nd grade were teaching things that kids are expected to learn
in 3rd and 4th and other things are being left out. Hopefully going forward
this will improve and we'll see less gaps.
Based on Allington's book I've been trying to advocate since I got to this
district a couple of years ago that all sped teachers, reading spec. and the
music dept staff do flex hours. 1/2 come in early and leave early and the
other 1/2 the opposite. Band is an hour for 5th graders once a week. It ends
up being down time for the rest of the 5th graders. Then there's chorus and
instrument lessons...... I in no way think this should go away, but rather
think it could be done primarily before and after school. Some of my remedial
reading students leave during reading for their instrument lesson. Duh!
They're not only not getting extra instruction, they're not even getting the
regular amt.
If we could offer 30 min of intense phonics, or fluency or comprehension before
and after school to all of those who are able to get there...... It just makes
more sense. Then it would be additional reading instruction rather than
supplanting which is what it's supposed to be.
norma
“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside
us while we live.”
---------- Original Message ----------
From: Lisa McGilloway <[email protected]>
To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group"
<[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] RTI - Any info on AIMS Web?
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2010 13:32:37 -0800 (PST)
Norma-
    Thanks so much for your detailed response. It gave me some
information and some more questions myself.
    I am not familiar with Reading A-Z. We currently administer DRA's to
all students at the beginning of the year. The kits that we use do have
nonfiction as well as fiction to choose from. I don't feel it's a perfect
assessment, but it is easy to administer and provides a look at all students'
fluency, comprehension, use of reading strategies, and writing skills. Our
SpEd and BSI (Basic Skills Instructors) administer other assessments on an as
needed basis in response to students in their case loads.
     I found the way you classify your students interesting - in our
district, Resource Room students are a branch of SpEd. We also use mostly a
push-in model though we do have some pull out for Math. Our BSI teachers
teach what would probably be considered your 'remedial' students who are
identified based on their below proficiency scores on our state assessment
(NJ). They are not considered part of SpEd.
     We are short staffed and find that our teachers are doing it all
much as you described. They currently work with grade levels rather than
specific areas. Although I am a certified Reading Specialist, I work
primarily as a classroom teacher although I am generally given the Resource
Room and below level students. We wish we could provide time to pull out
students in those small targeted groups as you described but there seems to be
not enough staff and not enough time. The before and after school model
sounds interesting but would likely cost money which, again, we don't have.Â
Are you talking about staff flexing their days so that they would come in
earlier or stay later to provide these targeted groups? That sounds
interesting.
     Teachers feel that DIBELS won't meet the needs of the students as we
move our RTI out of our primary buildings and into our intermediate (3-6).Â
This was where the suggestion of using AIMS web came from. Some want to
continue the DRA in K-2 then shift to AIMS web in grades 3 and up. I am
currently trying to do some research about this idea.
     Thanks again...Lisa
--- On Sun, 2/7/10, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] RTI - Any info on AIMS Web?
To: [email protected]
Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010, 1:05 PM
Hi Lisa,
Our K-2 does DIBELS and Reading a-z for comprehension. I work in the 3-5
building. We use a-z and will next year use DIBELS on those that perform
poorly on that assessment. It is not an ideal assessment, but we still feel
it was the best choice. DRA doesn't have a non-fiction component which is all
we're using from a-z. Also the DRA takes much longer to use and is more
expensive. The QRI doesn't give definitive levels - just are the students
above, on or below grade level.Â
What we're looking towards next year is to make less distinction between who is
special ed. and who is remedial reading. Oftentimes there are sped students
in the classes in which I work which are performing on a higher level than the
RR students. I think it just depends on who they've had for teachers and
whether their parents advocate for them. (I'm not talking about the low-end
spec. ed students. Rather than reading specialists and special ed staff being
dedicated to a particular grade we're looking to finding a schedule that would
let them get pulled out for ADDITIONAL reading instruction. Currently, sped
students are pulled out and RR students have us reading specialists pushing
it. Much of our time is spent driving the classroom instruction and not being
able to attend to our students on our caseload.Â
So, going forward if we could find slots during the day in which, for example
5th grade students would receive services, we'd all work to provide them with
phonics, fluency and/or comprehension small group instruction that would be in
addition to their in class reading instruction. It would most likely involve
shifting staff schedules to either come in early and leave early or the
opposite in an attempt to provide much of the 5th grade support before and
after school. We'd specialize in areas of reading rather than a grade level
as we currently do.
Has anyone tried this model? Has it been successful and what do we need to do
Not sure if this is of any help. I ended up asking my own questions.
Norma Baker, Reading specialist
Grafton Elementary School
Grafton, MA
“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies
inside us while we live.�
---------- Original Message ----------
From: Lisa McGilloway <[email protected]>
To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group"
<[email protected]>
Subject: [MOSAIC] RTI - Any info on AIMS Web?
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 2010 07:34:36 -0800 (PST)
Hi to all-
    I have been a 'voyeur' on the site for quite a while now and have
found many of your comments and suggestions helpful.
    I am a member of our district's RTI committee and we are currently
looking at ways to 'roll out' our RTI from grades K-2 into grades 3 and up.Â
We use DIBELS as one of our screening measures with this early population but
are thinking it won't meet our needs as we move into the higher grades. Does
anyone have any information on AIMS Web? It was suggested that we look into
it as an alternative to DIBELS or to use starting in grades 3 and up?
    Thanks so much for your help and suggestions.
        Lisa
        Grade 6 Teacher/RTI Committee
   Â
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