Caught in the

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Caught in the Middle with Interventions
Innovative Solutions for Every Student

• Montevallo Middle School
• Shelby County School District
• Presenters
• Mr. Jason Tiffin
• Mrs. Tamara Wilson

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Session Outline

• Essential Questions
• What the Research Says
• Framework for Interventions Past and Present
• The Big 5ive
• What, Why, and How
• Benefits and Challenges

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After this session you should be able to answer
these questions

• Why are interventions so important?
• What should interventions do?
• How can our school implement interventions that
  target the whole child?
• How can we adapt the interventions to the needs
  of the students?

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What the research says

• Academic failure is often associated with the
  beginning of delinquencyinterventions that
  improve a childs academic performance have been
  shown to reduce delinquency.
• -- Maguin and Loeber

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What the research says

• Grades, behaviors, attendance, and tardies are
  better predictors of student drop out than race,
  test scores, and socioeconomic status.
• -- Balfanz

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Report from Johns Hopkins

• Four common reasons students drop out
• Life events
• Pregnancies
• Arrests or a pressing need for full time
  employment
• Frustration or boredom with school

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Report from Johns Hopkins

• Four common reasons students drop out (contd)
• Strained relationships with faculty
• Discouragement from teachers/administrators
• Labeling of students
• Repeated failure to succeed

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Interventions Past Present

• Academics
• Behavioral
• Social

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With regard to implementing interventions in the
schools, what are the external factors and
influences that may hinder progress?
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External Factors
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Big DealWhat is so awesome about these
interventions?

• Means to an End
• Teacher/Student Relationships
• Mandatory Attendance
• Self Reflection for Students
• Raise Self Esteem / Students
• Teacher Empowerment
• Increase Student Confidence
• Builds Administrator/Student Relationships
• Increase Grades
• Increase Parental Involvement
• Student Accountability
• Increase Critical Thinking w/ Students
• Targets Student Interest
• Quality Student Products
• Creates Parent Partnerships
• Increase Student Attendance
• Sense of Belonging/Connectedness
• Non Punitive
• Sense of Purpose

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Data to Support Claims

• Student Failures
• 1 student failed for the 2008-2009 school year
• Parent Survey
• 94 of parents surveyed rated the school
  good-excellent in assisting their child in
  acquiring skills and knowledge
• Friendly and welcoming school
• 90 - 97 - according to faculty and staff on the
  culture survey said MMS is friendly and welcoming
• Discipline
• Intentional Touching decreased from 51 incidents
  to 15 school wide

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Data to Support ClaimsAcademics

• Writing Assessment (49-66)
• ARMT Reading
• (6th 77-83) (7th 63-70) (8th 58-65)
• ARMT Math
• (6th 47-56) (7th 48-47) (8th 37-54)
• Moved from School Improvement (Year 2) to
  achieving AYP goals

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Our Big 5ive

• LOT/Ambassadors
• iBAPs
• COTs
• 7-3 Recovery
• Privilege Card

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LOT/Ambassadors

• Defined
• Seventh grade students
• The potential for leadership
• Across the board kids
• Activities
• A plan for developing good community leaders
• Familiarize students with the community
• Make students aware of being tomorrows leaders
• Show students they can make a real difference
• Criteria Potential for Leadership
• Students become a team with peers who they may
  have previously not associated.

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LOT/Ambassadors

• Benefits
• T-Shirt for the team!
• Once a month field excursions
• Local and area sites
• Hands-on experiences
• Learn about the community
• past, present, future
• Role models at school and in community
• Opportunity to join MMS Ambassadors

• Challenges
• Teambuilding difficulties
• Acceptance of new behaviors
• Peer pressures to remain cool

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LOT/Ambassadors

• Ambassadors
• Tour guides
• Greeters for events
• Service work
• Mentors to 6th graders
• Ambassadors and LOT members represent the school
  and community
• Many are active in leadership at Montevallo High
  School and beyond!

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Intensified Behavior Assistance Programs (iBaps)

• What- iBaps are administrator lead classes that
  target a small cohort of students and/or parents
  who need assistance with behavior (iBAP),
  homework/academics (iAAP), or parenting (iPAP).
• Why- Final step before severe punitive
  consequences are undertaken.

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iBaps

• The Process
• Identify participants
• Mandatory parent meeting with signed contract
• Meeting times set (1 hour, once/week)
• Data kept (Logs, Journals)
• Rewards for graduating
• 6-8 week sessions

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iBaps

• Benefits
• Targets students who need help
• Builds student relationships
• Increases self esteem

• Challenges
• Time
• Student/Parent Apathy
• Commitment of Student and Parent

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Clubs, Organizations, Teams (COTs)

• What Clubs with a purpose. Students and
  faculty small groups designed to develop
  relationships while sharing common interests,
  hobbies, and concerns.
• Why In order for students to have a sense of
  purpose, belongingness, and connectedness with
  their school. A mechanism for keeping students
  interested in school.

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COTs

• Teachers and administrators serve as COT
  sponsors.
• Specific activities, criteria, and guidelines
  that pertain to overall goals and objectives of
  each COT are identified and submitted to
  principal by the end of the second month of
  school.
• Each student is a COT member.
• Students identify their top 3 COT choices (on a
  form) during the first week of school (during
  advisory).

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COTs

• Students not meeting academic standards (failing
  grades) do not attend a COT but instead attend
  the
• Intervention Club
• Intervention Club is supervised by certified
  members of Montevallo Middle School.

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COTs

• Intervention Club
• Assists students with academic achievement in
  their core subjects.
• Make up tests
• Complete missed assignments
• Obtain tutorial assistance in core subject areas
• All students are provided the opportunity to
  attend the Intervention Club and may be hand
  selected by administration or faculty.

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COT Carnival

• Takes place at the end of the year for
  incoming 6th grade students, parents and PTSO
  members.

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7-3 Recovery

• Step 2 It
• Academic Monitoring (AM in the AM)
• Student Intervention/Collaboration (SIC)
• Prepare for the Day (PFD)
• Second Helping (Double Dipping)

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Student Intervention Collaboration (SIC)

• What A program that serves to reinforce
  students learning in the core subject areas. Each
  instructional team is responsible for their
  students program.
• Why The original purpose was to give extra help
  to students who scored poorly on standardized
  testing in Reading and Math. Later, the program
  served as individualized core subject tutoring.

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SIC

• Benefits
• Helped some students improve test scores and
  class grades
• Gave teachers the ability to pull students from
  elective classes
• Students were able to make up absentee work and
  improve failing grades

• Challenges
• Students were not receptive
• Difficult to plan since there were no parameters
• Made it difficult for teams to have cooperative
  planning time

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SIC

• Taught students that the teachers would do
  anything to help them pass limited student
  responsibility
• Like many programs, it helped some students and
  not others

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Prepare for the Day (PFD)

• What PFD is a before-school intervention
  designed to assist students with being more
  responsible for recording and completing HW
  assignments.
• Why- Students not writing down and/or completing
  HW assignments.

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PFD

• The Process
• Identify participants.
• Inform stakeholders.
• Ensure all students have planner and know the
  procedures to follow for the PFD class.
• Develop and maintain check sheets.
• Record data consistently.
• Reward students for meeting goal.

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PFD

• Benefits
• No cost involved
• Promotes student accountability
• Increase HW grades
• Builds Relationships

• Challenges
• Late bus
• Student Defiance
• Availability of Administrator

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Step 2 It

• What An Extended Learning Time Referral
• Why To provide opportunity for students to
  complete, improve, or refine work products.
• Student is not completing assignments.
• Student is not attending class/school regularly.
• The student needs additional time to complete the
  assignment.
• The student needs to improve the quality/revise
  the assignment.

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Academic Monitoring (AM in the AM)

• Designed for students who are failing numerous
  subjects or severely failing a subject.
• Students meet in the lunchroom when they arrive
  on campus (between 715-740) and work until the
  1st period bell (812)
• Administrator lead. Administrator meets with
  team weekly to discuss progress and update folder
  with unfinished work.
• Students can be dismissed at the end of each
  progress report period (every 3 weeks)

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AM in the AM

• Benefits
• Students bring grades up
• Focuses only on work that needs to be completed
• Grades in other classes increase

• Challenges
• Student Apathy
• Late bus/Late arrival to school
• Communication with classroom teacher(s)

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AM in the AM

• Results
• 1 student out of 64 failed
• 20 of 64 (31) were dismissed altogether
• Increases in Core Subjects
• ? 1 subject 5 (8) ? 2 subjects 5 (8)
• ? 3 subjects 13 (20) ? 4 subjects 18 (28)
• ? 5 subjects 20 (31)

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Second Helping (Double Dipping)

• What Students in the 7th and 8th grades can
  take a lower grade (6th or 7th respectively)
  subject that was failed in the previous school
  year.
• Why Allows students to pass onto the next grade
  if they only failed one subject instead of
  repeating the entire grade.

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Second Helping

• Benefits
• Student moves to the next grade with his/her
  peers
• Allows schools to maintain academic integrity
• Provides for mastery of class (whole year v. 2
  weeks of summer school)

• Challenges
• What happens if student fails double dipped
  class?
• Students know that they can double dip
• Behavior problems with older student in classroom

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Privilege Cards

• What Students receive a card that when
  presented, gives them special privileges during
  school and after school hours
• Why Allows MMS to move towards a more positive
  instead of punitive culture

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Privilege Cards

• Benefits
• Rewards students for displaying the right
  behavior and attitude
• Teaches responsibility
• Generates enthusiasm and positive peer pressure

• Challenges
• What to do when student loses card
• When the 3 punches are gone for the month, what
  do we do to keep the student from losing hope
• Student doesnt have card when asked

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Privilege Cards

• Events used in conjunction with the privilege
  card
• Discounted drinks at lunch
• 1 off admission to a dance
• Lunch in the gym and outside with music and games
• Administrator giveaways
• Teacher giveaways
• Skip period
• Teacher in-class rewards

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Data to Support ClaimsInterventions

• PFD Student participation decreased from 14 to
  lt2
• Step 2 It 31 of student body participated and
  benefited
• iBAPs 80 of students completed successfully
• COTs Over 95 of students enjoyed attending
  COTs Over 90 of students claim it built
  relationships w/ stakeholders
• Academic Monitoring 64 students participated.
  20 dismissals. 94 increased grades in at least
  1 subject.

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MMS Pyramid of Interventions
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Lose Yourself - Eminem

• EminemLose Yourself
• Look, if you had one shot, one opportunityTo
  seize everything you ever wantedOne momentWould
  you capture it or just let it slip?You can do
  anything you set your mind to, man

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Contact Us

• Jason Tiffin
• jtiffin_at_shelbyed.k12.al.us
• Tamara Wilson
• twilson_at_shelbyed.k12.al.us

• Montevallo Middle School
• 235 Samford Street
• Montevallo, AL 35115
• (O) [phone]
• (F) [phone]