Early Intervention Project 20 th Anniversary November 5, 2004
Early Intervention Project
20th Anniversary
November 5, 2004
EIP Vision
The Early Intervention Project (EIP) empowers people to create interdependent partnershipsto help all children learn and
experience success.
Components of an Early Intervention Process
• Collaboration – Effective communication and support
• Team membership – Primarily classroom teachers
• Teacher empowerment – Classroom teacher makes decisions
• School ownership– Unique for each school
Components of an Early Intervention Process
• Early intervention– Intervenes early-on – Individual responses
• Problem-solving process– Uses a step by step problem-solving process
• Effective brainstorming – Follows brainstorming principles
EIP Survey• In 2001, a survey was conducted with EIP
team members to examine issues regarding the integrity and sustainability of EIP. – Sustainability is difficult to maintain without on-
going high quality professional development and an actively involved building administrator.
– Teams tend to have difficulty implementing the problem-solving process with integrity.
The Harvard Report
• A Harvard study was conduct in 2000, examining the issue of disproportionality. Connecticut was cited as one of the states in need to address this issue.
• Thirty-four districts were invited to the summit based on disproportionality data. Eighteen (18) of these districts have had some level of EIP training.
• This prompted questions about sustainability and implementation integrity of EIP since this study conflicts with an original EIP goal.
RTPs
• Quality Team Assurance, renamed Reflective Team Process (RTP), has been utilized to examine the sustainability of EIP and is a leading source of information about the status of implementation of the project.
Questions That Have Been Raised to the Project
• Does EIP meet its original goals?1. Reduce inappropriate referrals to special education
2. Reduce the number of inappropriate referrals for formal testing and evaluation
3. Reduce the inappropriate special education classification of students, especially those from minority groups
• Does EIP influence inclusive practice for students with disabilities?
Implementation Integrity
• Did we do what we said we would do?
• Examine what was done– Quality– Frequency– Compare to desired outcome, data, and plan– Examine reasons for non-completion or non-
compliance
Components of EIP
• Leadership
• Collegial & Family Support
• Strategic Decision-Making
• Assessment & Reflective Practice
• Instructional Repertoire
• Accountability & Documentation
Early Intervention Project
Lessons Learned
EIP Philosophy
EIP is a specific model. EIP needs to be marketed as a philosophical conceptualization of best practice.
Concepts of pre-referral tend to impede the overall philosophy of EIP.
LeadershipSchools with productive and
effective EIP process have committed building level leadership, who understand and embed the concepts and philosophy of EIP within the school culture.
Leadership
There needs to be increased accountability on behalf of the leadership in order to support implementation integrity and to ensure instructional changes are generalized.
Leading Complex Change
M. Lippitt (2003) Leading Complex Change. Enterprise Management, LTD.
VISION CAPABILITIES RESOURCESACTION
PLANRESTRANT;
RESISTANCE
VISION INCENTIVES RESOURCESACTION
PLANANXIETY
VISION INCENTIVES RESOURCES
FALSE
STARTSCAPABILITIES
VISION INCENTIVES ACTION
PLANFRUSTRATIONCAPABILITIES
INCENTIVES RESOURCESACTION
PLANCONFUSIONCAPABILITIES
VISION INCENTIVES RESOURCESACTION
PLANSUCCESSCAPABILITIES
Leading Complex Change
M. Lippitt (2003) Leading Complex Change. Enterprise Management, LTD.
VISION INCENTIVES RESOURCESACTION
PLANSUCCESSCAPABILITIES
Confidence
UNDERSTANDING Engagement
Commitment
Advocacy
Collegial & Family Support
Early intervention is a philosophy that should be part of a whole school culture, not particular to a core team. Collegial support needs to needs to expand to a whole school culture and the unification of supports and services.
Collegial & Family SupportGeneral education membership has
been a consistent and steady part of EIP and therefore the general education teacher needs to continue to be an integral part of the process.
Continuum of Support
(Adapted from Ortiz, 1987; Horner, 1998; Sugai, 2001)
Intensive1-7%(Specialized Student System)
Intervention5-15%
(At-Risk System, Supplemental)
Universal80-90%
(District, School-Wide, & Classrooms Systems)
Sch
ool-W
ide
Indi
vidu
al S
uppo
rt
All Students in School
Three Tiered Approach
(Adapted from Ortiz, 1987; Horner, 1998; Sugai, 2001)
Sch
ool-W
ide
Indi
vidu
al S
uppo
rt
All Students in School
Communication with Family
Informal Collaboration with Colleagues
Grade Level Teams
School-Improvement Team
Peer Coaching
Case Partner
Fluid/Core Team
Focused Team Support
Instructional Repertoire
Interventions tend to mirror general teaching strategies rather than researched-based quality interventions.
Brainstorming does not necessarily result in quality intervention development.
Strategic Decision-MakingProblem admiration tends to be a
focus rather than actual problem solving. Problem-solving needs to be viewed as a form of data-based decision-making.
How Are We Doing With the Problem-Solving Process?
71%
60% 60%51%
42%
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
GatheringInformation
Defining theObjective
GeneratingSolutions
Developingthe Plan
Monitoringand
Evaluating
Words & Numbers , 2000
Assessment & Reflective Practice
Data are collected regularly, however, the analysis of assessments are not used effectively to define the problem.
Assessment & Reflective Practice
Reflective practice will promote the concepts of improving instructional practice and promote job-embedded professional development.
Accountability & Documentation
Monitoring needs to be emphasized as accountability for student outcomes to ensure implementation integrity.
Schools need to have effective and efficient ways of documenting student progress and measuring accountability.