Evidence-Based Strategies Series: Guiding the Targeted Improvement Plan Process
The Nebraska Multi-tiered System of Support (NeMTSS) Team has developed a four-part webinar series to enhance the use of evidence-based strategies in classrooms across the state. Evidence-Based Strategies Series: Guiding the Targeted Improvement Plan Process includes 10 pre-recorded webinar videos that will be released incrementally between December 2022 and March 2023. The first part of the series, Crash Course, is now available.
Part 1: Crash Course
Crash Course includes four different webinars that introduce evidence-based strategies and examples of how to implement them at the elementary, middle and high school levels. The videos (linked below) are accompanied by PDF versions of the presentations, complete with links and resources for further investigation.
Viewers will learn about:
- Explicit instruction
- Flexible grouping
- Positive and constructive feedback
- Active student engagement
Crash Course: Explicit Instruction
According to Anita Archer and Charles Hughes, “explicit instruction is systematic, direct, engaging and success oriented — and has been shown to promote achievement for all students.” It can include variations of direct explanation, modeling, guided and independent practice, frequent feedback, opportunities for discussion and close teacher monitoring.
Watch Crash Course: Explicit Instruction
Crash Course: Flexible Grouping
The Council for Exceptional Children describes flexible grouping as a fluid and data-driven strategy that can be used to meet both the needs of individual students as well as a whole class.
Watch Crash Course: Flexible Grouping
Crash Course: Positive and Constructive Feedback
According to the Council for Exceptional Children, feedback is information that is provided with the goal of improving performance academically, socially, emotionally and/or behaviorally. When feedback is provided effectively, it can reduce the gap between students’ current knowledge and understanding, and what they need (or have yet) to know and understand.
Watch Crash Course: Positive and Constructive Feedback
Crash Course: Active Student Engagement
According to the Council for Exceptional Children, higher levels of student engagement are often associated with improvements in academic achievement and higher levels of student satisfaction with school. However, maintaining a high level of engagement can be challenging for teachers. An effective educator is responsible for designing and delivering engaging instruction for students’ progress toward academic and behavioral objectives.
Watch Crash Course: Active Student Engagement
Tips for watching the videos
- To get the most out of these webinars, it is best to watch them in groups. Leadership teams and other district- and school-level teams should plan to spend about 45 minutes watching, discussing and reflecting on the content in each video.
- Districts and schools have chosen one of the evidence-based strategies to focus on for their current Targeted Improvement Plan, and should watch the webinars associated with that strategy. If your district/school has not chosen a strategy yet, please reach out to your Regional Support Lead for assistance.
- It is recommended that teams watch the webinars in part-order. While there are several webinars contained within the Part 1: Crash Course and Part 3: Classroom Implementation, districts/schools do not need to watch all of them to benefit from the series.
Why should districts/schools watch?
By creating this series and sharing it with Nebraska educators, the NeMTSS team aims to support schools in strengthening their Tier 1 Core practices to positively impact learning for students with disabilities by improving educational opportunities for all students.
What’s next?
The remaining webinars in the series will be available on our website in the coming months:
Part 2: Staff Rollout (January 2023)
Part 3: Classroom Implementation (February 2023)
Part 4: Data-Based Decision-Making (March 2023)
Questions?
For more information, please reach out to the NeMTSS Regional Support Lead assigned to your region. Contact information can be found on the NeMTSS team page.