RtI, the SMART Goals Process and bridging the parental divide

Prior to the start of the current school year, our district decided to add accelerated classes in 9^th & 10^th grades notwithstanding the potential loss of some cherished electives classes at upper grades. This decision caused an uproar that revealed a philosophical divide within our community. Some parents are concerned their children aren’t being challenged enough while others believe heterogenous classes are critical to keeping diversity alive and well. 

While our high school shows the best reading scores for all groups of students, our achievement gap persists, the graduation rate of our low SES students is poor, and the number of failing grades for all groups of students but especially low SES/minorities is unacceptable. It’s doubtful, however, that siphoning off the “high fliers” into honors classes will solve these problems; in fact, the problems may worsen because the focus will no longer be on “raising all boats.” 

Response to intervention (RtI) has been adopted as a statewide strategy by Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction. However, as with most policies, it may well be a long time before it takes form in our schools and classrooms. I believe that the SMART Goal Process could be a way to accelerate its implementation and provide greater focus on meeting the learning needs of all students.

Imagine what a powerfully different climate it would be if:

• each and every student knew exactly what the learning targets were for every class and how they would be assessed
• their classes were in friendly competition with each other to score more students in the blue and green zones
• individual students established their SMART goals based on where they needed to focus next
• progress was being monitored visibly and with transparency throughout the school

If the assessments were developed correctly, almost every student would have skills to work on, even students in the green zone. If teachers were working collaboratively to develop differentiated strategies—an RtI approach-- for each of the zones as an ongoing part of curriculum development, I’d be willing to bet heterogenous classes would be perceived for the strength that they are.

For more insights about integrating RtI and the SMART Goals Process, spend 20 minutes watching the recorded webinar entitled SMART RtI featuring Jo Stanley Seidel.