School District #52 Prince Rupert

Learning Services Teachers

Handbook

2015

Compiled by:

L. Hikida (District Principal Learning Services)

J. Begley (L.S.T. Lax Kxeen)

S. Christensen (L.S.T. P.R. Middle School)

S. Coates (L.S.T. Roosevelt French Immersion)

M. Cross-Pomponio (L.S.T. &V.P. Prince Rupert Middle School)

C. Danroth (L.S. Helping Tchr. & E.L.D. Co-ordinator)

B. Dollimount (L.S.T. Charles Hays Secondary School)

D. Fabbi (L.S.T. & V.P. Pineridge Elementary)

C. Franes ( L.S.T. & Principal Pineridge)

M. Hubbell (L.S.T. Prince Rupert Middle School)

C. Macleod(L.S.T. Prince Rupert Middle School)

S. Marr (L.S.T. Charles Hays Secondary)

L. Miller(L.S.T. Roosevelt English)

K. Offutt (L.S.T. Pacific Coast High School)

D. Strand (L.S.T. Charles Hays Secondary)

S. Sadorski(L.S.T. & Vice Principal Conrad Elementary)

D. Taylor (L.S.T. & Principal Port Edward Elementary)

J. Tyre (L.S.T. Prince Rupert Middle School)

L. Leach (Preparation Program Tchr. Charles Hays Secondary)

M. Harvey (Life Skills Program Tchr. Charles Hays Secondary)

Table of Contents

Philosophy

Response to Instruction Pyramid

Programs and Services Procedures:

Introduction:

Elementary Learning Services Teacher Startup and Year End Procedures

Elementary Year End Procedures

Middle School Learning Services Teacher Start up and Year End Procedures

High School Learning Services Teacher Start up and Year End Procedures

Procedures For all Learning Services Teachers

Learning Services Supplemental Services

APPENDIX

Philosophy

Support Services provided to students in School District #52 are based on a belief that every student has the right to meaningful access to all opportunities to learn in an appropriate, individually responsive, public education system. It is recognized that individual learners fall along a continuum of diverse abilities, interests and skills; therefore it is the school district’s responsibility to present curriculum to each student that is suitable to the varying levels of student need. Over time every student will require varying degrees of support as they progress through their educational program. Some students will learn new concepts with ease while others may experience significant struggles in learning.

All schools within the district endeavor to provide instruction, curriculum and environments which enable all learners to physically and cognitively access an educational program which supports achievement of personal and provincial education goals.

A range of services are available to support students. The services available may be provided by a variety of staff including principals/vice principals, classroom teachers, specialist staff and support staff.

Guiding Principles:

Services are based on the following basic principles:

An integrated and transparent system of support/resources for all students:

Support and resources for all students are provided through a centralized system. An integrated centralized system values the expertise of school based as well as district specialist support staff in addressing the needs of all students, including those students with identified learning and behaviour needs. Supports may appear different from school to school based on individual and group student needs. Supports are distributed based on two criteria; Ministry of Education eligibility requirements and demonstrated functional needs.

Inclusion:

The school district makes every effort to ensure that all students have the opportunity to be appropriately included with their peers in their neighborhood attendance area (when possible), with essential supports/resources in place at the school. Inclusion in a neighbourhood school does not mean the student will necessarily participate in a complete full time placement in the regular classroom, nor does it imply full time one to one support for each individual student requiring support. Some students require significant accommodations to their learning environments while others may require a lesser degree of accommodations to the learning environment in order to benefit from educational programming. Students and staff benefit from procedures and policies that focus less on labeling and categorization and more on determination of programming needs and the design of effective educational plans. District Learning Services and individual schools promote and support ‘assessment for learning practices’ and therefore frequent progress monitoring of educational performance for all students leading to improved decisions and intervention planning for students with challenging educational needs is encouraged and expected.

Shared Decision Making and Collaborative Problem Solving:

The Learning Services central office professionals work collaboratively with school based teams to determine Ministry of Education (MOE) eligibility and amounts of support provided to each school; however it is essential to support and foster school based decision making; to the greatest extent possible, re: how the resources assigned to the school are distributed to students. To this end support time is distributed to each school based on the following two criteria:

MOE (Ministry of Education) eligibility requirements
Functional needs assessments e.g. I.S.P.P. form (Instructional Support Planning Process).

School principals in consultation and collaboration with the school based team will assign support to individual classes based on student needs and eligibility criteria. Communication and collaborative problem solving are critical in ensuring the engagement and commitment of staff, students and parents.

Proactive Approaches to service delivery, focusing on prevention and early intervention of educational challenges:

School District 52 promotes the use and implementation of the following educational theories concepts:

Universal Design for Learning/Backwards Design Planning Processes
Assessment for Learning Practices
Response to Instruction
Differentiation of Instruction
L.U.C.I.D. teaching methods and strategies.
First Peoples Principles of Learning
Self-regulation theories and strategies

These approaches to instructional design ensure consideration of individual student needs when planning curricular units in order to prevent early learning challenges. These instructional theories, methods and strategies reduce the occurrence and impact of learning and adjustment problems. Additionally, such approaches enhance school staff and parent abilities in meeting the daily academic and social emotional needs of all students.

Home –school collaboration in educational decision-making and delivery of services:

Families, educators and community members all have important roles and responsibilities in the student’s learning and development. Home-school-community collaboration is more than sharing information and decisions from school to home. Home-school-community collaboration implies that parents, educators and community members form a partnership for the purpose of working towards mutually defined goals. All partners should expect active ongoing involvement and should strive to create new ways and methods to facilitate its occurrence. Such activities include working with other agencies and organizations to promote home-school-community partnerships to enhance the students’ performance.

Record Keeping and Documentation:

Record keeping and written documentation of educational plans (including progress monitoring and outcomes), referral for learning services, and procedural safeguards must be maintained and documented; however there is a need to keep paper work at a manageable level. Maintaining a balanced approach to record keeping and written documentation is a constant challenge. Requirements are in place to ensure that student programs are regularly reviewed to ensure good decision making.

Student Screening Procedures:

All students are the responsibility of their parents first and then the classroom based teacher. A partnership between the classroom teacher and parent is essential in ensuring that appropriate programming to meet the student’s personalized needs is provided. Throughout a child’s educational career the teacher or parent may note some learning challenges faced by the student and take the first step of meeting with each other to discuss the challenges perceived. The teacher and parents will determine in class and at home accommodations to assist the student in successfully accessing the curricular content presented.

When these accommodations are not sufficient to assist the student in obtaining academic success with the curricular content the following Response to Instruction Pyramid is supported and recommended by the school district.

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Response to Instruction Pyramid

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Programs and Services Procedures:

Once it has been determined that a student requires the services of a professional from the District Learning Services Staff or from an outside agency professional the following procedures will be followed:

1)The appropriate referral form will be filled out in collaboration with the school based Learning Services Teacher (L.S.T.).

2)The classroom teacher (CRT) or school based L.S.T. will seek verbal permission from the parent for the following services:

Learning Services from the L.S.T.
English as a Second Language or English Language Development (E.S.L./E.L.D.) from the E.S.L./E.L.D. teacher
School Based Counseling Services.

Written parental permission is required for the following services:

Speech Language Pathologist
Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Occupational Therapist/Physiotherapist
Integration Support Outreach Program
Provincial Outreach Programs e.g. Autism, Fetal Alcohol, Special Education Technology-British Columbia
Teacher of the Visually Impaired
Outside agency services
Hospital Homebound Teacher
Psycho-Educational Assessments

All referrals requiring written or verbal parental permission will be submitted to the school based principal for approval and signature.

Schools seeking Ministry of Education (MOE) Designation Services will complete all the appropriate 1701 claim forms found on the School District Website under the Learning Services tab. These forms must be completed collaboratively with the School Based Team and family. Once the appropriate forms are completed and signed by the appropriate team members, the school will submit them to the District Principal of Learning Services for consideration of approval for designation.

Schools may request extra learning services for students who are approved for a MOE designation from the District Principal of Learning Services, by filling out and submitting to the District Principal an approved MOE Instructional Support Planning Process form.

Introduction:

The role of the Learning Services teacher (L.S.T.) at any grade level is varied and complex. The L.S.T. has the responsibility of providing support to students by supporting the classroom teacher in a variety of ways. The most essential piece of the L.S.T.’s position is to provide essential supports designed to ensure that each student is able to successfully access appropriate grade level curricular content. The L.S.T. in consultation and partnership with the classroom teacher and various other specialists involved with the team; will ensure that no matter what learning challenges the student presents he or she will be able to access the content presented in the classroom and will experience successful learning opportunities at their level of understanding through this access.

L.S.T.s provide valuable assistance to the classroom teacher in the areas of unit/curriculum design that effectively engages all learners in the classroom. The L.S.T. will be able to provide information on learning styles and needs for particular students and will be able to assist the classroom teacher in ensuring that appropriate adaptations are available to the student and teacher to facilitate understanding of content presented. This type of collaboration and consultation most often occurs in a co-teaching relationship between the L.S.T. and classroom teacher.

Additionally, L.S.T.s are responsible for assisting teachers with assessment needs at Tier 1, 2 and 3 of the district Response to Instruction Pyramid. L.S.T.s also provide direction and leadership in the development and implementation of the individual student learning plans and I.E.Ps. L.S.T.s act as a liaison between outside agency involvement with students and families; providing invaluable assistance in understanding the needs of students with specific identified learning challenges. The qualifications of a L.S.T. require extensive studies in understanding the learning needs of a variety of developmental disabilities and social/emotional mental health challenges. Being an L.S.T. is an exciting role to fulfill, as the possibilities of effecting positive results for students with and without learning challenges is immense! Welcome to the role of the L.S.T.

Elementary L.S.T. Annual Start Up/Year End Procedures

September:

Review new student files/investigate new students
Complete outstanding designation renewal forms, andI.S.P.P.forms
Confirm outside agencies for category “H” are still current
Request SET BC equipment/support ( with changes to SET BC mandate 2015 consider if there are students involved in SET BC class based projects)
Help to continue to build classes keeping in mind student needs
Help build E.A. schedules keeping in mind designated students/maximizing student support
Distribute known referrals, checklists, permission forms, and consents to C.R.T.s(classroom teacher); send returned originals to Student Learning Services (SLS) and keep copies in L.S.T. files
A.F.S.W. (verbal parental permission required only) due Sept. 30th
O.T., S.L.P., T.D.H.H./Hearing referrals completed as needed (parental signatures required via permission/consent forms)
district staff will likely expect to discuss caseload with you early so you need to know who you expect to be referred
Counselling referrals completed as needed (verbal parental permission required only)
Might need to complete current assessments (e.g. Benchmarks) for students to help with initial planning
Distribute previous years’ I.E.P.s goal progress reports to C.R.T.s in anticipation of upcoming I.E.P. meetings; ask for input and suggestions for new goals, areas of need, areas of strength
Distribute existing speech plans, inform C.R.T.s of any hearing issues that do not fall under direct services of theT.D.H.H.
Share information with C.R.T.s re: students who have or need to wear glasses
Brief new C.R.T.s on class composition
Ensure that all supportive equipment is in place (Phonak systems, FM system, sits-it cushions etc.)
Prepare safety plans and medical alerts; communicate with school health nurse and other medical professionals as needed
Ensure plans/alerts are posted in central area and distributed to C.R.T.s, ensure that medication is available and current, and that all staff are familiar with individual students’ needs in the event of an emergency
Ensure that current consent to provide medication in school is updated and given to appropriate personnel in the school
Determine who in the school will be responsible for administering medications to students
Obtain current consents to provide medication in school from family doctors

Begin to create list for Kids Against Violence services

October:

Begin drafting I.E.P.s
Book TTOC/E.A. replacements and schedule I.E.P. meetings; ensure families are aware of meeting times and dates, and invite family and all relevant outside agencies to attend the meeting
Determine swim program and sensory room candidates in consultation with O.T.
Get consents from parents for both
Generate list of students needing assessments (W.I.A.T., Key Math, Benchmarks, P.P.V.T., etc.)
Create I.E.P. meeting schedule – Refer to school calendar before choosing dates and check with teachers and E.A.’s for possible upcoming absences and when teacher prep time is, to avoid potential conflicts.
Once schedule is created, send it to the teachers and E.A.’s involved and inform them that a replacement for them has been booked and to arrange the necessary work.
Provide secretaries, principals, and relevant counselors with a copy of your I.E.P. schedule.
Ensure the teacher has made a day plan for the TTOC’s and E.A.’s that will be replacing them for meetings.
Book a meeting place for I.E.P.’s, arrange for necessary equipment (Smart Board, projector, etc.)

November:

I.E.P. meetings need to be completed, andI.E.P.s signed by principal or designate are due at Learning Services offices by November 15th
Ensure all parties in attendance are later provided with final copies of I.E.P.s and provide data tracking directions and forms toE.A.s/C.R.T.s
L.S.T.’s may participate in parent-teacher interviews as requested
When I.E.P.’s have been approved by Learning Services District Principal, make copies for Principal File, L.S.T. binder/file, for core teachers, and for distribution to home, and if needed, MCFD/guardian or with consent toC.Y.M.H. S.L.P., O.T., Hearing teacher can access on line. Do not give a copy to E.A.’s, they can read teacher or L.S.T. copy when needed. Remind teachers that I.E.P.’s are confidential documents and must be kept in a safe location.

Elementary Year End Procedures

April-May:

Start reviewing I.E.P. goals
Benchmark all students in grades 3 and 5 and send results to District offices using approved recording form sent out by district office each year
Book TTOC/E.A. and schedule I.E.P. goal progress meetings; ensure families are invited to attend and are aware of meeting times and dates, and invite all relevant outside agencies to attend
Plan for students who may need additional time with transitions to have an extra visit to the middle school if possible

June:

I.E.P. goal progress meetings need to be completed, and principal or designate signed goal progress reports are due at Learning Services office by June 15th
Organize L.S.T. files and prepare files to be mailed to other schools
Ensure student files are up-to-date with services checked off by district staff
Participate in district screening meetings for designated students moving to middle school
Get parent consents signed for students going into Life skills program at PRMS
Complete designation renewal forms/instructional support planning tools (especially for “H” and “D” categories)
Do not need to for LD, MID, or Hearing as they can be done in September, and when “C” is current then it is okay

Help build classes for next year
Participate in welcome to kindergarten event; come prepared with forms for students who may need to be referred in September based on observations
Complete W.I.A.T. III referral package on any student who may be a candidate for next visit of school psychologist in the fall

Ongoing Elementary L.S.T. Responsibilities

Meet, coordinate, and plan with district staff/outside agencies to provide services and communicate with parents/C.R.T.s
Plan, host, and write minutes for S.B.T.M.s; follow-up with students/C.R.T.s/parents thereafter
Distribute referrals, checklists, consents, and permission forms
Attend meetings with local pediatrician as needed
Gather student information for medical professionals and supply as requested through Learning Services department (once permission granted from parents via signed consent forms)
Complete testing and required documentation for upcoming Psych Ed assessments; be prepared to meet with planning team following assessments
Collaboratively monitor I.E.P. goals with student’s team
Provide C.R.T.s/students/families with additional supports such as material resources, assessments, strategies and tools
May need to assist in emergency behaviour situations
Co-teaching and planning with C.R.T.s as is possible/expected
Help support and implement programs (i.e., Zones of Regulation, Print Move Talk)
Screen incoming student files
May be asked to assist with kindergarten screenings
Documentation in My ED BC and Willock
Complete assessments to assist in planning process
-Decide who will be the Medic Alert person, complete medic alerts for students with allergies, asthma, or seizure disorders. See My Ed BC for a print out. Complete medic alert sheets and supply relevant teachers with a copy and keep a hard copy on the medic alert wall or binder. Remember that consent is needed to discuss students with Northern Health and to administer drugs at school (epi-pen, inhaler, medication). Consent for administration of drugs needs to be signed by family doctor. Check medic alert wall/binder for epi-pens, inhalers, and medication, if they have expired, contact home for a replacement.
Develop Safety Plans as necessary with S.B.T. and inform principal or vice principal of possible need for an incident risk assessment if necessary