SAT & SST Meetings

Planning for Individual Students (Student Assistance Team (SAT) Meetings):

Purpose of meeting: Review data, review hypotheses, and determine what additional supports or individualized interventions should occur. SAT meetings may result in a referral for special education evaluation.

Team members: Principal, Classroom teacher, Title I teacher, Resource Room teacher, ELD teacher

Some children do not progress as expected, even though they have participated in high-quality instruction using a researched based curriculum and received small and large group support. In cases such as these, children may need intensive, individualized approaches. District decision rules indicate when the Student Assistance Teams should collect data, review hypotheses, and determine the final, individualized intervention prior to a possible special education evaluation referral.

If the student has failed to make adequate progress after two (or more as appropriate) interventions (see SIV paperwork for intervention types and lengths), additional information must be gathered in order to select an intervention that is specifically targeted to the student’s needs. In addition, observations of instruction must occur to ensure previous interventions were delivered with fidelity. An SAT meeting is held to develop an individualized (Tier 3) intervention. The following needs to be completed and documented prior to the SAT:

• Check student’s percentile using DISTRICT NORMS

• Core fidelity check

• Intervention Fidelity Check:

• Diagnostic Decoding Screener

• File Review Complete

• Parent Notified of SAT Meeting: (verbal or written)

• Check if student passing in program assessments?

When a student is identified as needing Tier 3 interventions, progress monitoring continues every week for four weeks. After four weeks, the team will determine if:

a. The student has improved substantially and no longer needs to be included in an intervention group;

b. The student has improved substantially and the team reduces the intensity of the intervention and continues to monitor progress;

c. The student is an English Language Learner and needs more support with reading comprehension in comparison with their “like peer” cohort of students in the ELD program. The intervention designed to improve comprehension will be continued for at least one additional four week period, with weekly progress monitoring. If progress is not made despite the added intervention, a referral for special education may be considered at this time.

d. A referral for a formal special education evaluation is appropriate. It may also be appropriate to consider a referral for special education services for students who have made progress, but the intervention has been intensive and will need to be maintained in order for the student to continue to make progress. The information from the progress-monitoring and individual problem solving should be included with the referral, as they provide evidence regarding the student’s responses to various interventions. While RtIi is used only for Specific Learning Disability identification, the information collected may be useful for any special education referral.

Parental input is an important part of this process. Parent/Guardians should be notified verbally of the meeting date and time. Their input, as well as a thorough file review should be obtained prior to the meeting.

Once the data is collected, the SAT meets to determine the most likely reason the student is not making progress and to develop an intervention plan that is calculated to increase the student’s rate of progress. Parent is then notified in writing of the outcome of the SAT meeting.

Documents for SAT Meetings

SIV Document

• Pages 1-3 filled out prior to meeting, Tasks completed prior to meeting

• Pages 4-5 filled out at meeting

RTIi Guidelines

Common Instructional Needs

General Features of Instruction

Look For Document

Active Engagement and Behavioral Strategies

Alternative Passage Reading Procedures

FBA and BSP Documents

Student Support Team (SST)

Student Support Team (SST): This team progress monitors the student’s response to individually designed intervention matched to their unique instructional needs and gathers additional information. If an SST needs to be scheduled for a student, the interventionist (Title teacher or Special Education teacher) will make the parent contact and set up an appointment that allows the special education teacher, classroom teacher, administrator, and any other relevant personnel (Speech, Occupational therapist, Counselor) to be present. The purpose of the SST meeting is to look at progress monitoring data and determine next steps, and determine if an evaluation for special education is warranted. Outcomes of an SST meeting may include an adjustment to the intervention in addition to the team deciding whether or not to start an evaluation for special education.

It is critical that

• additional, documented supports (Tier 2+ and Tier 3) be very explicit and

• systematic instruction is delivered by the Title I teacher, Sped teacher (Tier 3), or a very experienced Educational Assistant.

Changes in the Title teacher’s schedule may need to occur as you add supports so that the student can receive very intensive instruction prior to an SST. Read Naturally and core reading support are examples of programs that are not intensive enough to ensure that every effort has been made to support students. In the RtIi process, there needs to be overwhelming evidence of the need for a specialized education plan before moving to an SST. The Tier 2+ and Tier 3 support may be maintained for longer than the required four weeks in order to confirm the need.

If the student fails to make adequate progress in Tier 2+/Tier 3 intervention, the team may suspect a disability (see Section 4: SLD Decision Making).