RTI // Behavior Intervention
As an EL school, we strive to educate the “whole child,” regardless of where they are in their educational journey. Subsequently, Principal Monge made it a high priority for us to have a highly structured, and effectively implemented Response To Intervention (RTI) Team. The purpose of such a team is to provide various resources and support staff to help meet the needs of each student at DAA. This team consists of academic and behavior interventionists as well as social work services. More specifically, the Behavior Intervention component led by Principal Monge, myself- the Behavior Interventionist, Mr. Anderson- the School Social Worker and the MSW interns, has been in full-swing since the first day of the school year, and we are beyond excited about the progress that has been made thus far.
We have found success in our approach to support all students at DAA through our 3 Tiered Behavior Intervention System. At the Tier 1 level, we support all teachers to explicitly teach various social and emotional skills with the entire crew. With the support of the Behavior Intervention Team, teachers have worked hard to foster a positive culture within their respective crews. Guided by the school’s Habits of Character (Integrity, Responsibility, Compassion, Perseverance, and Cooperation), teachers and students have engaged with and applied these habits consistently throughout each school day. This makes for a school culture that is unique to our DAA community. This level of support also serves a baseline from which we can identify students who are able to quickly grasp the concepts, as well as those who may need additional social/emotional support moving forward.
In order to educate the “whole child,” we as a community of educators and supportive staff, must take extra steps to fully support every student. At Tier 2 of the Behavior Intervention process, we identify students or groups of students who could benefit from additional support. This may manifest in various different ways, including but not limited to, small social skills groups, individual behavior plans, in class support, and/or restorative circles if/when necessary. It is at this level that we are able to specifically pinpoint what social skills and development we should focus on. This level is highly collaborative between the lead teachers and the support staff as we create intentional plans to reach each group of students. We have found that when done with fidelity, students in this tier, most often merges with Tier 1; and in extremely rare cases they move to Tier 3 where intensive behavior intervention is required.
Overall, we are extremely proud to have noticed that the work we are doing as an entire DAA school community is transformational in nature. Subsequently, we believe that if we continue to do this with intentionality, we can eventually become the model for what Detroit Education should look like. “Detroit Achievement Academy- revolutionizing the way that students and educators learn and grow into thoughtful, productive, and engaged citizens of the world!!!!” What a privilege it is to be a part of a team that is committed to making a difference in the lives of the people in our community for generations to come. DAA. ACHIEVE. DAA. HOPES AND DREAMS.