The Instructional Support Team (IST) process is an intensive building-based pre-referral intervention program using teams of teachers and other school professionals to assist elementary students experiencing difficulty in the classroom. This trainer's manual presents a model workshop for training principals. The workshop's goals are to: (1)…

The Lewisburg (Pennsylvania) Area Middle School has successfully implemented an alternating-day block schedule that has yielded improved academic performance. The positive effect may derive from administrative support, teacher empowerment, and community agreement. The culture of the traditional schedule and school year remains essentially intact,…

Over the past several years, education reformers have increasingly invested in the development of communities within schools as a central strategy to improve teaching and student learning. These communities come in various guises, including small schools, small learning communities, and teacher teams. Two assumptions about how these communities…

The document features two articles on school reform in Pennsylvania. Part one discusses the Instruction Support Team (IST) (Kovaleski, Tucker, and Duffy). The IST process is an intensive building-based pre-referral intervention program to assist elementary students experiencing difficulty in the classroom. The IST is a working group of teachers…

The goal of this workshop for school psychologists is to provide high quality training in best practices for instructional evaluation. An objective of these trainings is to facilitate the implementation of the instructional evaluation requirement of the Special Education Regulations and Standards for determining eligibility for special education…

This workshop manual focuses on validation procedures designed to foster program improvement rather than compliance monitoring. The manual is in eight chapters. Chapter 1 looks at the elements to be evaluated--organization and management, training, student assessment, design and implementation of classroom interventions, team work, screening a…

The Instructional Support Team (IST) process is mandated in all Pennsylvania schools that include any grade from kindergarten through 6. Middle schools that house grade six or below are required to enroll in IST training and ultimately achieve IST validation. In addition to the IST requirement, all secondary schools are required to have a Student…

The Instructional Support Team (IST) process is an intensive building-based pre-referral intervention program using teams of teachers and other school professionals to assist elementary students experiencing difficulty in the classroom. This trainer's manual outlines a 3-day workshop for team training. The schedule for each day is provided, with a…

This guide outlines the key elements of a full time equivalent (FTE) instructional support model, and provides suggestions for its effective implementation. Support teachers in the Instructional Support Team (IST) Program perform a variety of functions, including conducting instructional assessments, classroom observations, data collection,…

Pennsylvania's instructional support initiatives for secondary students with special needs include collaboration, curriculum-based assessment, learning strategies, and instructional adaptations. A learning strategies model for low achievers is described, followed by one school's experience using instructional supports in regular English classes…

Interviews with, and classroom observations of, 17 teachers in Queensland (Australia) and Pennsylvania examined co-teaching approaches to provide support to students with disabilities in inclusive secondary classrooms. Co-teaching partnerships in both countries were dominated by content subject teachers with special educators in…

This bulletin presents basic information for parents about identification and services for gifted students in Pennsylvania. Written in a question and answer format, the bulletin addresses the following concerns: the Individualized Education Program (IEP) required for all exceptional students in the state; the multi-disciplinary evaluation process;…

The Instructional Support Team (IST) Project of Pennsylvania identifies effective instructional approaches for students prior to referral for special education and helps support students with disabilities in regular classroom environments. Pennsylvania State Special Education Regulations and Standards require the IST process in schools that have…

Through a Pennsylvania statewide curriculum integration project involving 11 school districts, this research examines the curriculum reform process and determines which factors, or combination of factors, are absolutely essential for successful curriculum reform. Comparing programs and their respective levels of success makes it clear that only a…

An adult educator in Butler, Pennsylvania, noticed that, although students who took the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB) seemed highly motivated to improve their basic skills in mathematics and spatial relations, only 2 of her 20 students who took the GATB made a concerted effort to develop their vocabulary. Thinking that those two students…