Vital Member Of The Problem-Solving Team (PST)-

Vital Member Of The Problem-Solving Team (PST)-

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Vital Member Of The Problem-Solving Team (PST)-

By Kristen Pester

Reading Discussion:

I see the school psychologist as a vital member of the problem-solving team (PST)- often times acting as

the leader/director of the process. If a new member of the school staff asked what role the school

psychologist plays in the PST process, I would have several responses. First, a school psychologist is

trained in the process and purposes of the MTSS/RtI system of interventions. This is important

information for the team so they can be guided as to what constitutes a Tier 1,2 or 3 intervention and

when to move a child up to the next tier. In addition, a school psychologist would have knowledge of the

various specialized staff in the building and what they could offer to that child’s intervention process.

Second, a school psychologist is extensively trained to gather, read, understand and utilize data collected

from students and they would be able to help the entire team understand what the trends in the data

mean for that student. Third, because of their unique knowledge about assessments and interventions,

the school psychologist would play a major role in brainstorming appropriate assessments to pinpoint

problem areas and then interventions to improve the academics of the child. Finally, the school

psychologist thoroughly understands the requirements for qualification in special education and would be

able to speak in to whether or not a child should be referred on for special education evaluation or

continue with Tier 3 interventions. This is important information because a child should not be kept for an

extended amount of time in Tier 3 interventions if they are not making adequate progress and should

instead be referred for evaluation in a timely manner in order to avoid precious academic time being lost

for the student.

I am quite familiar with the process of Tier 1 and 2 interventions, due to my work as a 5th grade teacher.

However, in my experience in my district, when a student does not respond to Tier 2 interventions, then

the child is quickly referred to special education evaluation. This has been the default Tier 3 “intervention”

in my experience. Therefore, I was interested to see what the actual recommended role of the PST was

when the Tier 3 level was reached. Each step makes sense and follows a logical sequence from problem

identification and analysis, plan development and implementation and then evaluation after sufficient time

has passed. It makes sense, but one of my concerns is that by the time a child struggles at the Tier 1

level and is identified and referred to Tier 2 interventions, so much time has passed. Then the student

must work on the Tier 2 interventions that are put into place for them and the team must determine if

those are working, at which point they are referred on to Tier 3, if they are still struggling. Then the team

must meet to brainstorm (which often takes months), collect data, implement and monitor intervention

progress and finally make decisions about whether adequate progress is being made. Finally, if the child

does not make progress, then they are referred for special education evaluation, which also takes

months. By the time the whole process has taken place, a student can lose a year or more before they

are matched with the help they need. If the child is young, they can often catch up and have an excellent

academic experience. However, if the child is older and struggling, then they can often become frustrated

learners whose attitudes sour on school. There are benefits to a slow process because those that are

helped at a lower tier do not have to be referred to special education, which is a good thing. However, it is

frustrating at times to see the process take so long and for the students to continue to struggle daily until

they get the right help. This is how I hope to help as a school psychologist- to be part of the team who

gets help for struggling students in the most efficient manner possible with the best interventions to fit

their needs that improve their educational journey.

Activity Discussion:

Scenario- Henry is a 5th grade student at Walnut Elementary School (WES) who is currently struggling in

reading. He is an otherwise hard-working student who gets along well with peers in the classroom. His

classroom teacher is concerned and has asked for the PST to meet with parents to discuss how to help

Henry learn best. This process involves the following steps: problem identification, problem analysis,

developing a plan/hypothesis, plan implementation and plan evaluation.

Problem identification- WES uses the Fastbridge platform for all their academic benchmark assessments

and data collection for Tier 1 interventions. On the Fall benchmark test for the aReading assessment

Henry scores 492, which is at the third-grade level. The 5th grade benchmark is 513. The aReading score

measures Henry’s reading comprehension. His CBM reading score, which measures reading fluency, is

92, which is also at a third-grade level. The 5th grade CBM benchmark for Fall is 132. These two scores

qualify for the dual discrepancy model and the team determines that Henry struggles with both reading

comprehension and fluency. Due to these initial scores Henry had already been moved to participate in a

Tier 2 intervention called Read Live, which is a reading comprehension and fluency computer program

administered by the reading staff. Unfortunately, after consulting the weekly progress monitoring data for

6 weeks, it is discovered that the Tier 2 interventions are not having the desired results for improving

Henry’s reading scores.

Problem Analysis

When the PST meets with parents, they discuss Henry’s reading struggles and decide to collect a

variety of data to pinpoint the potential root cause of his reading struggles. The team knows that in order

to read fluently, first a student must have solid phonemic awareness, then strong decoding skills, which

leads to reading fluently, which, in turn, allows the student to demonstrate reading comprehension (Burns

and Gibbons, 2012). The team has already identified that Henry struggles in the areas of reading

comprehension and fluency, so they decide to keep working backwards and test his decoding skills and

phonemic awareness. The reading specialist gives several assessments that measure his competence in

these areas. Other avenues are considered for intervention such as vision issues (which would make

reading words hard), hearing issues (which would impact the way Henry understood the words) and

attention challenges. Henry’s parents and his classroom teacher are given questionnaires to complete

inquiring into past history and his personality. School records are also consulted to examine any patterns

that would relate to a struggle with academics. When all the data come back, the only significant concern

is in the area of decoding skills. The reading specialist administered a DIBELS assessment in nonsense

word fluency and in addition, observed Henry while reading several passages and took extensive notes.

The team decides to focus on Henry’s word decoding skills in the hopes that this will improve his general

reading skills.

Plan Development and Implementation

It is decided that in addition to continuing to participate in the Tier 2 intervention group with Read Live,

Henry will also get 20 minutes of focused decoding skills interventions with a reading paraprofessional, at

least 4 times a week. The reading para will work with Henry on an intervention called “Graphosyllabic

Analysis: Five Steps to Decoding Complex Words”. This intervention has been shown to improve

decoding skills in especially the poorest readers and ultimately improves overall reading. The para will

teach Henry a five-step syllable segmentation strategy through modeling the concepts and positive praise

and feedback. The para will select a third-grade word list containing words with multiple syllables. The five

steps include reading the word first, then defining it, then orally dividing the word into syllables, then the

para would cover part of the word and say it to match it to the spelling and finally, the para would

demonstrate how to blend all the syllables together to say the whole word (Burn, et al., 2017). The para

will progress monitor Henry weekly using CBM reading passages and will graph his progress. It is

decided that the PST will reconvene in 8 weeks to assess Henry’s progress and discuss next steps.

Plan Evaluation

The team reconvenes and ascertains that the plan has been implemented with integrity, as evidenced by

the documentation presented by the reading specialist showing eight weeks of graphed points on Henry’s

CBM data. Henry’s data does indicate that he is making steady progress with his CBM scores and the

team decides to continue the plan implementation until the data improves to reflect current grade level or

it shows that Henry has leveled off and is no longer progressing, at which time the team will meet again to

discuss the possibility of further interventions or referral for special education testing.

References

Burns, M. K., & Gibbons, K. (2012). Implementing response-to-intervention in elementary and secondary

schools: Procedures to assure scientific-based practices. Routledge.

Burns, M. K., Riley-Tillman, T. C., & Rathvon, N. (2017). Effective school interventions: Evidence-based

strategies for improving student outcomes. Guilford Publications.

RUBRIC
Excellent Quality 95-100%	Introduction 45-41 points The background and significance of the problem and a clear statement of the research purpose is provided. The search history is mentioned.		Literature Support 91-84  points The background and significance of the problem and a clear statement of the research purpose is provided. The search history is mentioned.			Methodology 58-53 points Content is well-organized with headings for each slide and bulleted lists to group related material as needed. Use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. to enhance readability and presentation content is excellent. Length requirements of 10 slides/pages or less is met.
Average Score 50-85%	40-38 points More depth/detail for the background and significance is needed, or the research detail is not clear. No search history information is provided.		83-76  points Review of relevant theoretical literature is evident, but there is little integration of studies into concepts related to problem. Review is partially focused and organized. Supporting and opposing research are included. Summary of information presented is included. Conclusion may not contain a biblical integration.			52-49  points Content is somewhat organized, but no structure is apparent. The use of font, color, graphics, effects, etc. is occasionally detracting to the presentation content. Length requirements may not be met.
Poor Quality 0-45%	37-1 points The background and/or significance are missing. No search history information is provided.		75-1 points Review of relevant theoretical literature is evident, but there is no integration of studies into concepts related to problem. Review is partially focused and organized. Supporting and opposing research are not included in the summary of information presented. Conclusion does not contain a biblical integration.			48-1 points There is no clear or logical organizational structure. No logical sequence is apparent. The use of font, color, graphics, effects etc. is often detracting to the presentation content. Length requirements may not be met
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