Continuity, Coherence, and Change: Examining the Conditions for Effective Intervention Practices in an Urban School District

Abstract

Public school districts are responsible for ensuring that all of their students receive a high-quality education and achieve academic success. What, then, should a district do when a student is struggling to master grade level skills and content? Research indicates that using a Response to Intervention (RtI) framework in schools can increase the success of at-risk or struggling students. However, effective and full implementation of RtI is difficult to accomplish, especially throughout an entire district. Challenges to this effort come from a complex combination of factors, including confusing and conflicting policies, competing priorities, and a long history of educators working in isolation from each other. As a resident in the City School District of New Rochelle, I dove deeply into the dynamics of executing a consistent, effective academic intervention system in the district's elementary schools. In this capstone, I detail how I explored New Rochelle's current intervention practices, and collaborated with staff from across the district to redesign systems and tools needed to provide targeted, appropriate supports to students at all schools. I also present the challenges New Rochelle may face when trying to implement these systems fully, and how I believe the district can address these challenges using their current assets and resources. Using the Public Education Leadership Project's Coherence Framework and the eight-phase model for change developed by John Kotter, I analyze the successes and challenges of this work to date. Based on the lessons learned from this analysis, I present implications for the City School District of New Rochelle, the public education sector broadly, and my own future leadership, to advance the goal of ensuring all students receive the support they need to improve as learners and achieve academic success.