WEBVTT

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I am Gerald Zahorchak, and I
am the secretary of education

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for the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania,

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and in Pennsylvania that
means literally from prebirth

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through our Ph.D. system
and our library systems.

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The idea, as we started framing
the architecture for our plan

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to get to student results,

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intervention was
obviously a critical,

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maybe the most important,
part of the work.

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So our staff, lots of
leaders from around the state,

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started a response to
the nation's call for RtI

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and how do we really
do intervention well.

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And as we started the work,
it became clearer and clearer

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about the necessity of
alignment, the necessity

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of using proven practices, and
the assessment of good reporting

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and monitoring of
a child's progress.

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So it began as we began to
think about what we had in terms

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of initiatives going on.

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It fit perfectly in our
framework, of course,

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that you are going to intervene
for students who struggle.

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In Pennsylvania, we use
RtII as our acronym.

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RtII is the Response to
Instruction and Intervention.

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So if you think of the model, we
think of core instruction first

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and we get that right: is
there best teaching practices

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with built-in support for
students who would struggle,

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a way to understand-does
every child

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in the room understand
and make progress.

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So the first instructional level
is why we added the second I,

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and we say it's first response
to quality instruction.

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And then if there is a student
who continues to struggle,

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of course, and there will be,

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you then link really well
vertically the intervention.

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What tutoring or supports can
we give to extend learning,

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and beyond the normal
instruction-the quality

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instruction that children
get-how can we extend learning

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and provide a way to do
quality tutoring, for example,

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our intervention, with data
that's emerging constantly

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that feeds back in the loop
for the intervention process

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but also feeds back to
the classroom teacher

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on how the teacher for that
student can change instruction?

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So the intervention is based
and aligned with instruction,

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all aligned with our
standards-aligned systems.

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It's the state role to make
sure that teachers are prepared

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that way, inducted that
way and supported that way,

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principals are prepared
and supported that way,

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data systems flow into that;

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everything we do
builds that one system.

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Then it's the local community's
role to discover the means.

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So learning communities start
happening; best practices to get

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to those then start happening.

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We know a lot of
the right things.

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There is no one anywhere
that would say the answer

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for a struggling student is
an intervention intervention;

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the answer for a struggling
student, from the Shepard

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and Smith and other research,
is not to hold them back

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and do it again and get the
same result, or wait a year

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and see the regression
occur again.

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The answer isn't just
to promote them and say,

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"We are sorry you didn't do so
well, and we wish you well."

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The answer is,

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make sure-intervene,
intervene, intervene.

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The responsibility starts at
the very top of the systems.

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So we need to say, "What kind
of leadership do principals need

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in terms of understanding
how to be the architect

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of standards-based systems,
in terms of understanding how

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to use data and how to
create operational plans,

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and mostly how to do instruction
well and intervention well."

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So building capacity
means building the ability

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of those people to lead and
work in a context that's clear.

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We anticipate that we are
going to, in new policy terms,

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link school improvement
funds-the potential to partner

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with us in initiatives like Race

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to the Top-linking those
funding opportunities

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and support opportunities
to making sure

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that they are doing the
standard-aligned system very

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well and especially making sure
they are doing the RtI model

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very well.