Committee:

Deb Hays, Co Chair
Gail Huizinga, Co Chair
Felicia Frazier
Donna Herman
Susanne Picchi
Kim Winter
Amy Zaher

Purpose: 

To promote understanding, develop a common language, and advocate for effective literacy instruction and assessment practices to realize the potential of Response to Intervention for Illinois students, educators, and families. 

Shifts in ELA:

There are six shifts in ELA/Literacy required by the Common Core State Standards.

1. Balance informational and literary text

2. Knowledge in the disciplines

3. Staircase of complexity

4. Text-based answers

5. Writing from sources

6. Academic vocabulary

Retrieved from http://engageny.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/common-core-shifts.pdf

Shift Number 1:  The Balance of Informational and Literary Texts in K-5

http://engageny.org/resource/common-core-in-ela-literacy-shift-1-pk-5-balancing-informational-text-and-literature/ 

This site provides links to the video and viewing guide for Common Core In Ela/ Literacy: Shift 1: Pk-5: Balancing Informational Text And Literature.  (Note The New Illinois Learning Standards Incorporating the Common Core are K-5 standards.  The developers of engage^ny developed these resources to include the PreK standards added by New York.) 

Another resource is  www.PARCC.org.  The consortium for the assessment for the CCSS in Illinois (and  other states).  People need to know about the content frameworks on this site.  

Common Core Resources by State:

 Illinois

http://www.isbe.net/common_core/default.htm   

Colorado

http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeassess/UAS/AdoptedAcademicStandards/RWC_Standards_2010.pdf

 Maine

http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/ela/ccss_modules.html  

 New York

http://schools.nyc.gov/Academics/CommonCoreLibrary/work/default   

 Ohio

http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=1696&ContentID=83819&Content=105524   

 Tennessee

http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/common-core-standards-training/id444480425  

Mary Howard's words in RTI from All Sides:  What Every Teacher Needs to Know, reflect the promise, possibility, and the pitfalls many of us encounter as we implement Response to Intervention in Illinois classrooms.  IRC leadership, seeking to meet the needs and interests of our membership, is pleased to announce the formation of a new committee to support the successful implementation of Response to Intervention.

The purpose of the committee is to promote understanding, develop a common language, and advocate for effective literacy instruction and assessment practices to realize the potential of Response to Intervention for Illinois students, educators, and families. 

The Guiding Principles for RTI, drafted by the IRA Commission on RTI, along with the Illinois RtI Plan are the foundation of the committee's work.  The resources shared by the committee will reflect our commitment to those principles:  Instruction, Responsive Teaching and Differentiation, Assessment, Collaboration, Systemic and Comprehensive (Implementation), and (Teacher) Expertise.

The founding committee members represent a small group of experienced practitioners working in systems with different approaches to RtI.  The committee is dedicated to supporting our colleagues as we work to foster literacy development and enjoyment for all students through RtI.  

This year the committee will draft and begin to implement an action plan after undertaking a series of investigations regarding collaboration and communication.  The committee will investigate ways in which the IRC and ISBE can work cooperatively, as well as promote the work of the IRA Commission on RtI. 

As we begin our work, the committee encourages you to attend the RtI sessions at our annual conference in Springfield this March, as well as read Mary Howard's book, RTI from All Sides:  What Every Teacher Needs to Know. 

"The response in response to intervention is both our students' and our own.  It's up to us to respond wisely with the very best resources, instructional strategies, and professional development to close the achievement gap." (Howard, 2009, p. 33)