SWIFT Newsletter - August 2017

SWIFT Schools

NEWS

In July, SWIFT district and school leaders told their transformation stories to more than 1,000 educators at the 2017 MTSS National Professional Learning Institute: All Means All in Orange County, California. We are proud of the work all our partners are doing, and are pleased to highlight some of their presentations here:

Maryland

Allegany County Public Schools Specialized Instruction in the Secondary Setting by Kendra Kenney, Principal; Patti Cuthbertson, Special Education Teacher; Rebecca Alkire, 7th Grade Math Inclusion; and Suzanne Taylor, Social Studies, Language Arts, and Reading Intervention at Washington Middle School

Building MTSS From the Bottom Up: Focusing on Prekindergarten and Kindergarten by Wendy Barnes, Coordinator of MTSS; Pamela Cocol-Brown, School Psychologist; Nadine Serbonich, Lead School Psychologist; and Jessica Silva, Lead Speech-Language Pathologist for the Baltimore City Public Schools

Better Together: Promoting Academic and Social Success in Middle School by Megan Frunzi, Principal; Samantha Wallace, Assistant Principal; and Angela Gyuro, PBIS Coach from Elkton Middle School, Cecil County Public Schools

CICO (Check In Check Out) at Cecil Manor ES by Tony Petinga, Principal of Cecil Manor Elementary, Cecil County Public Schools

Bringing Meaning to the Mission by Jennifer Schrecongost, Acting Principal, Matapeake Elementary School, Queen Anne’s County Public Schools

Rock Solid: Teachers Building a Strong Foundation, One Student at a Time by Kimberly Seidel, Principal, Sudlersville Elementary School, Queen Anne’s County Public Schools

New Hampshire

Using Student Data to Identify Skill-Specific Interventions by Chris Young, Principal; and Lynne Wiggins, Reading Specialist at Charlestown Primary School

Oregon

Building Your Red Thread of Collaboration: Supporting Success in Behavior by Ivonne Dibblee, Principal; and Everett Barr-Hertel, School Counselor at Atkinson Elementary, Portland

“Those Kids” to “Our Kids”: Our First Year in SWIFT, a Journey Toward Greater Inclusion by Melissa Harder, Principal; Mary Beth Hill, Special Education Teacher, Life Skills; Teresa LeClaire, Special Education Teacher, Learning Resource Center; and Beth Martin, Intervention Specialist and Instructional Coach at Jefferson Elementary, Corvallis

Family Engagement in a Rural School Setting by Julie Holden, 4th Grade Teacher; Julie Patton, Health Teacher; Wendy Van Seggern, Counselor; Becky Stoughton, Principal; and Kimberly Strong, Language Arts Teacher in the Sisters School District

Vermont

Installing an Intervention Block: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Megan Grube, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Technology for the Grand Isle Supervisory Union

Where Many (MTSS) Roads Converge; Lessons Learned in Vermont by Chris Kane, Inclusion Coordinator/SWIFT SEA Co-Coordinator; and Tracy Bettale Watterson, MTSS Program Manager, SWIFT SEA Co-Coordinator from the Vermont Agency of Education

Resources

Back-to-School Resources

Whether you’re preparing for the new school year or already in full swing, be sure to check out SWIFT Field Guide to brush up on the SWIFT framework, or introduce it to new colleagues. This resource provides an overview that explains what a feature is all about with a one-minute video, or "SWIFT-in-60." Each short video is jam-packed with content that both defines a feature and shows examples of it in action.

Are you helping a student transition to an inclusive environment this year? Be sure to check out our recent Issue Brief with strategies, FAQs, and resources for supporting families who are new to inclusive education. Click here to read Strategies for Transitioning to an Inclusive School Environment .

SWIFT Unscripted is a monthly podcast featuring guests from among the SWIFT community. A transcript link for each SWIFT Unscripted podcast is available at the end of its description. You can listen on SoundCloud or iTunes , or visit the SWIFT Unscripted page to download the podcast to your computer.

This month, we again welcome Dr. Susan Shapiro to SWIFT Unscripted for the second part of a special two-part podcast on tailoring education, differentiating instruction, and social/behavioral instruction. Click here to listen to Part 2 or read the transcript .

SWIFT Talk is a blog where you can find brief articles from various points of view in the SWIFT community.

Mississippi spotlight -- Robin Lemonis and Dr. Bacardi Mayfield-Harris share how Mississippi is scaling up SWIFT, improving family/community engagement, and providing professional development.

Understanding Intersectionality -- Dr. Seena Skelton from the Great Lakes Equity Center explains how intersectionality relates to educational equity, and how our own misconceptions might be barriers to achieving it.

Do you like to write and have a story to share about equity-based inclusive education? SWIFT welcomes submissions that advance the practice of equity, excellence, and All Means All. Click here for submission guidelines.

SWIFT Webinars are free, closed captioned, and live on the third Wednesday of every month on topics related to SWIFT Domains and Features. Recordings of all webinars can be downloaded from the Webinar section of SWIFT Shelf .

SWIFT Webinars is on summer break! There will not be a new webinar this month, however, we will keep you posted on future SWIFT webinars and professional learning opportunities via the SWIFT Newsletter and Facebook page . In the meantime, if you missed a webinar, or want to revisit one, check out the Webinar section on SWIFT Shelf ! This month, we recommend Jodi Henderson’s Monitoring MTSS Fidelity of Implementation .

The SWIFT Center produced this document under U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs Grant No. H326Y120005. OSEP Project Officers Grace Zamora Durán and Tina Diamond served as the project officers. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent the positions or policies of the Department of Education. No official endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any product, commodity, service or enterprise mentioned in this publication is intended or should be inferred. This product is public domain. Authorization to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While permission to reprint this publication is not necessary, the citation should be: SWIFT Center. (2017). SWIFT News, Issue 46, July 2017. Lawrence, KS: SWIFT Center

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