There is an old Chinese Proverb, some call it a curse that goes like this, "May you live in interesting times." Well, we are definitely living in interesting times. The underfunding of state education has created some very interesting times for us. While there are many questions we are asking and difficult decisions being made, we move forward with helping our staff and students excel.
While others are taking off work or calling in sick to search for the last bit of snow on the slopes, this time of year brings the promise of massive scheduling challenges for the building Principal. Most likely, you have already cleared off that white board and started moving names, sections and courses around. When you walk out of your office you may find a sticky note stuck to the bottom of your shoe with the name of a course or teacher. You knew something was missing from the scheduling wall.
As you begin to make plans, please keep RtI in mind. Scheduling for a new year gives us an opportunity to review those students on Tier 2 and Tier 3. Pat Quinn recommends that when scheduling you take the time to review the number of students on Tier 2 or Tier 3 in a classroom. Overloading a single class with students needing intense interventions may not be possible, especially if you know you will not have the support staff to help. You may want to distribute the tiers throughout the grade level or content. Pat Quinn also states that many principals prefer to place students needing interventions with their best teachers. This may give one or two teachers students needing more than the typical interventions. If you select this method, you may want to make sure you can provide support for that teacher.
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