News

As a new year gets underway, a full continuum of supports is available in our schools to support students’ academic, social, emotional and behavior development and needs.

After two years of disrupted, pandemic learning, addressing academic gaps and support for students’ development and well-being are top of mind. The Spring Lake Park Schools Learning and Innovation team has worked with teachers to strengthen and clarify a full continuum of supports for academic and social, emotional, and behavioral growth and development.

The district has taken a unique path from what happens in most districts. To create a more integrated approach, the team has brought curriculum and instruction together with special education and student services.

“Unfortunately, academics and social, emotional and behavioral development and support have traditionally been separate focus areas in education,” says Hope Rahn, executive director of Learning and Innovation. “These aspects aren’t separate in kids. Each child has a unique combination of needs and strengths that we want and need to better support.”

On both the academic side of the continuum and the social, emotional and behavioral side, there is a core set of instructional practices that all students experience. For students who show a need, there are also targeted, small group services as well as individual supports. A new Student Supports and Intervention image strives to show the core, targeted and individual supports and who delivers them.

Core, targeted, individualized

“All students get the core instruction, and the core is delivered by a variety of people in our schools including the classroom teacher,” says Melissa Olson, director of curriculum and instructional practices. “We have strong core practices, grounded in research, that we ensure all teachers are using in their classrooms for all kids.”

Academic core includes things like instruction in language arts and mathematics and having clear, transparent learning outcomes. On the social, emotional and behavioral side of the continuum, core includes things like having common classroom expectations and routines to provide a positive, engaging classroom.

For grades K-6, the morning meeting is an example of a core practice from the social, emotional and behavioral side of the continuum. Morning meeting establishes the conditions for a child to learn with others all day long. Students get to know their classmates, develop social skills, learn routines and practice skills that lead to positive relationships and community.

“At any point, if a student is showing signs of needing something different from or more than the core on either side of the continuum, we have systems and structures to help identify needs and apply interventions – in small groups or for individual students,” says Melissa.

Targeted services are for smaller groups of kids. These include interventions such as small group instruction focused on specific skills in reading or to build a specific social skill. Individualized support may result in special education services or therapeutic supports like in-school mental health services and counseling.

Targeted and individual supports and interventions are delivered by staff trained in the specific intervention they are delivering. Most are employed by the district – school psychologists, behavior specialists, academic specialists. Some partnerships exist to enhance capabilities and capacity in specific areas.

“One example of the ways we’ve expanded services through partnership is with mental health services available in our schools, specifically in-school therapy,” says Kaline Sandven-Marinello, director of special education and student services. “We’ve had a partnership with Lee Carlson Center for many years and added another partner this year to increase access to these services.”

Identifying student needs, interventions

“The classroom teacher is often the one who sees when a student needs something else,” says Melissa. “It may also start with a parent expressing a question or concern.”

Often, there is informal consultation between those delivering the core instruction, like classroom teachers, and the experts who deliver targeted and individual services. The ideal is to identify and meet a student’s needs before formalizing a targeted or individual support plan. Sometimes, that informal approach is all it takes.

At the secondary level, students are on teams for their core subject areas. Teachers are creating strong relationships and know students well enough to be able to identify and meet their needs. If they see that a student has a gap and needs some targeted help, they have time built in to accomplish that without moving a student to a formal, targeted intervention.

“One of the biggest benefits of the team approach is having multiple adult perspectives on a student’s progress. When they see something getting off track, they can address it comprehensively and right away,” says Melissa.

Sometimes, a student needs more. Each school gathers a multidisciplinary team each week representing various expertise. They discuss students who may need additional support.

“The teams look at multiple points of data – with the right people in the room,” says Kaline. “The team can then identify appropriate support for that student.”

Responsive continuum

At Spring Lake Park Schools, the vision is for all support and intervention to be grounded in the district’s approach to personalized learning.

“We’ve really worked to redesign the way we’re doing everything – aligned to personalized learning,” says Melissa. “Using tools such as learner profiles, personal learner maps, and our approach to curricular design helps us tailor our support and intervention so we can deeply know each student.”

Looking at academic supports along with social, emotional and behavioral growth and development, allows for a complete view and response to each student.

“As we put our student support and intervention model together, what I most appreciate and believe is that it acknowledges that a child doesn’t have to live in only one place,” says Kaline. “A student can be individualized on both sides of the continuum.”

If a student struggles academically, it might show up on the social, emotional and behavioral side of the continuum even when the root cause may be academic.

“Our approach is individualized and always with the goal of moving a student back toward the middle – where their needs can be met by the core practices,” says Kaline. “Sometimes, we need to be a hugging machine and provide a tight wraparound of support for a student. With that kind of support, eventually, that student may just need a high five.”