As a Special Education Director, staying updated with the latest initiatives and plans is crucial for ensuring the best outcomes for our students. One such significant initiative is Oklahoma's State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP). This comprehensive, ambitious, yet achievable multi-year plan is designed to improve results for children with disabilities.
Every state is required to develop its own SSIP to enhance a student outcome selected by local stakeholders. Oklahoma has chosen early literacy, specifically focusing on kindergarten through third grade, as the state's target area. The Office of Special Education Services is collaborating with several OSDE offices and grants to elevate early literacy at struggling school sites by implementing a tiered intervention framework, modeled as a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS).
The three tiers in this framework provide different types of evidence-based interventions:
- Tier 1: Universal interventions that are applied to all students to promote general literacy skills.
- Tier 2: Targeted interventions for students who need additional support beyond the universal interventions.
- Tier 3: Intensive, individualized interventions for students who require the most support.
Site personnel will implement these practices in their classrooms to benefit all students. The goal is to provide extra support to school sites in the most straightforward way possible, meeting the specific needs of each site. This SSIP has been carefully defined with stakeholder input over the past year, and state personnel have already begun building the framework.
As a school district leader, it is essential to stay informed about such initiatives to better support our educators and students. Understanding and implementing these evidence-based interventions can significantly improve early literacy outcomes, setting a strong foundation for our students' future academic success.
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