Sarah Herman & Taylor VanMeighem

Special Education 420

March 8th, 2017

Pre-referral Activity
Student Selected: Viktor

1. Description of the problem: Viktor is an English Language learner student who is in the
sixth grade. Viktor is new to the United States, arriving January of last year. Viktor is
originally from Russia where he attended school for four years. Viktor has a strong home
life based off of the information we have received. Although socially and emotionally
Viktor is a stable and well rounded student, due to being an ELL student he is struggling
at a second grade reading level. Another issue is that he is making no progress with his
English. Because of his reading problem it is believed that Viktor can not progress
academically or with his English which he is then falling behind in math as well due to
not being able to work independently.

2. Analysis of the problem: Due to being an ELL student Viktor has struggled
academically and as a result, is failing all of his core subjects. Due to being non proficient
in English he was excused from the state standardized testing. However, as a result they
tested him in his native language - Russian, for his writing and reading skills. The results
of his writing and reading examination showed that he still fell behind the typical sixth
grader by one year. It is likely that Viktors lack of English proficiency over the year has
also made it difficult for him to keep up with students his age. Due to the language barrier
Viktor could be struggling in the silent period, a typical stage in which ELL students
face in the beginning of their English learning leading us to believe that the struggle he is
facing in school is due to language barrier, rather than academics. Other factors that have
been considered but do not show evidence towards his learning are the involvement of his
family, as well as a lack of medical problems, which applies to our previous assumption.

3. Development of the Plan: When considering a plan that addresses Viktors academic and
language delay we plan to first look at tier 1. Although tier 1 allows for specialized
differentiation, due to the fact that Viktor is failing academically as well as not
progressing in his English, or showing any sign of progressing he will be considered for
tier 2 pulling the student out for part of the day, but allowing them to participate in the
general education classroom as well. First of all, Viktor needs to be working with an ELL
teacher at least for part of his day. This way, he can be encouraged to exit the silent
period and have a scaffold approach to learning English rather than being thrown in to an
academic setting with no support. While working with an ELL teacher much of the focus
will be on reading and writing to make sure that he is getting the support most in
language. In order to help him academically get caught up, Viktor will be provided with
certain tools to help him understand the school work, rather than being given complex
English instruction. With the adaptation and differentiation of the lesson, there should be
less of a language barrier effecting him academically, allowing Viktor to progress through
sixth grade in hopes of catching up with his peers. Although Viktors lack of academic
 success may be due to the language barrier, it will benefit the student to receive RTI
support at this time, when being pulled out of the classroom.

4. Implementation of the plan: Since we have determined that Viktor does not benefit
from tier 1, we have planned to implement tier 2. The goal of tier 2 is to close the
achievement gap as quickly as possible. Something particular about tier 2 is that the
students are receiving intensive small group services (3-6 students), as well as
participating in the general education classroom. Tier two usually last from 6-9 weeks,
therefore, if Viktor does not reach his set benchmark/goal, he will be reevaluated. Based
off of this benchmark Viktors specialist instructor (ELL) will work with him to build
proper instruction. Viktor will leave the classroom during the duration of reading, and
work with the ELL professional in the resource room. The general education teacher will
also often participate in professional development that is focused on the needs of ELL
students, in hopes of benefiting Viktor. Throughout Viktors 6-9 week experience he will
participate in frequent monitoring and screening to follow his progression. Some of the
ways in which Viktors language progression will be tested with the ELL professional is
through fluency tests. Weekly he will be given a passage to practice fluency, and then at
the end of the week the teacher will record his progress. Formal tests such as DIBELs and
other fluency testing will be used as well. This will help Viktor in ELA as well as his
progression throughout the English language. Along with testing for fluency, Viktor will
be working with word meaning as well, creating a further comprehension skill level
which will be evaluated through observation and formal testing at least 3 times
throughout tier 2. Furthering throughout his formal testing, the benchmarks in which
Viktors instruction was based will be reevaluated at the end of the 6-9 weeks,
determining the next steps for Viktor.

5. Conclusions and steps forward: Based off of Viktors prior testing, and failing
academics he will be monitored for 6-9 weeks in tier 2. Throughout the implementation
of Tier 2 working in small group of ELL students with an ELL teacher to increase
reading and comprehension skills. After 6-9 weeks a formal exam will be taken to
measure the improvement of Viktor. If there Is not noticeable progression for his
language barrier then he will be reevaluated to either continue as tier 2 or move to a
different tier with more help.