A group of more than 30 educators—including teachers, staff from the Child Study Team and student support services—worked together on Friday at the Valley Road offices to develop expanded intervention services as part of ongoing efforts to help PPS pupils who could benefit from extra attention.

Multi-disciplinary intervention teams of school personnel at each school will look at the needs of students who are at risk for learning, behavior, or health problems. The teams respond to requests for assistance made by teachers. This approach provides the benefit of multiple lenses looking at a concern.

A unique set of supports will be designed for each individual student. Typically, the Intervention & Referral Services (I&RS) process involves collaboration between families and school personnel. The process targets the needs of students who are making minimal academic progress or having emotional difficulties within the school setting.

Core teams will work to review procedures designed to help students succeed. At the same time, the district is moving forward with its multi-tiered support services (MTSS), designed to ensure that each student who might benefit receives the full complement of available resources.

"We are expanding training and also working with experts to improve our system of interventions. These interventions will be used within the general education classroom to benefit our students," said Superintendent Carol Kelley. "I am proud of our staff for all the hard work they have been doing to make this a reality."

The process of rebuilding and rebooting I&RS began in March. Work will continue during the summer and throughout the next school year. By Spring 2023, the district will have published a revised I&RS handbook for PPS staff and, at the same time, teachers will have received training in the new procedures. In addition, a recurrent training schedule for core teams and faculty will enable staff to implement new resources and techniques on an ongoing basis.