ASSESSING THE FACTORS NEGATIVELY IMPACTING SST TEAM IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING OF STUDENT ACTION PLANS

The Student Success Team (SST) is a crucial support system public schools use to identify struggling students. A combination of educational professionals, SST teams inform parents of their child's academic, behavioral, and social/emotional difficulties at school, document class-based interventions already put into place for the child, and develop and implement student intervention plans used to target their child's individual needs. However, SST teams may be experiencing problems implementing and monitoring the student intervention plans they create. This research project seeks to answer the two following inquiry questions: i) What factors are negatively affecting SST team implementation and monitoring of student-centered action plans they develop to help struggling students? ii) To what extent are SST teams using known, research-based best practices to remedy SST team institution and supervision of student-action plans they develop? A mixed methods research methodology was used to answer this project’s inquiry questions. Surveys and questionnaires were submitted to core elementary school SST team members from the urban unified school district in Southern California used for this study. Data from the aforementioned research methods solicited SST team member input regarding why SST teams may be struggling with student action plan implementation and monitoring, and what known, research-based best practices they were using to remedy such problems. This study indicated that a lack of time to develop and train general education teachers and support staff in their use and assessment, poor team member communication, poor delegation of team roles and responsibilities, and a lack of an organized, hierarchical system of multi-tiered student support negatively impacted the effectiveness and efficacy of SST team action plan institution and monitoring. Additionally, a poor understanding of “best practices,” coupled with a generalized approach to their use and a lack of an organized system of intervention appeared to further compound the difficulties SST teams experience with action plan implementation and monitoring. To improve action plan implementation and monitoring, SST teams must use multi-tiered systems of student intervention to more effectively develop, implement, and supervise student action plans. Multi-tiered systems of intervention provide a framework for intervention rooted in problem-solving, the use of specific, targeted interventions to support student learning outcomes in the general education setting, and access to tiered interventions that increase in frequency, intensity, and duration over time, depending on student responsiveness to them. Thus, SST teams must adopt an intervention philosophy incorporating the use of scientifically-researched strategies and interventions to support student learning outcomes in the general education setting as well as firmly root it in best practice. Key words: Best practices; core SST team members; hierarchical; intervention/action plans; mixed methods; multi-tiered systems of intervention, & Student Success Team (SST teams).