What is IST?

The Instructional Support Team (IST) is an innovative program whose goals are to maximize individual student success in the regular classroom, while at the same time serving as a screening process for students who may be in a need of special education services. IST is a positive, success-oriented program which uses specific assessment and intervention techniques to help remove educational, behavioral, or affective stumbling blocks for all students in the regular classroom.

The program shifts the critical question in education to asking, "What resources can we use to increase the student's chances for success?" IST answers this question through a team approach that provides for greater cohesiveness, coordination, and instructional continuity, and complements existing curriculum and instructional programs.

Who Are The Members of the IST?

The IST team at the middle-high school includes the building principal, the counseling team, dean of students, PACER teacher, Academic Center teacher, and referring classroom teachers as appropriate. The school psychologist, school nurse, and representatives from community agencies may also serve on the IST, depending on the needs of the student.

The IST follows the learning and credit recovery framework to determine what strategies should be implemented to help the student achieve success in the regular classroom. The IST concept is based on team work. Collaboration and joint planning occur throughout the entire process. Each member of the team has equal input and decision-making power to determine what methods, learning strategies, special techniques, or programs best address the student's area(s) of weakness.

How Does IST Work?

The IST is responsible for implementing and monitoring the credit and learning recovery framework as follows:

• Building IST conducts meetings every 3 weeks and identifies students who have received grades lower than 65%. Such students will be eligible for learning recovery.

Learning Recovery Framework:

• Any student failing a course, who has a study hall, is required to be in the Academic Center during study hall. The Academic Center Monitor will be requesting attendance. Teachers should send assignments to the Academic Center for any student who is failing their course.

• Any student with two course failures will stay after school until 3:15 until credit/learning is recovered.

• Any student with three or more course failures will attend Twilight School until credit/learning is recovered.

• Students may complete missing assignments and turn them in for full credit at anytime during the quarter. Teachers should send these assignments to the Academic Center.

Credit Recovery Framework:

• At the end of each marking period, the IST team will identify those students who have received failing grades for the quarter. Based on this list, appropriate students will be referred to the credit recovery team (Slack, Kingsbury, Brown, Christopher, Mallon, Chaffee, Wronski, Neal), which will meet at the end of every quarter.

• Credit recovery team requests teachers to identify areas in which student was not meeting standards and works with Ryan Schoenfeld at RRT to create the curriculum and credit recovery plan.

• Failing grades may only be recovered to an average of 65%

• All credit recovery must be completed by the end of the following quarter. If a student fails to complete a credit recovery plan within the allocated ten week window, the grade remains failing and may not be recovered except when due extenuating circumstances such as severe illness.

• Credit recovery plans will follow the "Drill Down Process"

• Find the F

• Identify failing students’ position on the course pacing chart

• Which areas is student not meeting standards?

• Work with RRT to create the curriculum

• Let student work on it to gain competency

• Replace the grade

• To receive credit, the student shall successfully complete a make-up credit program and demonstrate mastery of the learning outcomes for the subject, including passing the Regents examination in the subject or other assessment required for graduation, if applicable.

• There will be no minimum seat time requirement for credit recovery

• Credit recovery team will certify when the requirements have been met to give the credit

• Students enrolled in Right Reason courses for purposes of alternative instruction or credit recovery shall not be included in teacher SLO populations.