Within the state of Florida as well as nationally, there is substantial support for the use of PS/RtI.  Specifically, in addition to national support through IDEA and NCLB, the state of Florida has emphasized the use of Problem Solving and Response to Intervention procedures though changing rules and procedures for identifying students in need of assistance. As examples, Florida rules require conferences including a discussion of student response to intervention prior to consideration of special education eligibility. In addition, the state of Florida has recently changed the procedures for identifying students for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders to utilize PS/RtI procedures. For more information on Problem Solving/Response to Intervention, click here.

In an effort to provide technical assistance and support to the state, the Florida Department of Education and the University of South Florida have partnered to create Florida’s Problem Solving/Response-to-Intervention Project.

An announcement of this project was disseminated to Assistants Superintendents for Instruction, Exceptional Student Education Directors, and Student Services Directors on February 7, 2007 by Pam Smith, Deputy Chancellor, Curriculum Instruction, and Student Services, and Bambi J. Lockman, Chief, Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services.

The focus of this project is two-fold: (1) To provide statewide professional development and technical assistance to districts engaged in or wishing to initiate PS/RtI projects, and (2) to provide direct support, training, and on-site coaching to pilot districts.

Statewide Training Initiative
In Fall, 2007, the Project will initiate statewide training for school-based teams from school districts across Florida.  During the 2007-2008 School Year, 5 days of training will be provided in each the three state regions (North, Central, and South).  The training will be conducted by the Regional Coordinators and support staff.
Technical Assistance (TA) will be provided to the school-based teams participating in the Statewide Training on a quarterly basis.  TA needs assessment will be conducted by the Regional Coordinators to determine the content of the TA sessions in order to ensure an efficient TA Process.  The content of each TA session will be provided to the school-based teams in advance to ensure that the participants understand clearly the focus of the TA.  In addition to these face-to-face meetings, web-based TA will be provided as well. The web-based TA will be provided based on the on-going input of the school-based teams.

Demonstration District/Pilot Site Initiative
Thirty-eight schools (in eight school districts— 12% of school districts in Florida) have been awarded Mini-Grants to serve as Pilot Sites for the purpose of evaluating the impact of Problem Solving/Response to Intervention.  Each district has identified Comparison Schools—in addition to the Pilot Schools—to ensure a robust research design.  Each of the 38 pilot schools will be supported through the services of a dedicated, full-time PS/RtI Coach—one Coach for 3 schools.  All coaches will complete five days of training in July, 2007 and additional training, as well as mentoring and support by a Regional Coordinator throughout the year.  Each district will receive 5 days of training during the 2007-2008 school year.  The training will be targeted specifically to the needs of each of the Pilot Schools.  Training will be conducted by the Regional Coordinators and the Site-Based Coaches. Technical Assistance (TA) will be provided to the Pilot Site Coaches and the Pilot Site Administrators by the Regional Coordinators.  Technical Assistance will take the form of face-to-face TA, Web-Based TA, and telephone/email communication.  Monthly TA sessions are scheduled with Pilot Site Coaches. Regularly scheduled TA meetings will be used to assist and support Pilot Site Administrators.