FAIRFAX COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD PUBLIC COMMENT OF SHEREE BROWN-KAPLAN FAIRFAX ALLIANCE FOR APPROPRIATE PUBLIC EDUCATION (FAAPE)

January 27, 2014

Good evening Dr. Garza, Mr. Chairman and School Board members. My name is Sheree Brown-Kaplan. I am the founder and chair of the Fairfax Alliance for Appropriate Public Education (FAAPE). I am addressing the Gibson report's recommendation to accelerate implementation of standardized Response-to-Intervention (RtI). RtI was required of school divisions by the amendments to IDEA Congress passed in 2004. As the Gibson report noted, 9 years after its introduction in FCPS, RtI as a standardized approach has been implemented in only 57 schools, less than 30% of the division's schools. Yet, expanding standardized RtI is a necessary step that is vital to student learning and the success of FCPS. According to the Gibson report, some schools in FCPS have implemented RtI concepts on their own through PLCs or other initiatives, but no peerreviewed research exists to demonstrate the effectiveness of such homegrown approaches. Unfortunately, Gibson notes, "the lack of a single, consistent [RtI] approach may be contributing to an emerging issue of over-representation of economically disadvantaged and minority students in special education" within FCPS. Investing in the proven, standardized tiered approach of RtI as recommended by the Gibson report achieves 3 critical objectives for FCPS. First, RtI puts a priority on closing the achievement gap and provides critical support for the development and learning of children who are economically disadvantaged, speak English as a second language, have a suspected disability or are at risk of developing disabilities for example,

in reading. Without the investment of RtI, these at-risk children may enter a trajectory that can result in short- and long-term school failure. Second, RtI provides FCPS with a means to address the over-identification of Hispanic students in special education. As the Gibson report noted, in 2011 Hispanic students represented 27% of the FCPS special education population while only making up 21% of the entire student body. Third, RtI will save FCPS millions of dollars of special education expenditures. Research shows that the "wait to fail" model is costly to schools. There is little chance that a 3rd grader found eligible for services will ever exit special education. If standardized RtI effectively prevented the need for the special education identification of a single 3rd grader, the savings to FCPS by the time that student graduated would amount to about $92,000 in todays dollars. The reduction through RtI of just 1% of next year's projected number of special education students would result in savings greater than $23.6 million. These funds would more than pay for the estimated $2.1 million over 2 years that Gibson calculated it would cost to fully implement standardized RtI. To conclude, standardized RtI is an effective, proven approach that will quickly pay for itself. FAAPE urges you to include this important Gibson recommendation in your final budget. Thank you for your time.