BST: Building Support Team

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Descriptions, definitions, synonyms, organizer terms, types of

B.S.T. as defined by the Champaign Community Unit#4 Schools (2003) Draft of the Building Support Team and Special Education Referral Process Handbook is a group of educational professionals who work together to support student learning and safety. BST has been referred to as Mainstream Assistance Teams and Student Advisory Committees. BST theory of action is to utilize a research-based procedure, which provides the social system and outcomes. The BST's expectations are to improve achievement and create a safe environment for all students.

Consequently, the BST gives collaborative assistance to general education teachers to better accommodate students with social or academic difficulties. When fully implemented. the BST indentifies emerging student difficulties, utilizes positive early intervention strategies and sets high expectations.

The BST consists of the school principal, student services coordinator (dean), social worker, psychologist, general classroom teacher, primary/intermediate teacher representative, special education teacher, and the parent (or guardian) of the student.

The principal is to :

  • Act as a chairperson.
  • Select membership that is representative of school's diverse population.
  • Emphasize team focus on interventions for student and not eligibility for special education.
  • Ensure a plan each year to review all 504 plans and re-evals of prior BST student currently in the building.
  • Ensure that all evaluations are completed in a timely manner.
  • Develop a system so that appropriate record keeping is maintained.
  • Ensure that staff has knowledge of BST purpose and procedures.
  • Provide examples of appropriate interventions to staff.
  • Review effectiveness of interventions.
  • Train teachers to use data to measure interventions.
  • Ensure that time and space are allocated for meeting along with parental invitation to BST meeting.
  • Ensure that the BST has necessary resources.

The BST member is to:

  • Understand the purpose of BST.
  • Be aware of the resources in the building and the district to support the needs of the students.
  • Keep up to date on current "best practices" and interventions related to their area of expertise.
  • Understand the value of the team process.
  • Have skills of communication.
  • Have knowledge of developing interventions and evaluation methods.
  • Have knowledge of data collection.
  • Be culturally competent and aware of instruction that is relevant and appropriate to a diverse student population.
  • Be willing to serve in various roles needed by the team such as recorder, time keeper, etc.

Name Change from BST to BIT

A recent mandate from the Illinois State Board of Education said that starting January 2009 all Illinois school districts musts have an RTI (Response to Intervention) plan in place. Champaign Unit 4 School District to incorporate the BST model that they already had in place decided to change the name from BST to BIT or Building Intervention Team. The goals and actions of the team have not been changed in any significant way. Find more information on RTI here: http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Response_to_intervention

Application in classrooms

BST begins and ends in the classroom. All of the information submitted to BST is gathered and collected in the classroom by all faculty and staff who are in contact with the student. The BST process includes the following steps:

  • The teacher identifies at-risk student by observing behaviors and academic performance.
  • The teacher refers the student to BST.
  • BST analyzes the problem with attention to all factors.
  • BST identifies interventions that are specific to the student.
  • Staff implements the intervention plan.
  • BST evaluates and revises interventions accordingly.
  • BST keeps data on outcomes.

Sample pyramid of interventions: http://www.mlsd.k12.oh.us/tech/docs/poi/

There are two essential phases of the BST referral process: the collaborative problem solving, and the referral for a case study evaluation. The collaborative problem solving is the initial BST meeting where educational professional and the parent discuss the identified problems and formulates interventions. The case study evaluation is only set in motion after several revisions of interventions prove to be ineffective.

The comprehensive case study evaluation consists of the following:

  • a student interview
  • a parental consultation
  • Social Development Study (SDS)

-The purpose of the SDS is to assist the educational team in understanding the student, his/her in-school and out-of-school behavior and how these environments affect the student so that the team members can develop the best possible educational plan for the student. The focus of the SDS is concerning history emphasized only to the degree in which the students history is significant to the student's current and future functioning in the school setting.

  • an assessment of the student's adaptive behavior
  • an assessment of the student's cultural background
  • vision screening
  • student's medical history/current health status
  • review of student's academic history and current educational functioning
  • educational evaluation of student's learning processes
  • assessment of student's learning environment
  • psychological evaluation

-Psychological evaluation refers to use of formal and informal data collection techniques with individual students to obtain information which leads to knowledge of a student's learning rate and style and thus provides basis for personalized instruction. Developmental, remedial, or preventative programs designed as a result of the evaluation will be only as good as the breadth and validity of the assessment techniques used. The extent of the individual evaluation should be determined by particular referral concerns. Information relative to cognitive processing capabilities, fine/gross motor coordination, social/emotional development, and levels of academic achievement/skill mastery may be gathered. Psychological evaluations facilitate the evaluation team's understanding of the student based on a referral-oriented, individualized approach.

  • speech and language evaluation
  • medical examination
  • audiological Evaluation
  • vocational evaluation

-The purpose of a vocational evaluation is to provide data that can be used to design and monitor the components necessary to achieve vocational competence (i.e., academic skills, social skills, personal care skills, motor skills.)Aptitude tests and curriculum based vocational assessments are given and provide data for determining placement, evaluating a student's progress during placement, and for planning future goals.

  • Report Writing

-A written report from each professional involved in the case study evaluation process is strongly recommended and is essential in order to accurately document the procedures each person followed. (Champaign Community Unit#4 Schools BST Handbook Draft, 2003)

Evidence of effectiveness

BST is based upon the thoughts and researched findings of reknown psychologists as:

  • Jean Piaget(1907)proposed that students progressed through the sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational, formal operational stages of learning. Use children’s problem areas to help understand their cognitive growth and development.
  • Lev Vygotsky (1924) proposed that scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development(ZPD)are at the heart of supporting student learning.
  • Abraham Maslow's(1943) hierarchy of needs proposed that if students core needs are met they will be able to learn.
  • Howard Gardner (1983)proposed thatthere are at least seven ways that people have of perceiving and understanding the world and that students learn through multiple intelligences, which developed into the classification of learning styles (Visual/Auditory/Kinesthetic).

The findings of Piaget, Vygotsky, Maslow, and Gardner(see references below for Wikipedia links) are all based in supporting students in order for students to achieve their full potential and get the most out of the educational experiences. Moreover, other thoughts about BST's effectiveness include the following:

  • Fuchs, L. S., & Fuchs, D. (1990) stated that, "General education teachers need assistance to be successful with the increasingly diverse student population. Teachers need positive attitudes, tolerance, and a continued enhancement of skills to use in the classroom.

Inappropriate referrals to special education decreases with eary intervention."

  • Kruger, Sturzziero, & Vacca (1995)found that teachers need to be empowered to find solutions to studentlearning problems.
  • Barb Daly (2006) (Principal, Bottenfield Elementary School) believes the following about BST: “If you ask me, five heads is always better than one….I want to help all students learn and all faculty and staff, from the custodian to the principal, need to invest in each individual student, because we all see these students in varying capacities every school day…best practice says that we [faculty and staff] can help each student achieve their full academic potential by collaborating with the parents to educate the whole child.”
  • “There are many levels of intervention, however early intervention is most important. Catch

problems early and give students intensive support.” (NABSE Focus Groups 2001)

Critics and their rationale

T.D. Fitzgerald et al. (2005), Special Education Equity Coordinator,in his BST Evaluation Report determined that the following improvements needed to be made the present BST model: the definition and perception of the goal of BST and Special Education, professional to parent ratio, reduction of the number of African American students in special education, support for teachers, and the standardization of BST process across all campuses. Fitzgerald et. al.(2005) found that parents are often unaware that BST exists in their school district and are unwilling to allow their child to be labeled. Many parents misunderstand the goals of BST and are uninformed about how the face of special education has changed drastically since the implementation of the IDEA and inclusion practices. Parents are also outnumbered during BST meetings. The ratio is often 6:1 with educational professionals being the majority, which can be overwhelming and intimidating for parents. The purpose of the BST is to show the parents evidence of concern from a variety of sources to indicate the need for intervention in order to promote success and safety in the school environment. As a result of BST teachers and capable team members are given interventions to implement immediately, however, because of limited time and resources, not all interventions planned during the BST are able to be implemented immediately. The most difficult issue for principals and teachers is student follow-up. Monitoring student progress and digression is not always consistent as students move from grade level to grade level, especially in cases where students are subject to frequent changes in residency or unstable domestic situations. Some interventions seem to exhaust in effectiveness toward student achievement or studens are able to achieve independently without the use of interventions. The protocol for teachers to review a student's cumulative records to gain an understanding of the student's educational history is not standardized, meaning that specific interventions that were previously effective are not discovered until a student is overtly exhibiting signs of academic or behavioral difficulty.

Alternative explanations due to Diversity considerations

All students are given equal consideration for BST if students exhibit behawiors or academic performance warranting referral. Students possessing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)are exempt from BST referrals, but students possessing IEPs are reviewed throughout the school year. Due to the criteria for a BST referral the range of ethnic representation and reasons for referral varies. In 2005, African American students made up 61% of the BST referrals, Caucasian students made up 36% of BST referrals and Hispanic student made up roughly 3% of BST referrals. (Building Support Team Evaluation Report, 2005)

Signed “life experiences”, testimonies and stories

References and other links of interest

  • BST Handbook (DRAFT): Building Support Team and Special Education Referral Process. (August 2003). Champaign Community Unit #4 Schools.
  • Daly, B. (June 28, 2006). BST Interview.
  • Fitzgerald, T. D. et al. (2005). Building Support Team Evaluation Report. Champaign Unit #4 School District.
  • Fuchs, L. S., & Fuchs, D. (1992). Identifying a measure for monitoring student reading progress. School Psychology Review, 21, 45-58..
  • Fuchs, L. S., Fuchs, D., & Bishop, N. (1992). Instructional adaptation for students at risk for academic failure. Journal of Educational Research, 86, 70-84..
  • Fuchs, D. (1991). Mainstream Assistance Teams: A prereferral intervention for difficult-to-teach students. In G. Stoner, M. Shinn, & H. Walker (Eds.), Interventions for achievement and behavior problems (pp. 241-267). Washington, DC: National Association of School Psychologists..
  • Response to Intervention WikEd entry http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Response_to_intervention
  • Response to Intervention Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Response_to_intervention

Website References

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