Alphabet Soup: Stirring Up RTI for CLD/LEP

Presenter: Dr. Catherine Collier, Director, CrossCultural Developmental Education Services, Ferndale, Washington

Session description: This workshop addresses the key issues surrounding implementation of problem solving and progress monitoring within instructional intervention (RTI) for culturally & linguistically diverse learners with learning & behavior problems. Culturally & linguistically diverse learners present unique challenges to education professionals in monitoring the effectiveness of the instruction and intervention process with limited English proficient students having learning and behavior problems. Consideration of students' cultural, linguistic, & experiential background, level of acculturation, sociolinguistic development, & cognitive learning styles must be built into the RTI process to develop a valid picture of the student & his/her capabilities & achievement levels. Instructional intervention & the monitoring of response to intervention (RTI) is the systematic process of gathering information about the response of CLD students to academic, behavior, sociocultural, acculturation, & sociolinguistic interventions in order to make efficacious decisions. In the workshop, we will examine issues related to RTI for ESL/bilingual students with learning & behavior problems.

Presenter: Dr. Catherine Collier has over 40 years experience in cross-cultural, bilingual, and special education. She completed her Ph.D. with research into the referral of Hispanic students to special education programs. For eight years, she was a classroom teacher, resource room teacher, and diagnostician for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Arizona and Alaska. She was the director of a teacher-training program for the University of Alaska for seven years, preparing Yup’ik Eskimo paraprofessionals for certification as bilingual preschool, elementary, and special educators. For eight years, Dr. Collier worked with the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education, Research, and Evaluation at the University of Colorado, Boulder, where she created and directed the Bilingual Special Education curriculum/Training project (BISECT), a nationally recognized effort. She was the Director of Resource and Program Development for the American Indian Science and Engineering Society as well as being a Sequoyah Fellow.

Dr. Collier is the author of several books and articles on cross-cultural and multilingual special education. She is active in social justice activities for culturally and linguistically diverse learners and families. She works extensively with school districts on professional and program development for at-risk diverse learners. Dr. Collier provides technical assistance to university, local, and state departments of education regarding programs serving diverse learners. She is the principal developer of the screening and software program “Acculturation Quick Screen” and many assessment and intervention instruments and materials. Her most recent books are Separating Difference and Disability, a chapter on acculturation in Multicultural Handbook for School Psychologists, and three chapters in the fourth edition of The Bilingual Special Education Interface, published by Prentice-Hall.