Jessica Aue is the principal of Emerson Elementary School in Owosso, MI. She, along with her colleagues, have taken an innovative approach to addressing the intervention needs of the students at Emerson. It starts with building strong relationships between the teachers, the leaders, the parents, and the students. Read on to learn more about what Emerson Elementary School is doing to set up all their students for success.
We all know there are kids in our schools that need a little extra support to help them be successful. Unfortunately, there is no magical intervention program or one-size-fits-all solution to help them. At Emerson Elementary School, we have learned that the best way to help all students is to do everything we can to get to know them and their strengths. Once we know their strengths, we can move them forward.
We created the “Child Study Team” (CST) to accomplish the need to help all students succeed. Every month, our dedicated CST, which includes our reading and math Title I teachers, school psychologist, social worker, speech pathologist, and myself, meets with general education teachers and parents to collaborate on students who need additional support. We then use the outline below to set up a plan of success for our students and incorporate the critical importance relationships play in the process.
Child Study Team Process Outline: Setting Students Up for Success
Identifying Concerns: When a general education teacher or CST member feels that a student isn’t making expected progress, they reach out to me, the principal. I then initiate an initial packet to begin our focus on that student.
Gathering Insight: The team collaborates to complete the packet, often conducting further assessments to understand the student’s current abilities more deeply.
Involving Families: Once we’ve gathered enough information, we schedule a meeting and invite the student’s parents. At Emerson, we know that parents’ insights into their child’s personality, experiences, and motivations are invaluable, often revealing things that assessments cannot.
Celebrating Strengths, Addressing Concerns: We begin our meetings by celebrating the student’s strengths. These celebrations lay a positive foundation, and they highlight that we’re here to support every child based on what they can do, not just where they may need help.
Collaborative Solutions: Together with families, we brainstorm ways to support the student. This might involve extra intervention groups, Check-In Check-Out systems, mentoring, or even helping families address attendance barriers.
Creating an Action Plan: We end each meeting with a clear action plan, detailing who will do what and setting a date to review progress. This step ensures accountability and gives us a chance to adjust as needed.
There may be no magical program to meet every need. The real “magic” is in our commitment to understanding each child and working together as a team—educators, parents, and support staff—to celebrate their strengths and overcome their challenges. It’s the relationships that matter most, and it’s these relationships that help our students move forward.
