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Explanation of the Instructional Support Process

Chichester School District has implemented the Instructional Support Team process in the elementary schools and fifth grade.  The Instructional Support Team (IST) is designed to assist students who experience academic or behavioral difficulties in the regular education classroom.  The IST process involves a “systematic search for what works” for an individual child.  Inherent in the process is the belief that all students can learn, given the right educational environment and supports.

 The IST process involves assessing a student’s current levels of functioning and need for academic or behavioral support, designing strategies to assist the student to succeed, implementing intervention strategies over a period of time, and assessing the impact of such strategies and the need for further assessment.  The IST process is designed to meet the requirements under federal legislation (IDEA) for a pre-referral process prior to a request for assessment for special education services.

 The Instructional Support Team consists of an administrator, reading specialist, guidance counselor, teacher, and the IST teacher.  Other team members may include the speech and language therapist, psychologist, and other faculty.  The child’s parents and classroom teacher(s) are important members of the team, for they will implement many of the specific strategies to help the child.  They will also help to determine the need for further assessment.

 Classroom  teachers may refer a child to the IST teacher due to problems in any of the following areas:  attendance, academic, behavioral, organizational, speech/language, or social/emotional.  Prior to a formal referral, teachers usually review the child’s records, confer with current and former teachers, the guidance counselor, reading or other specialists, and informally try a variety of classroom strategies to assist the child.