Campus-based Intervention Assistance Team liaison to train teachers during pre-service

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The HISD Office of Interventions is implementing a new initiative and new structure for the 2017-2018 school year aimed at directly helping campuses strengthen student interventions.

Part of the new initiative is the appointment of campus-based liaisons at all schools who will work directly with the district’s Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) managers to better serve students with tiered instruction. The IAT manager structure has also been reorganized to align with the regions of the seven chief school officers and a new position, Director of Interventions, has been created.  

The new initiative was kicked off at the June Professional Learning Series by Assistant Superintendent of Interventions Natalie Blasingame. She, along with newly appointed Director of Interventions, Courtney Busby, have continued to work over the summer to ensure the new structure, along with proper training, is implemented with fidelity at all campuses for the start of the coming school year.

“This new alignment and the creation of the campus-based IAT liaison role will really bring structure to the way we as a district provide interventions to students,” said Busby. As a former principal at M.C. Williams Middle School, Busby says she is committed to helping schools respond to student interventions as a “problem-solving” team that uses data to drive the type of tiered instruction needed to meet each child’s unique needs.

Campus-based liaisons will receive a stipend for their work, which has already begun. All have been in training over the last few weeks with Busby, Blasingame, and the IAT Managers. Once back on their home campuses Aug. 14 for pre-service, the IAT liaisons will train teachers on what tiered instruction really looks like, walk them through how to properly document interventions, and expose them to real-world scenarios on how to meet the needs of every student.

“Teachers will leave this training with a clear picture of what instruction should look like on their campus in each tier for reading, math, and behavior,” said Busby. “And we as a district will now have a systemic way to grow students and not leave our parents and teachers feeling like they are alone to identify and solve the problem themselves.”