Mercedes Hurtado & Claire Farabee

Bios:

Mercedes Hurtado is an educational psychologist with a specialization in Learning Disabilities. She has worked as a Spanish Learning Specialist for over 13 years in a dual language program. She specializes in delivering targeted and meaningful instruction as well as developing systems that enhance learning for all students, universally.

Claire Farabee has worked as a learning specialist, speech pathologist, and classroom teacher in schools across the world. In her various roles she has led schools in discussions and systematic changes to build more inclusive learning environments in order to build expert learners at all ages.


All Hands on Deck: A Shared Responsibility Approach to RTI in Lower School

Summary:

“At its core, RTI is about creating a collective response when students need additional support, rather than leaving this response up to each individual teacher” (Buffum et al., 2012).

This workshop is about how to develop and implement an intervention block to provide targeted interventions to all students and create a culture of shared responsibility. Mercedes and Claire will share how the Learning Support department collaborated with Lower School Administration to institute a pilot intervention block in the second grade, foundational structures that supported the success of the pilot program, and strategies that developed a high functioning team.