SolutionTree.com/Changemakers CHALLENGE Windsor Central School District, like others in upstate New York, was facing dramatic changes: The area population— and subsequently, school enrollment—was declining significantly. Poverty was dramatically gripping families and their students. Windsor Central was ranked 13th out of 15 districts in its region, when considering overall elementary and high school testing rates. Staff turnover was rampant. And a 78% four-year graduation rate for the district was not satisfactory either. “Our staff was isolated, and it did not focus on student learning outcomes,” superintendent Dr. Jason Andrews said. “We were not really a desirable place for folks to go.” Most importantly, students were not receiving the targeted support they needed to succeed beyond the K−12 classroom environment. It was then that Dr. Andrews and Windsor Central’s staff knew it needed to act and take accountability for the learning of every student across its high school, middle school, and three elementary schools. IMPLEMENTATION Windsor Central contributes its success with Response to Intervention (RTI) at Work™ to the tools and strategies gained at Solution Tree events, as well collaborating with Solution Tree associates on staff conference days. "They certainly helped to ensure that we were staying focused and consistent, and that we were adhering to the critical elements of quality professional learning community (PLC) implementation over the course of many, many years," said Barbara Phillips, Windsor Central's director of learning and continuous improvement. Windsor Central’s administrators and teachers also utilized key book resources, such as Taking Action and Simplifying Response to Intervention, to broaden their knowledge of RTI and inform decision making in the best interests of their students. These texts provided the staff at Windsor with the research-based, practical strategies and tools to apply to their own innovative, locally developed structures to meet the needs of diverse learners. The Extended Student Contact Model, for instance, fostered multigrade-level collaboration between mathematics and ELA content experts, allowing students to have the same core content instructors for two consecutive years. The model, intentionally designed to deeply address the Four Critical Questions of a PLC at Work®, also provided instructors with the opportunities to build stronger relationships with students, families, and colleagues. In addition, a team of Windsor educators was developed to serve as full-time Tier 3 interventionists to fill foundational gaps of elementary students performing in the bottom 3−5% of their peer group. The team now travels to all elementary buildings, with their time regularly adjusted based on the current need of elementary students across the district. Data protocols were established to guide data analysis and decision making within collaborative teams. In the 2023–2024 school year, they began exploring extension activities, aiming to provide enrichment for all learners. WINDSOR CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT WINDSOR, NEW YORK 1,592 STUDENTS / 1% ENGLISH LEARNERS / 13% SPECIAL NEEDS 92% WHITE / 2% BLACK / 2% HISPANIC OR LATINO / 2% MULTIRACIAL / 1% ASIAN / 1% NATIVE HAWAIIAN OR PACIFIC ISLANDER . RTI at Work™ events and on-site PD . Key resources: Taking Action and Simplifying Response to Intervention . Implemented Extended Student Contact Model . Developed a full-time Tier 3 interventionist team to support elementary schools districtwide . Established data protocols to guide collaborative data analysis and decision making EVIDENCE OF EXCELLENCE
