McGraw-Hill Intervention Summit Delivers Tools, Tactics and Turn-Around Strategies for Failing Schools

NEW YORK, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- As education reform and strategies for turning around failing schools are taking center stage in the national discourse, McGraw-Hill brought educators and administrators from across the country together to discuss successfully implementing intervention programs and strategies for utilizing federal funds to improve school and student performance. The second annual Intervention Summit, held this week in Chicago, focused on the key components of implementing a turn-around strategy that will yield real results.

"With the federal government focused on dramatically improving the nation's lowest-performing schools and the recent approval of both School Improvement Grants and Race to the Top implementations, states and districts need strategies to raise student performance," said Arthur Griffin, senior vice president of the Urban Advisory Resource for McGraw-Hill Education. "Our goal is to work with these school districts on developing a holistic approach to reform that they can implement in their schools today."

Griffin is also involved in the Center for Comprehensive School Improvement (CCSI), created by McGraw-Hill to enhance academic achievement, improve underperforming schools, and cultivate strong school and district leadership and talent development. Griffin presented alongside Mary Russick, vice president and executive director of CCSI, in a session devoted to specific strategies for improving student performance using federal funds. Griffin discusses these strategies and his experience successfully turning around the low-performing Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district in the 1990s in a recently released white paper available at http://www.mheccsi.com/pdf/white_paper_pathways_high_performance.pdf.

In addition to focusing on developing and implementing reform models, the Intervention Summits' elementary and secondary sessions featured discussions on a wide range of topics including:

• Response to Intervention
• Supporting English Language Learners
• Effective Science, Reading and Math Intervention
• Differentiating Instruction
• Data Analysis and Small Group Instruction

Several presentations at the Intervention Summit Series also discussed the Response to Intervention (RtI) method, a scientifically based process of ongoing assessment and intervention to monitor student performance and provide early assistance to those students falling behind academically.  Discussions focused on ways to effectively evaluate the implementation of RtI at the elementary and middle school level, and how the RtI method can enhance instruction of subjects including math and adolescent literacy among students with special needs.  

About the McGraw-Hill Education Intervention & Special Needs Center

The McGraw-Hill Education Intervention & Special Needs Center offers school districts and teachers the tools to customize instruction, so even struggling students can thrive as lifelong learners who can succeed in the classroom and beyond. McGraw-Hill's PreK-12 intervention and special needs solutions combine proven programs with digital platforms to provide comprehensive, performance-enhancing learning resources to help those students who have fallen behind.

About McGraw-Hill School Education Group

The McGraw-Hill School Education Group, a unit of McGraw-Hill Education, is a leading innovator in the development of 21st century teaching and learning solutions for K-12 education markets, offering traditional and digital instructional, assessment, and reference content and tools for teachers and students. The School Education Group addresses critical areas in primary and secondary education through Learning Solutions Centers focused on improving student learning outcomes and promoting digital innovation in literacy, STEM, college and career readiness, and intervention and special needs education. All of McGraw-Hill's content for elementary schools and secondary schools is available in digital form. McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), has offices in 33 countries and publishes in more than 65 languages. Additional information is available at http://www.mheducation.com.

SOURCE McGraw-Hill Education