Snowden Elementary principal says RTI and PLC work is driving early gains

Snowden Elementary Principal Mister Navares told the Farmersville Unified School District governing board that the school is implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) alongside professional learning communities (PLCs) to improve achievement and that recent common formative assessments show progress on many learning targets.

Navares said Snowden has focused on three tiers of instruction: universal grade-level Tier 1 taught by classroom teachers, targeted Tier 2 for 10–20% of students needing extra time on guaranteed standards, and intensive Tier 3 provided by specialists for roughly 1–5% of students. He described PLCs as the vehicle for selecting guaranteed standards, creating short common formative assessments and coordinating interventions.

"For any best instructional practice...0.4 is a year's worth of growth," Navares said, explaining research effect-size targets the school uses to guide practice. He told the board that recent assessment results showed about 90% of students met a selected learning target on an initial check, while higher-depth cognition items still require additional supports.

Navares described Kagan cooperative structures and demonstrated short classroom engagement routines the school has used to increase participation and build language skills in dual-language classes. He said Snowden's reading specialist and academic coach are already assessing incoming students from feeder schools to start Tier 3 interventions on day one next year.

Board members pressed for specifics about implementation. Board member Freddy Espinosa asked how many students landed in each tier and when teachers identify students for Tier 2 or Tier 3 supports; Navares said that depends on the learning target and on frequent, often weekly, formative checks. "The first one they did, they did really good — I want to say around 90% of our students were getting the learning target," Navares said. He added that as items demand higher Depth of Knowledge, the number needing intervention increases and teachers collaborate to add scaffolds, graphic organizers and targeted professional development.

Navares said the school has trained staff in Kagan structures and used a consultant Kagan coach in classrooms; he credited district-level training and the Solution Tree PLC/RTI professional development with helping staff implement the system. He described PBIS routines, campus expectations reviews and coordination with Hester (a feeder site) for kinder registration and transitional planning.

The presentation included classroom video clips and a demonstration of partner-learning structures Navares said support both academic and social-emotional development. Board members acknowledged the work and asked the principal to return slides or data that show the yellow/green/red screening (teachers' interim results) for future meetings so the board can track how many students move between tiers.

Navares emphasized the school sees PLC/RTI as an ongoing process rather than a one-time program and said staff-level guiding coalitions monitor fidelity and teacher commitments.

School-level details: Navares reported Snowden enrolls about 354 students, with roughly 48% designated English learners. He listed current staff supports including 17 classroom teachers, music and PE teachers, reading specialists shared across sites, a SPED teacher, counselor and academic coach. He said state CAST (CAASPP) results have trended upward over three years and that the school is focused on increasing percentages meeting standard through the Tier 1–3 approach.

Board President Lopez and Superintendent Manuel Mendez participated in the discussion; board members asked follow-up questions about frequency of assessment, the split between Tier 1 and Tier 2, and next steps for Tier 3 specialist deployment.

Navares concluded by thanking staff and district leadership and said Snowden will continue pacing PLC cycles and RTI deployment into next year.