Revisiting Pre-Referral Teams
By Kathryn T. Coleman, Trustee
At
the recent NAPSA conference, Jerry Bohren, Assistant Superintendent for
Pupil Services in the Stevens Point School District, Stevens Point, Wisconsin
and a NAPSA Trustee, presented some very useful and practical information
of the functions of Student Services Teams and the effectiveness of the
Child Study Pr-referral System. The purpose, composition, and responsibilities
of the Student Service Team were highlighted and discussed in this session.
Mr. Bohren underscored that the primary purpose of the pre-referral team
is to provide problem-solving assistance to teachers, students, and parents
on individual students who are experiencing difficulty in school due to
academic, behavior, and health problems.
The typical pre-referral team consists of the school principal (leader of the Team), teacher(s), school counselor and/or social worker, school nurse, school psychologist, and the AODA Coordinator. Mr. Bohren stressed that the focus of the pre-referral team, must be "all members working together to benefit the student."
Some of the roles and responsibilities of the team and team members that were reported in this session included:
- To design operational procedures for implementation based on policy guidelines of the system.
- To provide in-service to school staff, parents, and students on the role of the team.
- To facilitate communication among all school staff relative to students experiencing problems in school.
- To review referrals and develop strategies to address specific difficulties of individual students through group problem solving and decision-making processes.
- To use the expertise of individual team members in designing and conducting appropriate interventions.
- To coordinate the implementation of the team's strategies, interventions, and activities.
- To coordinate services with other agencies when a student has been referred to the team.
- To review the effectiveness of strategies and intervention and to modify them according to need.
For NAPSA members who were unable to attend the conference, Jerry Bohren has excellent literature and information on programs and services that can be helpful to student services administrators. Please feel free to contact Jerry for a copy of a brochure, "An Equal Chance: Educating At-Risk Children to Succeed" and more information about the exciting and remarkable things that are being done in the Stevens Point Area Public School District.