The Reaching and Teaching Struggling Learners (RTSL) Initiative, a Michigan Department of Education (MDE), Office of Special Education and Early Intervention Services (OSE-EIS) mandated activities initiative, strives to ensure positive outcomes for struggling learners by exploring effective secondary school practices and their impact on ALL students. The initiative is designed to reduce the risk of dropout. Staying in school is not enough. These teams support students to success following their high school experience.
The Reaching and Teaching Struggling Learners (RTSL) Initiative formed its first cohort of 15 secondary schools in the 2007-2008 school year. Each school has a team consisting of principals, parents, counselors, general educators, special educators, school improvement leaders, and technical educators. Each team in the cohort selects 15-20 students who may be at risk for academic failure and dropout.
Each team studies their own group of struggling learners and conducts a collaborative data inquiry to explore whether their building’s system meets the needs of these students. The RTSL Initiative provides support for the cohort over a three-year period to strengthen the cohort’s collaboration among colleagues, to increase trust between them and their struggling learners, and to foster a culture of high expectation for all students at the school. The RTSL Initiative facilitates a learning community for the cohort. The teams share data, observations, and ideas with each other and their staff as each team works to create positive outcomes for students by addressing school improvement practices.
Secondary redesign research often focuses on the three “Rs”—Relationships, Rigor, and Relevance. A point of emphasis for this initiative is improving staff-student relationships to increase the likelihood of student success. Without prioritizing relationships, the relevance and rigor of the curriculum is less likely to have a positive impact on student achievement.