St. Croix River Education District

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ADSIS ("Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services") is a process where districts and charter schools apply for state special education funds, which are used to provide at-risk general education students with extra academic or behavior support (🟡 Tier 2 and 🔴 Tier 3 interventions). The intention is to prevent any unnecessary referrals to special education.

Districts apply for ADSIS funding every two years, and the awarded funds come with specific requirements from MDE. Districts must follow through on what they describe in their ADSIS application, and they must report specific pieces of student data to MDE.

If you provide an intervention that is funded by ADSIS, read on! The rest of this page covers everything you’ll need in order to meet MDE’s requirements. You can also print a School Year Timeline Poster with helpful reminders.

🍁 Fall Setup

Find and set up your Service Hour Spreadsheet (SHS)

Every year, SCRED staff will create a new blank SHS with your name on it. Your SHS lives in a district folder (click button below). If you don’t see your SHS, please email [email protected]

⚠️ DO NOT move it or make a copy of it. If you want to make your SHS easier to find, you can bookmark it or use Google Drive shortcuts. ⚠️ DO NOT change the column order or content of the spreadsheet because this is the format that MDE requires districts to use for their reports.

You are responsible for completing it for the students you serve through ADSIS interventions. Need help? You can check out this 🎥 in-depth tutorial (15:57) or ask an experienced ADSIS interventionist in your district. Tip: Helpful prompts will appear if you hover over many of the column headers.

Confirm the intervention(s) you will provide

In its ADSIS application to MDE, your district identified what types of reading, math, and/or behavior interventions it will provide. Your district's ADSIS application is located in your district folder. ⬆️

⚠️ Time-saving tip: It's a long document, so click Ctrl+F (PC) or Command+F (Mac) and then search for "evidence-based adsis." Your computer will find the reading, math, and behavior sections, respectively. If you have questions about your ADSIS application, contact your building principal or one of the individuals listed at the bottom of this page.

To learn more about the listed interventions:

• ACADEMIC interventions — Visit the academic page of this website, click one of the reading or math skills you'll be working on, and a list of Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions will open up.
• BEHAVIOR interventions — Visit the Tier 2 page of our life skills website. Find the option(s) that match your ADSIS application, and click the buttons to learn more and access tools.

Send out parent notification letters

MDE requires that, before students receive ADSIS services, we must notify parents and let them opt out.

Template letters are located in your district folder ⬆️. These templates include all of the required components per MN Rule 3525.1341, subpart 3F. All ADSIS areas are included in one template. Please use the prompts within the letter to customize the information for your intervention.

If you have questions about the content or want to modify the letter, connect with your Special Services Supervisor. If you would like to move these letters to a different folder in Google Drive, you can do so as it works for your building.

Plan how you’ll collect data

ACADEMIC interventions:

• Progress monitoring: We administer FastBridge measures for math and/or reading throughout the year (e.g., weekly), and this data auto-syncs or is entered into eduCLIMBER.
• Benchmark testing: The students must complete fall and spring FastBridge benchmark assessments in both math and reading. This applies K-12 and even if the student exited ADSIS mid-year. If parents opt out of benchmark testing, note this on your SHS.
• Indirect impact: MDE also mandates that we measure the indirect impact of academic interventions on students’ behavior. To do this, we measure Academic Engagement 3x/year using a Direct Behavior Rating form (click to copy template). This data is entered into your SHS. Here's a walkthrough of 🎥 how to collect this data (3:35).

BEHAVIOR interventions:

• Progress monitoring: We continually monitor progress (e.g., weekly) using rating scales or point cards that match the intervention being provided. Follow that link and click the type of intervention you run to learn more about data collection tools that match it. This data is entered into eduCLIMBER.
• Benchmark testing/indirect impact: MDE also mandates that we measure the indirect impact of behavior interventions on students’ academic performance. The students must complete fall and spring FastBridge benchmark assessments in both math and reading. This applies K-12 and even if the student exited ADSIS mid-year. If parents opt out of benchmark testing, note this on your SHS. 

Plan your PAR reports

Per federal budgeting requirements, ADSIS staff must complete a Personal Activity Record (PAR). It is a record of how you spend your time when you are assigned to different programs. Make a copy of the PAR template and read the instructions tab carefully — the frequency and format of your PAR report depends on your assigned duties.

Here is a PAR training presentation with more information. Have a PAR question? Please email [email protected]

Tag students in eduCLIMBER

eduCLIMBER is a website that our districts use to pull together data from Synergy, FastBridge, etc. and have it work together.

Tagging ADSIS students in eduCLIMBER is required because, in order to submit required reports to MDE, districts need to be able to quickly find hundreds of ADSIS students in eduCLIMBER and pull their data. Jump to our eduCLIMBER page to learn how to Tag students ➡️

☃️ Throughout the School Year

Run your intervention(s) + collect and use your data

This is what makes the red tape worth it: helping students. The real meat and potatoes. As you provide services and collect progress monitoring data throughout the year, regularly review that data with a team of colleagues.

Our data helps us decide, objectively, if we can fade off Jane Doe’s intervention, if Jane’s intervention needs to be stepped up and intensified, or if we need to adjust what we’re doing with the whole group because our intervention “recipe” isn’t working well for enough of our students.

Set up newly referred students

When a student is added to your intervention, repeat the steps described above:

1. Send out a parent notification letter
2. Add the student to your SHS
3. Tag the student in eduCLIMBER
4. Plan how you’ll collect data

Submit your PAR reports

See description above. These are submitted either semi-annually or monthly, depending on how much of your work day is dedicated to ADSIS.

🌱 Spring Wrap Up

Complete your budget need list

Around spring break, you will be emailed a budget need list spreadsheet. This is your opportunity to request supplies and materials for the next school year.

Send out stakeholder surveys

MDE requires districts to collect feedback on ADSIS services from students and families. In the spring, you will be emailed Google Forms and instructions re: who to send them to.

Complete your Service Hour Spreadsheet (SHS)

If you'd prefer a video explanation, start watching our 🎥 SHS tutorial at the 10 minute mark.

SERVICE HOUR SPREADSHEET tab:

• Rate every student’s overall progress using a 1-5 scale that MDE created ("EOY Progress Level").
• Fill out the "ADSIS Service Hours" column:
  • If you track intervention attendance in eduCLIMBER, use that to calculate service hours.
  • Otherwise, you can cross reference:
    • Your service schedule (e.g., “we work together 1x/week for 20 minutes”)
    • Multiplied by how long the student received services (i.e., when they started/stopped working with you)
    • Minus the student’s absences (review their attendance record in Synergy)
• Ensure that all relevant columns are completed ("End Date of Service" etc.)

END OF YEAR REPORT tab:

• Complete only the section(s) that are relevant to your role — reading, math, or behavior.

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