(1) DEFINITIONS.
(a) Accelerated Instruction – challenging instructional activities that are intensely focused on student academic deficiencies in content areas. This accelerated instruction is designed to enable students who have not achieved grade level, as defined by the Office of Student Achievement, to meet grade-level standards in the shortest possible time.
(b) Early Intervention Program – a program designed to serve students in grades kindergarten through five who are at risk of not reaching or maintaining academic grade level, as defined in the department’s Early Intervention Program Guidelines, to obtain the necessary academic skills to reach grade-level performance in the shortest possible time.
(2) REQUIREMENTS.
(a) All identified students shall be moved into the Early Intervention Program (EIP), provided assistance, and moved out upon reaching grade level performance.
(b) The kindergarten early intervention program shall serve students enrolled in grade kindergarten. The primary grades early intervention program shall serve students enrolled in grades one through three. The upper elementary grades early intervention program shall serve students enrolled in grades four and five.
(c) Schools participating in the EIP shall provide an instructional program that will promote the acceleration of learning in order for students to succeed and progress to the next higher level of academic achievement in accordance with Georgia Department of Education Early Intervention Program Guidelines.
(d) The specifications for delivery of early intervention services shall be the responsibility of local boards of education. Participating schools shall use instructional models for the Early Intervention Program that include, but are not limited to, class augmentation, self-contained, reduced class size, pull-out, or Reading Recovery.
(e) Eligibility determination is made at the school system level by identifying the students functioning below the normal expectation for the respective grade using criteria provided by the Office of Student Achievement.
(f) Local systems shall use the provided EIP Checklist rubric, when using the EIP Teacher Checklists for eligibility.
(g) Local systems shall devise a process for identification of students during the school year as a continuous process of early identification and monitoring.
(h) The school shall provide a ten calendar-day notice for an opportunity to conference with the student’s parents or guardians and the student to discuss the student’s performance and the role of the early intervention program.
(i) Students placed in the EIP must be administered continuous assessments that will reflect achievement gains throughout the academic year.
(j) Program exit criteria shall be as developed by the Office of Student Achievement.
(k) Eligibility records and exit documentation shall be maintained at the local school made available for monitoring upon request.
(l) Each local school system shall report the number of students served in the EIP as part of the full-time equivalent (FTE) program count.