Response To Intervention 101

Response To Intervention 101

"RTI's underlying premise is that schools should not wait until students fall far enough behind to qualify for special education to provide them with the help they need. Instead, schools should provide targeted and systematic interventions to all students as soon as they demonstrate a need."
                                                                                -Educational Leadership

Response To Intervention: The Basics

Response To Intervention (RTI) became federal law in 2004, under the revised Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).  It can be defined as a multi-tier approach to the early identification of students who are demonstrating learning or behavioral challenges. In reality, RTI is a way to give all students access to intervention. This form of service delivery may be the largest, most comprehensive change, the world of education has experienced in the last thirty years.

Tier I refers to the core curriculum that is presented to all students. It is delivered using evidence based curricular materials, along with differentiated, high quality instruction across academic domains. In theory, the core curriculum should be sufficient to reach 80% of students, and successfully meet their learning needs. 

Tier II is designed for students who require additional instruction in reading, math, or writing. Typically, this group of students is performing between the 11th and 25th percentile. The intervention usually involves additional instruction, beyond the core curriculum. Students are often seen in small groups, using evidence based programs, with targeted, skill based lessons designed to move their academic performance to grade level benchmarks.

Tier III is designed for students who require intensive, individualized, evidence based instruction. Typically, their academic performance is below the 10th percentile. The difference between Tier II and Tier III intervention rests in the frequency, duration, and group size. Once at this level of intervention there are three possible scenarios: 1) The student is responding to the intervention and moving into Tier I or II. 2) The student is making acceptable progress, but would not if the intervention were removed. 3) The student is not making acceptable progress, and the achievement gap is widening.  Students whose academic performance falls into scenario #2 or #3 can be identified for special education, under specific learning disability.  

The Cycle of Student Identification: Who is talking about my child?

All students are assessed using universal screeners, three times a year. Examples of these tools include MAP testing, Star Testing, Running Records & Curriculum Based Measurements (oral reading fluency, math computation, etc..) Based on how your child performs, he will fall into one of the three tiers.  Grade level teams review the data obtained from the universal screeners, and identify groups of students with similar needs, who fall between that 11th-25th percentile. Parents are typically notified when their child will be participating in an intervention program. When students participate in a Tier II intervention, progress monitoring data is collected to see if their skills are moving closer to the expected benchmark. Roughly every 6-8 weeks, classroom, and intervention teachers, meet to review the data. Depending on your child's progress, three things may happen: 1) The intervention worked, and now your child only participates in core. 2) The intervention is working, but your child needs an additional cycle of intervention. 3) The intervention is not working, and your child needs something different, and more intensive. Students in Tier II, who are not responding to the intervention, after 6-8 weeks, will move into Tier III. This intervention will be more frequent, with fewer students, longer in duration, and possibly a different curriculum.  At this point, if your child is not responding to this intervention, his progress would be discussed through individual problem solving. A meeting would be held, in which you, the classroom teacher(s), intervention teacher, psychologist, and principal would review the data, and determine if there are tweaks that could be made to the intervention. Also, the team may consider collecting aadditional information, in the form of an initial evaluation for special education.  

**In my experience, children participate in intervention cycles much longer than 6-8 weeks. Often     
    times, at Tier II, it can be the course of a school year. Students at Tier III also participate in 
    those interventions for more like half of a school year, before being identified for special 
    education.  This is highly dependent on your school district, resources, and child's grade level. 

As A Parent: What Questions Should I Be Asking?

1. When my child is receiving reading, math, and writing instruction, how are you differentiating (adapting) the instruction and materials to make it more accessible? 

2.  When in the day, does my child's intervention take place?

3. Is my child's intervention during core (reading,writing, math blocks), or is it in addition to core?

4.  How many students are in the group? How often does the group meet? How long is the 

     intervention?

5.  What are the specific skills that are targeted during the intervention?

6. What materials or curriculum are being used?

7.  What is the end goal of the intervention? Where should my child be performing?

8.  How will you be sharing my child's progress? 

9.  At what point will you be contacting me regarding the effectiveness of the intervention?

10. What can I do at home to support the skills being reinforced during the intervention?