Week 4, Assignments 1 and 2

Assignment 1:  Response to Intervention (RtI)

Response to Intervention (RtI), a tiered framework to provide school wide instruction, that:

• ·    identifies students who are at risk for poor outcomes in academic and behavioral areas
• ·    provides them with systematically applied strategies and targeted instruction at varying levels of evidence-based intervention
• ·    adjusts the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness 

RtI represents an important educational strategy to close achievement gaps for all students, including students at risk, students with disabilities and English language learners, by preventing smaller learning problems from becoming insurmountable gaps. The philosophy of RtI is to replace remediation, which goes into effect after a student falls behind, with intervention, which is designed to prevent academic failure. One of its underlying premises is the possibility that a child’s struggles may be due to inadequacies in instruction or in the curriculum either in use at the moment or in the child’s past.

The federal mandate is for states to have RtI in place for identifying students with disabilities in literacy K-4 by July 1, 2012.  New York State has recently established regulations to conform with IDEA that not only address the use of RTI for learning disability determinations but also introduces the RtI process as a general education initiative.  Regulations have included RtI as a methodology for addressing students’ behavioral needs as well, understanding that academic frustration may be the cause and/or the result of a student’s ability to self-monitor his or her behavior. The goals of RtI have expanded beyond the narrow scope of the federal mandate to include all subject areas at all grade levels. 

History of RtI

The 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) included a new concept regarding the identification of students with specific learning disabilities. The provisions of IDEA allows a school district to consider a student's response to scientific, research-based interventions as part of the evaluation process in determining whether a student has a specific learning disability. This approach is commonly referred to as the Response to Intervention (RtI) process.

While RtI began as a response to addressing student outcomes for special education students, it quickly emerged as a general education initiative, as obtaining successful outcomes for students requires an integrated education system that does not operate as two distinct entities. Finding, identifying, and placing students "in" a special education program was no longer sufficient. Successful academic outcomes meant implementing RtI beginning very early in general education.

Essential Elements of RTI

Although there is no specific definition of RTI, essential elements can be found when we take a look at how states, schools, and districts fit RTI into their work. In general, RTI includes:

•   screening children within the general curriculum,
•   tiered instruction of increasing intensity,
•   evidence-based instruction,
•   close monitoring of student progress
•    informed decision making regarding next steps for individual students. 

Universal screening means all students are involved in an initial assessment of knowledge and skills. From this universal screening, it’s possible to identify which students appear to be struggling or lacking specific knowledge or skills in a given area.

Tiered instruction.  Students identified through the universal screening as “at risk” or “struggling” then move through the general education curriculum with adapted and individualized interventions that increase in intensity.  An RtI Process most often consists of a three tier delivery model that incorporates a problem solving process to make informed decisions regarding student improvement.

·         Tier 1:  All students receive evidence-based, high quality, and differentiated instruction by the general education teacher that incorporates ongoing universal screening, progress monitoring and prescriptive assessment to design instruction.  This instruction should satisfy the needs of 80-85% of all students. At-risk children who have been identified through close monitoring and a screening process receive research-based instruction, sometimes in small groups, sometimes as part of a class wide intervention. 

·         Tier 2:  If, however, the child does not respond to the first level of group-oriented interventions, he or she typically moves to the next RtI level.  The length of time in Tier 2 is generally a bit longer than in Tier 1, and the level of intensity of the interventions is greater along with more systematic instruction.  Working with small groups of students in the classroom, the general education teacher or another trained educator is able to target the areas in which each child is having difficulty. Again, each child's progress is closely monitored during this supplemental intervention.

·         Tier 3:  For the small percentage of students who still lag significantly behind their peers in academic progress, a third level of intervention is conducted with more evidence-based intensive intervention. This supplemental instruction is typically more individualized as well with individual students or very small groups for more opportunities for direct instruction.  This is taught by an intervention specialist or special education teacher.

Evidenced-based interventions are a cornerstone of instruction within an RTI process. Within an RTI process, instructional strategies and interventions are based on what research has shown to be effective with students

Progress monitoring is constant checking of a student’s progress with whatever evidence-based instruction is being used. Progress monitoring keeps track of children’s academic development and helps pinpoint where each individual student is having difficulties.  

Informed decision making for individual students. When used as part of a tiered instructional process, progress monitoring can provide the information by which informed judgments can be made about the student’s development. This includes the need to move to the next tier of instructional intensity, or perhaps be referred for a comprehensive and individualized evaluation under IDEA.

Questions about RtI

• In which grades is RtI most effective?
• Can RtI be applied in higher grades?
• What are the drawbacks for students who have supplemental intervention in this tiered system?
• Are teachers properly trained and do schools have sufficient resources? 

Assignment 2:  Reading Intervention Programs Powerpoint
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0xmjr0u7mTJWkRWd2FiZldPZmM/edit?usp=sharing