RTI 101

My child is struggling in school and I am just beginning the process of meeting with the school’s team. Can you give me some guidance on specific information I should be requesting to make sure I’m covering all the bases?

We know how overwhelming it can be when your child is having difficulty and you need to navigate through the process of finding help.  You’ve taken a good first step by scheduling a meeting with the team. You should find out how the team will continue to communicate with you so you can stay on top of your child’s progress and the best way for you to give them information about how your child is doing at home.

The key to helping your child is data, data, data. Determining the success of students in schools today is based on assessments, progress monitoring, and looking at data trends. The information that is collected on a regular basis allows educators to know very quickly if a student is having difficulty. As the data is analyzed, the first thing school teams look at is the class average to make sure that a majority of the students understood what was taught. If 80% or more made adequate progress, then the small group of students who did not would be given supplemental instruction and reassessed.  If there are still a few students who need additional help, then individualized interventions would be designed to help the student master the curriculum.

When you get the scores for your child’s quizzes and tests you will want to also ask for the class average. This is an important piece of information for you to understand your child’s progress in relationship to his peers. For instance, if your child scores a 70% on a test and the class average is 90% then additional small group or individual instruction may be needed. However, if the class average was 50% than your child did very well compared to his peers, but the low class average would indicate the entire class may need additional or different instruction to master the concept.

When your child is receiving individualized interventions you want to look for the following components:

1. Name of scientifically-based instructional intervention that is being used.

2. The minimum number of weeks the intervention will be tried to determine if it has been successful (8 weeks, 10 weeks, 15 weeks).

3. The amount of time per day the intervention will be implemented (30 min., 45 min.).

4. Who will deliver the instruction and what training have they received?

5. Where will the instruction be given?

6. How will progress be assessed and what is the benchmark that will be considered success?

7. How often progress will be reported to you and in what format?

At your follow-up meetings with the team, you should receive documentation that shows your child’s progress over time and identifies what types of interventions and strategies worked well for your child. If your child is still struggling after implementing individualized interventions that meet all the criteria above, then your team may want to look at doing a comprehensive evaluation to determine if your child has a learning disability.

Words You Need to Know

Curriculum:  The set of courses, and their content, offered at a school.  A curriculum is prescriptive, and is based on a more general syllabus which merely specifies what topics must be understood and to what level to achieve a particular grade or standard. 

Data-based Decision Making:  Process of collecting, analyzing, and summarizing information to answer a question and to guide development, implementation, and evaluation of an action. Data-based decision making is continuous and regular, and linked to important educational and social outcomes.

Intervention: A change in instructing a student in the area of learning or behavioral difficulty to try to improve performance and achieve adequate progress.

Select a Core Principle.

Scientifically Research-Based Instruction

Curriculum and educational interventions that have been proven to be effective for most students. By using research-based practices, schools efficiently use time and resources and reduce or eliminate ineffective instructional and evaluative practices.

Assessment Instruction System

Helps educators make better decisions to enhance student learning. The system generates on-going data about students’ progress and interventions’ efficacy. This system is well-organized and efficient to maximize available resources.

Problem Solving Process:  Process that allows many different people to consider a student’s need. It assists the classroom teacher and parents in designing and selecting strategies for accelerating a student’s academic and/or behavioral performance.

Progress monitoring: A scientifically based practice used to assess students’ academic performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. Progress monitoring can be implemented with individual students or an entire class.

Response to Intervention (RTI): RTI is the practice of providing high-quality instruction and intervention matched to student need, monitor progress frequently to make decisions about change in instruction and goals, and applying the student's response data to important educational decisions.
The primary focus of the RTI is designed as an early intervention to prevent long term academic failure.

LINKS

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/rti.index.htm

http://www.allkindsofminds.org/documents/Policy/WA_rti_parent_guide.pdf

http://www.k12.wa.us/RTI/Resources/RTIManual.aspx

http://www.cde.state.co.us/RtI/Curriculum.htm

http://www.fcrr.org/about/index.htm