Rti Booklet

RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION

(RTI)

An Overview of RtI and the plan developed by the State of Illinois.

By Stephanie Wascher

ETR530

November 20, 2009

Response to Intervention (RtI)

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this primer to all of the teachers who strive for life long learning, those that are dedicated to their jobs and inspire others to learn. Also, I would like to dedicate this primer to Stephen

Jackson who helped me understand RTI.

ETR530 Stephanie Wascher

TABLE OF CONTENTS Overview ...................................................................................... 4

Purpose ........................................................................................ 4

Audience ...................................................................................... 5

Objectives ..................................................................................... 5

Body ............................................................................................. 6

Suggested Readings ...................................................................... 10

Online Resources ......................................................................... 11

References .................................................................................... 12


OVERVIEW RTI is an initiative that helps identify students who are considered at risk with respect to academics or behavioral issues. This is an important topic for all teachers because it involves all students and provides intervention strategies and ways to target instruction for the students at risk. (Clark, Brouwer, Schmidt, & Alexander, 2008)

Teachers may not have a lot of knowledge regarding this initiative. Some districts provide extensive training to a few individuals and designate those individuals as liaisons to teachers and staff within that district. Other districts may be new to the initiative and therefore their teachers may not have had training so the school may not have a knowledgeable person on staff. All school districts in Illinois were required to develop an RtI plan by January 2009 by the State of Illinois. So if you are a teacher in Illinois, your school should have a RtI plan that will affect all of your students in some way. Not only does this initiative affect special education teachers, but it affects general education teachers as well.

PURPOSE This primer was created in response to the RtI plan created by the State of Illinois. Teachers need a resource where they can quickly learn about RtI. As a teacher in Illinois, you will come in contact with RtI sometime in your career if you have not already experienced it. This document will provide a teacher with the basics of RtI along with why it is being used, specifics from the State of Illinois plan, and concerns. It is meant as a general overview of RtI with additional resources for teachers to use if you would like to learn more.


OBJECTIVES

This document is intended for general and special education teachers at the middle school and high school levels that work in Illinois. It is designed as an informational resource that would also be useful to K-12 teachers working in any district in the United States. It contains some information specific to Illinois, but is general enough for all teachers.

AUDIENCE

After reading the primer, the reader will:

Understand the general definition of RtI.

Know the reasons behind why the RtI initiative was developed.

Understand the concepts behind RtI such as the three tier model and the problem solving model for decision making.

Have a basic understanding of the RtI plan developed by the State of Illinois.

Know where to find additional information on RtI.


WHAT IS RTI? Response to Intervention is a general education initiative developed to pool the school district resources together in order to match high quality instruction to a students’ needs. In order to do this, a school district must use learning rate over time as well as level of performance data to make educational decisions regarding the student (Bishop, 2008).

First the legal aspects of RtI. President Bush signed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) where section 300-307 stated that federal funds may be used for RtI initiatives. This meant that 15 percent of the special education monies could be used by school districts for early interventions (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006). As stated earlier, the State of Illinois required all school districts to complete an RtI plan by January 2009. Specific information on Illinois’ State plan will be covered in the RtI in Illinois section of this document.

What does Response to Intervention mean to teachers? The first part, response, is the process of discovering if the students would benefit from an intervention. In order to determine this, every student needs to be assessed and then monitored. In turn, most of the assessment in RtI is monitoring student performance and/or progress. As for intervention, it can be looked at as focusing on reading instruction and multitiered instruction (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006). In order to explain it further we can take a look at the components of RtI. Those components are a three-tier model of school supports, a problem-solving model for decision-making, and an integrated data system.

On page 7 of this document is a diagram of the Three Tier Model. As you can see the resources are based on the students needs. The intensity of the instruction increases as you move up the model. Tier 1 being the bottom and less intensive of the three tiers, includes core instruction to all students in all settings. As you move up the pyramid, Tier 2 is aimed at students who can benefit from interventions provided along with core instruction. The last tier, Tier 3, is for individual students who will benefit from intensive interventions along with the core instruction (Bishop, 2008).

The problem solving component is composed of four steps: 1) problem identification, 2) problem analysis, 3) intervention planning, and 4) progress monitoring. The purpose of this model is to match the instructional resources


to the educational needs of the student. A simple way to think about it is first the problem is determined by assessing the difference between what is expected of the student and student performance. After the data is analyzed, a performance goal and an intervention plan is created for that student. This goal will also state monitoring and implementation procedures. In the end, the evaluation is performed by data monitoring (Bishop, 2008).

The last component is the integration of data. Since the RtI model is a tiered model, it becomes progressively more intense with the monitoring becomes more frequent. Tier 1 is a general assessment of all students and determining students who could benefit from interventions as well as deciding the effectiveness of core instruction. Tier 2 data focuses on intervention effectiveness and the possibility of instructional change. Tier 3 data is collected more often than Tier 2, but consists of the similar data (Bishop, 2008). It all comes down to the importance of consistency in data systems used for RtI. Data collection and the systems used to store and collect the data must be consistent across all of the tiers as well as be scientifically based.

Three Tier Model


The link for the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) can be found in the Online Resources section on page 11. The state plan describes RtI and states that student success with regard to the Illinois Learning Standards improves when frequently monitored. The document stresses that a successful plan will meet the needs of all students and provide frequent assessment monitoring and analysis (Bishop, 2008).

This plan is for both general education and special education teachers. There are a few considerations regarding Special Education described in the plan. When it is thought that a student may have a specific learning disability, then by the 2010-2011 school year schools must make documentation of the RtI process part of the evaluation for that student. Schools may be implementing this now and they may use it for eligibility considerations in other disability areas, but it must be fully implemented by next year (Bishop, 2008).

A guideline for RtI funding was provided as well. Federal and state funds may be used for RtI. Of the usable Federal IDEA monies, Illinois school districts are required to use 5 percent of those monies for professional development. They can use up to 15 percent of the IDEA monies for supporting implementation of RtI. The state specifies that the funds can be used for professional development for teachers and staff, information and training for parents, and provide educational and behavior assessments, services and supports. As for state funds, ISBE will continue to search for funding opportunities and notify districts when those opportunities arise (Bishop, 2008).

The state plan also includes an evaluation plan for the RtI process. The RtI plan stated some of the areas of evaluation are as follows: skill development and implementation of educators; satisfaction of educators and parents based on survey results; evaluation of training and technical assistance; impact on students on the achievement, behavior, referral rates, disproportionality rates, drop out rates, graduation rates, attendance, special education placement rates, and retention; and the relationship between implementation integrity and student outcomes (Bishop, 2008). When looking at the evaluation items regarding the impact the intervention has on the students, we can just imagine what the impact may be without the interventions for students . Also, knowing the data required by the State helps to understand the data that needs to be collected and how it will affect the students.

RTI IN ILLINOIS

WHY USE IT?


CONCERNS

There are many reasons and benefits to using RtI. It enables educators to target instructional interventions in response to student’s specific areas of need as soon as those needs arise. It allows special and general educators to collaborate in order to educate all students. RtI identifies struggling learners early and requires data-driven educational decision-making for all learners. Current research demonstrates that early intervention is crucial to a student’s success. Before, the education system waited for a student to fail before attempting more intensive instructional interventions (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006).

Keep in mind that many students have been labeled as being a student with a learning disability. As more and more students have been given this label, it has become increasingly expensive to the school districts. As stated by Douglas Fuchs and Lynn Fuchs, it costs two to three times more to teach children with learning disabilities (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006). If school districts can use the RtI assessment instead of the IQ-achievement discrepancy as well as integrating students with learning disabilities into the classroom, then they can save money. It also helps the students that are given that label. They are not segregated into separate classrooms, they are in the regular classroom with the appropriate accommodations. Inclusion has shown to have a large impact on a students’ self esteem as well as how their peers view them.

As with the reasons why to use RtI, there are many challenges or concerns with it. Mastropieri and Scruggs brought up the following questions: Are special educators or general educators responsible for ensuring that

the procedures are implemented fully and with fidelity? How will RtI procedures apply in the middle school and high school

settings considering that a large number of students are identified early? How will issues of consistency of decision making be ensured throughout

the United States? How will a learning disability be differentiated from other disabilities if a

cognitive assessment is not used (Mastopieri & Scruggs, 2005)? Other concerns are what type of technologies do we use to record the data, do we need to dedicate a staff member to data assessment and entry? The answer is in the data and whether the interventions work.


SUGGESTED READINGS Allington, R.L. (2008). What Really Matters in Response to Intervention: Reasearch

-Based Designs. New Jersey: Pearson Publications.

Bender, W.N. & Shores, C. (2007). Response to Intervention: A Practical Guide for Every Teacher. London: Corwin Press, Inc.

Bishop, F. (2008). The Illinois State Response to Intervention (RtI) Plan. Retrieved from http://www.isbe.state.il.us/RtI_plan/default.htm.

Brown-Chidsey, R. & Steege, M.W. (2005). Response to Intervention: Principles and Strategies for Effective Practice. New York: Guilford Press.

Hosp, M.K., Hosp, J.L., & Howell, K.W. (2007). The ABCs of CBM. New York: Guilford Press.

Learning Disabilities Association of America. (2005). Responsiveness to Intervention and Learning Disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.ldaamerica.org/pdf/rti2005.pdf.

Lyon, G.R. & Fletcher, J.M. (2001). Early Warning System. Education Matters. 1 (2), 23-29.

Rathvon, N. (2008). Effective School Interventions: Evidence Based Strategies for Improving Student Outcomes. New York: Guildford Press.

Reedy, K. (2004). A Promising Alternative for Identifying Students with Learning Disabilities: Responsiveness to Intervention. R&D Alert, 6(1). Retrieved from http://www.wested.org/cs/we/view/feat/48.


ONLINE RESOURCES

Fletcher, J. M. (2003). Validity of Alternative Approaches to the Identification of LD: Operationalizing Unexpected Underachievement. Retrieved from http://www.nrcld.org/symposium2003/fletcher/fletcher3.html.

Illinois Response to Intervention. Retrieved from http://www.isbe.state.il.us/RtI_plan/default.htm

Intervention Central: Your Site for Response to Intervention Resources. Retrieved from http://www.interventioncentral.org/

National Center on Response to Intervention. Retrieved from http://www.rti4success.org/.

National Education Association Online. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/.

Online Resources for RtI. Retrieved from http://www.pekin.net/pekin108/contribute/swatson/rtiresources.htm.

Response to Intervention: IEANA. Retrieved from http://illinoiseducationassociation.org/resources/response-to-intervention/.

Response to Intervention (RTI): Overview by the International Reading Association. Retrieved from http://www.reading.org/Resources/ResourcesByTopic/ResponseToIntervention/Overview.aspx.

RtI Action Network. Retrived from http://www.rtinetwork.org/.

Woodward, J. & Montague, M. (2002). Meeting the Challenge of Mathematics Reform for Students with Learning Disabilities. Retrieved from http://www2.ups.edu/faculty/woodward/Meeting%20the%20Needs%20of%20Students%20with%20Disabilities.pdf.

Wright, J. RTI Wire Website. Retrieved from http://www.jimwrightonline.com/php/rti/rti_wire.php.

Bishop, F. (2008). The Illinois State Response to Intervention (RtI) Plan. Retrieved from http://www.isbe.state.il.us/RtI_plan/default.htm.

Clark, G.F., Brouwer, A., Schmidt, C., & Alexander, M. (2008) Response

to Intervention (RtI) Model. OT Practice, 13(15), 9-13. Fuchs, D. & Fuchs, L.S. (2006). Introduction to Response to Intervention:

What, why, and how valid is it? Reading Research Quarterly, 41, 93-99. Fuchs, L. (2006). Response to Mathematics Interventions. The Special Edge,

19(2), 6-8. Mastropieri, M.S. & Scruggs, T.E. (2005). Feasibility and Consequences of

Response to Intervention. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38, 525-531.

REFERENCES


Rti Booklet

Education

Transcript of Rti Booklet