RTI Blog Project

RtI Blog Project

What is RtI?

RtI stands for Response to Intervention which is a three-tier educational approach. The general educator should identify and support the students who need more help in learning in order to meet the academic level. General education and special education teachers use this approach to make sure that the students are not falling behind in school. The aim of the RtI is to change the instruction and goals for the students, so they will be successful and learn more effectively like the other students. General and special educators try to use different methods or approaches that might aid the students more. However, the material is the same. According to the book “Educational Exceptional Children” the authors express, “A special education teacher can be valuable here in proposing adaptations that fulfil the goal of Universal Design for Learning (UDL), learning the same concepts through different methods and approaches (120). That indicates that the special education teachers need to find a good method for the student that can help him/her absorb the same information the other peers are learning in the classroom.  

Students who need help go through the first tier, but sometimes the educators do not see any improvement in the students’ academic success, so they move them to the next tier, tier 2. The last tier, tier 3, is the most challenging one for teachers since they have to find useful and effective methods to deliver the information. Each tier has different specifications in order to help the students correctly. Tier 1 is the Universal Screening and Core Classroom Instruction. That means that students receive the same instruction by the general education teacher while the other students are working on worksheet for example. If there is not adequate success, then they move to the second tier. Tier 2 is the Targeted Supplemental Interventions and Supports. In this tier, students usually work in small groups that have at least four students. It groups the students, so the students have the ability to focus more on the target and succeed. Also, when the educators do not see any additional success, they move the students to the third tier. Tier 3 is Intensive Interventions and Supports. This tier involves one-on-one sessions with the student. If students in that tier do not see any improvement, then they will be evaluated to see if they eligible for special education program.

 Explanation of Tier 1 (include: what occurs in the classroom, at home, what data is gathered,

and what strategies are used):

Tier 1 is the Universal Screening and Core Classroom Instruction. In the first tier, all students who need extra help get assisted by the general education classroom teacher or another teacher, mentor, or observer. The students usually receive the same quality of information and learn the same concepts but in a different and more easily structured way. According to RTI Action Network, it mentions, “All students are screened on a periodic basis to establish an academic and behavioral baseline and to identify struggling learners who need additional support” (RTI Action Network). That clarifies that in order to know who needs help academically or behaviorally, students have to be observed on a daily basis or be judged based on their exam scores. After they are identified, they start to receive additional help from their teacher or an outside help. This happens in the classroom. The teacher who will work with the student should discuss the curriculum with general education teacher in order to be able to guide the students successfully.

  

                  Some strategies that parents can use to help the teacher assist the child correctly is letting the child read a book out loud, explain some unknown words, and help the child summarize the story. Usually, when parents are more involved in the students’ school life, the students will improve academically. According to the article “A Family Guide to Response to Intervention” it states, “The more parents are involved in student learning, the higher the student achievement”. Therefore, parents play a huge rule in their child’s success. Also, parents have to be more engaged in school meetings to know if their child needs more help beyond tier 1.

To sum up, Tier 1 is usually led by the general education teacher in the classroom. The teacher is trying his/her best to assist the students in the classroom with different methods and strategies. Also, parents can help their child to improve when they work parallel or in the same way the teacher does in school. According to the interview with Mrs. Kessler, she mentioned that after 6 weeks, if the child does not improve, an entire team decides to move him/her to the next tier while meeting with the parents, so they will be familiar with how their child is improving  

Explanation of Tier 2 (include: what occurs in the classroom, at home, what data is gathered, and what strategies are used)

Tier 2 is the Targeted Supplemental Interventions and Supports. In that tier, usually students work in smaller groups with other students that have the same struggle. According to the article “What counts as response and intervention in RTI? A sociocultural analysis” it mentions, “Students receive more intensive interventions in targeted skill domains; the interventions are delivered in small groups formats” (Artiles and Kozleski 950). That indicates that tier 2 students need more focus with the materials in order to them improve academically. Also, in small groups they might have the ability to focus better since there is not so much distraction around them. 

One strategy that can be used in tier 2 is peer tutoring. According to the book Educational Exceptional Children, the authors state, “The peer tutors without developmental disabilities received extensive training and were audiotaped to ensure that the intervention was proceeding appropriately” (Kirk, Gallagher, Coleman 121). That means that peers can help each other to improve in school. Students usually learn more when they help each other. They kind of know what area might be the hardest for each other and try to help him/her effectively. Also, it is mentioned that they audiotape to make sure that the students are giving the right information to their peers. That also might help the teacher to create a new strategy that might help the small group to learn better next time.

Explanation of Tier 3 (include: what occurs in the classroom, at home, what data is gathered, and what strategies are used)

Tier 3 is Intensive Interventions and Supports. According to the RTI Action Network, there is only a small percentage (2-7 %) of students who have really severe academic problems and are at high risk. In tier 3, the students meet around four times a week outside the general education classroom with a one-on-one teacher to aide them academically. Since teachers have more adequate time with the student to focus on the material, the teacher has to prepare an effective lesson in order to keep the student focus and improve academically. 

Like the other tiers, parents are playing a very important role in their child’s academic life. The students need to have support everywhere such as in school, in their extracurricular activities, or at home. If students only receive support at school, then their progress will be slower. Some schools have programs for parents on how to support their child, so both the teacher and the parents can see the improvement in the child’s academic success. 

Interview with your classroom teacher (discuss the RtI process with the teacher you are with for your clinical component for this course – include your interview questions and a summary of your discussion)

     

I interviewed a fifth grade teacher who has several students receive RTI in reading because some of them are bilingual and others just struggle in reading. Making the decision whether or not a student needs the RTI service is not easy because she has to spend the entire trimester getting to know the students well in order to place them in the right tier. However, her decision is not the final one because she gets additional help and evaluation from the support team in order to find the right method to use with the students.  

      This is the questions and answers from the interview.

1.      Do you think the RtI process is helpful?

I think it is helpful in many cases because the process used to be much more lax in its implementation.  I do think there are times that it is difficult to move a child through the process when they keep feeling a sense of failure for each level that is needed to try.

2.      Do you use the RtI process in your class? Please give me example for each Tier?

The RTI process is implemented across the school through Kid Review days and every 6-8 weeks we review students in Tier1 and Tier 2 to find discuss groups of students and individual students at these levels that hold concern for us.

Tier 1 Reading: all students have shared reading instruction as a whole class and are included in reading groups.  Students at a lower reading level meet more often with the teacher.

Tier 2 Reading: Some students in my class are also seen 2 times a week by a reading specialist, bilingual resource teacher, or reading program assistant to receive more targeted instruction in a specific area.  This year we have quite a few students that need further oral language and vocabulary. These are the students more specifically discussed at our Review days.

Tier 3: I do not have students at this level this year. There is at least one in 5th grade that is continuing the Tier process from last year.

3.      What strategies do you use while deciding to use any of the RtI Tier?

I usually make these decisions with the help of my grade level team and after talking to a few “specialists” (bilingual and reading if necessary).

4.      How do you decide if the strategy would work with the student or not?

As a school much of the first trimester of the school year is spent getting to know our students at many levels.  There is some regression over the summer for students each year, so many of our interventions do not begin until October.  As part of the RTI process, many interventions are tried for 6 weeks and you monitor if this is helping the student become more independent.  If it is working, you may pull the intervention back a bit and see if they have transferred the skill and are gaining

5.      What is the school policy about the RtI process?

It is developed through teams at the grade level every 6-8 weeks.  If there is need to move a child up a tier, we do have teams of teachers and specialists that may help to come up with more ideas to try with a student

6.      What process do you use to determine which intervention to provide?

As a team, when we come up with the intervention to try next, we come up with a method to assess its effectiveness

What training do teachers get on each intervention program?

If it is a specific program it may be delivered by a specialist who has been trained, otherwise, there may be intervention that is not a specific program and it is created to meet the needs we think that specific student has

7.      How does the school make sure that all students are receiving high-quality instruction?

At the end of each school year and throughout the next as a school we have worked to align instruction across the grade levels.  With the introduction of CCSS a few years ago we have been working as a district to update and realign our programs to the standards, across the grade levels, and across the district.  As a district we have met as grade level teams to incorporate and share ideas that would help students meet the standards.

8.      At what point in the RtI process are students who are suspected of having a learning disability referred for a special education evaluation?

It is different for each student, there is not a specific timeline or end date.  With bilingual students, it tends to take longer because it is important to determine if the gap is created by them still learning the language or if there are other factors at work.  

9.      Will RtI data be used to help determine the need for special education?

Yes

10.  If a student receives a special education services, how can RtI help?

I have had students move out of special education based on their closing the gap between themselves and their classmates.

Two Case Study Responses (Visit http://www.iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/pdf_case_studies/ics_rtidm.pdf  to choose the case studies you wish to respond to)

According to the RTI: Data-Based Decision Making Level A, Case Study 2, Emil’s reading score indicates that he needs help in reading. Therefore, his teacher Ms. Perry monitored him for five weeks. In the first week, he only performs sixty percent of his goal. However, in the third week, he meets his goal which was reading twenty-two words per minute. In the last week, he even reads around thirty-six percent more than the teacher was expecting. According to his successful increase in his performance, Emil is in the right tier. Emil just needs someone to guide him to read properly in order to be at the same level as the rest of his classmates. Another reason why Emil is in the right tier is because in the first week he scored more than fifty percent, and after he met his goal, he no longer needs extra guidance from his teacher.

Another case study form the RTI: Data-Based Decision Making Level B, Case Study 3, discusses a boy that is in third grade that is placed in tier 2. His teacher gives him a goal to read fifty-five words in one minute. According to his performance chart, Paul is improving slowly. In tier 2, students usually work in small groups, and Paul probably does not feel comfortable reading around them. The teacher should have changed his group around the fifth week when she figured out he read one or two words more than the last week. Also, the teacher should use different methods if he/she sees that a student does not perform well in the first several weeks. Teachers should not just let the students improve slowly until the end of the monitoring weeks. In my opinion, Paul needs to receive tier 3 guidance since he does not meet his goal that the teacher gives to him. Maybe the support team disagrees which tier he should be placed in because it might not be his problem that he does not perform well. Before making the decision, they have to meet with Paul individually to understand exactly why he could not meet his reading goal. In my opinion, they can move Paul to tier 3 where he will receive one-on-one instruction, and if they see an improvement, then they have to move him back to tier 2 and try to find different methods to use with him in order to meet his goals.