Blog 10: Response to Intervention (RTI)

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a form of academic intervention that is used in some schools here in the United States.  It is designed to provide early, effective assistance to children who are not learning or are having a hard time learning.  RTI identifies the needs of struggling students and provides the focused instruction they need through various levels of assistance beginning in the regular education classroom and ranging in intensity up to the special education level.  The model is a useful approach to providing data-based decision-making for any students who may be in need of extra interventions to improve their performance. 

RTI can also be used to identify students with learning disabilities.  In fact, new special education laws have recently passed stating that cognitive ability (IQ) testing will no longer be able to be used to identify students with learning disabilities. By the year 2013, all public schools in Wisconsin will have to use RTI to identify students with learning disabilities.

Although RTI can be used to identify students in need of special education services in the area of learning disabilities, it is not a special education program.  RTI is a preventative framework instead of a pre-referral, and it is intended to be implemented in the regular education setting.  In a pre-referral strategy we see a student being referred after he fails in some way.  Teachers recognize that failure and refer the student to the referral team.  In this way, it is reactive instead of preventative. 

In the Green Bay Area Public Schools, the referral process usually starts with the Teacher Assistance Team (TAT) and can move on from there to the Consultation Team, which may eventually lead to a special education referral.  Sometimes students don’t qualify to receive special education services they need but still have a form of learning disability.  RTI benefits students who do not meet the current criteria (testing) for a learning disability.  Some of these kids are falling behind because they cannot receive the help they need in special education or from regular education.  RTI can help these kids who are struggling and do not qualify for special education assistance.  RTI allows schools to be flexible to provide more individualized instruction to students based on demonstrated needs and not simply on tests scores. 

For example, as a teacher, I may give a quiz and see that most of my students did not do well on it.  As a result, I may implement some interventions in my classroom that benefit all of my students.  I would also look carefully at the scores of all of my students and work more intensely with the students who scored the lowest on the quiz.  If possible, I may have a paraprofessional or teacher’s aide work in a small group with my lowest students to provide the intense intervention they need to catch up to the level of the rest of the class.  It is important to give many quizzes or other forms of measuring student progress to make sure that I am targeting the students who need the most help.