Response+to+Intervention

=Response to Intervention - Really Terrific Instruction=

RtI is a framework for making instructional decisions.

RTI both diagnoses specific student needs and prescribes specific interventions.

Some Goals of the Response to Intervention Framework
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 * 1) to provide **early, targeted intervention support** students need to progress to grade-level goals
 * 2) to **prevent** students from developing more server difficulties, and
 * 3) to **reduce the number of unnecessary referrals** to special education

=__Chapters 1-3__=

Typically, steps increase in intensity as student needs become greater or when students fail to respond to less intensive interventions (p. 31-32). These steps include:
 * Implementing a solid core program (Tier 1)
 * Use research-based programs and instruction
 * Employing universal screening
 * No student falls through the cracks
 * Implementing a classroom intervention
 * Differentiated support within the Tier 1 program
 * Monitoring students' progress in the core program
 * Data drives decision-making
 * Monitor progress often
 * Initiating a supplemental (Tier 2) intervention
 * To students slightly below grade level
 * Monitoring student progress to the supplemental intervention
 * Initiating an intensive (Tier 3) intervention
 * To students well below grade level
 * Monitoring the student progress in response to the intensive intervention
 * Assessing students to determine whether they have a learning disability
 * Referral for formal evaluation for special education eligibility

curriculum casualty early intervening services -15% of Part B funds

Tier 1- Core
When building a PRTI, a school must be willing to assess honestly the current reality of its core program. This, not a successful intervention system, is PRTI's most important component, for the core program does more to ensure students' success than the most comprehensive system of supplemental supports. Therefore, schools should first strive to teach "right" the first time. (p. 54) To assess your site's core program, first consider the folling questions:
 * Is learning the fundamental purpose of your school?
 * Do teams have frequent collaboration time embedded into the professional day?
 * Do learning goals drive each team's work?
 * Have teacher teams clearly defined student learning outcomes for each grade level and/or course of study?
 * Do teams collaborate to create and administer timely and common formative assessments?
 * Does your school know which students have not mastered specific essential standards?
 * Does your common assessment data identify strengths and weaknesses in core instructional practices?

Tier 2 - Supplemental
Each "dose" of tiered support should last 6-8 weeks. Supplemental Tier 2 interventions occur at least 3 days a week for 30 minutes a session in groups of 3 to 6 students.

Tier 3 - Intensive
Intensive Tier 3 interventions occur daily for 30 minutes a session in smaller groups.

=__Chapter 4__= RTI is a schoolwide, systematic, collaborative process in which all school resources are seamlessly integrated and singularly focused on the same outcome. www.allthingsplc.info educational malpractice

The first step in creating a PRTI is to implement the three "big ideas" of being a PLC:
 * focus on learning
 * a collaborative culture, and
 * a focus on results.

The core mission is not to simply ensure that all students are //taught// but that all students //learn.//

Two fundamental assumptions underlie the missionof high levels of learning for all students.
 * 1) Educators believe that all students are capable of high levels of learning, and
 * 2) they accept responsibility for making this outcome a reality for every child.

From //What Works in Schools// by Robert Marzano -> "an analysis of research conducted over a thirty-five year period demonstrates that the schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of student backgrounds."

90-90-90 schools - 90% of students are eligible for F/R, 90% minorities, 90% meet grade-level academic standards

"Our experience verifies that the possibilities are unlimited once a dedicated school staff goes in search of research and best practices to advance their shared vision of learning for all. However, until they embrace the possibility that all children can learn, obstacles and barriers they will find are virtually endless and will seem insurmountable." Larry Lezotte (2005)

team time is embedded into the teachers' day


 * First critical question - What is it we expect students to learn?**
 * By identifying "power" standards, teams can analyze, prioritize, and otherwise unpack the standards that describe what is most essential for students to know.
 * This will lead to the next step of assessment for learning.


 * Second critical question - How will we know if our students are learning?**
 * Based on concrete results rather than good intentions.
 * Think beyond teaching to examine learning
 * Each collaborative team creates a series of common formative assessments to measure each student's progress toward mastery of essential learning outcomes.
 * Student assessment information constitutes the "life blood" of a PRTI
 * helps identify students who need additional time and support
 * confirms which core instructional strategies are most effective in meeting student needs
 * provides a foundation for progress monitoring needed to properly implement RTI

All collaborative learning, planning, and goal-setting are useless until put into action. PLC educators do not view experimentation as a singular task to be accomplished; rather, they embrace experimentation as "how we do things" every day.

"Ultimately there are two kinds of schools; learning enriched schools and learning impoverished schools. I have yet to see a school where the learning curves ... of the adults were steep upward and those of the students were note. Teachers and students go hand and hand as learners ... or they don't go at all" Roland Barth (2001).

PLC teams engage in //collective inquiry// to continually learn about best practices. Teams do not make decisions merely by sharing experiences or averaging opinions, but instead by building shared knowledge through learning together.

Schools will be most successful in taking advantage of these information sources if they develop structures to facilitate data gathering.
 * __under-represented students__** - also known as "at risk" students - students who are not succeeding in the core program. These students are more accurately described as under-represented because their parents may not sufficiently represent their needs, and teh school may not recognize and provide supports. There are three ways to identify under-represented students:
 * 1) Teachers and other school staff recommend students.
 * 2) Students receive low scores in such summative assessment data as end-of-year statewide standardized tests.
 * 3) Formative assessments help educators identify students who have note mastered a set of power standards or who have failed to make expected progress toward mastery.

Evaluate programs using the following criteria:
 * Is it systematic, research-based, and explicit?
 * Can a paraprofessional deliver the instruction?
 * Is the initiative computer-based?
 * Does it provide a targeted, supplemental intervention or a broad intervention that supplants a core curriculum?
 * What is the optimal number of students in an instructional group using the program?

Summary: Before building a pyramid response to intervention, you must: Only then are you ready to evaluate the effectiveness of your current interventions.
 * 1) embrace the need for change
 * 2) assess your current core program in terms of PLC best practices
 * 3) identify under-represented students
 * 4) brainstorm all the potential resources you might use for students who are struggling.

p. 177 p. 178 p. 181 p. 183