Plan for Response to Intervention (RTI)

What is Response to Intervention? Response to Intervention (RTI) is a practice of providing high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student needs, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals and applying child response data to important educational decisions.

KEY IDEAS…. Identifying appropriate frequency and intensity of resources and interventions to meet student needs (tiers) Focus is on student and school-wide improvement Requires a comprehensive, system-wide approach that focuses resources to be prescriptive to targeted areas. RTI requires us to rethink our practices and move to a “model of prevention” rather than a model of failure when identifying students for targeted support. RTI requires a collaborative “ownership” and dedication to each and every student in the school.

Tier Structure for Assisting Students 1-5% Students require intensive interventions provided individually 5-10% Students need more specifically targeted interventions including additional time and specialized strategies 80-90% students respond to Tier I interventions Universal Screening, grouping for targeted skills, specialized program for targeted areas, frequent monitoring, parent involvement

Why RTI? Pull all resources together-common efforts (Title I/IDEA/early intervention/ESS programs/regular ed programs/etc…) Reduction in the number of students who need special education services Our current system for waits for a child to fail before intervening with additional support or services. Gap reduction

What are the benefits of using RtI? General educators use RtI as a strategy to be used in the general education classroom. Special educators join together with general educators to form a uniform system of education where RtI is used to identify and work with struggling learners in all settings. RtI helps educators make decisions about “additional targeted supports”.

Schools Implementing RtI Cox’s Creek Foster Heights OKHIS

Targeting Reading First 5 areas Comprehension Fluency Phonics/Alphabetic Principle Vocabulary Phonemic Awareness

Starting the Work Developing the Team Administrator(s) Teacher(s) Psychologist Child Guidance Specialist Other(s)

Problem-Solving Model Flexibility Team approach Student specific approach

Starting the Work Develop a data driven program-response process Common district data at specific times (3x) To develop district norms To provide a system of checks and balances Example-ThinkLink is administered to students in Sept, Jan & May.

Universal Screening 10% cut score - conduct mass screening (ThinkLink, GRADE, GMADE, T-PRO) to identify bottom 10% to target for intervention. District-norms – local norms allow us to compare our kids to what is “average” for our kids instead of to national norms only

Starting the Work Identify the Tier activities & programs for specific schools Example: Tier II- Phonics-Great Leaps, Making Words, Comprehension-Quick Reads, Scholastic Reader’s Choice

Starting the Work Develop PD plans for teachers/admins/teams specific to the individual school Example- *2 teachers need to be trained on Great Leaps *CRC needs help developing a system to track tier data *Student Support team-needs help developing procedures to determine when students move from one tier to the next

Starting the Work Develop an implementation plan specific to a school utilizing the district established tier framework. Using existing data to get started Best practice vs acceptable practice Introduction to staff

Starting the Work Monitor the progress Examples of data: StudentsProgram(s ) ThinkLink (OCT) ThinkLink (JAN) ThinkLink (MAY) Review Points Comments: MattWilson131618

Using data to make decisions The next two slides show examples of using assessment to monitor the effectiveness of interventions. Using data to guide decision making is a crucial component of RtI.

Case Study: Joshua Joshua’s trend-lines instructional changes Joshua’s goal-line X

Case Study: Linda Linda’s trend-lines instructional changes Linda’s goal-line X

Example of a student going through the process In September, John scores in the lowest 10% of 1 st graders on the ThinkLink and GRADE. Baseline data is obtained using curriculum probes. His teacher begins implementing classroom intervention targeting his reading skills. After 4 weeks, she assesses his progress using curriculum probes and either continues the intervention or changes it. After another 2-4 weeks, she assesses his progress again. If he has not made adequate progress (as defined in procedures), she refers to Student Support Team for consideration of Tier 2.

Tier I Interventions in classroom-Where are they coming from? (small group/supplemental /software) In classroom-teacher tracks data Baseline data/4 week data check /2-4 week later data check Decision point Still below the lowest 10% in grade Growth below 25 th percentile at grade level when compared to all students

Tier I Teaching teachers how to chart data – use pre-made Excel charts or graph by hand with pre-made charts Develop/gather resources with tier I type interventions

Requirements At Tier 1 schools must: 1. Assess student using district approved screening following screening cycle (Sept/Jan/May) 2. Use data to identify targeted students 3. Collect baseline and progress data (at least 2 times in 8 weeks) on targeted student to assess intervention progress 4. Assist teachers with interventions and ensure fidelity of interventions implemented

Example, continued Tier 2 – a Student Support Team meets and reviews John’s data. A supplemental reading intervention is determined, which generally involves 30 additional minutes of reading a day. Programs will vary but may include classroom software or other research-based interventions. The classroom teacher begins taking weekly measures of John’s progress (using curriculum probes). A goal line is determined for John using grade level norms. If John drops below the goal line for 2 successive data collection dates, the teacher may request a review of the intervention. Data is collected for 8 weeks. At the end of 8 weeks, if John is still performing well below his peers and has not made an adequate rate of progress, The Student Support Team discusses moving into Tier 3.

Tier II Monitoring every week using curriculum probes Differentiated Instruction – supplemental instruction for 8 weeks Student Support Team meets to help teacher develop intervention and set goals Teachers and CRC are tracking data Best-practice-have others do assessments to verify progress Achieve at the 25% or above-they exit tier II. If they are progressing and below average, they continue in tier II. If their growth rate is still below the 25%, achievement rate is below the 10 percentile for their grade level and they are still below the 10 th percentile for their class – go on to Tier III.

Tier II Teacher must bring data to Student Support Team 30 minutes of additional instruction in reading Examples: supplemental instruction, software

Example, continued Tier 3 – Student Support Team reviews John’s data and determines which Tier 3 Supplemental Reading Program is appropriate ( Reading Recovery, Earobics, etc.) Tier 3 reading is minutes supplemental per day, depending on the program. John’s teacher (and/or someone else) continues collecting data at least weekly using curriculum probes. At the end of 6 weeks, the Student Support Team reviews John’s progress. If he is making an adequate rate of progress, he continues with the program. If not, he may be referred for Special Education evaluation at this point. ARC determines additional data needed and collects while John continues with the Tier 3 program. John can also be referred at the end of 9 weeks if his rate of progress has not remained adequate.

Tier III Reading Mastery/Reading Recovery minutes per day-additional (or program recommendation) Progress data recommended twice weekly At end of at least 4 weeks, review progress. If student is still below 10 th %ile and has not made an adequate rate of progress, student may be referred for evaluation to determine if he/she has a learning disability.

Referral for Special Educaiton Evaluation Consideration of disability – ARC determines the data collected support a suspected area of disability and if additional information needed Due process begins when parents sign permission of revaluation. Continue Tier III interventions while in the evaluation process. All data (progress monitoring, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments, observations, behavioral data, etc.) is used in determination of disability.

To Do List Determine Team at each school and district level. Determine District Assessment Timelines for all schools to be implemented. Determine most effective Universal Screening Instrument for District-wide use. Determine Data/Critera for Moving to Next Tier Tier activities and progress monitoring Materials for each school to review. Identify a Systematic approach to collecting school data for District analysis.

Questions?