Maximizing Student Performance with Response to Intervention (RtI)

1. Response to Intervention: Model Overview Karen L. Gischlar Rider University

2. Session Goals • To provide an overview of Response to Intervention (RtI) including key features and processes • Three-tiered model • Team roles and responsibilities • To discuss implications for administrators, teachers, and Child Study Teams

3. What Is RtI? • A comprehensive, multi-tiered model that enables early identification and intervention for students at academic or behavioral risk • A prevention model

4. Key Characteristics of RtI • Universal screening of academics and behavior • Multiple tiers of increasingly intense interventions • Use of scientifically research-based core curriculum and interventions • Continuous monitoring of student performance

5. RtI Foundations • Curriculum, assessment, and organizational structure • Teams • Grade level • Data • I & RS • Data collection and analysis • Data-based decision making • Flexible scheduling

6. RtI Framework Tier 3:Intensive Interventions for Low Performing Students Alter curriculum; add time, support , resources Continuum of Time, Intensity and Data Increases Percentage of Students Requiring Intensive Supports Decreases Strategic Interventions for Students at Risk of Academic Failure • Tier 2: Strategic and Targeted Interventions • for • Students At –Risk for Failure • Strategic instruction, increased time and opportunity to learn Tier I: Benchmark and School Wide Interventions for Students on Grade-level (benchmark) and All Students (effective instructional practices provided within the general education curriculum)

7. Percents of Students* 5% to 10% Tier 3 10% to 25% Tier 2 75% to 85% Tier 1 *Includes students with disabilities

8. Tier 1: Benchmark • Includes students who are making progress in the general education curriculum • Also describes school-wide curriculum available to all students

9. Tier 1 Functions • Universal screening (e.g., DIBELS) • Data analysis teams • Whole group instruction • Delivery of evidence-based core curriculum to all students • Differentiated instruction based on results of on-going assessments

10. Examples of Tier 1 Core Reading Programs • Rigby Literacy (Harcourt Rigby Education) • Trophies (Harcourt School Publishers) • The Nation’s Choice (Houghton Mifflin) • MacMillan/McGraw-Hill Reading • Open Court (SRA/McGraw-Hill) • Reading Mastery Plus (SRA/McGraw-Hill) • Scott Foresman Reading • Success for All • Wright Group Literacy Examples Only Slide developed by Mark Shinn

11. Tier 1 Benchmark Results • Continue instruction for students meeting benchmark (responders) • Begin intervention(s) for students who do not meet benchmark (non-responders)

12. Tier 2: Strategic • Strategies, methodologies and practices designed for students not making expected progress in the general education curriculum • These students are at risk for academic failure

13. Tier 2 Functions • Regular progress monitoring (e.g., 2x/month) • Standard protocol evidence-based interventions • Core instruction with supplemental materials • Differentiated instruction • Specialists assist with strategic instruction in general education classroom

14. Tier 2 Standard Protocol Intervention • Is scientifically research-based • Has a high probability of producing change for large numbers of students • Is designed to be used in a standard manner across students • Is usually delivered in small groups • Can be orchestrated by a problem-solving team

15. Tier 2 • Increased opportunity to learn • Increased instructional time • Increased assessment • Data collection and analysis once to twice per month • Data used to make instructional decisions

16. Examples of Tier 2 Interventions • Early Soar to Success (Houghton Mifflin) • Read Well (Sopris West) • Reading Mastery (SRA) • Early Reading Intervention (Scott Foresman) • Great Leaps (Diamuid) • REWARDS (Sopris West) • Ladders to Literacy (Brookes) • Peer Assisted Learning Strategies (PALS) Examples Only Slide developed by Mark Shinn

17. Tier 2 Results • Return responders back to Tier 1 • Identify and move non-responders to Tier 3

18. Tier 3: Intensive • Strategies, methodologies and practices designed for students significantly lagging behind established grade level benchmarks in the general education curriculum

19. Tier 3 Functions • Frequent progress monitoring (e.g., 1x/week) • Standard protocol evidence-based interventions • Core instruction with supplemental materials • Intensive, small group instruction • Typically scripted programs • Instruction can be delivered outside the general education classroom

20. Examples of Tier 3 Interventions Examples Only • Corrective Reading (SRA) • Language! (Sopris West) • Reading Mastery (Wilson Reading System) • Earobics (Cognitive Concepts) • Great Leaps (Diamuid) • REWARDS (Sopris West) • Soar to Success (Houghton Mifflin) Slide developed by Mark Shinn

21. Tier 3 Results • Return responders back to Tier 2 • Identify and refer non-responders for evaluation for special education eligibility

22. Progress Monitoring • Use standardized tools • Reliable and valid • Sensitive to growth • Independent of specific instructional techniques • Capacity to inform instruction • Feasible • Examples • DIBELS • Aimsweb

23. Monitoring and Goals • Set few, important goals • Ensure goals are measurable and linked to validated evaluation practices • Ensure goals are linked to instructional practices

24. RtI Teams

25. Data Team: Step 1 • Data analysis • View skills critical to meeting standards • Identify which students have attained skill • Identify which are developing skill • Identify which are deficient

26. Data Team: Step 2 • Set group goals • Create brief statements describing expected attainments of group • Set deadline or target date • For example: “By January, 90% of students will demonstrate proficiency on… (describe specific skill)”

27. Data Team: Step 3 • Considering goal, team brainstorms specific ideas for teaching to the target skill • Keep focused on evidence-based strategies

28. Grade Level Teams: Functions • Review grade-level student performance data • Initiate interventions for students based on intensity of identified needs • Set short- and long-term goals for the grade level and individual students to progress toward established benchmark or standards

29. Grade Level Teams: Functions cont.... • Group all students via level of intervention based on student performance data • Monitor students’ progress toward established goals and benchmarks • Adjust interventions based on performance data • Articulate with service providers about students in need of Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions

30. Team Needs • Groups require: • Process for gathering data • A means for converting data into teacher-friendly summary documents • Training on how to read summary documents • Structure (time, place, etc.)

31. Necessary Components for Successful Teams • Buy-in • Collaboration • Training • Leadership • Principal as instructional leader and model for data-based decision making

32. RtI and Special Education

33. RtI and Special Education • Is student of average cognitive ability? • Administer IQ screening measure • If score suggests cognitive impairment, administer appropriate full IQ and adaptive behavior measures • Does student have E/BD? • Administer screening measures to determine E/BD • If score suggests E/BD, administer appropriate measures to verify • Are student’s difficulties due to cultural or linguistic differences? • Administer screening measures • If results suggest this to be the case, conduct comprehensive evaluation of cultural or linguistic contributions to problem

34. Historical System RTI System Referral Universal Screening General Ed.-Scientifically Validated -Supplemental Treatments: T2 - 3 Non Responders Responders Eligibility Testing SPED Eligibility Evaluation Monitor Not Eligible Eligible Not Eligible Eligible SPED Intensive Treatment ? Non - SPED Intensive Treatment SPED Intensive Treatment Non Responders Responders Non Responders Responders Monitor Recycle Adapted from Fletcher, ’05, Used with Permission

35. Effective Instruction at Instructional Level in the Core Reading Program Phonemic Awareness Alphabetic Principle Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension Progress Monitoring Outcome Measure Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) ORF--Poor Accuracy--Poor Instructional Adjustments ORF--Adequate Comprehension--Poor Implement Vocabulary and Comprehension strategies Phonemic Awareness at benchmark? ORF--Acceptable Comprehension--Good (at instructional level) Check inst. level Keep it up! ORF--Poor Accuracy--Good Check instructional level Implement fluency-building strategies NO YES Explicit Phonemic Awareness Instruction Young Students—Explicit Phonics Instruction Adolescents—Word Study

36. Putting It All Together

37. What Does This Process Mean for the Classroom? • Data for making instructional decisions for students • Differentiated instruction • Increased student achievement • A team approach to teaching

38. What Does This Process Mean for the School? • More students reading at grade level • Fewer students needing special instruction • Intensity of services tuned to student needs • Increased school-wide achievement • Different way of thinking about reading instruction and success

39. Necessary Components • Core curriculum that is grounded in research • Trained teachers • Ongoing professional development • Universal screening and progress monitoring • Integrity of implementation checks • Leadership

40. Concluding Remarks • When students are making expected progress, continue instruction • When students are not progressing, change instruction • Core curriculum and interventions should be grounded in research

41. Vanderbilt University IRIS • http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/onlinemodules.html

42. Contact • Please email for further info or with questions or comments • Thank you!!!  kgischlar@rider.edu