My Understanding of RTI

Week 4 Assignment #1

My understanding of RTI is that it is an intervention framework added the Individual With Disability Education Act IDEA) and it is used to identify and track students who are not successful in the area of literacy (reading comprehension, decoding, phonemics) to prevent students who struggle with reading and fall into Tier1. Tier2 students have the ability to read but because they too struggle'they fall into this category as well. RTI focuses on avoiding student failing. RTI changes the focus on how children are identified for special education services and relies on support and intervention. Based on a student's data, a teacher can request a diagnostic screening to determine how to support the student. The goal is to differentiate a targeted instruction for the student with continued assessments.

This collaborative effort that includes teachers, phycologist special education teachers, social workers, and the parent agrees to their child receiving the intervention. The data is used to guide and to plan instruction to service the student’s area of deficiency. This intervention can take up to five or more weeks. This gives sufficient time for the support team to effectively compare where the student is and where he needs to be. The framework goal is to measure and give students enough support to steer toward progression. Tier I student observations and data will determine if the student needs special education services or not because the student has moved up a reading level and is not promotion in doubt. If the student is unable to decode words and comprehend leveled-books then a recommendation for special education services is made by the SST Team. As an intervention method, RTI requires an ongoing relationship with the student and support team. The student in question -Tier 1 student. Tier1 students may read fluently because they are familiar with a set of words, yet they do not understand its meaning and as they move to the new grade reading becomes more difficult. This suggests that students in this category could have benefited from RTI because ongoing tracking of reading incapabilities would have been recognized.

RTI  requires intensive instruction on a daily basis that promotes the development of the various components of reading proficiency to students who show minimal progress (as mentioned above) after a reasonable time in Tier 2 small group instruction Tier 3.  Tier3 students require different treatment. Teachers are to implement concentrated instruction that is focused on a small but targeted set of reading skills.

·Adjust the overall lesson pace.

·Schedule multiple and extended instructional sessions daily.

·Include opportunities for extensive practice and high-quality feedback with one-on-one instruction.

·Plan and individualize tier 3 instruction using input from a school-based RTI team.

  Ensure that tier 3 students master a reading skill or strategy before moving on.

I believe it is most beneficial to the student when early intervention is activated, so intervention can begin. With RTI and diagnostic assessments, teachers can plan a more meaningful lesson and collaborative learning activities with a targeted goal for Tier1 as well as Tier2 at the beginning of the school year.