Making Response-To- Intervention (RTI) Work in Your Schools Jim Wright www.interventioncentral.org

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Making Response-To-Intervention (RTI) Work in
Your SchoolsJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.
org
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Any darn mule can kick a barn down, but it takes
a carpenter to build one.--Lyndon Johnson
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Changes to LD Definition in Part 200

• Learning disabilities. In determining whether a
  student has a learning disability , the school
  district
• (i) may use a process that determines if the
  student responds to scientific, research-based
  intervention as part of the evaluation procedures
  Response-to-Intervention Model and
• (ii) is not required to consider whether a
  student has a severe discrepancy between
  achievement and intellectual ability in oral
  expression, listening comprehension, written
  expression, basic reading skill, reading
  comprehension, mathematical calculation or
  mathematical reasoning Discrepancy Model.

Emergency Adoption of Amendment of Section 100.2
and Parts 101, 200 and 201 of the Regulations of
the Commissioner of Education to Conform to the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
(IDEA) of 2004 Effective September 13, 2005
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Dueling Models Discrepancy vs. Response to
Intervention
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Discrepancy (Wait to Fail) Model

• LD identified by giving a battery of
  standardized tests and looking for significant
  gaps between students' achievement and
  intellectual ability. The tester infers that a
  profile of strengths and weaknesses revealed in
  cognitive and achievement tests have direct
  real-world application to the students classroom
  performance.

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Inference as a Reasoning Tool

• inference
• The act or process of deriving logical
  conclusions from premises known or assumed to be
  true.
• -The American Heritage Dictionary

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Learning Disabilities Medical Model

• Traditionally, disability is viewed as a
  deficit that resides within the individual, the
  severity of which might be influenced, but not
  created, by contextual variables. (Vaughn
  Fuchs, 2003)

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Learning Disabilities Medical Model

• Underlying premise-that LD is a medical
  condition
• LD is explained as a neurological condition that
  impacts on learning. Because LD is a physical,
  within-child condition, it is unlikely that
  changes in classroom instruction will
  significantly improve academic performance
• A formal battery of tests can diagnose LD,
  largely in isolation from classroom information
• Based on the profile of needs uncovered by
  testing results, specific treatments can be
  prescribed to help the student learn
• These treatments are highly likely to be
  effective, making it unnecessary to measure their
  impact

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Discrepancy Model Drawbacks

• Some possible drawbacks to the 'discrepancy
  model
• is built upon a high-inference assumption (that
  LD is best explained as a medical condition)
• requires chronic school failure before special
  education supports can be given
• fails to consider that outside factors such as
  poor or inconsistent instruction may contribute
  to a child's learning delays

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Response-to-Intervention (RTI) Model

• LD identified as follows
• Schools identify children experiencing
  significant academic delays,
• match them up with scientific, research-based
  interventions,
• and monitor these students' progress.
• A child's failure to respond positively to
  several carefully selected, well-implemented
  interventions could then be viewed as evidence
  that the student has a learning disability and
  requires special education services.

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Learning Disabilities RTI

• Underlying premise-that LD is an interaction
  between child and instructional environment
• Student academic deficits can best be gauged by
  observing the child engage in tasks from
  classroom curriculum and reviewing work products
• Interventions are a quasi-experiment (no
  assurance a priori that the intervention will
  actually benefit the student)
• Ongoing progress-monitoring is required to
  document response to intervention
• LD is diagnosed when all competing external
  explanations for poor student performance (e.g.,
  inadequate instruction) are ruled out

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Curriculum Train
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Instructional Variables What Difference Does a
Teacher Make?

• Statistician Dr. Richard Sanders analyzed
  longitudinal data from Tennessee state
  assessmentsby teacher and by student
• Findings

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• Three consecutive years of first quintile
  (least-effective) teachers in grades three-five
  yield math scores from the 35th to 45th
  percentile. Conversely, three straight years of
  fifth quintile (most-effective) teachers result
  in scores at the 85th to 95th percentile.
• --USA Today, 2001 (Publication of the Society
  for the Advancement of Education)

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Solving Student Academic or Behavioral Problems
A Four-Part Model
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• RTI a process that determines if the
  student responds to scientific, research-based
  intervention

The devil is in the details!
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Dual-Discrepancy RTI Model of Learning
Disability (Fuchs 2003)
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RTI School-Wide Three-Tier Framework
(Kovaleski, 2003)
Tier III Long-Term Programming for Students Who
Fail to Respond to Tier II Interventions (e.g.,
Special Education)
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Tier II Non-Responders to Universally
Available Instructional Support (Fuchs et al.,
2003 Kovaleski, 2003)

• Tier II assistance can be provided through
• Team-based support to the classroom teacher, or
• A short-term course of pull-out intervention
  that is based on a standard protocol of
  empirically validated instructional treatments
  e.g., peer tutoring with fluency-building
  procedures (Kovaleski, 2003)

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RTI Model Drawbacks

• Some possible drawbacks to the
  Response-To-Intervention Model (Vaughn Fuchs,
  2003)
• Has arbitrary cutpoint on a continuum of
  non-responding
• Interventions and monitoring procedures have not
  been fully validated across grade levels
• Lacks clear guidelines for when enough is
  enough in intervention efforts

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Implementing The RTI Model Next Steps for Schools
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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Adopt evidence-based intervention strategies.
  Academic interventions will have a higher chance
  of success if they are based on sound empirical
  research.

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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Web resources for evidence-based intervention
  strategies
• Big Ideas in Beginning Reading (U of
  Oregon)reading.uoregon.edu
• What Works Clearinghouse (US Dept of Education)
  www.w-w-c.org
• Intervention Central www.interventioncentral.org

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Reading Interventions
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Savvy Teachers Guide Reading Interventions That
Work (Wright, 2000)
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Interventions forIncreasing Reading Fluency

• Assisted Reading Practice
• Listening Passage Preview (ListeningWhile
  Reading)
• Paired Reading
• Repeated Reading

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Interventions forImproving Comprehension

• Click or Clunk? Self-Check
• Keywords A Memorization Strategy
• Main Idea Maps
• Mental Imagery Improving Text Recall
• Oral Recitation Lesson
• Prior Knowledge Activating the Known
• Question-Generation
• Reciprocal Teaching A Reading Comprehension
  Package
• Story Map
• Text Lookback

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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Train staff to collect frequent
  progress-monitoring data. Curriculum-based
  measurement (CBM) can be used to assess a
  students accuracy and speed in basic-skill areas
  such as reading fluency, math computation,
  writing, spelling, and pre-literacy skills.
  Teachers also can measure the behavior of
  struggling learners on a daily basis by using
  classroom behavior report cards simple,
  convenient rating forms to track a childs work
  completion, attention to task, compliance with
  teacher directions, and other behaviors that
  influence learning.

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Sample Peer Tutoring Chart
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Sample Peer Tutoring Charts
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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Web resources for progress-monitoring
• CBM Warehouse www.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs
  /interventions/cbmwarehouse.shtml
• The Behavior Reporter (Behavior Report Card
  Generator) http//www.jimwrightonline.com/php/tb
  rc/tbrc.php

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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Develop building-level intervention programs to
  address common academic concerns. When faced with
  large numbers of students with shared academic
  concerns (e.g., reading fluency), schools can
  create a building-level intervention program to
  meet this need. For example, older children could
  tutor younger students by using simple,
  research-based techniques to boost their tutees
  reading fluency.

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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Web resource for a building-level intervention
  program peer-tutoring/reading fluency
• Kids as Reading Helpers Peer Tutoring
  Manualwww.interventioncentral.org/htmdocs/inter
  ventions/rdngfluency/prtutor.shtml

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Kids as Reading Helpers A Peer Tutor Training
Manual
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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Establish a building intervention team. Made up
  of teachers and support staff, the intervention
  team can help referring teachers design feasible
  strategies for struggling students.
  Intervention teams also foster a sense of
  collegiality and mutual support among educators,
  promote the use of evidence-based interventions,
  and assist busy teachers in carrying out
  intervention plans.

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Strategies to Minimize Teacher Resistance to
Classroom Interventions (Kovaleski, 2003)

• Collaborative team problem-solving process in
  which the referring teacher is an active and
  equal participant
• Peer-coaching format for introducing
  intervention to classroom--with modeling of
  intervention for teacher
• Ongoing consultation with referring teacher to
  embed intervention into classroom routine

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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Web resources on building intervention teams
• Screening to Enhance Educational Performance
  STEEP (Joe Witt, Ph.D.)http//www.joewitt.org/st
  eep.htm
• Instructional Consultation Teams (Sylvia
  Rosenfield, Ph.D.)http//www.icteams.umd.edu/
• School-Based Intervention Teams (Syracuse City
  Schools)http//www.interventioncentral.org/htmdo
  cs/interventions/sbit.shtml

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School-Based Intervention Teams QuickGuide
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SBIT QuickGuide
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SBIT Consultative Process

• Step 1 Assess Teacher Concerns
• Step 2 Inventory Student Strengths and Talents
• Step 3 Select Target Teacher Concerns
• Step 4 Set Goals
• Step 5 Design an Intervention Plan
• Step 6 Plan How to Share Information with the
  Students Parent(s)
• Step 7 Review the Intervention and Monitoring
  Plans

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Implementing RTI Next Steps

• Align Current Intervention Assessment Efforts
  With 3-Tier Model. Many schools already have
  intervention assessment initiatives in place.
  Mapping out those initiatives, standardizing
  their content, and tying them to the appropriate
  level of the 3-tier intervention framework can
  help schools to better coordinate intervention
  programming.

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AIS
Tier I
Reading Lab
PBIS
Math Lab
Tier II
Intervention Team
PBIS
Tier III
PBIS
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References

• Fuchs, D., Mock, D., Morgan, P.L., Young, C.L.
  (2003). Responsiveness-to-Intervention
  Definitions, evidence, and implications for the
  learning disability construct. Learning
  Disabilities Research Practice, 18(3), 157-171.
• Fuchs, L. (2003). Assessing intervention
  responsiveness Conceptual and technical issues.
  Learning Disabilities Research Practice, 18(3),
  172-186.
• Kovaleski, J. F. (2003). The three-tier model of
  identifying learning disabilities Critical
  program features and system issues. Paper
  presented at the National Research Center on
  Learning Disabilities Responsiveness-to-Interventi
  on Symposium, Kansas City, MO.
• Vaughn, S., Fuchs, L.S. (2003). Redefining
  learning disabilities as inadequate response to
  instruction The promise and potential problems.
  Learning Disabilities Research Practice, 18(3),
  137-146.