Response to Intervention: An Overview for WRSD Schools

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Response to Intervention An Overview for WRSD
Schools
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Recommendations from WRSD Elementary Principals
About Important Ideas to Include in Building RTI
Introduction

1. RTIs goal is to improve student learning
2. RTI will provide support to teachers, through a
   collegial, team-based process and by giving them
   successful strategies to use with struggling
   students
3. RTI validates teachers good teaching methods
   while providing more ideas
4. RTI encourages collaboration/communication across
   teachers, other staff
5. RTI results in a consistent problem-solving
   approach for struggling kids across classroom,
   grade levels, and schools
6. RTI means making additional good teaching
   strategies available to instructors
7. RTI means providing more resources to teachers to
   support classroom interventions

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The quality of a school as a learning community
can be measured by how effectively it addresses
the needs of struggling students.--Wright
(2005)
Discussion Read the quote below
Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Why?
Source Wright, J. (2005, Summer). Five
interventions that work. NAESP Leadership
Compass, 2(4) pp.1,6.
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Essential Elements of RTI (Fairbanks, Sugai,
Guardino, Lathrop, 2007)

1. A continuum of evidence-based services available
   to all students" that range from universal to
   highly individualized intensive
2. Decision points to determine if students are
   performing significantly below the level of their
   peers in academic and social behavior domains"
3. Ongoing monitoring of student progress"
4. Employment of more intensive or different
   interventions when students do not improve in
   response" to lesser interventions
5. Evaluation for special education services if
   students do not respond to intervention
   instruction"

Source Fairbanks, S., Sugai, G., Guardino, S.,
Lathrop, M. (2007). Response to intervention
Examining classroom behavior support in second
grade. Exceptional Children, 73, p. 289.
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What does RTI look like when applied to an
individual student?

• A widely accepted method for determining whether
  a student has a Learning Disability under RTI is
  the dual discrepancy model (Fuchs, 2003).
• Discrepancy 1 The student is found to be
  performing academically at a level significantly
  below that of his or her typical peers
  (discrepancy in initial skills or performance).
• Discrepancy 2 Despite the implementation of one
  or more well-designed, well-implemented
  interventions tailored specifically for the
  student, he or she fails to close the gap with
  classmates (discrepancy in rate of learning
  relative to peers).

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Target Student
Dual-Discrepancy RTI Model of Learning
Disability (Fuchs 2003)
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The steps of RTI for an individual case

• Under RTI, if a student is found to be
  performing well below peers, the school will
• Estimate the academic skill gap between the
  student and typically-performing peers
• Determine the likely reason(s) for the students
  depressed academic performance
• Select a scientifically-based intervention likely
  to improve the student's academic functioning
• Monitor academic progress frequently to evaluate
  the impact of the intervention
• If the student fails to respond to several
  well-implemented interventions, consider a
  referral to Special Education

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How can a school restructure to support RTI?

• The school can organize its intervention efforts
  into 3 levels, or Tiers, that represent a
  continuum of increasing intensity of support.
  (Kovaleski, 2003 Vaughn, 2003). Tier I is the
  lowest level of intervention and Tier III is the
  most intensive intervention level.

Universal intervention Available to all
students Example Additional classroom literacy
instruction
Tier I
Individualized Intervention Students who need
additional support than peers are given
individual intervention plans. Example
Supplemental peer tutoring in reading to increase
reading fluency
Tier II
Intensive Intervention Students whose
intervention needs are greater than general
education can meet may be referred for more
intensive services. Example Special Education
Tier III
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Tier I Interventions
Tier I interventions are universalavailable to
all students. Teachers often deliver these
interventions in the classroom (e.g., providing
additional drill and practice in reading fluency
for students with limited decoding skills).
Tier I interventions are those strategies that
instructors are likely to put into place at the
first sign that a student is struggling. Tier I
interventions attempt to answer the question Are
routine classroom instructional modifications
sufficient to help the student to achieve
academic success?
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Key Questions About Implementing Classroom
Interventions
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Tier II Interventions
Tier II interventions are individualized,
tailored to the unique needs of struggling
learners. They are reserved for students with
significant skill gaps who have failed to respond
successfully to Tier I strategies. Tier II
interventions attempt to answer the question Can
an individualized intervention plan carried out
in a general-education setting bring the student
up to the academic level of his or her peers?
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Tier II Interventions
There are two different vehicles that schools can
use to deliver Tier II interventions Problem-solv
ing (Classroom-Based Intervention).
Individualized research-based interventions match
the profile of a particular students strengths
and limitations. The classroom teacher often has
a large role in carrying out these interventions.
A plus of the problem-solving approach is that
the intervention can be customized to the
students needs. However, developing intervention
plans for individual students can be
time-consuming.Standard-Protocol (Standalone
Intervention). Group intervention programs based
on scientifically valid instructional practices
(standard protocol) are created to address
frequent student referral concerns. These
services are provided outside of the classroom. A
middle school, for example, may set up a
structured math-tutoring program staffed by adult
volunteer tutors to provide assistance to
students with limited math skills. Students
referred for a Tier II math intervention would be
placed in this tutoring program. An advantage of
the standard-protocol approach is that it is
efficient and consistent large numbers of
students can be put into these group
interventions to receive a highly standardized
intervention. However, standard group
intervention protocols often cannot be
individualized easily to accommodate a specific
students unique needs.
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Tier III Interventions
Tier III interventions are the most intensive
academic supports available in a school and are
generally reserved for students with chronic and
severe academic delays or behavioral problems.
In many schools, Tier III interventions are
available only through special education. Tier
III supports try to answer the question, What
ongoing supports does this student require and in
what settings to achieve the greatest success
possible?
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Levels of Intervention Tier I, II, III
Tier I Universal100
Tier II Individualized10-15
Tier III Intensive5-10
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Secondary Students Unique Challenges

• Struggling learners in middle and high school
  may
• Have significant deficits in basic academic
  skills
• Lack higher-level problem-solving strategies and
  concepts
• Present with issues of school motivation
• Show social/emotional concerns that interfere
  with academics
• Have difficulty with attendance
• Students at the secondary level are also
  moving toward being self-managing learners

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Implementing Response to Intervention in Schools
Key Challenges to Changing a SystemJim
Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org
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Making RTI Work in Your Schools Key Expectations
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Making RTI Work in Your Schools Key Expectations

• Teachers try a larger number of research-based
  classroom strategies before referring a student
  to the schools RTI Team.
• Schools are able to find time and personnel
  coverage to schedule RTI Team meetings.
• The job descriptions of key people in a school
  change to match the needs of RTI (e.g., school
  psychologist, special education teacher).
• The school recognizes that RTI is an umbrella
  problemsolving approach that helps the district
  to address a range of important school issues
  such as low state test scores, deficient academic
  skills, absenteeism, and drop-outs.

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Making RTI Work in Your Schools Key Expectations
(Cont.)

• Administrators show strong support for RTI, using
  their influence to encourage teacher
  follow-through with classroom interventions,
  helping to rework job descriptions to match
  RTIs needs, etc.
• RTI is accepted by the school community as a
  mainstream initiative, with the majority of
  representatives on the RTI Steering Group drawn
  from general education (e.g., Curriculum
  Director).
• RTI is given the resources that it needs to grow,
  including funds for staff development and for the
  purchase of assessment services or products and
  intervention materials.
• The district has a multi-year plan to implement
  RTI that builds the model at an ambitious but
  sustainable rate.

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Role of School Culture in the Acceptability of
Interventions

• school staffs are interested in
  strategies that fit a group instructional and
  management template intensive strategies
  required by at-risk and poorly motivated students
  are often viewed as cost ineffective. Treatments
  and interventions that do not address the primary
  mission of schooling are seen as a poor match to
  school priorities and are likely to be rejected.
  Thus, intervention and management approaches that
  are universal in nature and that involve a
  standard dosage that is easy to deliver (e.g.,
  classwide social skills training) have a higher
  likelihood of making it into routine or standard
  school practice.

Source Walker, H. M. (2004). Use of
evidence-based interventions in schools Where
we've been, where we are, and where we need to
go. School Psychology Review, 33, 398-407. pp.
400-401
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Barriers in Schools to Innovations in
Interventions

• Factors that have been identified as
  barriers to acceptance and implementation by
  educators of effective behavioral interventions
  for at at-risk students include characteristics
  of the host organization, practitioner behavior,
  costs, lack of program readiness, the absence of
  program champions and advocates within the host
  organization, philosophical objections, lack of
  fit between the program's key features and
  organizational routines and operations, and weak
  staff participation.

Source Walker, H. M. (2004). Use of
evidence-based interventions in schools Where
we've been, where we are, and where we need to
go. School Psychology Review, 33, 398-407. p. 400
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Measuring the Intervention Footprint Issues of
Planning, Documentation, Follow-ThroughJim
Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org
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Essential Elements of Any Academic or Behavioral
Intervention (Treatment) Strategy

• Method of delivery (Who or what delivers the
  treatment?)Examples include teachers,
  paraprofessionals, parents, volunteers,
  computers.
• Treatment component (What makes the intervention
  effective?)Examples include activation of prior
  knowledge to help the student to make meaningful
  connections between known and new material
  guide practice (e.g., Paired Reading) to increase
  reading fluency periodic review of material to
  aid student retention. As an example of a
  research-based commercial program, Read Naturally
  combines teacher modeling, repeated reading and
  progress monitoring to remediate fluency
  problems.

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Interventions, Accommodations Modifications
Sorting Them Out

• Interventions. An academic intervention is a
  strategy used to teach a new skill, build fluency
  in a skill, or encourage a child to apply an
  existing skill to new situations or settings.
  An intervention is said to be research-based
  when it has been demonstrated to be effective in
  one or more articles published in peerreviewed
  scientific journals. Interventions might be based
  on commercial programs such as Read Naturally.
  The school may also develop and implement an
  intervention that is based on guidelines provided
  in research articlessuch as Paired Reading
  (Topping, 1987).

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Interventions, Accommodations Modifications
Sorting Them Out

• Accommodations. An accommodation is intended to
  help the student to fully access the
  general-education curriculum without changing the
  instructional content. An accommodation for
  students who are slow readers, for example, may
  include having them supplement their silent
  reading of a novel by listening to the book on
  tape. An accommodation is intended to remove
  barriers to learning while still expecting that
  students will master the same instructional
  content as their typical peers. Informal
  accommodations may be used at the classroom level
  or be incorporated into a more intensive,
  individualized intervention plan.

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Interventions, Accommodations Modifications
Sorting Them Out

• Modifications. A modification changes the
  expectations of what a student is expected to
  know or dotypically by lowering the academic
  expectations against which the student is to be
  evaluated. Examples of modifications are
  reducing the number of multiple-choice items in a
  test from five to four or shortening a spelling
  list. Under RTI, modifications are generally not
  included in a students intervention plan,
  because the working assumption is that the
  student can be successful in the curriculum with
  appropriate interventions and accommodations
  alone.

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Evaluating the Quality of Intervention Research
The Research Continuum
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Intervention Research Continuum

• Evidence-Based Practices
• Includes practices for which original data have
  been collected to determine the effectiveness of
  the practice for students with disabilities. The
  research utilizes scientifically based rigorous
  research designs (i.e., randomized controlled
  trials, regression discontinuity designs,
  quasi-experiments, single subject, and
  qualitative research).

Source The Access Center Research Continuum
(n.d.). Retrieved on June 1, 2008 from
http//www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/d
ocuments/ACResearchApproachFormatted.pdf
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Intervention Research Continuum

• Promising Practices
• Includes practices that were developed based on
  theory or research, but for which an insufficient
  amount of original data have been collected to
  determine the effectiveness of the practices.
  Practices in this category may have been studied,
  but not using the most rigorous study designs.

Source The Access Center Research Continuum
(n.d.). Retrieved on June 1, 2008 from
http//www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/d
ocuments/ACResearchApproachFormatted.pdf
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Intervention Research Continuum

• Emerging Practices
• Includes practices that are not based on
  research or theory and on which original data
  have not been collected, but for which anecdotal
  evidence and professional wisdom exists. These
  include practices that practitioners have tried
  and feel are effective and new practices or
  programs that have not yet been researched.

Source The Access Center Research Continuum
(n.d.). Retrieved on June 1, 2008 from
http//www.k8accesscenter.org/training_resources/d
ocuments/ACResearchApproachFormatted.pdf