Responsiveness-To-Intervention The Context for Reforming General and Special Education

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Responsiveness-To-Intervention The Context for
Reforming General and Special Education

• Douglas Fuchs
• Vanderbilt University

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Typical RTI Procedure

• Primary Prevention
• All children receive the universal, core
  instructional program.
• All children are tested once in the fall.
• At-risk students are identified as potentially
  at-risk for academic failure.
• The progress of potentially at-risk students is
  monitored for 6-8 weeks to (dis)confirm risk and
  identify students for secondary prevention.

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Typical RTI Procedure

• Secondary Prevention
• For at-risk students, a second level of
  prevention is implemented using standard
  research-validated tutoring protocols.
• Student progress is monitored throughout
  intervention, and students are re-tested
  following intervention.
• Growth/performance is dichotomized as responsive
  or unresponsive.
• Students who respond well return to primary
  prevention, with ongoing progress monitoring.

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Typical RTI Procedure

• Tertiary Intervention
• Those who do not respond receive a
  multidisciplinary team evaluation and are
  identified for special education (LD, BD, MR).
• Tertiary intervention should (needs to) represent
  a reformed special education where
• Individual student goals are set ambitiously.
• Ongoing progress monitoring is used formatively
  and recursively way to develop individualized,
  effective programs.
• Ongoing progress monitoring is also used to
  identify when students have met benchmarks and
  need to re-enter secondary or primary prevention
  

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Health Care Analogy

• High blood pressure (HBP) can lead to heart
  attacks or strokes
• At the annual check-up (primary prevention), HBP
  screening
• If screening suggests HBP, then monitoring over
  6-8 weeks occurs to verify HBP
• If HBP is verified, secondary prevention occurs
  with relatively inexpensive diuretics, which are
  effective for vast majority, and monitoring
  continues
• For patients who fail to respond to secondary
  prevention (diuretics), then tertiary prevention
  occursexperimentation with more expensive
  medications (e.g., ACE inhibitors, beta
  blockers), with ongoing monitoring, to determine
  which drug or combination of drugs is effective

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Most RTI Conversations

• have been about primary and secondary prevention
  where the purpose is to reform general education
• Fewer conversations about tertiary
  intervention.Yet its as important to get right
  Reforming special education

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RTI as General Education Reform

• RTI early intervention that can
• (a) prevent disability
• (b) mitigate disability
• (c) eliminate false positives (including
  reducing over-representation of
• minorities

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RTI as General Education Reform

• 15 of IDEA monies to fund general ed reforms
  (e.g., professional development to support the
  tier structure and progress monitoring) to make
  general ed more accommodating of academic
  diversity (RTI as REI)

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RTI as General Education Reform The New General
Ed Continuum of Placements

• The traditional continuum of special education
  services
• Some (NASDSE, CASE) are advocating for a serious
  re-thinking of GE and SE a new GE continuum of
  placements and services
• General education reformers do not wish RTI to be
  understood as a more valid method of disability
  identification because in an ideal RTI World
  there will be no disability identification

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RTI as Special Education Reform

• Why special education must find its way back to
  its clinical roots individualized, data-based,
  and recursive.
• Set ambitious goals
• Distinguish the intensity of secondary vs.
  tertiary prevention
• Tertiary prevention is reserved for students who
  fail to respond to standard forms of instruction
  (i.e., validated, standard tutoring protocols)
  and who therefore need a nonstandard
  (individualized) form of instruction
• Use flexible exit/re-entry decisions, based on
  student progress, to rely on tertiary prevention
  as needed and to maximize time in
  primary/secondary prevention as possible (LRE)

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CBM in RTI at Tertiary Prevention

• CBM incoming level/slope is used to set IEP goal.
• CBM is administered weekly.
• CBM slope is used to assess the effectiveness of
  varying instructional components for that student
  and to inductively formulate an effective,
  individualized program.
• CBM slope is used to quantify response. On the
  basis of slope, decisions are formulated about
  when to exit tertiary prevention. Goal is to
  return students to primary or secondary
  prevention as soon as possible, but weekly CBM
  continues so that re-entry to tertiary prevention
  occurs as needed.

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Finding Level for Reading PM

• Determine student reading grade level at years
  end
• Administer three passages at this level
• Fewer than 10 correct words, use Word
  Identification Fluency
• Between 10 and 50 words, but less than 8590
  correct, move to next lower level of test and
  administer three passages at this level
• More than 50 correct words, move to highest level
  of text where student reads 1050 words
• Maintain appropriate level for entire year

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Tertiary Prevention Setting IEP Goals

• Three options for setting IEP goals
• National norms for end-year levels
• Intra-individual framework
• National norms for weekly rate of improvement
  (slope)

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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals With National
Norms for End-Year Level

• Identify appropriate grade-level end-year level
• Mark level on graph with an X at end-year
• Draw goal-line from first three CBM scores to X

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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals With National
Norms for End-Year Level
Grade Reading Computation Concepts and Applications
Kindergarten 40 sounds/minute (LSF)
Grade 1 60 words/minute (WIF) 20 digits 20 points
Grade 2 75 words/minute (PRF) 20 digits 20 points
Grade 3 100 words/minute (PRF) 30 digits 30 points
Grade 4 20 replacements/2.5 minutes (Maze) 40 digits 30 points
Grade 5 25 replacements/2.5 minutes (Maze) 30 digits 15 points
Grade 6 30 replacements/2.5 minutes (Maze) 35 digits 15 points
Note These figures may change pending additional
RTI research.
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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals With National
Norms for End-Year Level
end-of-year benchmark
X
goal-line
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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals
WithIntra-Individual Framework

• Identify incoming weekly rate of improvement
  (slope) using at least 8 data points
• Multiply slope by 1.5
• Multiply by number of weeks until end of year
• Add to students baseline score
• This is the end-of-year goal.

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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals With
Intra-Individual Framework

• Identify incoming weekly rate of improvement
  (slope) using at least 8 data points
• slope 1.0
• 2. Multiply slope by 1.5 to find more ambitious
  slope
• 1.0 1.5 1.5
• 3. Multiply ambitious slope by number of weeks
  until end of year to find years increase
• 1.5 12 18
• 4. Add years increase to incoming score to find
  goal
• 18 14.65 32.65
• 5. Mark goal (32.65 ) on graph with X
• 6. Draw goal-line from incoming to X

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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals With
Intra-Individual Framework
X
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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals With National
Norms for Weekly Improvement

• Average the students first 3 scores (baseline)
• Baseline (12 10 12) 3 11.33
• 2. Find appropriate norm (weekly rate of
  increase)
• 0.30
• 3. Multiply norm by number of weeks left in year
  to find years increase
• 0.30 17 5.1
• 4. Add to baseline to find goal
• 5.1 11.33 16.43
• 5. Mark goal (16.43) on graph with X
• 6. Draw goal-line from baseline

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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals With National
Norms for Weekly Improvement
Grade ReadingSlope ComputationDigits Correct Slope Concepts and ApplicationsPoints Correct Slope
K No data available
1 1.8 (WIF) 0.35 No data available
2 1.5 (PRF) 0.30 0.40
3 1.0 (PRF) 0.30 0.60
4 0.40 (Maze) 0.70 0.70
5 0.40 (Maze) 0.70 0.70
6 0.40 (Maze) 0.40 0.70
Note These figures may change pending additional
RTI research.
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Tertiary Prevention Setting Goals With National
Norms for Weekly Improvement
X
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PM in Tertiary Prevention Designing
Individualized Programs

• Monitor adequacy of student progress and
  inductively design effective, individualized
  instructional programs
• Start with secondary prevention validated
  tutoring protocol
• Increase intensity
• Monitor progress
• When adequate, maintain program (with increasing
  goals, as warranted)
• When inadequate, experiment with new
  instructional component (maintain effective
  components eliminate ineffective components)
• Apply decision rules for graphs
• Based on 4 most recent consecutive scores
• Based on trend-line

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PM in Tertiary Prevention 4-Point Method
most recent 4 points
X
goal-line
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PM in Tertiary Prevention Four-Point Method
X
goal-line
most recent 4 points
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PM in Tertiary Prevention Based on Trend
trend-line
X
X
X
goal-line
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PM in Tertiary Prevention Based on Trend
X
goal-line
X
X
trend-line
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Exiting Tertiary Prevention (with ongoing PM to
return to tertiary prevention as needed)

• On the basis of level and slope, decisions are
  formulated about when to exit tertiary
  prevention. Goal is to return students to primary
  or secondary prevention as soon as possible, but
  weekly CBM continues so that students return to
  tertiary prevention as frequently and for as long
  as needed to ensure strong outcomes.

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Tertiary Prevention Determining Response in
Reading
Grade CBM Probe gt Slope gtEnd Level
Kindergarten Letter Sound Fluency gt 1 gt 40
Grade 1 Word Identification Fluency gt 1.8 gt 50
Grade 2 Passage Reading Fluency gt 1 gt 60
Grade 3 Passage Reading Fluency gt 0.75 gt 70
Grade 4 Maze Fluency gt 0.25 gt 25
Grade 5 Maze Fluency gt 0.25 gt 25
Grade 6 Maze Fluency gt 0.25 gt 25
Note These figures may change pending additional
RTI research.
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Tertiary Prevention Determining Response in Math
Grade Computation Computation Concepts and Applications Concepts and Applications
Grade gt Slope gt End level gt Slope gt End level
Grade 1 gt 0.50 gt 20 digits gt 0.40 gt 20 points
Grade 2 gt 0.40 gt 20 digits gt 0.40 gt 20 points
Grade 3 gt 0.40 gt 20 digits gt 0.70 gt 20 points
Grade 4 gt 0.70 gt 20 digits gt 0.70 gt 20 points
Grade 5 gt 0.70 gt 20 digits gt 0.70 gt 20 points
Grade 6 gt 0.70 gt 20 digits gt 0.70 gt 20 points
Note These figures may change pending additional
RTI research.
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PM in Tertiary Prevention Review

• IEP goals are set.
• Individualized programs are designed and
  implemented.
• Student progress is monitored
• Students with adequate slopes and projected end
  levels return to primary or secondary prevention,
  with ongoing PM.
• Students with inadequate slopes and projected end
  levels remain in tertiary prevention, with
  ongoing PM.

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For Additional Information Contact

• Flora Murray
• flora.murray_at_vanderbilt.edu
• Vanderbilt University
• 328 Peabody College
• Department of Special Education
• Nashville, TN 37203
• [phone]