RTI: What Are Your Questions?

1
RTI What Are Your Questions?

• At your tables
• Discuss the key questions that you still have
  about the RTI model.
• Write down the TOP 1-2 questions that you would
  like to have answered (or discussed) at todays
  workshop.

2
Summer RTI Training Dates

• Aug 15-18, 2011

3
RTI for Elementary, Middle, High Schools
Introduction for Cohort 3Jim Wrightwww.interven
tioncentral.org
4
Workshop Goals
5
Key RTI Challenges
6
The quality of a school as a learning community
can be measured by how effectively it addresses
the needs of struggling students.--Wright
(2005)
Source Wright, J. (2005, Summer). Five
interventions that work. NAESP Leadership
Compass, 2(4) pp.1,6.
7
School Instructional Time The Irreplaceable
Resource

• In the average school system, there are 330
  minutes in the instructional day, 1,650 minutes
  in the instructional week, and 56,700 minutes in
  the instructional year. Except in unusual
  circumstances, these are the only minutes we have
  to provide effective services for students. The
  number of years we have to apply these minutes is
  fixed. Therefore, each minute counts and schools
  cannot afford to support inefficient models of
  service delivery. p. 177

Source Batsche, G. M., Castillo, J. M., Dixon,
D. N., Forde, S. (2008). Best practices in
problem analysis. In A. Thomas J. Grimes
(Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V
(pp. 177-193).
8
RTI Assumption Struggling Students Are Typical
Until Proven Otherwise

• RTI logic assumes that
• A student who begins to struggle in general
  education is typical, and that
• It is general educations responsibility to find
  the instructional strategies that will unlock the
  students learning potential
• Only when the student shows through
  well-documented interventions that he or she has
  failed to respond to intervention does RTI
  begin to investigate the possibility that the
  student may have a learning disability or other
  special education condition.

9
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.
10
NYSED RTI Guidance Memo April 2008
11
(No Transcript)
12
The Regents policy framework for RtIDefines
RtI to minimally include Appropriate
instruction delivered to all students in the
general education class by qualified personnel.
Appropriate instruction in reading means
scientific research-based reading programs that
include explicit and systematic instruction in
phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary
development, reading fluency (including oral
reading skills) and reading comprehension
strategies.Screenings applied to all students
in the class to identify those students who are
not making academic progress at expected rates.
13
Instruction matched to student need with
increasingly intensive levels of targeted
intervention and instruction for students who do
not make satisfactory progress in their levels of
performance and/or in their rate of learning to
meet age or grade level standards.Repeated
assessments of student achievement which should
include curriculum based measures to determine if
interventions are resulting in student progress
toward age or grade level standards.The
application of information about the students
response to intervention to make educational
decisions about changes in goals, instruction
and/or services and the decision to make a
referral for special education programs and/or
services.
14
Written notification to the parents when the
student requires an intervention beyond that
provided to all students in the general education
classroom that provides information about the
-amount and nature of student performance data
that will be collected and the general education
services that will be provided-strategies for
increasing the students rate of learning
and-parents right to request an evaluation for
special education programs and/or services.
15
What previous approach to diagnosing Learning
Disabilities does RTI replace?

• Prior to RTI, many states used a Test-Score
  Discrepancy Model to identify Learning
  Disabilities.
• A student with significant academic delays would
  be administered an battery of tests, including
  an intelligence test and academic achievement
  test(s).
• If the student was found to have a substantial
  gap between a higher IQ score and lower
  achievement scores, a formula was used to
  determine if that gap was statistically
  significant and severe.
• If the student had a severe discrepancy gap
  between IQ and achievement, he or she would be
  diagnosed with a Learning Disability.

16
Target Student
Dual-Discrepancy RTI Model of Learning
Disability (Fuchs 2003)
17
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
• Are often in a process of disengaging from
  learning even as adults in school expect that
  those students will move toward being
  self-managing learners

18
School Dropout as a Process, Not an Event

• It is increasingly accepted that dropout is
  best conceptualized as a long-term process, not
  an instantaneous event however, most
  interventions are administered at a middle or
  high school level after problems are severe.

Source Jimerson, S., Reschly, A.L., Hess, R.
(2008). Best practices in increasing the
likelihood of school completion. In A. Thomas
J. Grimes (Eds). Best Practices in School
Psychology - 5th Ed (pp. 1085-1097). Bethesda,
MD National Association of School
Psychologists.. p.1090
19
RTI Pyramid of Interventions
20
Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p. 12
21
Tier 1 Core Instruction

• Tier I core instruction
• Is universalavailable to all students.
• Can be delivered within classrooms or throughout
  the school.
• Is an ongoing process of developing strong
  classroom instructional practices to reach the
  largest number of struggling learners.
• All children have access to Tier 1
  instruction/interventions. Teachers have the
  capability to use those strategies without
  requiring outside assistance.
• Tier 1 instruction encompasses
• The schools core curriculum.
• All published or teacher-made materials used to
  deliver that curriculum.
• Teacher use of whole-group teaching
  management strategies.
• Tier I instruction addresses this question Are
  strong classroom instructional strategies
  sufficient to help the student to achieve
  academic success?

22
Tier I (Classroom) Intervention

• Tier 1 intervention
• Targets red flag students who are not
  successful with core instruction alone.
• Uses evidence-based strategies to address
  student academic or behavioral concerns.
• Must be feasible to implement given the resources
  available in the classroom.
• Tier I intervention addresses the question Does
  the student make adequate progress when the
  instructor uses specific academic or behavioral
  strategies matched to the presenting concern?

23
Tier 1 Grade-Level Team or Consultant

• Who consults on the student case?
• Choice A The teacher brings the student to a
  grade-level meeting to develop an intervention
  plan, check up on the plan in 4-8 weeks.
• Choice B The teacher sits down with a consultant
  (selected from a roster or assigned to the
  classroom or grade level). Together, consultant
  and teacher develop an intervention, check up on
  the plan in 4-8 weeks.

24
Tier 1 Grade-Level Team or Consultant

• What is the next step if the student is a
  non-responder?
• The student case is referred to the school or
  grade-level Tier 2 Data Team. The Team places the
  student into appropriate Tier 2 services if
  availableor may decide to refer directly to the
  Problem-Solving Team.

25
Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p. 13
26
Tier 2 Supplemental (Group-Based)
Interventions(Standard Treatment Protocol)

• Tier 2 interventions are typically delivered in
  small-group format. About 15 of students in the
  typical school will require Tier 2/supplemental
  intervention support. Group size for Tier 2
  interventions is limited to 3-5 students.
  Students placed in Tier 2 interventions should
  have a shared profile of intervention need.
• Programs or practices used in Tier 2
  interventions should be evidence-based.
• The progress of students in Tier 2
  interventions are monitored at least 2 times per
  month.

Source Burns, M. K., Gibbons, K. A. (2008).
Implementing response-to-intervention in
elementary and secondary schools. Routledge New
York.
27
Tier 2 Data Team

• Who makes up the Data Team and what is its
  purpose?
• The Data Team is a school-wide or grade-specific
  team that typically includes classroom teachers,
  a school administrator, and perhaps other
  participants.
• The Data Team reviews school-wide screening data
  (e.g., DIBELS NEXT, AimsWeb) three times per year
  to determine which students are at risk and
  require supplemental (Tier 2) intervention.
• The Team continues to meet (e.g., monthly) to
  review student progress and to move students out
  of, into or across Tier 2 groups depending on
  progress and classroom performance.

28
Tier 2 Data Team

• Who makes up the Data Team and what is its
  purpose? (Cont)
• The Data Team can also take Tier 1 (classroom)
  referrals for struggling students who were not
  picked up in the academic screening(s) but are
  showing serious academic difficulties.

29
Scheduling Elementary Tier 2 Interventions
Option 3 Floating RTIGradewide Shared
Schedule. Each grade has a scheduled RTI time
across classrooms. No two grades share the same
RTI time. Advantages are that outside providers
can move from grade to grade providing push-in or
pull-out services and that students can be
grouped by need across different teachers within
the grade.
Anyplace Elementary School RTI Daily Schedule
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade K
900-930
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade 1
945-1015
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade 2
1030-1100
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade 3
1230-100
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade 4
115-145
Grade 5
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
200-230
Source Burns, M. K., Gibbons, K. A. (2008).
Implementing response-to-intervention in
elementary and secondary schools Procedures to
assure scientific-based practices. New York
Routledge.
30
Tier 2 Data Team

• What is the next step if the student is a
  non-responder?
• The Data Team refers the student to the Tier 3
  RTI Problem-Solving Team if the student fails to
  make acceptable progress during at least one
  intervention trial.

31
Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p. 14
32
Tier 3 Intensive Individualized
Interventions(Problem-Solving Protocol)

• Tier 3 interventions are the most intensive
  offered in a school setting.
• Students qualify for Tier 3 interventions
  because
• they are found to have a large skill gap when
  compared to their class or grade peers and/or
• They did not respond to interventions provided
  previously at Tiers 1 2.
• Tier 3 interventions are provided daily for
  sessions of 30 minutes or more. The
  student-teacher ratio is flexible but should
  allow the student to receive intensive,
  individualized instruction.
• The reading progress of students in Tier 3
  interventions is monitored at least weekly.

Source Burns, M. K., Gibbons, K. A. (2008).
Implementing response-to-intervention in
elementary and secondary schools. Routledge New
York.
33
Tier 3 RTI Problem-Solving Team

• How does a referral come in to the
  Problem-Solving Team?
• Referral route A The Tier 2 Data Team meets
  periodically to review student progress. If a
  student is found not to be making expected
  progress, he or she can then be referred on to
  the RTI Team.
• Referral route B If the school lacks a standard
  treatment Tier 2 intervention for a student
  concern (e.g., behavior, math), the student may
  be referred directly to the Problem-Solving Team
  via a classroom teacher referral.

34
Tier 3 RTI Problem-Solving Team

• Who consults on the student case?
• The RTI Problem-Solving Team is a
  multi-disciplinary team that consults with the
  teacher at the RTI Team Meeting.
• The school may also want to have other staff
  (e.g., school nurse, math title teacher)
  available to attend RTI Team meetings on an
  as-needed basis for specific student cases.

35
Tier 3 RTI Problem-Solving Team

• What is the next step if the student is a
  non-responder?
• The school district should adopt uniform
  decision rules that indicate when a student
  should be referred on to the Special Education
  Eligibility Team. Example A district decided
  that across Tiers 2 and 3a student should go
  through at least 3 separate interventions of 6-8
  instructional weeks each before that student
  could be designated a non-responder and
  referred to Special Education.

36
Team Activity Rate Your Elementary or Secondary
Schools RTI Readiness

• In your elbow groups
• Review the elementary or secondary version of RTI
  implementation survey.
• Rate your school on this survey.
• Discuss with your group how RTI ready your
  school is at the present time.

37
Challenge 1 Promoting Staff Understanding
Support for RTIJim Wrightwww.interventioncentra
l.org
38
Tipping point any process in which, beyond a
certain point, the rate at which the process
increases dramatically. (Tipping Point, 2010).


The tipping point is the moment of critical
mass, the threshold, the boiling point.
(Gladwell, 2000 p. 12)


Sources Gladwell, M. (2000). The tipping point
How little things can make a big difference.
Little, Brown and Company NY. Tipping point
(sociology). (2010, February 17). In Wikipedia,
The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 0252, March 1,
2010, from http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit
leTipping_point_(sociology)oldid344548179
39

• Q What Conditions Support the Successful
  Implementation of RTI?
• Continuing professional development to give
  teachers the skills to implement RTI and educate
  new staff because of personnel turnover.
• Administrators who assert leadership under RTI,
  including setting staff expectations for RTI
  implementation, finding the needed resources, and
  monitor ingthe fidelity of implementation.
• Proactive hiring of teachers who support the
  principles of RTI and have the skills to put RTI
  into practice in the classroom.
• The changing of job roles of teachers and support
  staff (school psychologists, reading specialists,
  special educators, etc.) to support the RTI
  model.
• Input from teachers and support staff
  (bottom-up) about how to make RTI work in the
  school or district, as well as guidance from
  administration (top-down).

Source Fuchs, D., Deshler, D. D. (2007). What
we need to know about responsiveness to
intervention (and shouldnt be afraid to ask)..
Learning Disabilities Research Practice,
22(2),129136.
40
Engaging the Reluctant Teacher 7 Reasons Why
Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI
Interventions
41
Engaging the Reluctant Teacher 7 Reasons Why
Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI
Interventions

• Lack of Skills. Teachers lack the skills
  necessary to successfully implement academic or
  behavioral interventions in their content-area
  classrooms (Fisher, 2007 Kamil et al., 2008).
• Not My Job. Teachers define their job as
  providing content-area instruction. They do not
  believe that providing classwide or individual
  academic and behavioral interventions falls
  within their job description (Kamil et al.,
  2008).

42
Engaging the Reluctant Teacher 7 Reasons Why
Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI
Interventions(Cont.)

• No Time. Teachers do not believe that they have
  sufficient time available in classroom
  instruction to implement academic or behavioral
  interventions (Kamil et al., 2008 Walker,
  2004).
• No Payoff. Teachers lack confidence that there
  will be an adequate instructional pay-off if they
  put classwide or individual academic or
  behavioral interventions into place in their
  content-area classroom (Kamil et al., 2008).

43
Engaging the Reluctant Teacher 7 Reasons Why
Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI
Interventions (Cont.)

• Loss of Classroom Control. Teachers worry that if
  they depart from their standard instructional
  practices to adopt new classwide or individual
  academic or behavior intervention strategies,
  they may lose behavioral control of the classroom
  (Kamil et al., 2008).
• Undeserving Students. Teachers are unwilling to
  invest the required effort to provide academic or
  behavioral interventions for unmotivated students
  (Walker, 2004) because they would rather put that
  time into providing additional attention to
  well-behaved, motivated students who are more
  deserving.

44
Engaging the Reluctant Teacher 7 Reasons Why
Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI
Interventions (Cont.)

• The Magic of Special Education. Content-area
  teachers regard special education services as
  magic (Martens, 1993). According to this view,
  interventions provided to struggling students in
  the general-education classroom alone will be
  inadequate, and only special education services
  have the power to truly benefit those students.

45
Engaging the Reluctant Teacher Seven Reasons Why
Instructors May Resist Implementing Classroom RTI
Literacy Interventions

1. Lack of Skills. Teachers lack the skills
   necessary to successfully implement academic or
   behavioral interventions in their content-area
   classrooms.
2. Not My Job. Teachers define their job as
   providing content-area instruction. They do not
   believe that providing classwide or individual
   academic and behavioral interventions falls
   within their job description.
3. No Time. Teachers do not believe that they have
   sufficient time available in classroom
   instruction to implement academic or behavioral
   interventions.
4. Insufficient Payoff. Teachers lack confidence
   that there will be an adequate instructional
   pay-off if they put classwide or individual
   academic or behavioral interventions into place
   in their content-area classroom.
5. Loss of Classroom Control. Teachers worry that if
   they depart from their standard instructional
   practices to adopt new classwide or individual
   academic or behavior intervention strategies,
   they may lose behavioral control of the
   classroom.
6. Undeserving Students. Teachers are unwilling to
   invest the required effort to provide academic or
   behavioral interventions for unmotivated students
   because they would rather put that time into
   providing additional attention to well-behaved,
   motivated students who are more deserving.
7. The Magic of Special Education. Content-area
   teachers regard special education services as
   magic. According to this view, interventions
   provided to struggling students in the
   general-education classroom alone will be
   inadequate, and only special education services
   have the power to truly benefit those students.

46
RTI Challenge Promoting Staff Understanding
Support for RTI

• Provide staff with an introductory overview of
  RTI before the end of the current school year.
• Inventory all opportunities for staff development
  in your school for the 2011-2012 school year
  (e.g., faculty meetings, PD days, grade-level
  meetings, etc.).
• Draft a training calendar for 2011-2012 when you
  can provide ongoing training to teachers in RTI.
  Bring calendar to summer training.

• Review the proactive steps listed here for
  promoting staff understanding and support for
  RTI.
• Discuss how you can accomplish these steps in
  preparation for the Cohort 3 summer training.

47
Challenge 2 Verifying that Strong Core
Instruction and Interventions Are Being
Delivered in ClassroomsJim Wrightwww.interventi
oncentral.org
48
Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p. 12
49
Shared Roles Interventionist

• The interventionist is a teacher or other
  educator who is directly responsible for
  implementing an intervention for an individual
  student or small group. The role requires clear
  definition of the student problem(s), selection
  of evidence-based intervention strategies or
  programs, use of data to determine if the
  intervention is effective, and measurement of how
  the intervention is carried out to ensure that it
  is implemented with integrity.

50
Interventionist Key Look-Fors

1. Defines the student academic or behavioral
   concern in clear, specific, measurable terms.
2. Selects interventions that are evidence-based
   (i.e., intervention practices or programs that
   have been demonstrated to be effective in one or
   more high-quality studies in reputable peer
   reviewed journals).
3. Selects interventions that logically match the
   presenting student problem(s) (e.g., choosing a
   fluency-building intervention such as Paired
   Reading for a student who has acquired basic
   reading skills but has delayed reading fluency).

51
Interventionist Key Look-Fors

1. Delivers the intervention with a high level of
   integrity (e.g., ensuring that the intervention
   is implemented with the appropriate frequency,
   session length, steps of the intervention,
   student-teacher group size, etc.).
2. Ensures that any accommodations included as part
   of a general-education students RTI intervention
   plan (e.g., preferential seating, breaking a
   longer assignment into smaller chunks) do not
   substantially lower the academic standards
   against which the student is to be evaluated and
   are not likely to reduce the students rate of
   learning.
3. Knows which elements of the intervention are
   critical (must be implemented precisely as
   designed) and those that are negotiable (the
   interventionist has some degree of flexibility in
   how those elements are implemented).

52
Interventionist Key Look-Fors

1. Completes required documentation of the
   intervention (e.g., writing down all necessary
   details of the intervention plan before
   implementing, maintaining a contact log to record
   each intervention session, etc.).
2. Collects baseline data on student performance
   prior to the intervention, sets a predicted goal
   for student improvement to be attained by the
   intervention checkup date, and allots an adequate
   minimum period for the intervention (e.g., 4-8
   instructional weeks) to adequately judge its
   impact.
3. Collects regular progress-monitoring data during
   the intervention to determine if the student is
   making adequate progress (Tier 1 monitoring
   frequency is at discretion of the
   interventionist Tier 2 monitoring occurs at
   least 1-2 times per month Tier 3 monitoring
   occurs at least weekly).
4. Applies decision rules at the checkup date to
   evaluate whether the intervention is successful
   and to determine the appropriate next
   intervention steps.

53
(No Transcript)
54
RTI Challenge Verifying that Strong Core
Instruction and Interventions Are Being
Delivered in Classrooms

• Become knowledgeable about intervention resources
  available on the Internet and within your
  district.
• Identify people who could serve as formal or
  informal intervention coaches in your school.

• Review the proactive steps listed here for core
  instruction and intervention.
• Discuss how you can accomplish these steps in
  preparation for the Cohort 3 summer training.

55
Challenge 3 Using Screening Data to Identify
Students at Risk for Academic or Behavioral
ProblemsJim Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org
56

Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p. 8
57
RTI Literacy Assessment Progress-Monitoring

• To measure student response to
  instruction/intervention effectively, the RTI
  model measures students academic performance and
  progress on schedules matched to each students
  risk profile and intervention Tier membership.
• Benchmarking/Universal Screening. All children in
  a grade level are assessed at least 3 times per
  year on a common collection of academic
  assessments.
• Strategic Monitoring. Students placed in Tier 2
  (supplemental) reading groups are assessed 2
  times per month to gauge their progress with this
  intervention.
• Intensive Monitoring. Students who participate in
  an intensive, individualized Tier 3 intervention
  are assessed at least once per week.

Source Burns, M. K., Gibbons, K. A. (2008).
Implementing response-to-intervention in
elementary and secondary schools Procedures to
assure scientific-based practices. New York
Routledge.
58
Educational Decisions and Corresponding Types of
Assessment

• SCREENING/BENCHMARKING DECISIONS Tier 1 Brief
  screenings to quickly indicate whether students
  in the general-education population are
  academically proficient or at risk.
• PROGRESS-MONITORING DECISIONS At Tiers and 3,
  ongoing formative assessments to judge whether
  students on intervention are making adequate
  progress.
• INSTRUCTIONAL/DIAGNOSTIC DECISIONS At any Tier,
  detailed assessment to map out specific academic
  deficits , discover the root cause(s) of a
  students academic problem.
• OUTCOME DECISIONS Summative assessment (e.g.,
  state tests) to evaluate the effectiveness of a
  program.

Source Hosp, M. K., Hosp, J. L., Howell, K. W.
(2007). The ABCs of CBM A practical guide to
curriculum-based measurement. New York Guilford
Press.
59
Creating a School-Wide Screening Plan
Recommendations for ALL Schools

1. Ensure that any discussion about grade- or
   school- or district-wide adoption of RTI
   screening tools includes general education and
   special education input.
2. When adopting a screening tool, inventory all
   formal assessments administered in your school.
   Discuss whether any EXISTING assessments can be
   made optional or dropped whenever new screening
   tools are being added.
3. If possible, use screening tools found by the
   National Center on RTI to have technical
   adequacy.

60
RTI Challenge Adopting Schoolwide Screening
Measures

• Select days in fall, winter, spring of the
  2011-2012 school year when school-wide screenings
  will take place.
• Identify members of a school team to assist in
  collecting screening information.
• Select screening tools to assess literacy (and
  perhaps other areas) in your school. (Remember
  that existing datagrades, attendance,
  behaviorcan be analyzed periodically and used to
  screen students at risk.)

• Review the proactive steps listed here for core
  instruction and intervention.
• Discuss how you can accomplish these steps in
  preparation for the Cohort 3 summer training.

61
Challenge 4 Establishing a Strong RTI Team for
Students Who Need a Problem-Solving ApproachJim
Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org
62
Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p25
63
RTI Team Consultative Process

• Step 1 Assess Teacher Concerns 5 Mins
• Step 2 Inventory Student Strengths/Talents 5
  Mins
• Step 3 Review Background/Baseline Data 5 Mins
• Step 4 Select Target Teacher Concerns 5-10 Mins
• Step 5 Set Academic and/or Behavioral Outcome
  Goals and Methods for Progress-Monitoring 5 Mins
• Step 6 Design an Intervention Plan 15-20 Mins
• Step 7 Plan How to Share Meeting Information
  with the Students Parent(s) 5 Mins
• Step 8 Review Intervention Monitoring Plans 5
  Mins

64
RTI Team Roles

• Coordinator
• Facilitator
• Recorder
• Time Keeper
• Case Manager

65
RTI Challenge Establishing a Strong RTI Team for
Students Who Need a Problem-Solving Approach

• Review existing teams in your school and identify
  teams that can be merged or eliminated to make
  better use of your problem-solving resources.
• Schedule sufficient time each week to hold Tier 3
  RTI Team meetings for high-stakes students.
• Identify people who should serve on the RTI
  Problem-Solving Team (as core members or as
  consultants-as-needed).

• Review the proactive steps listed here for
  establishing a strong RTI Problem-Solving Team.
• Discuss how you can accomplish these steps in
  preparation for the Cohort 3 summer training.

66
Challenge 5 Developing Implementing
Effective Tier 2/3 Intervention Programs Jim
Wrightwww.interventioncentral.org
67
Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p. 13
68
Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p. 14
69
Scheduling Elementary Tier 2 Interventions
Option 3 Floating RTIGradewide Shared
Schedule. Each grade has a scheduled RTI time
across classrooms. No two grades share the same
RTI time. Advantages are that outside providers
can move from grade to grade providing push-in or
pull-out services and that students can be
grouped by need across different teachers within
the grade.
Anyplace Elementary School RTI Daily Schedule
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade K
900-930
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade 1
945-1015
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade 2
1030-1100
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade 3
1230-100
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
Grade 4
115-145
Grade 5
Classroom 1
Classroom 2
Classroom 3
200-230
Source Burns, M. K., Gibbons, K. A. (2008).
Implementing response-to-intervention in
elementary and secondary schools Procedures to
assure scientific-based practices. New York
Routledge.
70
Challenge 6 Ensuring That Interventions Are
Carried Out With FidelityJim Wrightwww.interven
tioncentral.org
71

Source New York State Education Department.
(October 2010). Response to Intervention
Guidance for New York State School Districts.
Retrieved November 10, 2010, from
http//www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/RTI/guidance-oc
t10.pdf p 42
72
Assessing Intervention Integrity
73
Why Assess Intervention Integrity?

• When a struggling student fails to respond
  adequately to a series of evidence-based
  interventions, that student is likely to face
  significant and potentially negative
  consequences, such as failing grades, long-term
  suspension from school, or even placement in
  special education. It is crucial, then, that
  the school monitor the integrity with which
  educators implement each intervention plan so
  that it can confidently rule out poor or limited
  intervention implementation of the intervention
  as a possible explanation for any students
  non-response.

74
Intervention Integrity Check Direct Observation

• Intervention integrity is best assessed through
  direct observation (Roach Elliott, 2008).
• The key steps of the intervention are defined and
  formatted as an observational checklist.
• An observer watches as the intervention is
  conducted and checks off on the checklist those
  steps that were correctly carried out. The
  observer then computes the percentage of steps
  correctly carried out.

75
Limitations of Direct Observation as an
Intervention Integrity Check

• Direct observations are time-consuming to
  conduct.
• Teachers who serve as interventionists may at
  least initially regard observations of their
  intervention implementation as evaluations of
  their job performance, rather than as a
  child-focused RTI quality check.
• An intervention-implementation checklist
  typically does not distinguish between--or
  differentially weight--those intervention steps
  that are more important from those that are less
  so. If two teachers implement the same 10-step
  intervention plan, for example, with one
  instructor omitting a critical step and the other
  omitting a fairly trivial step, both can still
  attain the same implementation score of steps
  correctly completed.

Source Gansle, K. A., Noell, G. H. (2007). The
fundamental role of intervention implementation
in assessing response to intervention. In S. R.
Jimerson, M. K. Burns, A. M. VanDerHeyden
(Eds.), Response to intervention The science and
practice of assessment and intervention (pp.
244-251).
76
Intervention Script Builder
77
Supplemental Methods to Collect Data About
Intervention Integrity

• Teacher Self-Ratings As a form of
  self-monitoring, directing interventionists to
  rate the integrity of their own interventions may
  prompt higher rates of compliance (e.g., Kazdin,
  1989). However, because teacher self-ratings tend
  to be upwardly biased (Gansle Noell, 2007, p.
  247), they should not be relied upon as the sole
  rating of intervention integrity. One suggestion
  for collecting regular teacher reports on
  intervention implementation in a convenient
  manner is to use Daily Behavior Reports (DBRs
  Chafouleas, Riley-Tillman,, Sugai, 2007).

Sources Chafouleas, S., Riley-Tillman, T.C.,
Sugai, G. (2007). School-based behavioral
assessment Informing intervention and
instruction. New York Guilford Press.Gansle, K.
A., Noell, G. H. (2007). The fundamental role
of intervention implementation in assessing
response to intervention. In S. R. Jimerson, M.
K. Burns, A. M. VanDerHeyden (Eds.), Response
to intervention The science and practice of
assessment and intervention (pp.
244-251).Kazdin, A. E. (1989). Behavior
modification in applied settings (4th ed.).
Pacific Gove, CA Brooks/Cole..
78
Intervention Contact Log
79
Supplemental Methods to Collect Data About
Intervention Integrity

• Intervention Permanent Products If an
  intervention plan naturally yields permanent
  products (e.g., completed scoring sheets, lists
  of spelling words mastered, behavioral sticker
  charts), these products can be periodically
  collected and evaluated as another indicator of
  intervention integrity (Gansle Noell, 2007).

SourceGansle, K. A., Noell, G. H. (2007). The
fundamental role of intervention implementation
in assessing response to intervention. In S. R.
Jimerson, M. K. Burns, A. M. VanDerHeyden
(Eds.), Response to intervention The science and
practice of assessment and intervention (pp.
244-251).
80
Intervention Integrity Verify Through a Mix of
Information Sources

• Schools should consider monitoring intervention
  integrity through a mix of direct and indirect
  means, including direct observation and permanent
  products (Gansle Noell, 2007), as well as
  interventionist self-ratings (Roach Elliott,
  2008).

Source Gansle, K. A., Noell, G. H. (2007).
The fundamental role of intervention
implementation in assessing response to
intervention. In S. R. Jimerson, M. K. Burns,
A. M. VanDerHeyden (Eds.), Response to
intervention The science and practice of
assessment and intervention (pp. 244-251).Roach,
A. T., Elliott, S. N. (2008). Best practices in
facilitating and evaluating intervention
integrity. In A. Thomas J. Grimes (Eds.), Best
practices in school psychology V (pp.195-208).