RTI and Classroom & Schoolwide Learning Supports: A Guide for Teachers and Learning Supports Staff

School Mental Health Project, UCLA

Click here to read the whole guide.

http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/rtiguide.pdf

Preface

According to the National Center on Response to Intervention “the purpose of RTI is to provide all students with the best opportunities to succeed in school, identify students with learning or behavioral problems, and ensure that they receive appropriate instruction and related supports” (http://www.rti4success.org/ ). They translate this into a definition that states “response to intervention integrates assessment and intervention within a multi- level prevention system to maximize student achievement and to reduce behavior problems. With RTI, schools identify students at risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence-based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of those interventions depending on a student’s responsiveness, and identify students with learning disabilities or other disabilities.” They describe four essential components of response to intervention: (1) a school-wide, multi-level instructional and behavioral system for preventing school failure, (2) screening, (3 ) progress monitoring, and (4) data-based decision making for instruction, movement within the multi-level system, and disability identification (in accordance with state law). The guidebook also states response to intervention is “a framework for providing comprehensive support to students and is not an instructional practice” and that “RTI is a prevention oriented approach to linking assessment and instruction that can inform educators’ decisions about how best to teach their students.”

While the RTI center states the strategy is meant to be broad-based and preventative, we suggest that the approach described is too limited in how it frames what needs to go on in a classroom and schoolwide to enable learning, engage students, and keep them engaged.* Therefore, we have prepared the following guide for teachers and learning supports staff. It places response to intervention in the context of a unified and comprehensive system for enabling all students to have an equal opportunity for success at school and beyond.

The guide is designed to broaden perspectives of response to intervention, provide frameworks for contextualizing the work in classrooms and schoolwide, and generally enhance practices. It is divided into the following units:

I. Framing Response to Intervention in the Classroom II. Pursuing Response to Intervention Sequentially and Effectively III. Pursuing Response to Intervention as One Strategy in a Comprehensive

System of Student and Learning Supports

As aids for personnel development, each unit begins with a set of questions and

ends with study, discussion, and activity guides. These can be used for both ______________

*There are other criticisms of RTI; relevant references covering these are included in the resource list appended to this guide.

iindependent study and groups formed as communities of learners. Topical guides to illustrate and aid practice are presented throughout. A few topics are amplified in appendices. In place of usual citations, references to sources and additional resources that can deepen learning and offer specific aids are provided in an appended resource list. A set of self-study surveys also are highlighted.

We view this guide as a work-in-progress. Hopefully, it will be useful in its present form. We will revise it based on feedback from the field. Let us hear what changes you recommend.

It will be obvious that this work owes much to many who share their efforts through a variety of sources. And, we can never express our appreciation enough to our Center staff (Perry Nelson and the host of UCLA students) for the many contributions they make each day.

Howard Adelman & Linda Taylor Center Co-directors