RTI in First Grade: When to Move to Tier 2 and 3?

In this article in Exceptional Children, Stephanie Al Otaiba (Southern Methodist University) and six colleagues report on their study of Response to Intervention in 34 first-grade reading classes. The researchers compared two approaches: 

• Standard RTI – Teachers gave Tier 1 instruction to all students, assessed progress after eight weeks, and then provided Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions for students who were not successful.
• Dynamic RTI – Teachers did an initial assessment of students and provided immediate Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions for students who had the weakest reading skills. 

The study found that students who received dynamic RTI instruction got off to a much faster start, their advantages increased during the school year, and they ended the study with significantly higher reading performance than students who received standard RTI. “Based on our findings and prior research,” the authors conclude, “there appears converging evidence indicating that it is possible to identify, at the start of first grade, which children will need the most intensive intervention.”

“To Wait in Tier 1 or Intervene Immediately: A Randomized Experiment Examining First-Grade Response to Intervention in Reading” by Stephanie Al Otaiba, Carol Connor, Jessica Folsom, Jeanne Wanzek, Luana Greulich, Christopher Schatschneider, and Richard Wagner in Exceptional Children, October 2014 (Vol. 8, #1, p. 11-27), 

http://ecx.sagepub.com/content/81/1/11.abstract

From the Marshall Memo #558