Response To Interventions Reflection Amy Reep RE 5210-375 Fall 2010 Response to Intervention is a multi-tiered system that involves measuring a student’s success, or lack of, to specific interventions through different levels of intervention. RTI got its roots in research by Stan Deno through the University of Minnesota. While working with special education teachers, they discovered that children could benefit from intense interventions before they fail. He suggests that you can give a screening assessment in order to determine who may struggle, then provide those students with remedial instruction and measure success through Curriculum Based Measures over a period of time. Then the teacher can design lessons based on needs that have been determined or focus on strategies that have been successful. RTI was developed in to overcome difficulties with the inadequacies using the discrepancy formula when determining eligibility for placement in the exceptional children program. When Deno first developed his RTI, his goal was not for the program to be used for determining eligibility, but to offer varying levels of intervention to students who are not responding to effective classroom instruction otherwise. Unlike the older discrepancy model that was used in the past, the RTI model begins in Kindergarten and works with children throughout their schooling, should the need arise. Currently there are two divisions of Response to Intervention that are currently being used throughout many states. Standard Protocol focuses on three different levels of intervention. Everyone in the classroom receives tier one in standard protocol. It involves students receiving effective core reading classroom instruction. Everyone is given a screening assessment at specific points in time, usually 2-3 times per year depending on grade level, and then anyone who is caught performing below “par” on the assessment is then progress monitored through a standardized assessment. Then the teacher is able to determine who is making progress through the progress monitored collection data, and those students who are continuing to struggle. Those students that are not making progress after effective teaching and poor
needed 15 point discrepancy between ability and performance. However there are many more concerns I have that outweigh the benefits. The largest problem with the Problem Solving Model is that there are no standard interventions that are suggested. Many of the suggested ones are behavior based, or are unreasonable. My administration does not take into account time in class or classroom size when making intervention suggestions. I also feel that they often do not understand the frustration that classroom teachers feel about continuing to implement interventions that are not working but this time for a longer period each day. I believe that interventions suggested by the Standard Protocol would be more productive and ensure that structured learning is occurring. Another concern that I have with Problem Solving Model is the people who are performing the interventions. In my school, the classroom teacher is responsible for all interventions. Unfortunately, not all teachers are sufficiently trained in the area of reading through college courses to meet the needs of struggling readers. Until I began the Masters process I would have had great difficulty in helping my pre-primer readers. Also not all teachers follow through with the interventions they say they are doing and not all reading instruction that occurs on a daily basis is effective. In our school, paraprofessionals are also implementing intervention in the lower grades (upper grades are left to fend for themselves). Not only are these assistants not trained in reading, they are working with eight to ten kids in a “reduced group size”. I do not feel that this is a productive way to get struggling readers the assistance that they need. I feel that my school can increase the likelihood that the Problem Solving model will benefit students at my school by doing several things. The first one I would suggest is to hire a reading specialist. We are not a Title One school, and have no one other than a RTI paraprofessional to work with the students. This lady was rehired through federal funding and has gone to a workshop on the state’s RTI process. She works with only the first and second graders at our school. She does not sit in on out Student Success Team meetings. She has several other paraprofessionals that assist her in her class time of thirty minutes with up to ten students per class. I feel that a reading specialist would have more knowledge