2010 RTI Adoption Report

Posted by Beth DuBose on May 20, 2010

Spectrum K12 School Solutions, Inc., and leading education organizations including the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE), Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) announced the results of their 2010 survey of K-12 district administrators which gauges the extent to which Response to Intervention (RTI) has been adopted and implemented.

Complete 2010 RTI Adoption survey results can be viewed at www.spectrumk12.com/rti/the_rti_corner/rti_adoption_report.

Spectrum K12 teamed with NASDSE, CASE and AASA to provide a roadmap for districts nationwide by determining (1) how widely RTI has been adopted in U.S. school districts and implementation obstacles, (2) the effectiveness of RTI, and (3) how school districts are funding RTI.

RTI Adoption and Implementation Obstacles
The 2010 survey results indicate strong and rapid adoption rates of Response to Intervention with 61% of respondent districts indicating they are currently either in full implementation or in the process of district wide implementation – up from 54% in 2009, 32% in 2008 and 24% in 2007 with 48% of respondents indicating their district has a formal RTI district implementation plan like the NASDSE Blueprint.

Survey results also show RTI is being increasingly implemented across all grade levels with a significant increase in middle and secondary schools as compared to previous years.

Survey respondents report the primary obstacles to implementing RTI remain the same as in 2009 – (1) insufficient teacher training, (2) lack of intervention resources, (3) lack of resources for instruction and/or progress monitoring and (4) lack of data, knowledge, skills to implement tracking and charting.

RTI Effectiveness
In respondent districts that had sufficient data to determine the impact of RTI, 76% indicated RTI has led to an improvement in (AYP) vs. 24% that indicated it has not and 87% indicated RTI has reduced the number of special education referrals.

RTI Funding
RTI funding is coming from a variety of sources including General Funds, Title 1 and IDEA Early Intervening Services. ARRA Stimulus Funds have had an impact with 43% of respondents citing these funds as a source of RTI funding.