In answering the first question, what is RTI, we need to look at what the practice of an RTI program would include:

 
• providing high-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need
 
• monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about changes in instruction or goals
 
• applying child response data to important educational decisions

High-quality instruction and interventions matched to student need: How can we accomplish this? Districts will need to train teachers on the intervention programs they plan on implementing. If the staff members do not know how to provide the intervention, how can quality instruction be ensured? Staff members will need to be observed and given feedback to make sure the interventions are delivered appropriately. Once a plan is in place to ensure the fidelity of instruction, the interventions will need to be appropriately matched to the need of the student. One way districts can do this is by tracking the effectiveness of the interventions in relation to need. Once districts can see a trend in which interventions are more effective, teams can start to match those interventions to specific needs of the students.

Progress monitoring is an integral part of Response to Intervention. Prior to tracking progress, students will need a baseline score. Most districts are doing universal screenings 2-3 times a year to gather their baseline data. Once they have the scores, they can see how each student compares to the average of the students within their grade level. This can give staff members an early indicator of students that may need interventions. Once the intervention team indicates a goal for a student, the teacher will now need to monitor the student’s progress to ensure that the intervention is effectively helping the student. Progress monitoring can provide insight into any progress the student is making, and can also indicate if an intervention needs to be modified or changed if the student is not making progress. 

The data gathered from universal screenings and progress monitoring can help team members make important educational decisions for a student. This data can indicate that a student is making great progress, and might be moved to a less intense intervention, or not need them at all. Or the data could indicate little progress achieved, and the team might make the decision to refer a student to special education.

Knowing the main components of Response to Intervention can help a district that is just starting to make decisions about their RTI program. Districts need to think about how to ensure high-quality instruction, how to track intervention effectiveness, what universal screening and progress monitoring tools will be used, and how will a team decide when to refer a student to special education.

Read how EXCEED/RTI can help in tracking the fidelity of how interventions are implemented.

Read how EXCEED/RTI can help in student-centric progress monitoring.