RTI – Response to Intervention

RTI stands for Response to Intervention. RTI is a multi-tiered approach that is used by classroom teachers and education specialist to help students who are struggling with a particular skill. Every teacher uses interventions as part of the teaching process, but RTI is a little more structured than simply giving kids a little extra help.

The heart of RTI is high-quality instruction and universal screening of all children. The general education classroom provides students with research-based instruction. Classroom teachers give ongoing assessments to learn more about students’ learning and levels of achievement. That data is then used in the RTI process. Based on assessment data, it may be determined that a student needs additional support in a certain area.

RTI is designed to meet students at their current levels of achievement and help them make progress toward grade-level expectations. This makes RTI a more personalized approach for students who need specific interventions. RTI is proactive in terms of helping the students make progress. Instead of waiting to see if the student will learn a skill or to see if the learning clicks, RTI ensures that students are receiving targeted practice and help. The RTI process also helps with parent communication. When a student moves through the tiers, teachers can communicate specific data and plans for an invention with parents so that nothing comes as a surprise later on.

RTI aims to help students who are struggling, catch up to grade-level expectations. It’s not a specific program, and instead is a flexible model that supports students starting with high-quality whole class instruction and moving to specific targeted intervention.

At Ignite School we are using the RTI process to try and bridge the gap that some students are facing educationally when it comes to reading. The school specialists have reassessed all students to get an accurate measure of where each student is in their current reading and skill level. Leveled groups are formed in each classroom and during the specified RTI time students are instructed in their leveled groups with the specialists to work on specific reading skills in order to help them move forward. The classroom teacher keeps the students that are working on grade level and above focusing on advancing them and building upon their skill level. The students will be monitored and reassessed frequently in order to keep accurate levels on each student and continue to move them forward on their level.

We look forward to seeing our students make huge progress in their reading levels using the RTI model.