RTI

Response to Intervention or RTI is a big topic of discussion lately. With the NCLB act causing schools to look at how well they are meeting the needs of all of their students, RTI is one method that schools rely on. In RTI, students are placed into one of three tiers. The first tier is where the majority of the students are placed. In tier one it is the classroom teacher's responsibility to provide the best classroom instruction and differentiate to help all students learn. If a student is not progressing in tier 1, then the RTI committee may deem to move the student into tier 2. In tier 2, the child receives small group instruction from trained individuals to help the student start progressing and hopefully be returned to tier 1. If a student is still not progressing in tier 2, then the child may be moved into tier 3. In some schools this is special education and in other schools this may be one-on-one tutoring before moving on to special education.

The purpose of the RTI system is to help students get the instruction they need before they fall too far behind. RTI places more responsibility on the teacher in providing the best curriculum and instruction. RTI also helps ensure that students are not being placed into special education without other interventions being tried first. With how complex RTI can be, I would suggest checking out the following website: RTI Action Network. This website helped clear up some the questions that I had about RTI and may do the same for you. RTI Action Network also has a blog, discussion board, newsletter, and allows you to send in your own questions about RTI.