Note: We have a YouTube video about RTI. For that and other Wrightslaw YouTube videos, go to the "Wrightslaw YouTube Channel" at: www.youtube.com/user/wrightslaw. To see the RTI YouTube video, click on the link below and go "Full Screen."
When Congress reauthorized IDEA, they changed
the law about identifying children with specific learning disabilities. Schools
will “not be required to take into consideration whether a child has a severe
discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability ..." (Section 1414(b))
(Wrightslaw: Special
Education Law, 2nd Edition, page 97)
What is Response
to Intervention (RTI) ? How will these new practices affect struggling children who
have not yet been identified with specific learning disabilities? How will this
affect the millions of children who have been identified with specific learning
disabilities and who are receiving special education services?
The devil
is in the details. The success of Response
to Intervention (RTI) will depend on whether it is appropriately implemented
by highly-trained professionals - and this is likely to be a problem.
To answer your questions about RTI, we collected articles and free publications from a variety
of sources. We found that some experts endorse RTI, while others are less enthusiastic.
We encourage you to study these issues. This page includes articles, free
publications, and recommended websites.
Articles
& Free Pubs About Response to Intervention (RTI)
A Parent Guide to RTI was created by Susan Bruce, a fierce advocate for students, who has trained over 5000 parents, attorneys and advocates on virtually any topic that has to do with special education and civil rights law. The Guide explains the RTI process and what IDEA requires, parent concerns and important questions about RTI, and what RTI means for our kids. Pdf format
OSEP Memorandum - RTI process cannot be used to delay-deny an evaluation for eligibility under IDEA. Office of Special Education Programs to State Directors of Special Education, 01/21/11.
Alternative
Approaches to the Definition and Identification of Learning Disabilities:
Some Questions and Answers. Fletcher, Jack M., W. Alan Coulter,
Daniel J. Reschly & Sharon Vaughn. Published in Annals
of Dyslexia.
To ensure adequate instruction for students with LD, identification must
focus on assessments that are directly related to instruction. Services for struggling
students must focus on intervention, not eligibility. Special education needs
to focus on results and outcomes, not eligibility and process. Identification
models that include RTI will lead to better achievement and behavior outcomes
for students with LD and those at risk for LD.
Responsiveness
to Intervention: A Blueprint for Practitioners, Policymakers, and Parents
in Teaching Exceptional Children. Fuchs,
Douglas, Lynn S. Fuchs. (2001)
Describes a "three-tier" system (beginning in general education and
ending in special education) that serves the early intervention and disability
identification objectives of RBI. The focus is on standard tutoring protocols,
not "problem solving model," because available scientific research supports
this approach.
The
Discrepancy Formula-How the Aptitude-Achievement Formula Keeps Educators from
Doing Their Jobs. Horowitz,
Sheldon H. (1999) (Adapted from a presentation by Dr. Horowitz at the 49th
Annual Conference of The International Dyslexia Association.)
"The
standard that opens the gates to remedial and support services in schools, the
'discrepancy formula,' has undermined the ability of teachers to provide timely
and effective assistance for students with learning disabilities. It virtually
requires that students 'crash and burn' academically before they can gain access
to special education services and it reinforces failure, ultimately making remediation
much more difficult." (pdf format, p. 72)
A
Three-Tier Response to Intervention (RTI) Model. LDOnline
Article describes a Three-Tier RTI Model as an alternative to the Discrepancy
Model (the "Wait to Fail Model"). This article describes a three-tier
reading model that monitors student progress with different levels of intervention
intensity.
Rethinking
Learning Disabilities. Lyon, G. R., Fletcher, J. M., Shaywitz, S. E., Shaywitz, B. A., Torgesen, J. K.,
Wood, F. B., et al. (2001). Washington, DC: Thomas Fordham Foundation.
Describes reasons to reject the IQ-achievement discrepancy models. Discrepancy
models delay classification until the child is in 3rd or 4th grade when academic
achievement problems are more difficult to resolve. The IQ-achievement discrepancy
is not related to decisions about intervention methods, goals, or results.
Early
Warning System. Lyon,
G. Reid Lyon and Jack Fletcher. (2001)
The authors describe three factors that led to a dramatic increase in children
identified with LD. (1) Remediation is rarely effective after 2nd grade. (2) Measurement
practices work against identifying LD children before 2nd grade. (3) Federal policy
and the sociology of public education allow ineffective policies to continue.
The authors make a case for implementing effective early intervention programs.
Read article.
Understanding
Responsiveness to Intervention in Learning Disabilities Determination. Mellard,
Daryl and the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities.
Excellent article describes core features of RTI including the use of assessment
to match students with appropriate instruction. Other core features are high quality
classroom instruction, research based instruction, classroom performance, universal
screening of academics and behavior, continuous progress monitoring, research
based interventions, progress monitoring during interventions, and fidelity measures
(that the intervention was implemented as intended and with consistency). Since
several versions of RTI have been implemented, this article describes common attributes
including tiers of increasingly intense student interventions; differentiated
curriculum; variations in duration, frequency, and time of interventions; placement
decisions.
Responsiveness
to Intervention & Learning Disabilities. National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities. (2005)
Examines concepts, potential benefits, practical issues, and questions about
responsiveness to intervention (RTI) and learning disabilities (LD). Includes
questions about implementation, eligibility, parent participation, structure and
components, professional roles and competencies, and needed research.
The
Demise of IQ Testing for Children with Learning Disabilities. Pasternak,
Robert. (2002)
In describing the “fallacies of the IQ-Achievement Discrepancy Model,”
the author explains that this is not a valid way to identify individuals with
LD. He reports that eliminating IQ tests may shift the emphasis away from eligibility
and toward interventions that children need.
On
Babies and Bathwater: Addressing the Problems of Identification of Learning Disabilities. Scruggs, Thomas E. and Margo
A. Mastropieri. (2002)
This article reviews problems in identifying learning disabilities and proposed
alternatives to current procedures. The authors argue that the proposed alternatives
do not meet all necessary criteria for identifying LD.
Response
to Intervention. National Research Center on Learning Disabilities.
Describes core characteristics of Response to Intervention models: student-centered
assessment and intervention models that identify and address student difficulties
and use effective instruction, leading to improved achievement.
What is Responsiveness to Intervention. NRCLD developed this brief to help parents understand responsiveness to intervention, an education model that promotes early identification of students who may be at risk for learning difficulties. (2007)
The RTI Hurdle. RTI and an educational evaluation to determine eligibility for special education run concurrently. They are two different trains running on two different tracks at the same time.
Stuck in RTI Purgatory. "The school would not do a multi-factored evaluation for my son who has dyslexia. We are trapped in RTI. Is there anything we can do?" Your assumption that there "is no legality on our side" is incorrect. The law was not intended to allow schools to avoid evaluating kids or keep kids in RTI over a long period of time.
Is RTI Equivalent to Special Education? "Would a court view RTI as equivalent to Special Education?" RTI is not special education, so it is not equivalent to nor a substitute for special education.
Recommended
Websites
The
National Center on Response to Intervention. The American Institutes for Research and researchers from Vanderbilt University and the University of Kansas -- through funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) -- have established the National Center on response to intervention. The Center’s mission is to provide technical assistance to states and districts and building the capacity of states to assist districts in implementing proven models for RTI/EIS.
RTI Responder - Free newsletter published monthly from the National Center for RTI Response to Intervention.
DIBELS
- The Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early
Literacy Skills (DIBELS) are standardized, individually administered measures
of early literacy development. They are designed to be short fluency measures
used to monitor the development of pre-reading and early reading skills.
National
Center for Learning Disabilities - provides information to parents, professionals
and individuals with learning disabilities, promotes research and programs to
foster effective learning, and advocates for policies to protect and strengthen
educational rights and opportunities.
Findings of the National
Reading Panel - The National Reading Panel published their findings on research
based reading in two reports and a video, " Teaching
Children to Read." They also identified effective instructional strategies
for teaching students with reading difficulties.
Reading Rockets - a national
multimedia project offering information and resources on how young kids learn
to read, why so many struggle, and how caring adults can help.
What is Response
to Intervention (RTI) ? How will these new practices affect struggling children who
have not yet been identified with specific learning disabilities? How will this
affect the millions of children who have been identified with specific learning
disabilities and who are receiving special education services?
