Download - R.T. Why?: RTI 101
R.T. Why?: RTI 101
PBIS Conference March 2010Jon Potter & Lisa Bates
Objectives:
• Participants will be familiar with the “Big Picture” of RTI
• Participants will understand system requirements for a strong RTI system.
RTI Misconception: What it is and what it’s not
Is Not IsAn instructional program A framework to implement
effective practicesA group of students that leaves your room for extra instruction
A system of matching resources to each individuals student’s needs
Possible to implement alone A collaborative effort
The same for every school Uniquely designed for each building
A special education, a general education, a Title 1, a Talented and Gifted initiative
An “Every” Education Initiative
An educational fad A systematic method for delivering instruction
Defining Terms:
• Is a system of organizing gen. ed. curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of all students
• Integrates all support programs to use resources more efficiently
• Applies to all students
• Can exist without using RTI
• Is an evaluation procedure identified in IDEA for identifying learning disabilities
• Is a special education procedure that is limited to assessment
• Applies only to children suspected of having LD
• Cannot be implemented without a system like MTI in place
Multi-Tiered Instruction(MTI)
Response to Intervention (RTI)
• To increase the achievement for ALL students by providing them with appropriate instruction matched to their needs
• To better identify and instruct students who may have a learning disability
Purposes of RTI
RTI focus is on General Education!
• Teachers don’t fail students, systems do.
• RTI is a system for differentiation of instruction!
• RTI is a system that is predicated on the general education teachers’ skill and knowledge of instruction, assessment, curriculum, and children.
Assumptions in RTI-land• Every child can and will learn• IQ and intelligence are not the same
thing• People are first• Flexible skill grouping changes
(frequently) based on data (about skills)
• “Ability” grouping implies tracking, tracking = bad news
Core RTI Principles• We can effectively teach all children• Intervene early• Use a multi-tier model of service delivery• Use a problem-solving method to make decisions
within a multi-tier model• Use research-based, scientifically validated
interventions/instruction to the extent available• Monitor student progress to inform instruction• Use data to make decisions• Use assessment for 3 different purposes
– Screening, diagnostic, progress monitoringNASDSE, 2006
Our education system has grown up through a process of
“Disjointed Incrementalism” (Reynolds, 1988)
One Perspective on History
The currentEducationSystem’sProgrammaticEvolution
K-12 Education
Gifted
Title 1
SPED
Migrant
ELLAt Risk
In The Past
GeneralEducation
Title Reading or
Other Reading Support
Special Education
Some “Fell’”Through
Some “Fell’”Through
Pre-referral team (CARES)reviews what teacher
has tried
Jessie participates in thecurriculum
Jessie isn’t doing well
Teacher tries again
Resumesregular
program
Jessiedoesn’t
improveJessie
improves
Teacher’s effort is deemed sufficient
Special Education referral is initiated by the teacher
Jessie’s teacher does his best to differentiate instruction and keeps
anecdotal data
Teacher is told to try again
Jessie is tested, usually by special education personnel, using IQ, achievement, and other tests
The
pre referral/discrepancy
approach
The RTI Way…..
Does the child find the system, or does the system find the child?
• Builds a unified (collaborative) system
• Identifies students who need help EARLY
• It helps students receive instruction that they NEED
• RTI leads to a seamless INSTRUCTION focused evaluation process for students who may have a Specific Learning Disability
How does RTI SYSTEMATICALLY help to teach all students
effectively?
RTI: Full Continuum of Support
GeneralEducation
Title Reading & Reading Support,
Gifted Ed.
Special Education,Gifted Ed.IIIIIIII
all along the continuum!I =
Selecting screening measures to identify at-risk students early is key: Need for Screening
Wor
ds P
er M
inut
e
• Reading is a crucial skill not optional• Teach reading early
– Days and weeks matter
RTI prevents students from falling behind at the start..
Reading Is Not An Optional Skill
• Poor readers in 4th grade struggle in literacy in Kindergarten (Torgeson, 2004)
• Children who struggle K-3 rarely achieve average reading skills (Torgeson, Rashotte, Alexander, 2001)
• Children who cannot read drop out of school• Over 60% percent of people without a high school
diploma do not currently have a job. (underemployed, incarnated, self employed, raising families, ect.) (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Academic success or failure is strongly related to adaptive functioning as an adult
• Is it a skill deficit or developmental lag ? Can’t we wait for them to “bloom?”– Without intervention, kids who are behind stay
behind (Juel, 1988; Francis, et al., 1996, Shaywitz, 1999)
– Skill deficits can be erased—especially if you catch them early!
• Good reading builds reading AND cognitive skills!
Days and Weeks Matter
Independent Reading %tile Minutes Per Day Words
Read Per Year98 65.0 4,358,00090 21.1 1,823,00070 9.6 622,00050 4.6 282,00030 1.3 106,00010 0.1 8,000 2 0.0 0
Adapted from Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding (1988).
Reading makes you Smarter
RTI helps students receive instruction that
they need
Daisy participates in the general core curriculumwith strong instruction
Daisy isn’t doing well Second Group
Intervention
EBIS Team designs individualized intervention
Resumesgeneralprogram
Daisydoesn’t
improveDaisy
improves
Daisydoesn’t
improve
Daisyimproves
Intervention is intense and LD is suspected
Improvement is good and other
factors are suspected as
cause
Special Education referral is initiated by the team
EBIS Team reviews screening data and places Daisy in group intervention
Parents Notified
How RTI Works from a Student’s Perspective
Progress monitoring and intervention data is used
RTI Process differs from Pre-Referral Process
RTI Process Pre-Referral ProcessStudent in need of assistance identified by screening data
Student in need of assistance identified by individual teacher
Multi-tiered instruction addresses students need
Individual teacher typically responsible for addressing student’s need
Students progress is monitored closely through systematic progress monitoring
Student’s progress is monitored by the teacher through informal assessments
Decision about continued need for support is determined by district decision rules
Decision about continued need for support is made by team’s beliefs about the student’s progress
systematic
Not S
ystematic
• Teacher– “RTI really advocates for the student. The data really
needs to be gathered and assessed. Are the child’s academic needs really being met? Are they making progress? If not, what is the problem and what instructional strategies need to be changed? It seems that the child’s issues becomes one of the team’s and not solely the responsibility of the classroom teacher. Also, in many cases I am sure, some individual students just need some intervention to be successful and NOT special education!”
– Nancy Greene, 2nd grade teacher
Shared Responsibility
• Teacher– “RTI is designed to help target a specific deficit in a
student’s learning and through collaboration with others design a plan to meet that particular need. This has helped to improve my teaching.”
– Jeff Kelley, 4th grader teacher
Shared Responsibility
Discussion
Does the child find the system, or does the system find the child?
• Seamless “instruction focused” evaluation process
RTI improves our identification & instruction of students who may have LD
In the Past…..• Evaluations were based on…
– Discrepancy between cognitive abilities and achievement
– Psychological processing deficits
Discrepancy Based Evaluation
• IQ: 100• Achievement in Reading is : 80
• Qualify for special education
• What does a discrepancy based evaluation tell you about what instruction a student needed to make progress?
Discrepancy Based Evaluation
Psychological Processing Deficit Evaluation
• What does a psychological processing deficit evaluation really tell you?
• Performance on tests that measure psychological processing are biased
• No patterns have been found that differentiate LD/not LD
The Psychological Processing Problem:
• Patterns on psychological processing tests do not predict outcomes
• Patterns on psychological processing tests do not lead to treatment
The Psychological Processing Problem:
• What does a psychological processing based evaluation tell you if it does not. . .
– differentiate LD students from non-LD
students or
– lead to recommendations that improve achievement?
Psychological Processing Based Evaluation
• Special education placements tend to stabilize the reading growth of students with reading disabilities rather than accelerate it. (Vaughn, 1998, Moody, 2000)
• Students who enter special education 2+ years below age mates can be expected to maintain disparity or fall farther behind.
Special Education Outcomes
What do you really want to know when a student gets evaluated?
What’s wrong with them?
Vs.
What can I do to instruct them effectively?
• Evaluation focused on teaching and learning– Information is gathered in classroom context– “Response” is objective and measurable
• Process leads to effective plan– Intervention eligibility IEP– Nature and intensity of service is identified
–Tells you what the child needs for instruction!
RTI Based Evaluation
How do you plan and implement a RTI based
system?• Build CONSENSUS amongst the
staff• PLAN to develop your system
requirements (Infrastructure)• IMPLEMENT your system requirements• EVALUATE how your system is working
and make changes as needed
Assumptions
Professional DevelopmentLeadershipData based teaming
Reading
MathWriting
Behavior
1. Leadership2. Teaming3. Research based
core reading 4. Universal
Screening5. Research based
interventions6. Progress
Monitoring
7. Decision Rules8. Procedures for LD
evaluation & eligibility
9. Professional development & Fidelity
System Requirements
1. Leadership
District LevelStrong administrative support to ensure commitment and resources
AND
School LevelStrong teacher support to share in the common goal of improving instruction
District• Classroom
teachers & Specialists (representing different levels and schools)
• District office leaders
• Principals
School• Principal• Classroom
Teachers• Specialists• Counselor• Psychologist
2. Teaming
The Team is only as strong as the least invested member
Research-Based CORE Program
RTI is predicated on effective, research-based programs that include the BIG 5 components of reading:
Phonemic Awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary Comprehension
Phonics
Fluency
Phonemic AwarenessComprhensionVocabulary
For all students!
How does it help a struggling reader to be in core?
• They need the most instruction• Need to be exposed to grade level
material• If they miss grade level material,
they will never catch up• Just because there is a deficit in
one area, does not mean there is a deficit in all areas of reading
• Interventions are limited in scope
Differences in Learning to Read
Estimates from NICHHD research
Population %
Journey to Reading Instructional Requirements
5 Easy: children read before starting school
Need no formal decoding instruction
35 Relatively Easy Learn to read regardless of instructional approach
40 Formidable Challenge Need systematic and explicit instruction
20 One of the most difficult tasks to be mastered during schooling
Need intensive, systematic, direct, multi-sensory instruction
Differences in Learning to Read-Discussion
• How does this research match up with your own experience of learning to read? Your children’s? Your students’?
More about the core
Important Facts:
• Students cannot be identified as LD if their difficulty is due to lack of instruction in the BIG 5.
• Research-based program must be implemented as designed (fidelity)
Universal Screening
Procedures must identify which students are proficient (80%) and which are deficient (20%).
Good screening measures:Are not intended to measure everything about a
student, but provide an efficient an unbiased way to identify students who will need additional support (Tier 2 or Tier 3)
Help you assess the overall health of your Core program (Are 80% of yours students at benchmark/proficiency?)
Why Use Fluency Measures for Screening?
• Oral Reading Fluency and accuracy in reading connected text is one of the best indicators of overall reading comprehension (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001)
• We always examine fluency AND accuracy• Without examining accuracy scores, we are missing a BIG
piece of the picture• Students MUST be accurate with any skill before they are
fluent.
Oral reading fluency (ORF) does not tell you everything about a student’s reading skill, but a child who cannot read fluently cannot
fully comprehend written text and will need additional support.
Interventions– Must be designed to match identified needs – Should always be based on student data– Almost always given in small groups (Not necessarily
1:1)– On-going data determines need to continue, discontinue,
or change curriculum, instruction, and/or assessment– Uses more explicit instruction– Provides more intensity
• Additional modeling and guided feedback• Immediacy of feedback
– Does NOT replace core
Interventions• Students pulled out for interventions may be
“missing” something else…BUT
• If a student can’t read, how much are they already missing in the classroom?“No one seems to notice that it is only during that single period each day [intervention time] that the struggling readers are provided with texts and lessons that theory and research support. The other 5 hours each day are largely comprised of texts and lessons that are over their heads.”
Richard Allington
Which students:– All receiving
intervention – Borderline scores
or performance-as resources allow
Progress MonitoringTools Must Be:
• Brief• Valid • Reliable• Repeatable• Easy to Administer
Frequency:• Every 2 weeks
(minimum)• Every week (ideal)
Are the children learning? How can we tell?
Decision Rules• Provide the “now what” after teams have
analyzed student data• Guide decisions for all tiers• Take the guesswork out of “what to do next”• Ensure equity across schools
I think… I feel… I believe
What data do you have that makes you think/feel/believe that?-Dr. Ed Shapiro
10
20
30
40
Dec.Scores
Feb.Scores
Jan.Scores
MarchScores
AprilScores
MayScores
JuneScores
60
50
Aimline
Decision Rule Example: 4 Points Below the Goal Line
Ora
l Rea
ding
Flu
ency
Add 15 minutes to intervention
Reduce group size to 3 students
Districts must adopt common procedures for doing this work:
Decision RulesFormsSPED Procedures
Think of RTI as a
standardized test
Students should be identified similarly
from school to school
Policy and Procedure Development (Standardization)
Professional Development and Fidelity
Content:• Core curriculum &
instruction • Assessment• Interventions• Teaming• Data-based decision
making• SPED procedures
Delivery:• Ongoing• Sufficient time to collaborate and plan
• Incorporates fidelity checks
Anticipate and be willing to meet the newly emerging needs based on student performance
Data ALSO used to drive professional development needs
Does it REALLYwork?????
Let’s look at some data!
Tigard-Tualatin School District OAKS Reading
Proficiency
Tigard-Tualatin School District OAKS Math
Proficiency
A Tale of Two Districts
District 1: RTI for 4-5 years District 2: Non RTI
Small, rural school district Small, rural school district
350 elementary students(PK-5)
470 elementary students(PK-5)
Title 1 services Title 1 services
31% students on Free and Reduced Lunch
19% students on Free and Reduced Lunch
A Tale of Two DistrictsDistrict 1: RTI
2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-20090
20
40
60
80
100
5162
8679
36 32
51913
6 8 2
BenchmarkStrategicIntensive
3rd Grade ORF
A Tale of Two DistrictsDistrict 2: Non RTI
2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-20090
20
40
60
80
100
6251 52 49
22
41 41 37
14 8 7 13
BenchmarkStrategicIntensive
3rd Grade ORF
RTI District:3rd Grade ITBS Reading
Comprehension
2005-2006 2006-2007 2007-20080
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
8296 90
74 77 75
District Proficient and AboveIA Proficient and Above
Questions?
Contacts• Jon Potter
– [email protected]– 503-431-4149
• Lisa Bates– [email protected]– 503-431-4079