Response to Intervention (RTI) Overview
SFUSD is committed to providing high quality instruction to all students. When students exhibit challenges with meeting grade level benchmarks, the Academic Response to Intervention (RTI) framework helps identify areas of need and the specific supports which will help students advance their learning.
Response to Intervention (RTI) is not a set kind of book or program and can look different at different sites. The focus of the process is to uncover how to make a student successful as opposed to a focus on the student’s lack of success. The goal is to help all students succeed. RTI is a tiered model of service, meaning there are different levels of support which correspond to each tier, with an increase in intensity of differentiation within each tier. All students are part of the model.
From Broward County
TIER 1
What is Tier 1 instruction?
Tier 1 instruction is the instruction provided to all students by the classroom teacher. Standards-based instruction to support reading and writing development is delivered through whole class, small group, and 1:1 learning structures. Students receive daily explicit and systematic instruction in Word Recognition (phonological awareness, decoding, sight word recognition) and Language Comprehension (background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning and literacy knowledge) which together lead to skilled reading and comprehension. Students access and respond to high quality, culturally relevant, complex grade level text to build knowledge and develop evidence based discussion and writing. Teachers assess and monitor student progress to provide targeted, responsive, and differentiated, small group reading and writing instruction.
How is student progress monitored?
Teachers use multiple assessments to obtain evidence of student learning, assist in making informed decisions, revise instruction, and advance student learning along well-defined learning progressions in reading and writing.
How are students assessed in reading?
In Kindergarten students are assessed using the STAR Early reading assessment. From first grade through eighth grade students are assessed using the STAR Reading assessment. Students are screened for phonological processing challenges during the second trimester of Kindergarten and first trimester of first grade using the Reading Difficulties Screener. Growth is monitored along the SFUSD’s STAR Assessment system.
Does SFUSD implement a universal screener to identify students with possible reading challenges?
A Universal Screener is administered to all students three times a year in Kindergarten through 2nd Grade (assessed until mastery). At the end of Trimester 2, SFUSD analyzes these assessment results for Kindergarten students and, in alignment with California state guidelines, identifies students with data indicating additional literacy intervention/support may be needed. The students identified through this analysis appear on the Early Literacy Acceleration Student List. This list is shared with site leadership each Fall and in the Spring after the Trimester 2 update. This list guides decisions regarding the administration of additional assessments, identification of students for on-going progress monitoring, and selection of students to receive Tier 2 intervention as well as the type of intervention a student would receive.
What happens if a student does not make expected progress in Tier 1?
Identified students receive differentiated, small group instruction in their classroom and within the school-day. Their progress is closely monitored with benchmark and curriculum-embedded assessments. Parents should be informed when a school begins a process for identifying students for supplemental, Tier 2 interventions.
TIER 2
What is Tier 2 instruction?
Tier 2 instruction is short-term, intensive, systematic literacy intervention provided to identified students in small groups. Intervention is research and evidence based supplementary instruction that is provided in addition to high quality Tier 1 classroom instruction.
Who provides the instruction?
An Academic Response to Intervention Facilitator (ARTIF) or Literacy Specialist at the school site provides Tier 2 instruction.
What does literacy intervention include?
Tier 2 instruction is targeted small group reading instruction which includes phonics, word study, fluency, comprehension, and writing. There are specific, structured phonics curricula for students identified with potential phonological processing challenges.
How often are students seen for literacy intervention?
In order to make accelerated progress, students receiving Tier 2 instruction should be served 30-35 minutes, 5 days a week, for 20 weeks.
How long does a student receive Tier 2 intervention?
The length of time for intervention can vary depending on the amount of progress made by the student.
What is the expected growth for students receiving intervention?
Student progress on predetermined goals is consistently collected and analyzed to determine whether the student is responding to the intervention. Over the course of the intervention, students receiving Tier 2 literacy instruction are expected to demonstrate learning at an accelerated rate, based on SFUSD’s Grade Level Reading Assessment Benchmarks.
How is student progress monitored?
Student growth in reading is monitored on a monthly basis with data from intervention assessments. This data, along with the results of the Reading Difficulties Screener for identified students are analyzed for progress and rate of growth.
What happens if a student does not make expected progress?
If a student is not making progress that would lead to gap closure in the first 8 weeks of Tier 2 intervention, adjustments are made in instruction. If the School-Based Team, classroom teacher, and ARTIF/Literacy Specialist determine that the child is not making adequate progress after 20 weeks of continuous instruction in Tier 2, a Student Success Team meeting is held to review student progress and to determine if a more intensive, individualized intervention is required.
TIER 3
What is Tier 3 instruction?
Tier 3 instruction is the increasingly individualized and intensive intervention for students who need the most support. The instruction targets the remediation of specific skills and differs from Tier 2 in time and focus.
FAMILY RESOURCES
RTI Network; A Program of the National Center for Learning Disabilities
IMPORTANT TERMS TO KNOW
Benchmark – The expected grade-level performance of the student.
Intervention – A change in instructing a student in an area of learning difficulty to try to improve performance and achieve adequate progress.
Progress monitoring – A practice used to assess students’ academic performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. Progress monitoring can be implemented with individual students or an entire class.
Universal Screener – A brief assessment administered to all students to identify students who may benefit from more targeted instruction and as a means of progress monitoring the acquisition of assessed skills.
Differentiation – The process of adjusting instruction to meet the needs of students; may include the process, content, or method of instruction.
School-Based Team – A team including the site leaders, classroom teachers, and intervention teachers, which analyzes universal screener data, selects students for tiered interventions, and discusses instructional strategies to differentiate based on student strengths and needs.