Feb. 19, 2008
Interest in Response to Intervention (RtI) is growing, with many educators gaining knowledge through reading and attending introductory seminars. Many are interested in implementation but don’t know where to begin. A common question is “Does it matter which components we focus on first”? Sometimes only a few people in a building are knowledgeable about RtI, and if this is the case, it is important that time be spent in building consensus among other staff members prior to initiating implementation of the model. Consensus building can include a variety of activities but generally involve providing information to staff so they can be more informed. Methods that are useful include: overview presentations, examples of benefits to students as well as schools, and site visits where successful implementation is occurring. As with any innovation or change in education, the time spent building support for implementation is time well spent and will increase the likelihood of positive outcomes.
Once a majority of staff are interested in implementation, a next step would be to complete a “Readiness for RtI” survey. There are a number of tools available on the web for this purpose, and one can be found on the MN RtI Center website at:
http://www.scred.k12.mn.us/RTI/RTIcontact.htm.
A team of people who are representative of the staff in that building/district complete the survey, and rate areas for priority. This particular tool is focused on assessing readiness for RtI in the area of literacy since this is the charge from the MN Legislature that is funding the Center. Completing a readiness survey should provide quite a bit of information to a school about what components they have in place and which ones they don’t. Many schools have some elements for RtI implementation already in place. So this information is useful in building on those elements, so that RtI is not perceived as something additional or ‘new’. Really, RtI should involve better integration of currently existing elements so that data based instructional decision making is major outcome for staff, resulting in improved achievement for students.
A common result of completing the readiness survey is that schools determine that while they have a number of tests and measures available, they don’t have a way to conduct universal screening and frequent progress monitoring. If this is the case at your school, then this is often the best place to begin. In an RtI model, instructional decisions are based on the screening and progress monitoring data. Without these data, it is difficult, if not impossible, to implement RtI. There are relatively few tools that provide both of these functions. The National Center on Student Progress Monitoring (http://www.studentprogress.org/chart/chart.asp) is an excellent source for information about which tools can be used for these purposes. One caveat in considering sources from this website is that it includes some tools that can be used no more frequently than once per month. In an RtI model, monthly measurement is generally viewed as not frequent enough for students who are struggling to generate enough data points to determine if they are making adequate progress.
Generically, these measurement systems are often referred to as General Outcomes Measures (GOMs) or Curriculum Based Measures (CBMs). One benefit these measures offer that few other measures can is the ability to predict which students are on track to achieve high stakes outcomes such as performance on measures of reading achievement. Those who are not on track have their progress monitored weekly/biweekly to determine if the instruction is improving their trajectory of progress. Using these measures in conjunction with diagnostic measures helps staff plan the best instructional match.
To summarize initiation of an RtI Model:
• Spend time in building consensus among staff members and
• Complete a ‘Readiness for RtI’ survey to determine which components are present or
absent in the current system
• Use a measurement tool that allows staff to screen all students, identify those at risk for
failure, and monitor those students on a frequent basis
