As a result of the Improve Group’s partnership with
Cecelia Dodge & Associates, LLC, we are offering a series of articles this fall that highlight the ways data can be used to improve instruction and transform schools for the achievement of ALL learners. You can see our first blog, giving an overview of response to intervention,
here.
A core assumption of responsive, tiered education systems is that
high quality instruction is already in place. The idea of putting a system in place that intervenes when students need it relies on the notion that
most of the students are already successful in the regular classroom. Since interventions are designed for individuals or small groups, they are much more labor intensive. The system is defeated when too many students need individualized interventions, because no school has the resources to provide that much individual attention. (You can hear a story about a similar challenge in the healthcare system
here). Therefore, attention should first go to shoring up the core instructional program so that it supports most students. Schools should not move forward to implement a tiered system of intervention until this key foundation is in place.
Buffum, Mattos and Weber (2009) describe this core instructional program as “coherent and viable core curriculum that embeds ongoing monitoring for all students” (p.113), forming the foundation of Tier 1. Specifically, Tier 1 must include:
- Universal screening
- Standards-based, scientifically research-based curriculum
- Effective instruction that is engaging, rigorous and relevant
- Differentiation
Once the core instructional program is shored up a school can move forward with implementation, including these stages, suggested by the
National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE)’s Response to Intervention Blueprints
1. Consensus building – where RtI concepts are communicated broadly to implementers and the foundational “whys” are taught, discussed and embraced.
2. Infrastructure building – where districts and sites examine their implementations against the critical components of RtI, find aspects that are being implemented well and gaps that need to be addressed. Infrastructure building centers around closing these practice gaps.
3. Implementation – where the structures and supports are put in place to support, stabilize and institutionalize RtI practices into a new “business as usual.”
References
Buffum, A., Mattos, M., Weber, C. (2009).
Pyramid Response to Intervention (p. 131). Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
National Association of State Directors of Special Education. (2008). Response to Intervention, Blueprints for Implementation. Accessed at http;//www.nasdse.org
As a result of the Improve Group’s partnership with Cecelia Dodge & Associates, LLC, we are offering a series of articles this fall that highlight the ways data can be used to improve instruction and transform schools for the achievement of ALL learners. You can see our first blog, giving an overview of response to intervention, here.
A core assumption of responsive, tiered education systems is that high quality instruction is already in place. The idea of putting a system in place that intervenes when students need it relies on the notion that most of the students are already successful in the regular classroom. Since interventions are designed for individuals or small groups, they are much more labor intensive. The system is defeated when too many students need individualized interventions, because no school has the resources to provide that much individual attention. (You can hear a story about a similar challenge in the healthcare system here). Therefore, attention should first go to shoring up the core instructional program so that it supports most students. Schools should not move forward to implement a tiered system of intervention until this key foundation is in place.
Buffum, Mattos and Weber (2009) describe this core instructional program as “coherent and viable core curriculum that embeds ongoing monitoring for all students” (p.113), forming the foundation of Tier 1. Specifically, Tier 1 must include: