Transcript What is RTI?

RTI
Gary J Duhon, PhD
Oklahoma State University
August 19, 2011
RTI is…..
 A systemic approach to instruction with two main goals:
 Prevention of academic problems
 Contribute to the identification process for students suspected
of have a SLD.
Defining RTI
Response to intervention (RTI) integrates assessment and
intervention within a school-wide, multi-level prevention system to
maximize student achievement and reduce behavior problems.
(National Center on Response to Intervention)
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Defining RTI
With RTI, schools identify students at risk for poor
learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide
evidence-based interventions and adjust the intensity and
nature of those interventions based on a student’s
responsiveness, and RTI may be used as part of the
determination process for identifying students with
specific learning disabilities or other disabilities
(National Center on Response to Intervention)
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RTI as a Preventive Framework
 RTI is a multi-level instructional framework aimed
at improving outcomes for ALL students.
 RTI is preventive and provides immediate support
to students who are at risk for poor learning
outcomes.
 RTI may be a component of a comprehensive
evaluation for students with learning disabilities.
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Assumptions within RTI
 There are 2 main reasons for low academic
achievement
 Lack of appropriate instruction
 Disability
 “Good” instruction in the form of an intervention
will improve the academic performance of nondisabled students.
 This discrepancy between pre- and post-intervention
performance is considered a response to intervention.
 However, a lack of discrepancy (i.e., resistance)
may indicate the presence of a SLD.
(Fuchs, Mock, Morgan, & Young, 2003; Gresham, 1991; Gresham 2001).
Core principles of RTI
 We can effectively teach all students
 Intervention should come early
 Utilize problem solving within a multi-tiered model for decision making
 We should employ scientifically valid interventions whenever possible
 Student progress is monitored regularly
 Use data to make decisions
 Assessment occurs in the form of
 Screening
 Diagnosis
 Progress monitoring
All to contribute to accurate Decision Making
The Pillars of RTI
Increased Student Success
Screening/Benchmarking
Intervention
Progress
Monitoring
Data-Based Decision
Making
Critical Components of RTI
 Method of assessment for
 Identifying at-risk students
 (i.e. students in need of intervention)
 Determining who is making progress
 Identifying typical performance
 A structure
 To guide the intervention process
 Decision rules or guidelines
 To evaluate data for problem solving and eligibility determination
Method for identifying at-risk students
 Screen All Children Throughout the Year (Universal Screener in Reading,
Math, Writing, Behavior)
 Identify those performing below expected levels
 These are your at-risk students
 These are the students in need of intervention
 At this point we are not asking if they are disabled, we just want to improve
educational outcomes
 Determine what students can and can’t do
 Identify areas of curricular need
 Progress monitor all students
 To evaluate the impact of instruction/intervention
Universal Screener
 Universal screeners can derive from
 Curriculum Based Assessment
 CBA
 Commercially available devices
 DIBELS
 AIMS web
 STEEP
 Designed to assist in determining
 Who is at-risk
 Content areas of concern
Universal Screener Outcomes
 Using general outcome measures
 Designed to determine who is at risk?
 This can be
 Individual student, Small group of students, Class room, Grade level,
Etc…
 Content area of concern?
 This can be
 Academic (reading, math, writing, etc…)
 Behavior
 Social/Emotional
Progress Monitoring
 Distinct from screening in that
 Progress monitoring occurs more frequently
 Frequently enough to be useful in decision making and curricular
modifications
 May target different or more specific skills
 Than the skills identified by the universal screener
A Structure
for Intervention
Tertiary Prevention:
Specialized
Individualized
Systems for Students
with Intensive Needs
~5
%
~15%
Primary Prevention:
School-/ClassroomWide Systems for
All Students,
Staff, & Settings
 Tiered model
 Allows for multiple attempts at
remediation of academic concern
 Designed to guide levels of
intervention intensity as you move
up the tiers
~80% of Students
Secondary
Prevention:
Specialized Group
Systems for
Students with AtRisk Behavior
Interventions at the 3 Tiers
 Tier 1
 Low intensity, supplemental educational opportunities in the general area of
concern
 Group oriented
 Monitored in the general ed. classroom
 Tier 2
 Medium intensity, more specific programmed instruction
 Small group or individually oriented
 Monitored weekly in the general ed. classroom
 Tier 3
 High intensity, specific, targeting the individual’s concern
 Individually oriented
 Monitored daily possibly by specialist personnel or special education teachers
Interventions must be
evidenced/researched based!!!
 The terms evidenced based and research based have slightly
different technical meanings
 But in the end interventions must be derived from
 Empirically supported practice for the intervention procedure in the
form of peer reviewed journal articles supporting its use
 Interventions based on personal experience, book chapter,
commercial products may or may not be evidenced based
 When does it really matter?
 When you fail to produce a response!
 This is why it is important to know what has been done
What do these intervention look like?
 Target basic or a single skill
 Use immediate corrective feedback
 Mastery of content before moving on
 More time on difficult activities
 More opportunities to respond
 Fewer transitions
 Setting goals and self monitoring
What are not interventions?
 Accommodations are not interventions
 Preferential seating
 Extended time
 Activities are not interventions
 Reading silently
 Completing math worksheets
 People are not interventions
 Going to the reading specialist
 Going to the tutor
 Materials and programs are not interventions
 Working on the computer
 Using flashcards
Decision making within RTI
 What is required for RTI decision making?
 Treatment fidelity
 Was fidelity measured?
 Was the intervention implemented correctly?
 Quantifiable comparison of pre and post intervention
performance for the target skill
 Was a baseline data collected?
 Was progress monitoring of the same type of data collected?
 Did the intervention result in a change?
Decision making within RTI
 An anchor to determine effect
 Have you established a goal for performance or
 Has the student reached an established criterion goal?
or
 Has the resulting change placed the student within or on target for
normative responding?
 A method to gauge intervention intensity
 Has intervention intensity been clearly defined?
 Was the intervention gen ed or special ed?
Decision making rules
 When should a student move up, down or out of the tiered
system?
 What level of response and intervention effort result in
decisions of eligibility?
 Was a child responsive or not?
 What does it mean if they were or were not?
 Is the intensity consistent with Sp. Ed. or Gen. Ed.?
 When there is a lack of objective criterion these decisions are
best made by committee
Decision Making
Fluency Deficits
Fluency
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Decision Making
Fluency Deficits
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Problem Solving within a
Tiered Model
• Define the Problem
(Screening and Diagnostic Assessments)
What is the problem and why is it happening?
• Develop a Plan
• Evaluate
(Goal Setting and Planning)
(Progress Monitoring
Assessment)
What are we
going to do?
Did our plan work?
• Implement Plan
(Treatment Integrity)
Carry out the intervention
Upah & Kurns, 2005
Why RTI?
 Sustained improvements in academic performance
 Decreased expulsion, behavioral referral and suspension rates
 Decreased inappropriate special education referral
 Decreased inappropriate special education placement rates
Developing and Implementing RtI
Who needs to be involved in developing
and implementing RtI?
 Leadership at the district and site level
 Leadership at the district level
 Allows for changes in policy and structural required
to make implementation feasible
 Communicates the commitment to make change
 Leadership at the site level
 Creates the environment to facilitate change
 Provides continued support for daily activities of RtI
Assessment process
 Universal Screeners and Progress Monitoring Tools
 Identifying the right tools will require knowledge of
the general curriculum
 Commercially available tools should be consistent with
the curriculum used in the district
 Both should relate to important outcome measures
 Which general outcome measures provide us with the
best information about our students?
 Coordination with general ed, special ed, assessment and
curriculum personnel at a minimum
Intervention process
 The increasing intervention intensities require different
resources to implement
 Intervention implementation
 Early interventions
 General education teachers
 More intense intervention
 Special education teachers and other support personnel
 Intervention resources
 Administration
 Intervention development
 Experts in research based intervention: master gen ed, sp ed teachers,
topic area specialist, school psychologist, etc.
Decision Making
 Who is responsive and who is not?
 How is this information used?
 An RTI team will be needed to make these decisions
 Representative from
 General ed
 Special ed
 Administration
 School psychology
 Specialist in the area of concern
 Information about responsiveness cannot be used in isolation
RtI should…
 Be a public process
 Supported by and involving all appropriate personnel
 General ed, special ed, specialist, administrators, parents
 Be accessible to all students in need of support
 No longer are they yours or mine, but with RtI they are all ours
 Not be viewed as an additional thing but, a reorganization
and improvement to our current practice
Intervention & RtI
What is an intervention?
 The general concept of intervention is very broad…
 An intervention is anything you do to change
something you want changed
 Intervention in RtI is much more specific…
 Systematic and explicit steps taken over time for the
purpose of remediating or preventing deficits in a
specific skill area
RtI Interventions annotated
 Systematic and explicit steps
 RtI interventions consist of a series of steps that are
explicit
 What is completed during the intervention is
planned and specific to the problem targeted
 Taken over time
 RtI interventions take time to work
 Therefore they must occur consistently over time
RtI Interventions annotated
 For remediating or preventing deficits
 RtI interventions serve the primary purpose of
remediating or preventing deficits
 In a specific skill area
 RtI interventions are not designed to solve all
problems
 RtI interventions are designed to remediate or
prevent deficits in very specific areas
What do these intervention look like?
 Target basic or a single skill
 Use immediate corrective feedback
 Mastery of content before moving on
 More time on difficult activities
 More opportunities to respond
 Fewer transitions
 Setting goals and self monitoring
What are not interventions?
 Accommodations are not interventions
 Preferential seating
 Extended time
 Activities are not interventions
 Reading silently
 Completing math worksheets
 People are not interventions
 Going to the reading specialist
 Going to the tutor
 Materials and programs are not interventions
 Working on the computer
 Using flashcards
Intervention Process
 Intervention process includes
 Problem/Skill Assessment
 Intervention/Strategy Development
 Progress Evaluation
 Utilizing conceptual models to
 Determining what to assess
 How to intervene
 Problem solving approach
 A step-by-step model linking assessment and
intervention
What will we cover?
 Interventions
 Both academic and behavioral
 Necessary Components
 Relationship of these components to the decision making process
 We will not
 Discuss everything there is to know about interventions
 Provide you with a list of all possible interventions for various problems
 We will
 Discuss conceptual models designed to assist in problem assessment and
intervention development
 Outline the steps in the intervention process as well as progress evaluation
Intervention can be complex
 When attempting to intervene on problems we
are often in the dark
 We ask ourselves
 Where do I start?
and
 How do I pick the right intervention?
However; It can be made simple
 Problems can seem complex and overwhelming,
but the process can be made easier by
 Employing a structure for assessment and
intervention
 What to do from beginning to end.
 Utilizing conceptual models of learning
 How to select an intervention
 What results is a problem solving approach that
can guide you through the process
Advantages to problem solving
approach
 Flexible approach useful for lots of problems
 Can be used for math, reading, behavior, etc.
 No need for extensive experience with a
particular problem type
 Solutions can be generated regardless of your
familiarity
 Rarely are you left without options
 Provides potential solutions in most cases
Another Advantage
 Takes the Guess work out
 Typically the team process
 Consist of a discussion of a child
 May relies mainly on recollection
 Intervention results from guesses about why the
problem exist and what might work
 Good data from a structured procedure gives
you information for differential decision making
regarding interventions.
Employing a Structure
 What to do and when to do it
 Validate
 The existence of the problem
 Assess
 The problem
 Analyze
 Assessment results and make decision about intervention
 Implement
 The intervention
 Evaluate
 Intervention outcome
Validation
 Ensure that the problem is a valid problem
 A crucial first step
 Many things could cause a false problem to be
identified
 Invalid assessment results
 Faulty expectations or unrealistic expectations
on the part of the teachers or parents
Assessment
 Identify the problem
 A missed step here will lead to failure
 Define the problem
 Be specific
 Make sure it is a measurable problem
 Make sure it is a relevant problem
 Measure and evaluate the characteristics of the
problem
Assessment (cont)
 Select the target rather than related behavior
 Common language is often used as a classification system
to make communication easier
 Aggression
 Anger
 Sad
 Bad
 ADHD
 Learning Disabled
 However these categories are not behaviors
 They allude to possible classes of behavior
 Assessment will only be useful if it targets the behavior
Analysis
 Determine what the assessment results (characteristics
of the problem) tell us about why the problem exists
 This task is made easier if the results are matched against
a conceptual model
 No guessing with regard to the why
 Based upon this comparison, make a recommendation
for intervention
Implementation
 Carry out the intervention you have decided
upon
 You will need to
 Create or gather the materials
 Directions
 Manipulative
 Data collection forms
 Train all who are involved
 Collect data
 Implementation & outcome
Evaluation
 Evaluation is based upon asking a few simple
questions.
 Is the intervention effective?
 Did it help at all?
 Will it resolve the problem in an appropriate
time frame?
 Based on some established goal or criteria.
 Is it feasible in the regular classroom?
 Or are the needs to great to continue in the general
education classroom?
A structure is not sufficient on its own
 Conceptual models need to be used to help
determine the what…
 Validate
 What types of problems can exist?
 Assessment
 What aspect of the problem do I assess?
 Analysis
 What do the assessment results indicate?
 Intervention
 What options do I have when intervening?
 Evaluation
 What do I do if I am wrong?
Conceptual Models
 Provide a guide for
 what aspects of student behaviors should be
assessed
and
 how to choose an intervention
 Two useful models
 Can’t Do/Won’t Do
 Instructional Hierarchy
Can’t Do/Won’t Do
 Categorizes students based upon the presence or
absence of the target skill
 More simply stated
 If they are not doing something (not reading or
not accurately completing math work) is it due to
the absence of a skill or the lack of motivation
Can’t Do/Won’t Do Student Classification
 Won’t Do students
 Students who can perform better but for whatever
reason don’t
 In some cases they can perform as good as peers
 Can’t Do students
 Students who don’t have the ability to perform an
better than they currently are
 Even when they try their best they are well below
expected levels
Can’t Do/Won’t Do Assessment
 Attempt to determine if student
performance will improve given more
environmental support
 Provide a reward for improved
performance on a previously failed task to
determine if the student can perform the
task
Steps in Can’t Do/Won’t Do Assessment
 Identify, within the target area, a previously failed
or incomplete task
 Inform the student of their previous performance
 Offer a reward for improving performance
 Allow a reasonable amount of time to complete
the task
 Reward the student if he/she beats the previous
score
Analysis of Can’t Do/Won’t Do Results
 Won’t Do problem
 Improvement to such a degree that the problem
no longer exist when reward is offered
 Can’t Do problem
 Little or no improvement in performance
occurs
 Combination problem
 Performance improves markedly, but even with
reward the problem remains
Possible outcomes
 Tony’s multiplication problem
 In class performance = 25% accurate
 Can’t Do/Won’t Do = 89% accurate
 Susan’s reading comprehension
 In class performance = 0% accurate
 Can’t Do/Won’t Do = 30% accurate
 Willy’s spelling problem
 In class spelling = 45% accurate
 Can’t Do/Won’t Do = 40% accurate
Can’t Do/Won’t Do Link to
Interventions
 Won’t Do problems
 The intervention should focus on improving
motivation for that skill.
 Can’t Do problems
 The intervention should focus on strengthening
or developing the desired skill.
Won’t Do Interventions
 Environmental supports are not sufficient to
produce the appropriate levels of behavior
 Improve environmental supports through
 Reward the targeted behavior
 Discourage the interfering behavior
Can’t Do Interventions
 These students lack the skill necessary to complete the
task given
 Remediate the skill through instruction
 That is easier said than done
 However, this leads to more questions
 What skill do we intervene on?
 What instructional approach do we use?
 To answer these questions we employ another conceptual
model
 The Instructional Hierarchy
Instructional Hierarchy (IH)
 Conceptual model that distinguishes between
differing levels of skill development
 Acquisition
 Student who is becoming accurate with a new skill
 Fluency
 Student develops speed in performance
 Generalization
 Student learns to perform in novel situations
 Adaptation
 Student modifies the response to a novel task
Assessment with the IH
 Detailed analysis of performance
 Identify the functional level within the IH
 Where is the student performing?
 Acquisition
 Fluency
 Generalization
 Adaptation
Steps in the IH assessment
 Identify a work sample or work samples
 The work sample from Can’t Do/Won’t Do
 Previously completed work products
 Assessment consist of evaluation with these
question in mind:
 Was the performance accurate?
 Was the performance too slow?
Analysis of IH Assessment Results
 Student is inaccurate
 Acquisition phase
 Student is accurate, but slow
 Fluency phase
 Student is accurate and fast, but cannot perform
in novel situations
 Generalization phase
Link to Interventions with IH
 Acquisition phase
 Intervention should focus on task that promote
accurate responding
 Fluency phase
 Intervention should focus on improving fluent
performance
 Generalization phase
 Intervention should provide opportunities to
practice in other settings
Acquisition Interventions
 These students need to learn how to perform
accurately
 Teach them
 Modeling (Tell, Show, Do)
 Corrective feedback
 Make curricular modifications
 Instruct them at a more appropriate level
 Teach them what they are missing
 Instruct keystone skills
Fluency Intervention
 These students need to learn how to perform
more quickly while still maintaining accuracy
 Provide additional opportunities to practice
 Drill and practice
 Reward with feedback about performance
 Goal setting
 etc
Generalization Intervention
 These students need to learn how to perform
accurately and fluently in new settings or
situations
 Provide opportunities for responding across
different context
 Model across context
 Drill across context
 Reinforce across context
Combining the Models
 These two models can be combined
 This would result in a general problem
solving approach
 Effective for many school based problems
Overview of the Process
Can’t Do/Won’t Do
Assessment
Can’t Do Problem
Won’t Do Problem
IH Assessment
Reward Intervention
Acquisition
Fluency
Generalization
Accuracy training
Speed training
Context intervention
Applying the Model
 Ensure there is a Problem
 Validate
 Define the Problem
 Assessment
 Develop an Intervention Plan
 Analysis
 Implement the Plan
 Implementation
 Evaluate Intervention Effects
 Evaluation
Once complete you will have…
 Solid information (data) to build an intervention
 Later stages are much easier
 Intervention development
 Intervention implementation
 Intervention evaluation
 Without this data you are simply in the dark
Intervention Development
 Assembling the intervention
 Protocols, permanent products, etc.
Steps in the Development Process
 Determining the active treatment components
 Select (based upon the assessment results) the active intervention components
 Directions
 Create clear, but brief directions for intervention implementation
 Training
 Train all personnel involved in the intervention
 Testing
 Try it out and see where the bug are
 Monitoring
 Monitor the degree of implementation
 Establishing a goal
 Objective criterion for success
 Collect a baseline
Active treatment Components
 Based on the assessment results, choose an
intervention
 Reward intervention -- Reward/Choice
 Accuracy intervention -- Modeling, Practice, Performance Feedback, Error
Correction, Alter Task Difficulty
 Speed intervention -- Practice w/Reward
 Context intervention -- Cuing, Rewarding generalization
Directions
 Should
 Be easy to follow
 Describe all aspects of the intervention
 List who is responsible for what
 Be explicit on how and when it is to be
completed
Training
 Should
 Be initiated prior to the first session
 Include all personnel involved
 Be conducted until accuracy is reached
Testing
 Should be
 Completed after training is complete
 Completed without any assistance
 Reviewed to determine if modifications
are needed
Monitoring
 Should be
 Based on permanent products built into the
intervention
 Conducted at regular intervals
 A way of providing feedback to anyone involved
in the intervention
Goal
 Should be
 Relative to the baseline data
 Achievable in the time frame provided
 Agreed upon by all present
 Related to some important outcome
 Norms
 Benchmarks
 Relative standing in class
Baseline
 Always, always, always collect baseline data
 A baseline is simply the level of performance
prior to the start of the intervention
 If it is not possible, obtain some form of objective
information to be used as evaluative anchor
 It is best if the baseline measure and the
intervention measure are the same
Implementing the intervention
 The most though out, well designed,
scientific/research based intervention will
have no effect if it is not implemented.
 We must take steps to increase the
likelihood that our interventions are
implemented.
Evaluating the effects of intervention
 An effective intervention will alter some
dimension of behavior.
 For behavioral excesses it will decrease that
dimension
 For behavioral deficits it will increase that
dimension
 Intervention effects are relative to baseline
 Therefore don’t forget the baseline
Ways of evaluating effectiveness
 Formative (progress monitoring)
 Aim lines
 Daily monitoring
 Summative (benchmarking)
 Criterion evaluations
Effectiveness vs. Success
 These two terms do not mean the same thing
 Effectiveness is a measure relative to baseline
 Determining this is simply a comparison
 Success takes into account all the variables
involved in intervention and can be somewhat
subjective
Will the treatment solve the problem
 Not all effective treatments will solve the problem
 First
 What does solve means for each individual case?
 Second
 Will the treatment ultimately result in the resolution of the
problem?
 Third
 Is the timeline appropriate?
 Fourth
 What is the cost?
Determine if treatment needs modification
 Through evaluation we determine the status
of the intervention
 No intervention works the same for all,
sometimes
 An interventions has no effect
 An intervention only works a little
 An intervention works, but is much to
intensive to maintain
The intervention had no Effect
 If the intervention had no effect first we must evaluate
integrity
 Was the intervention implemented as planned?
 If integrity was high then we can examine the
intervention
 When we fail it is likely because
 The intervention was
Not the right one for the job
 Not strong enough in its current form

 In either case we modify and try again
The intervention had no effect
 When we fail it is likely because
 The intervention was
 Not the right one for the job
 Not strong enough in its current form
 In either case we modify and try again
Modifying ineffective interventions
 If the intervention was not the right one for the
job
 Alter your hypothesis and develop another
intervention based upon the new hypothesis
 If your first hypothesis was the presence of a
won’t do problem, test out a can’t do
hypothesis
Modifying ineffective interventions
 If the intervention is not strong enough in its
current form
 Intensify it by increasing one or more aspects of
the delivery
 Increased time per day
 Increased days per week
 Reduced intervention group size
 This increases active responding per student
 Include similar additional components in the
intervention
The intervention worked a little
 In this case we can assume we are on the right
track
 Next steps are to continue to focus on refining
the components of the current intervention
 Don’t forget about integrity
Modifying Weak Interventions
 Intensify it by increasing one or more
aspects of the delivery
 Increased time per day
 Increased days per week
 Reduced intervention group size
 This increases active responding per student
 Include similar additional components in
the intervention
The intervention was effective
 Effective interventions are great, but
sometimes they are labor intensive for both
the interventionist and the student.
 When we have identified an intervention
that is effective we should next try to
make it as economical as possible
Modifying effective interventions
 Make interventions more economical by
 Removing any unnecessary components
 Reducing the intensity
 Decrease times per day
 Decrease days per week
 Increase group size
 Make sure not to reduce intensity to such a
degree that it will no longer be effective!
Something to keep in mind
 Remember why you are intervening
 To determine if a simple intervention can
help with the current problem
 Not to solve all of the child’s problems
 This will likely take substantial time to
accomplish
 Deep holes will take time to fill
Special Education Eligibility
Using the Data You Have Collected
Determining Eligibility
 Making decisions about whether a student
possesses a learning disability must be based on
data
 No matter what the process (RtI or
Discrepancy)
 RtI completed correctly will generate the data
necessary to make decisions
 If RtI is implemented incorrectly the decisions
will be unreliable and will lack validity
How Will You Use The Data?
 To answer 3 simple questions.
 What is the discrepancy of the student’s
performance with the peer group and/or
standard?
 What is the student’s educational progress
as measured by rate of improvement?
 What are the instructional needs of the
student?
Discrepancy from peer and/or standard
 Determined through the use of student progress monitoring data
compared
 Benchmark peer performance
And/Or
 Standards-based data
 Is the student’s performs significantly below grade level peers,
on:
 State assessments
 Local grade level norms from universal screening
 If we can answer YES, we can evaluate rate of progress.
Student’s Rate of Educational Progress?
 How well have the interventions worked?
 Did they work at all?
 If there is no evidence of treatment effect
We have failed.
 Back up and try again.

 If there was a treatment effect, we can evaluate
the observed effect.
Evaluating an Effect
 Given a treatment effect
 Is the current treatment effect enough?
 Enough to meet the standard in an appropriate
time frame.
and
 If effective enough, what intensity is required?
 Intensity consistent with Gen. Ed. or Special Ed.
In other words…
 If student performance is discrepant from peers
 Will the student approach peer performance in
an appropriate time frame?
 Is the intensity such that it can continue
without supplementary aids and services via
special education resources?
 If the answer to either one of these questions is
NO then the rate of learning is a problem.
Other Important Data when Evaluating
Rate of Growth
 When evaluating growth other sources of data
must be evaluated
 Is progress monitoring data directly linked to
the area of deficit?
 Is progress monitoring data collected multiple
times over the course of the intervention?
 Were the interventions scientifically- or
evidence-based?
 Were the interventions of sufficient intensity?
Other Important Data when Evaluating
Rate of Growth
 Were the interventions delivered with
integrity?
 Were the interventions implemented for a
sufficient time period to allow for changes
in performance?
 Were appropriate modifications made in
response to growth or the lack of growth?
Instructional Needs
 Are curriculum, instruction, and/or environmental
conditions very different compared to other students in gen.
ed. environment?
 To answer this we must be able to describe characteristics of
the effective instruction
 Intensity of instruction (e.g., amount and rate of practice and feedback,
how explicit the instruction is)
 Time delivered (e.g., amount of time weekly the intervention is delivered)
 Size of group (e.g., individualized or small group)
Decisions of Eligibility are Likely
When…
 The data demonstrates
 A discrepancy
 Performance significantly below the performance of peers or expected
standards
 Deficient rate of learning
 Under intervention conditions based on appropriate progress monitoring
data
 Curriculum, instruction, and/or environmental needs
 Significantly different than peers
 Requiring intervention intensities that exceed general education
resources
In the end
 RtI decision making is a form of data based decision making
 In order to accomplish this we must have good data and we
must use it when making decisions
 If we are having difficulty making decisions…get more data!!
Using RtI Data on State Forms
Linking RtI data at lower tiers to the eligibility
process
(REDS and MEEGS)
Its not just a good idea it’s the law
 IDEA Regulations
 To ensure that underachievement in a child suspected of having
a SLD is not due to lack of appropriate instruction in reading or
math,…
 Data that demonstrate that prior to, or as a part of, the referral process,
the child was provided scientifically based instruction/intervention in
regular education settings, delivered by qualified personnel; and
 Data-based documentation of repeated assessments of achievement at
reasonable intervals, reflecting formal assessment of student progress
during instruction, which was provided to the child's parents
What does this really mean?
 Before you can consider the possible presence of SLD, you
must have documented your efforts to provide appropriate
instruction
 How is this accomplished
 Provide differentiated instruction based on students individual needs,
(pre-referral intervention and Intervention Based Assessment)
 You will also have to measure performance under these
intervention conditions in order to document repeated
assessments of achievement at reasonable/regular intervals
 This information will have to be available to the student’s
parents
 Target Behavior
 Specific academic skill in need of remediation
 Must be an objective and measurable description of the skill in need
of remediation
 Math calculation
 Reading Comprehension
 Spelling accuracy
 Cannot be vague problem areas
 Problem solving
 Reading Comprehension
 Goal
 A goal for the target behavior must be set.
 This allows for a comparison of performance to the goal.
 The goal should be
 Consistent with the target behavior identified
 Appropriate and Achievable
 Interventions Attempted
 What specific interventions have been implemented?
 The interventions must
 Be scientific/researched based
 Be appropriate for the target behavior
 Not be accommodations, activities, or programs
 Described in sufficient detail or referenced appropriately
 Frequency and Duration of intervention delivery
 Frequency - how often was the intervention delivered?
 Duration - how long did it last?
 This assist in determining if the intervention was sufficient to
produce the necessary change
 Treatment integrity or fidelity
 Degree to which the intervention has been implemented as
intended
 Usually based on percent if the total required.
 Days implemented/days planned for implementation * 100
 Ensures that the intervention had a chance to work
 Less than 80% integrity is considered poor
 Type of measure
 What was used to progress monitor?
 Must be matched to the target behavior, the goal and the intervention.
 Should be a technically adequate progress monitor measure
 Should be collected multiple times across time
 Was goal accomplished?
 Simply a yes or a no relative to the goal established above
 Recommended action
 What decision was made regarding the student and this
particular problem area as a result of the outcome achieved?
 Differentiated Instructional Strategies attempted (Tier 1)
 What was your intervention in tier 1
 Include
 Target behavior
 Goals
 Instructional strategies
 Progress monitoring measures
 Outcome
 Decisions made as a result of tier 1 efforts
 Interventions at tier 2
 What was your intervention in tier 2
 Include
 Target behavior
 Goals
 Instructional strategies
 Progress monitoring measures
 Outcome
 Decisions made as a result of tier 2 efforts
 This intervention should be obviously more intense than tier 1.
 Summary of behaviors
 Are there any behaviors that the child is engaging in that may
account for an identified deficit in academic functioning?
 What academic area(s) are deficit?
 This should be aligned to at least one area the targeted concern
identified earlier
 Rule outs for other reasons for the academic deficit.
 If using RtI what data was collected that contributed to any
decisions made?
 Screening data
 Progress monitoring data
 Parental notification of right to an evaluation.
 Effective strategies at tier 3
 What was your intervention in tier 3
 Include
 Target behavior
 Goals
 Instructional strategies
 Progress monitoring measures
 Outcome
 Decisions made as a result of tier 3 efforts
 This intervention should be obviously more intense than tier 2.
Thanks for Listening.
Questions?
Contact info:
Gary Duhon, PhD
[email protected]
405-744-9436