| RTI Practices | Caveats and Concerns | School Examples |
Tualatin Elementary School enrolls 522 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, with three to four classrooms per grade. Nearly 50 percent (260) of the students receive free or reduced lunch. Sixty-five students are served in special education (15 are identified as having a learning disability), and 160 are English language learners. Tualatin Elementary's responsiveness-to-intervention model uses the following structure: Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, and special education.
Tualatin Elementary uses a continuum of school-wide instructional and positive behavior support. Primary prevention systems are school- and classroom-wide for all students, staff, and settings. All students receive quality behavior and academic instruction and support; all are screened for instructional needs in the fall, winter, and spring. Examples of data that are gathered three times a year include DIBELS, Oregon State Assessments, and data involving attendance, behavior, and counseling referrals.
About 20 percent of the students qualify for secondary prevention, which involves specialized group systems for at-risk students. These students receive small-group interventions. About 5 percent of students qualify for tertiary prevention, which is specialized individualized systems that are in place for students at high risk. Students in this group receive further individualized interventions.
The EBIS Team meets weekly. Team members include the school principal, counselor, literacy specialist, special education teacher, ELL specialists, and classroom teacher representatives from each grade level. The team monitors all students who receive small-group and individual interventions. The team also oversees RTI fidelity and makes referrals to special education.
The EBS (Effective Behavior Support) Team meets twice monthly to plan and implement school-wide supports.
Grade-level teams meet monthly. At each meeting, team members use data to evaluate the core program, plan initial interventions for the "20 percent group," and monitor student progress. Grade-level teams also report to the EBIS Team.
Content-area teams meet every month to recommend curriculum and instructional improvements across all content areas.
Individual Student Case Management implements intensive interventions and monitors student progress within the RTI process.
Eighty Percent Decision Rule. If less than 80 percent of the Tualatin students are meeting benchmarks, Tualatin staff review the core program(s).
Twenty Percent Decision Rule. Students below the 20th percentile in academic skills or with chronic behavior needs (more than five absences or more than three counseling or discipline referrals in a 30-day period) are placed in small-group instruction.
Change Small Group or Individual Intervention Rule. When progress data are below the aim line on three consecutive days, or when six data points produce a flat or decreasing trend line, school staff change the intervention.
Individualize Instruction Rule. When a student fails to progress after two consecutive small-group interventions, individual instruction begins.
Refer for Special Education Evaluation Rule. When a student fails to progress after two consecutive individually-designed interventions, the student is referred for special education evaluation.
Decisions about future instruction are based on progress monitoring results:
An example: A young student named Daisy is participating in the general curriculum but is not doing well. The EBIS Team reviews Daisy's screening data; from the data review, the team decides to place Daisy in a group intervention. Daisy does not improve, and the EBIS Team designs an individual intervention for Daisy. Had Daisy improved with the group intervention, she would have resumed the general program.
Because Daisy continues to show no improvement with the first individual intervention, the EBIS Team designs a second individual intervention for her. Had Daisy shown good improvement with the first individual intervention, the team would determine whether (1) other factors are suspected as the cause for her poor response to general and group instruction or (2) the individual intervention needed to be given at such an intense level that a learning disability might be suspected. In the latter case, a special education referral is initiated.
Daisy still does not show improvement when she is given instruction with a second individual intervention. At this point, a special education referral is initiated.
Funding for NRCLD is provided by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special
Education Programs. Award No. H324U010004. Opinions expressed herein are those of the National
Research Center on Learning Disabilities and do not necessarily represent the position of the U.S.
Department of Education.
© 2007 National Research Center on Learning Disabilities
Last Updated: November 19, 2007
Contact: nrcld@ku.edu