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What is Responsiveness to Intervention?

Winter 2007
I
n many schools today, when a student cant
keep up in class, that students only option for
help is to qualify for special education ser-
vices. However, if a student struggles at a school
that uses the responsiveness to intervention (RTI)
model, the school staffs frst thought is: Maybe
this child isnt getting the instruction that he or she
needs to succeed. In other words, the student isnt
being responsive to the instruction. This doesnt
mean that the student isnt trying, but most general-
ly he or she isnt understanding what is being taught
by the teacher.
These schools dont wait for students to fail for
an extended period. They want to act immediately
to get the student the help needed. They regularly
screen all students to make sure classroom instruc-
tion is on target for the students. Each child is com-
pared to others of the same age and in the same
grade and same class.
School-wide screenings and progress monitor-
ing focus on all students achievements in class. For
those students who score lowest on in-class subjects
and dont seem to be mastering classroom lessons,
the school uses a step-by-step teaching process using
scientifcally proven teaching techniques and fre-
quent brief assessments to monitor progressthat
is, to determine whether the teaching techniques are
helping. Results from progress monitoring, usually
given at least once a week, show what planning and
methods to use for academic success. This process,
when done according to effective teaching practices
helps to determine whether a students low achieve-
ment is due to instructional or behavioral factors or
whether the child has a possible learning disability.
Think of responsiveness to intervention as a se-
ries of steps. The frst step is instruction in the gen-
eral classroom. Screening tests given in the class-
room reveal students at risk for reading and other
learning diffculties. For example, testing may show
that a student who has diffculty reading needs ad-
ditional instruction in phonics. In the second step,
the classroom teacher might handle the instruction.
In other cases, someone who has expertise in read-
ing and phonics might instruct the student and other
students who have the same diffculty.
S
tudents who fail to respond to this instruction
may then be considered for more specialized
instruction in step three, where instruction
NRCLD developed this brief to help you understand responsiveness to intervention, an
education model that promotes early identication of students who may be at risk for
learning diculties.
Progress monitoring is a scientically based practice
of assessing students performance on a regular basis.
Progress monitoring helps school teams make deci-
sions about instruction. An NRCLD brief related to
this topic is What is Progress Monitoring?
Responsiveness to intervention (RTI) is addressed
through federal law and refers to a tiered approach to
instruction. Students who do not make adequate ac-
ademic progress and who are at risk for reading and
other learning disabilities receive increasingly inten-
sive instructional services. See the graphic on page 2.
2
may occur with greater frequency or duration. If
the achievement diffculties persist, a team of edu-
cators from different felds (for example, reading
or counseling) completes a comprehensive evalu-
ation to determine eligibility for special education
and related services. Thats because responsiveness
to intervention alone is not suffcient to identify a
learning disability. All in all, the goal is to provide
the type of instruction and educational assistance
the student needs to be successful in the general
education classroom.
In the responsiveness to intervention model,
one of the benefts for parents is that they get to see
how their child is doing, compared to peers, and
how the childs class measures up to other classes
of the same grade. They can get these results on a
regular basis from their school. If class scores are
down, for instance, questions will be raised about
the quality of teaching in that class; thus, classroom
teachers are more accountable for their instruction.
Responsiveness to intervention, with its in-
creased instructional precision, is now used more
to prevent academic failure than to specifcally de-
termine which students have learning disabilities.
Also, it has been used mostly for reading in elemen-
tary schools. Almost no research results yet exist
on how it works in middle schools or high schools;
practical application of it in math instruction, too,
needs to be further documented.
A
lthough unanswered questions need fur-
ther research, RTI thus far has compelling
benefts. When RTI is implemented with
rigor and fdelity, all students receive high-quality
instruction in their general education setting. All
students are screened for academics and behavior
and have their progress monitored to pinpoint spe-
cifc diffculties.
A continuing advantage for all students is the
opportunity to be identifed as at risk for learn-
ing diffculties early in their education instead of
having to failsometimes for yearsbefore get-
ting additional services. And, all students have the
opportunity to get assistance at the level needed, re-
ducing the number of students referred for special
education services.
For a long time, special education has been the
instructional solution for struggling learners even
when they didnt have learning disabilities. Because
an abundance of research has shown that well-de-
signed instructional programs and strategies signif-
cantly improve learning when carefully monitored,
the responsiveness to intervention approach may be
a method to improve learning in general education
and reduce referrals to special education.
NRCLD is a joint project of researchers at Vander-
bilt University and the University of Kansas. This
document was produced under U.S. Department
of Education Grant No. H324U010004. Renee
Bradley served as the project offcer. The views ex-
pressed herein do not necessarily represent the po-
sitions or policies of the Department of Education.
No offcial endorsement by the U.S. Department
of Education of any product, commodity, service
or enterprise mentioned in this publication is in-
tended or should be inferred.
This report is in the public domain. Authorization
to reproduce it in whole or in part is granted. While
permission to reprint this publication is not neces-
sary, the citation should be:
National Research Center on Learning Disabilities
(2007). What is responsiveness to intervention?
[Brochure]. Lawrence, KS: Author.