My school district is really pushing
toward full implementation of the RTI (Response to Intervention) process.
Within the last few years, we have purchased the AIMSweb program as a means to
screen all students and use as a progress monitoring tool throughout
interventions. What my district has struggled to do is provide teachers with appropriate
interventions (especially in the area of math), interventionist, and time for
teachers to provide individual and small group interventions. Is anyone else’s
district implementing RTI and if so, are you having similar hiccups? How is it
going for you and your district? If not, what is your knowledge of the RTI
process or do you have any question?
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteRTI can be so overwhelming if it isn't implemented in steps - baby steps! Two years ago our school was put on the SINA list - School in Need of Assistance. We began implementation of RTI with very little training and have basically had to figure things out as we go. Every team decides on 30 minutes to be used for interventions and chooses days based on our 6 day cycle. Our 3rd grade team has Interventions from 2:30 - 3:00 on Days 1,3,5. We started with just math, but this year we moved to reading and math. We spend a couple of months on one, then switch to the other. It has been a struggle, but our scored have increased. We also have fewer referrals for special education, which is the main focus of RTI. A neighboring school had training for one year, partial implementation the second year, then full implementation the third year. This would be ideal, but it isn't what happened in our district. There are many, many resources on the web, so I would take some time to read what's out there. This site has lots of great information: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/14596/.
Hope this helps!
Sarah-
ReplyDeleteWe use RTI in our building, as we are a SINA school just like Mrs. Lukes building. But, because I am one of the Level III special education teachers, I don't do much with RTI because of the interventions already in place for my students. We do have an Intervention Team made up of the principal, our integration coach, our instructional coach, and one of the special education resource teachers. They work with other teachers in the building to design interventions at tiers 1, 2 or 3 and help the teacher document the intervention and help them determine where to go next. Our instructional coach also works with each grade level team to help implement district wide curriculum. But, she also helps design classroom wide differentiation for the three tiers as part of the grade level team data analysis. I feel like our building has lots of good support for the RTI process, but we need way more time to meet and brainstorm strategies for our students. If only we could have a few more hours in the day!
My district has been doing RTI for a few years now. It has been a big push. One of the main reasons is that we are a DINA district and many of our schools are SINA schools. And of course we want to increase student achievement.
ReplyDeleteAll of our schools implement RTI a little differently. Currently at my school we have a half-hour block three times a week. (I work in a middle school.) We found this time by stealing a few minutes from each class period on intervention days. Some days are designated as math/science intervention days and some are reading/social studies days. The classroom teachers are the ones who decide who needs help. Usually this is decided through formative assessments. The classroom teachers are also the ones who administer the extra instruction during this time. They put up a list of all the students in the morning. Students check what room they are assigned to and go there during intervention time.
I wish I could tell you that everything runs smoothly! We have learned a lot in the last few years though. The intervention time is still too short, and our students who "get it" need more extensions, but it is all a work in progress.
My school has been doing RTI for awhile now I have worked there for five years and they have been doing it ever since I have been there. Since I am a Level 1 Special Education teacher I do not do much with RTI since we are always putting interventions in place for our students and we have an interventionist. Our RTI is a team of our Vice Principal, School Improvement Leader, Special Education Consultant, Social Worker, SUCCESS Worker, and Counselor. As teachers we come together in our House meetings and go through interventions of what we have done with students before sending them to the RTI team. It is a slow moving system to inform teachers and have it implemented correctly, but a well worth system.
ReplyDeleteI really have no comments to help you! We have too few staff members, but I know that doing what I read in the other comments sounds fantastic! I think there is great value in RTI when there is a lot of brainstorming.
ReplyDeleteThe school I worked for, five years ago was declared a SINA school. The same year we purchased a new reading curriculum; having all the materials we needed rally helped us implement RTI step by step with fidelity. We had a great RTI team; a group of teachers used the pull out model to work with two different reading proficiency levels. The high group stayed with me in the classroom; we worked for thirty minutes, five days a week. After two years implementing RTI, students showed great progress. A great site to go is http://www.rtinetwork.org/
ReplyDelete