By Joseph Kovaleski, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
I am pleased to be doing a blog about RTI for CEC. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a professor of school psychology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, which is in the town of Indiana, Pa. During my career in education, I have worked as a school psychologist, a coordinator of special education, and a technical assistance provider for our state’s resource system. During the 1990s, I directed Pennsylvania’s Instructional Support Team (IST) Project, which was a precursor to RTI.
In addition to teaching at the university, I have been working with Dr. Ed Shapiro of Lehigh University in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN) on our state-wide implementation of RTI. About four years ago, we started RTI in seven pilot schools and have seen numerous schools begin implementation of RTI throughout the state. Although I have experience consulting in other states, much of what I will address will come from my experiences here in Pennsylvania, as that experience is “closer to the ground.” Hopefully my comments will resonate with everyone, regardless of location.
Let me start today’s blog with what we here in Pennsylvania see as the critical components of establishing RTI. Before that, however, I should note that most of what I will try to discuss in this blog pertains to establishing assessment and instructional procedures that will help schools bring high percentages of kids to proficiency in basic skills as well as good mental health. For me and most of the national leaders of the RTI “movement,” RTI is fundamentally about establishing an infrastructure for effective teaching. Only after that infrastructure has been established can the use of RTI as one part of a comprehensive evaluation for the determination of special education eligibility be considered. So let’s start with those infrastructure fundamentals and perhaps later we can address some issues regarding learning disabilities.
Much of the work we have done with RTI Pennsylvania has been to establish a thorough and comprehensive Tier 1 of our three-tier model. Historically, most precursors to RTI focused predominantly on Tier 2 interventions. We decided that we could not move ahead until Tier 1 was in good shape. First and most importantly, a school district needs to develop core curricula that are closely aligned to their state standards. Hopefully, those standards and the local curricula are based on good research regarding teaching and learning. Curricula that conform to the findings of the National Reading Panel and now the National Math Panel should be developed. In the same vein, school districts should be using school-wide positive behavior support programs that facilitate good discipline and positive mental health for all students. If we are to get 80% of students to proficiency as a result of Tier 1, teachers are going to need the best tools available to be able to differentiate for all learners in the classroom.
Next in Tier 1 is the provision of universal screening so that educators can keep track of students’ academic and behavioral attainments. Most schools nowadays seem to have established these procedures regardless of whether they are using RTI or not. Most schools are assessing students three times a year on measures that are predictive of students’ performance on state tests. One aspect of Tier 1 that I am especially passionate about is the development of data analysis teams (DATs) to help teachers use the data from universal screening to make instructional changes for all students and to begin to sort those students who will need additional support to Tier 2.
In Tier 2, we again see the need for intensive research-based interventions that feature a standard protocol approach. Although there continues to be a need for problem-solving for individual students at Tier 2, we are finding that group-based interventions focusing on students’ assessed needs are more efficient and effective ways of dealing with students who fall behind their peers. Of course, one hallmark of RTI is the provision of progress monitoring of these students to determine whether the interventions are working and to make adjustments when needed. Throughout all of these tiers, the active involvement of parents is critical.
There certainly are lots more issues to talk about regarding the basics of RTI. My plan this month is to use each blog post to focus on one of these critical aspects of RTI. Well, that’s the least the initial plan. I’m also curious as to what readers of this blog want to talk about. I am happy to take “bird walks” to address points of interest. Hopefully we won’t get to far off track. I will look forward to your comments.
Comments