RtI

Response to Intervention (RtI) Notes

     The key to orderly classrooms is the teacher’s ability to prevent behavior problems from occurring in the first place, rather than handling misbehavior once it happens (Freiberg, 1999). Classroom management refers to teachers’ strategies that create and maintain an orderly learning environment. Discipline involves teacher responses to student misbehavior.    

     “Firm and Kind” are the key words to remember! Children need love, attention, and affection, but they also need rules and discipline for their brain to develop properly. All children have the potential to learn regardless of their ability level in school (e.g., TAG, special education, field dependence, field independence, visual, oral, low-ability, middle-ability, etc.).  (NASP, 1994, p.2). Some children learn faster or slower, and some learn best differently than others. As Albert Einstein once stated, “the significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” We must embrace the responsibility of facilitating the healthy development of students by addressing problems, providing appropriate support and assistance, and enhancing their social, emotional (affective), and cognitive competence.

     The first day of school has special significance for both teachers and students. At this time, rules, routines, and expectations are established. Students’ first impressions about their classrooms, their teachers, and expected standards have a lasting effect on their attitudes and on the ways they will engage in classroom tasks (Everston, 1987).

     The cornerstone of an effective classroom management system is a well-conceived and well-administered set of rules and procedures (rules and procedures must be constantly monitored). In planning rules and procedures, teachers must consider both the characteristics of their students and the physical environment (Emmer, Everston, Clements, & Worsham, 2000).

     These are some successful “best practices” (interventions) guidelines to deal with misbehavior:

1. Know yourself.
2. Know your profession.

              A. Know the “Theories of Learning”

                  1)  Classical Conditioning (Learning by Association

                       a.  Pavlov,

                       b. Watson,

                   2) Operant Conditioning (Rewards, Consequences, Token Economy, & Reinforcers  

                        [positive and negative])

                        a. B. F. Skinner

                        b. E. L. Thorndike (Law of Effect)

                        c. David Premack’s Principle

                   3) Vicarious Learning (Modeling)

                        a.  Bandura

             B. Know Cognitive Developmental Theories (Thinking, Knowing, & Remembering

                  1) Jean Piaget (Assimilation & Accommodation)

                       a. Sensorimotor Stage

                       b. Preoperational Stage

                       c. Concrete Operational Stage

                       d. Formal Operational Stage

             C. Be a consumer of research. Most teachers and counselors see themselves as just

                  practitioners rather than researchers. Research, nevertheless, helps the entire field of

                  counseling and teaching advance.

              D. All educators must become effective consumers of research and should be interested

                   in the results of valid and reliable theory-based, research-based, evidence-based, 

                   sustained, comprehensive, properly implemented, and evaluated social and problem-

                   solving skills interventions from a problem solving consultation service-delivery model

                 . Therefore, it is paramount, beneficial, and “best practices” for educators to maintain focus

                   on objective research literature (e.g., peer reviews) in regard to allinstructional   

                   strategies. 

      3.    Know your students.

             A. Focus your efforts with the child on noticing good positive behaviors and reinforce them 

                 immediately to set a positive tone.

      4.   Withitness:

             A. Knowing what’s going on in all parts of the classroom all the time and communicating this

                 knowing verbally and nonverbally.

             B. The key to orderly classrooms is the teacher’s ability to prevent behavior problems from

                 occurring in the first place, rather than handling misbehavior once it happens (Freiberg,

                 1999).

             C. Have frequent contact with parents (they need to be allied with you if discipline is going to

                  be effective).

      5.    Preserve student dignity.

             A. Be very careful not to discipline a child when his/her non-compliance is the result of

                 confusion or misunderstanding instructions.

             B. Use discipline for teaching and reshaping behavior, not punishment.

             C. Positive reinforcement is one of the most potent tools. Nodding, smiling, and other 

                  appreciative gestures may be more effective than words.   

             D. Never discipline a child when you feel is not the appropriate time.

             E. Show disapproval of the behavior, not the child.

             F. Reinforce effort, whether or not success follows.  

      6.    Be consistent,

             A. Validity refers to whether the test measures what it says it measures while reliability tells

                  how consistent a test measures an attribute. “Affirmanti occumbit probation” - Anything

                  stated has to be proved.

      7.    Follow-through.

             A. When you say something, mean it; be willing to back it up, but in a kind, and caring tone.

      8.    Keep interventions brief.

      9.    Avoid arguments.

             A. Don’t become a child’s stimulation

“Behavior Modification”

     Behavioral-Modification Approach focuses on reinforcing positive behaviors and channeling negative ones. Behavior modification is most effective when done “immediately” at the time the behavior occurs with reasonable and logical consequences (i.e., behavior is molded by its consequences). If you attend to it later, students are not likely to internalize the information. Obviously, you cannot always be everywhere or always be at every student’s side, but you can create an infrastructure that provides consistent support as much as possible (e.g., star charts, extra privileges, self-assessment checklist, cooperative teams, partner grading, multiple feedback mechanisms, etc.). Pinpoint one or two behaviors to modify at a time so that the students (and you) don’t become overwhelmed. Choose your battles carefully! Use positive affirmations! 

     Bandura emphasized the role of modeling in the acquisition of new behaviors. The theory states that people learn not only from the consequences of their own behavior but also from observing the consequences of others. Learning which takes place by watching others is called “Vicarious Learning.”

     "The purpose of Response to Intervention (RtI) is to identify those students who are struggling in school and to ensure that they receive the right instruction or intervention to be successful."  The primary implication of this assumption for a problem-solving approach (RtI) is that it becomes the task of problem solving and the responsibility of the problem solver to discover the right conditions (e.g., instructional strategies, RtI, supports [SST]) that will enable children to learn. The ultimate beneficiary is always to be the student. RtI “begins” in the general education classroom with evidence-based curricula taught by Highly Qualified Teachers using effective instructional and differentiated “best practices,” supported by effective classroom management and positive classroom climate processes.

     The heart of any RTI model lies in the use of tiered instruction. In the RTI framework, the instruction delivered to students varies on several dimensions that are related to the nature and severity of a student's difficulties. Edward Shapiro of Lehigh University provides a detailed explanation of the multi-tiered instructional component of RTI. Read "Tiered Instruction and Intervention in a Response-to-Intervention Model."

     RtI provides instructional triage with three tiers. All students receive Tier 1 instruction in which teachers take into account the individual needs of students in their regular instruction. In Tier 2, a subset of students who need additional help receives interventions in small groups. Lastly, some students are identified for Tier 3. They receive even more intensive help such as one-on-one instruction. At an operational level, the RtI proceeds through a flexible, three-tiered system that is guided by and sensitive to student needs and specific academic and behavioral outcomes. The goal, ultimately, is:

Tier 1 to facilitate learning and mastery by ensuring effective instruction and classroom

           management for all students. All students in Tier 1 receive high-quality, scientifically

           based instruction, differentiated to meet their needs, and are screened on a periodic basis

           to identify struggling students who need additional support.

Tier 2 by speeding early and effective interventions to those students who need more strategic

           interventions. Students not making adequate progress in the core curriculum are provided

           with increasingly intensive instruction matched to their needs on the basis of levels of

           performance and  rates of progress.

Tier 3 more intensive interventions. At this level, students receive individualized, intensive

           intervention that target the students' skill deficits for the remediation of existing problems

           and the prevention of more severe problems.

RtI, simply involves evaluating the degree that students:

(a) master academic material in response to effective instruction and

(b) demonstrate appropriate, pro-social behavior in response to effective classroom management.

Critically, the RtI process focuses on:

(a) interventions, not diagnostic labels;

(b) individualized, functional assessment, not universal, or standard assessment

     batteries, tests, or evaluation protocols; and

(c) student-focused, contextual decision-making, not rigid, psychometric decision rules.

     The RtI process should be focused, first and foremost, on the progress of all students in the academic and behavioral curricula required by law as taught by highly qualified general education teachers in their classrooms. RtI relies on a functional assessment/problem solving process to determine the reason(s) for the lack of success, and the implementation of strategic or intensive interventions to help those students progress and be successful. Within this context, attention should move to those students who are not responding to effective classroom instruction and/or effective classroom management, using evidence-based curricula, methods, and strategies.

     At the core of this process is a data-based (EXCEED), functional assessment, problem solving process. While there are many sound problem solving models and processes, all of the effective ones have four primary components:

• Problem Identification
• Problem Analysis
• Intervention
• Evaluation.

     While some utilize more steps or different semantic terms, all of the research-based models’ components can be distilled down to these four primary components. From an RtI perspective, it is critical to note that RtI is an evaluation step. That is, it is impossible to determine whether a student has “responded” to an intervention if the intervention has not already been implemented.

ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY.—In determining whether a child has a specific learning disability, a local educational agency may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the evaluation procedures described in paragraphs (2) and (3).”

Section 300.309 of IDEA 2004’s implementing regulations (34 CFR 300.309) also states the following relative to determining the existence of a specific learning disability:

To ensure that underachievement in a child suspected of having a specific learning disability is not due to lack of appropriate instruction, the teacher must provide, as part of the evaluation described in 300.304 through 300.306—

1)   Data that demonstrate that prior to, or as part of, the referral process, the child was provided appropriate instruction in regular education settings, delivered by qualified personnel (effective instruction and effective classroom management are the keys) as innumerable studies have demonstrated that student success depends largely on the quality of the classroom teacher (McCaffrey, et al., 2003; Rivkin, Hanushek, & Kain, 2002; Rowan, Correnti, & Miller, 2002; Sanders & Rivers, 1996. Critically, Goe (2007) noted that students of poor quality teachers lose from one to three years in cumulative academic growth over time, and

2)   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. ”It is recommended that state Departments of Education attend to four essential elements:

1. The functional characteristics of effective instruction for all students, from the most to least capable;

      2.    The functional assessment/problem solving process that will be needed for at-risk,

             underachieving, and unsuccessful students so that evidence-based interventions can be

            identified and implemented;  

      3.    The training process needed to effectively implement RtI across the state; and  

      4.    How ongoing technical assistance will be provided to districts so that the training is 

             implemented with integrity and evaluated to determine its success.