REFLECTION ZONE: RtI

Response to Intervention Reflection

By Abby Marish

Our district is preparing to be ready for when the RtI model needs to be completely in place by the 2014 school year.  Our district has created a problem solving team at each building.  This team consists of the building principal, guidance counselor, teachers who are delivering interventions, a special education teacher, and an aide.  The team received training and met one school day each month the first year.  The second year the team met after school until 7:00 four times as well as three days in the summer. The middle school team has also met at numerous morning meetings before school as we went through the complete problem solving team process with a selected student. 

I am one of the teachers who is responsible for delivering math interventions to sixth graders who are at least one year behind grade level.  This is my second year working with the RtI model.  I have one hour a day called math duty.  I meet with a small group of students, usually around 5 or 6 students for a hex, or 6-week period.  Students attend three days a week for intervention and two days a week for specific math help on the current topic they are studying in math class.  The interventions students work on are Rocket Math, Daily Oral Math, and Do the Math.  This year we are also adding Compass software.  Our curriculum coordinator and special education director are currently looking for research-based math interventions as there are very few research-based interventions identified, and that will be what we must use by 2014.  Besides changing to research based interventions, we will also have to change how the hour is set up.  The law states that a student must receive two 30-day research-based interventions for each subject area he/she is struggling in.  Currently students receive interventions three days a week for six weeks, so this is only 15 days.  This will need to change to 30 days, and students will need to attend for two hexes. 

RtI can be an advantage and a disadvantage.  An advantage is that students are getting extra instruction during the school day in a small group setting. Because the groups are small, students get more individual attention and help.  Their math confidence boosts as they can see and track the progress they are making. It is a good opportunity to help the students who really need extra help understanding and not let them fall through the cracks.  They can make gains if the intervention matches the specific need. Currently the interventions we are using are not tailored to meet the individual need of each student.  Once we have more research-based interventions to choose from, we can do a better job of making sure each student is getting the individualized help in the specific math strand they need.  Another disadvantage is that two 30 day interventions seems like a long time to have a student with a learning disability go without receiving the special education services they need to be successful.  There are both advantages and disadvantages to RtI.  There are changes our school will need to make to be ready to comply with all rules and regulations by 2014.  While there are many areas that we can improve upon and pieces of RtI that need to be ironed out, we are definitely working to help students grow and learn, and that is positive piece of RtI.