SCOE is strongly committed to helping schools ensure that all students have the opportunity to succeed in school. As part of this effort, the Academic Support, Assessment & Accountability department offers support and assistance to schools that are working to develop intervention systems to lift the achievement of struggling students.

Strategies and resources to support intervention are incorporated into a variety of SCOE initiatives and trainings. In addition, the Response to Intervention (RTI) model is being utilized in 20 schools via a pilot project supported by SCOE and the Sonoma County SELPA.

What is RTI?

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a schoolwide system for improving student achievement by directly linking ongoing assessment to instructional decision-making to accomplish three important goals:

1. Ensure that every student in need of intervention receives high-quality, research-based instruction as soon as the need is detected
2. Provide progress-monitoring tools to ensure that teachers are making data-based decisions about interventions and adjusting interventions based on the data
3. Provide a practical and scientifically defensible method of qualifying students as eligible for special education services based on their response to the interventions being provided

RTI integrates assessment and intervention in a multi-tiered system. Schools identify students who are at risk for poor learning outcomes, provide evidence-based interventions, monitor student progress, and adjust the intensity and nature of the interventions based on each student’s responsiveness. Lack of adequate response after systematically providing research-based interventions for a significant amount of time qualifies a student for special education services. The interventions themselves become the “test” for special education eligibility.

Core RTI Principles

• Teach all children: All children can learn and educators are responsible for identifying and fostering conditions that promote learning for all children.
• Intervene early: It is best to intervene early when academic and behavior difficulties are relatively small.
• Use a multi-tier model: By effectively differentiating the nature and intensity of instruction via a multi-tier model, the educational outcomes for all students are enhanced.
• Use a problem-solving process: When educators use a clearly defined problem-solving process, they can pinpoint learning problems and determine why they are happening, identify interventions that will help rectify the problems, and monitor student progress to ascertain whether the interventions worked.
• Use assessment: Three types of assessments – screening, diagnostic, and progress monitoring – are used to gauge the extent of student learning.
• Use evidence-based instruction: Instructional practices and interventions that have foundations in scientifically based research accelerate student progress. Curriculum and instruction should have demonstrated effectiveness for the student’s situation and the school setting.
• Monitor progress: Progress monitoring is a form of dynamic assessment that measures change in students’ level or rate of learning. The best progress monitoring tools are sensitive to growth and can be applied frequently to monitor student progress over time.
• Use data: Student data should be used to make instructional decisions and determine classification and placement decisions (e.g., moving students from the first to the second tier of intervention). This requires that an ongoing data collection system be in place.