Previous Reference Desk Digests

• Phonics Instruction — July 23, 2010
• Single-Sex Education — July 16, 2010
• Teacher Candidates' Field Experiences — July 9, 2010
• Kindergarten Entry Age — July 2, 2010
• Equitable Distribution of Teachers — June 25, 2010
• Drug Abuse Prevention Programs — June 18, 2010
• Data Use by Teachers— June 11, 2010
• School Start Time — June 4, 2010
• Balance Balls and Student Attention — May 28, 2010
• Student Mentoring — May 21, 2010
• Alternative Schools — May 14, 2010
• Low-Performing Schools — May 7, 2010
• Extended Learning Time — April 30, 2010
• 21st Century Skills — April 23, 2010
• Dropout Prevention Legislation — April 16, 2010
• High-School Grade Configuration — April 9, 2010
• Middle-Grades Configuration — April 2, 2010
• Music and Infant Development — March 26, 2010
• Homework and Student Achievement — March 19, 2010
• Foreign Language Technology — March 12, 2010
• Standardized Testing — March 5, 2010
• Charter Schools — February 26, 2010
• PD for Principals — February 19, 2010
• Formative Assessment — February 12, 2010
• Limited English Proficiency — February 5, 2010
• Teacher Evaluation Models— January 29, 2010

The Reference Desk, using available evidence and research, provides quick-turnaround responses to questions submitted by education stakeholders around the Northeast and Islands Region. Every Friday, REL-NEI highlights one or two questions submitted to its Reference Desk.

What Is Response to Intervention and How Can It Help Students?

Last week the Reference Desk took up the issue of student placement for special education students. This week’s topic continues the theme of identifying and supporting struggling students. One reoccurring theme in many questions that the Reference Desk receives is interest in learning more about response to intervention (RtI): how to implement it properly, how it impacts students, and how it can be used to support student achievement. This week’s digest will provide some background on RtI while also suggesting how to successfully practice RtI.

Question

What is response to intervention and how does it impact student achievement?

Research Synopsis

Reference Desk Researchers found a variety of resources that discuss RtI, including practice guides, websites dedicated to RtI issues, and some initial research findings. For the purposes of this response, researchers understand RtI to be “a multi-tiered approach to help struggling learners. Students’ progress is closely monitored at each stage of intervention to determine the need for further research-based instruction and/or intervention in general education, in special education, or both” (RtI Action Network).

Publicly Available Resources

1. Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Response to Intervention (RtI) for Elementary and Middle Schools. A practice guide. Gersten, R., Beckmann, S., Clarke, B., Foegen, A., Marsh, L., Star, J. R., & Witzel, B.; Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, NCEE 2009-4060; April 2009; 98 pages.

   In addition to providing a definition and discussion of RtI, this practice guide sets out a number of recommendations for successfully implementing RtI to assist young students in math. “Students struggling with mathematics may benefit from early interventions aimed at improving their mathematics ability and ultimately preventing subsequent failure. This guide provides eight specific recommendations intended to help teachers, principals, and school administrators use Response to Intervention (RtI) to identify students who need assistance in mathematics and to address the needs of these students through focused interventions. The guide provides suggestions on how to carry out each recommendation and explains how educators can overcome potential roadblocks to implementing the recommendations.”

2. Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades. A practice guide. Gersten, R., Compton, D., Connor, C.M., Dimino, J., Santoro, L., Linan-Thompson, S., & Tilly, W.D.; Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, NCEE 2009-4045; February 2009; 54 pages.
   

   “In the primary grades students with reading difficulties may need intervention to prevent future reading failure. This guide offers specific recommendations to help educators identify students in need of intervention and implement evidence-based interventions to promote their reading achievement. It also describes how to carry out each recommendation, including how to address potential roadblocks in implementing them.”

3. Math Education Practices for Students with Disabilities and Other Struggling Learners: Case Studies of Six Schools in two Northeast and Islands Region States. Louie, J., Brodesky, A., Brett, J., Yang, L.-M., and Tan, Y.; Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, Issues and Answers Report, REL 2008–No. 053; August 2008; 172 pages.
   

   In addition to a look at recent literature on RtI, this resource “describes in-depth practices at six schools that are making targeted efforts to improve math education for students with disabilities and other struggling learners. It examines each school's practices for improving the math learning of all students as well as specific supports for students with disabilities and other struggling learners and identifies the challenges that schools face to serve students with diverse needs.” RtI is used at three of the six schools examined in this report.

The Reference Desk also found these organizations and their websites to be helpful in learning more about RtI:

1. RTI Action Center
   “The RTI Action Network is dedicated to the effective implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) in school districts nationwide. Our goal is to guide educators and families in the large-scale implementation of RTI so that each child has access to quality instruction and that struggling students—including those with learning disabilities—are identified early and receive the necessary supports to be successful. The RTI Action Network is a program of the National Center for Learning Disabilities, funded by the Cisco Foundation and in partnership with the nation’s leading education associations and top RTI experts.”
2. National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities
   

   This center provides nationwide information on a variety of topics including research-based information on effective practices for children with disabilities.

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