RtI:
Response to Intervention
Response to Instruction
Kandy Smith
Tennessee State Improvement Grant
May 2010
Tennessee State
Improvement Grant
TN SIG
http://sig.cls.utk.edu/
Tennessee State Professional
Development Grant
TN SPDG
Contact Information
• Middle and West TN
Kandy Smith ksmith90@utk.edu
• East TN
Gail Cook
tcook8@utk.edu
Recent ERIC search
Response to Intervention
Response to Instruction
• 299 results
• 91 results
• Adding “High School”
• 18 results
• Adding “High School”
• 5 results
• Adding “Middle School”
• 13 results
• Adding “Middle School”
• 3 results
Response to Intervention
• K-3
• IDEA driven (as part of LD referral
process)
• Additional time of day that student goes
out of room to receive instruction
• Program
• Three-tier model (Reading First
prototype)
Response to Instruction
• NCLB driven
• Formative assessment
• Differentiated instruction
In middle, high school
• Same as K-3 – what’s required:
– Best-practice, research-based instruction
– Benchmark assessments/universal
screenings to identify those students who
are at-risk
– Ongoing progress monitoring to determine
if intervention/instruction is proper
treatment
– (cont.)
From Webinar – “Introduction to High School RTI”,
February 11, 2020, National Center on RtI
In middle, high school
• Same as K-3 – what’s required:
– Interventions, additional instruction for
those who are at-risk/struggling
– Data-based decision making
– Additional intervention as necessary
From Webinar – “Introduction to High School RTI”,
February 11, 2020, National Center on RtI
Program Availability
•
•
•
•
•
Think Link
CompassLearning Odyssey
Language !
DIBELS, AIMSWEB (through 8th)
Study Island
• What Works Clearinghouse
– http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/
Issues With Programs
•
•
•
•
•
Costs/Sustainability
Technology Support
Time in the day
Credit for interventions
Instruction/intervention that’s separate
from curriculum
– Research shows that most effective use of
a program is when it is then connected to
classroom instruction/practice
More Effective
• Intervention/instruction based on
curriculum standards
• In classroom with general education
experts
• Meets legal requirements and provides
best-practice instruction
BEST-PRACTICE,
RESEARCH-BASED
INSTRUCTION
Knowledge About Learners
• Millennial Generation (Carter, 2008)
– Constructivists
– Short attention spans
– Technology
– Student-directed learning
• Motivation
Instructional Setting
• Incorporate technology
• Diversity in presentation
• Large group instruction
– Effective, engaging
– 10-minute segments
• Student-directed learning
– Small groups
– Stations
Content Area Literacy
• Teaching literacy skills needed for
content area
• Requiring reading/Supporting reading
– Comprehension: summarization, identifying
main idea, using context clues
• Graphic organizers
• Foldables
• Small group discussions
– Vocabulary
• Tennessee Academic Vocabulary
BENCHMARK
ASSESSMENTS/UNIVERSAL
SCREENINGS TO IDENTIFY
THOSE STUDENTS
WHO ARE AT-RISK
Universal Screenings
• TCAP results from previous years
• Programs mentioned earlier
DATA WE CAN HAVE:
• TCAP practice tests
• TN Academic Vocabulary
Data we can have…
• Maze passages to determine which
students will struggle with classroom
texts
• Qualitative Reading Inventory
– Provides independent, instructional,
frustration level information concerning
grade-level text
Do need reading ability levels for students and
readability levels on text we use in our
classrooms
Data we can have…
• Tennessee Academic Vocabulary
– Give benchmark assessment of terms
– Then teach, progress monitor/assess, reteach
• Curriculum-based assessments
– Assess standards being taught
ONGOING PROGRESS
MONITORING TO DETERMINE
IF INTERVENTION/
INSTRUCTION IS
PROPER TREATMENT
Curriculum-based assessment
• English I
– Standards:
• 3001.1.2 Apply a variety of strategies to correct
sentence fragments and run-on sentences.
• 3001.1.9 Demonstrate understanding of
common foreign words and phrases (e.g.,
RSVP, déjà vu, faux pas, du jour, bon voyage,
alma mater, cum laude, femme fatale, esprit de
corps, verbatim, E pluribus unum, prima donna,
avant-garde, status quo, joie de vivre, carte
blanche, caveat emptor, alpha and omega,
tabula rasa, hoi polloi, ad nauseam).
Curriculum-based assessment
• Formative assessment/exit ticket:
– Is the following a run-on sentence or a fragment?
• When the hamburger fell off my tray and hit the floor.
– Add to the above to make it into a complete sentence.
– What does RSVP mean?
– If I call someone a “prima donna”, am I complimenting or
putting her down? Explain your answer.
• (might even go to the EOC test for English I and pull
questions – not same questions every time)
Tennessee Academic Vocabulary
• 8th grade social studies
33 words
Beginning of course
• Have a list of these – kids copy word
and write what they know about it –
not necessarily a set definition. For
example:
• “Dictatorship” – student might write –
“it’s when a person has total control; I
know Hitler was a dictator.”
(cont.)
Beginning of course
• While not a full definition (needs to
include idea of government), gives
teacher and student an idea of where
we’re starting –he’s pretty close
• Next step –
– Would this be a dictatorship?
– Which of these is and which is not?
– Why not?
Gives teacher direction
• Large group instruction
– All words can be introduced once and
discussed
– All words can be included in quick reviews
• Small group instruction
– Group kids according to their needs
– Call them in small groups to learn, review
• Individual work on vocabulary
– Vocabulary notebooks
– Vocabulary expert cards
INTERVENTIONS, ADDITIONAL
INSTRUCTION FOR THOSE
WHO ARE AT-RISK
/STRUGGLING
Intervention/
Additional Instruction
• United Streaming, YouTube, textbookbased supports, ideas from
– Have set-up
– After the day’s lesson
• Kids who need more as determined by
formative assessment
• Small group informal discussions,
games
Call a small group of five students
• Everyone receives a set of
same five/ten vocab
words
• Teacher says a definition;
students quickly put word
they believe she has
defined face down
• Teacher calls “show”;
students flip over answers
• Could then do “fill-in-theblank” sentences and
students have to decide
what word best completes
the sentence.
Could eventually have
kids write words on
paper or whiteboards
(with spelling counting
some, perhaps)
DATA-BASED
DECISION MAKING
Team Decisions
• Data-driven (summative and formative)
• Efficient, effective discussions
• Know what supports are available
– Use them as needed
• Medical treatment model
– If this isn’t working, we try this…
ADDITIONAL INTERVENTION
AS NECESSARY
Interventions
• Standard Treatment
• Problem-Solving
• Interesting article about a high school in
Colorado Springs, Colorado
– List/Gather all of your resources:
• Programs, teachers, materials
– Organize those materials:
• Which ones for Tier I, Tier II, etc.
– Make decisions about students based
on data
– Track students – see if what you’re
doing helps
• Interesting article about a high school
in Colorado Springs, Colorado
– Might be productive to make a list of
challenges – not to focus on but to be
aware of
– Concentrate on 9th graders
– If large numbers of kids need
intervention in a subject area, have to
look at instruction
– Won’t work if only a few teachers are
invested
RESOURCES
References
• Benner, S., Bell, S. & Broemmel, A. (2009) In R. Allington & A.
McGill-Franzen (Eds.), Handbook of Reading Disabilities
Research (pp. ). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
• Carter, T. (2008).Millennial expectations and constructivist
methodologies: Their corresponding characteristics and
alignment. Action in Teacher Education, 30(3), 3-10.
• Hall, L. (2005). Teachers and content area reading: Attitudes,
beliefs, and change. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21, 403414.
• Samuel, C. (2009). High schools try out RtI. Education Week,
28(19).
• Vaughn, S., Fletcher, J., Francis, D., Denton, C., Wanzek, J.,
Wexler, J., Cirino, P., Barth, A., Romain, M. (2008). Response to
intervention with older students with reading difficulties.
Learning and Individual Differences, 18, 338–345.