Andrea Thomas: RTI Module Part 2
Andrea Thomas
SPED 4131.01
Assessment in Special Education
Dr. Gavins
Andrea Thomas: RTI Module Part 2
Q/A Assessment Section; RTI (Part 2): Assessment
1. What is RTI?
RTI is a general prevention approach that can be used within any academic area. RTI uses
the standard protocol approach. The RTI approach relies heavily on assessment. In each
component of this multi-tiered approach, assessment is crucial for making informed
decisions about the level of instructional intensity that would benefit students. This module,
therefore, will explore in detail the assessment procedures integral to RTI.
The four primary functions of RTI assessment are to identify students who are struggling
academically, document students' performance, determine the adequacy of each student's
response to instruction in order to decide on an appropriate level of instructional intensity and
guide instruction.
2. How will teachers initially identify struggling readers?
With the use of Universal Screening
3. What are the four components of RTI?
Universal screening: Screening assessment administered to all students in the class
Tier 1: Class- or school-wide interventions
Tier 2: Targeted interventions
Tier 3: Intensive, individualized interventions
Andrea Thomas: RTI Module Part 2
4. The two types of assessment used in RTI are universal screening and progress monitoring.
Describe the purpose of each of these two types of assessment.
Universal Screening--Universal screening is the administration of an assessment to all
students in the classroom. The purpose of this assessment is to determine which students
may be struggling with reading skills. Occurs between one and three times per year
Progress Monitoring—happens on a more on a regular basis and can be incorporated into
lesson plans; monitored at least once each week for a period of 6–10 weeks
5. In September, you administer the beginning-of-year universal screening using a Dolch sight
word list. Below is a list of the students' scores. (Remember that Rosa Parks identifies the
students scoring in the bottom 25 percent as struggling readers.)
a. What steps would you take to determine which students are in the bottom 25 percent
of the class?
Identify the bottom 25% and closely monitor them for several weeks during the tier 1
process..
b. List the names of the struggling students and describe what will happen to them
during Tier 1 instruction.
DeJuan, Megan, Ryan, LaToya, and Jack; the teacher will be providing high-quality
instruction and employ frequent progress monitoring on those students
c. Imagine that the criterion for identifying struggling readers is a score below 15. How
would this new criterion affect the number of students being identified as struggling
readers?
The new criterion would reduce the number of students who are identified as struggling
Andrea Thomas: RTI Module Part 2
Reflection, Personal Goals, and Standards
Standard 2: develop an understanding of current issues related to assessment through
professional publications and organizations
Module 2 gave a lot of information about RTI and the 3 Tiers but it was not until I
started doing this module and reading through the standards that I realized how many
professional journals and websites were used in creating all of the modules. The Journal of
Learning Disabilities, Response to intervention (RTI): Preventing and identifying LD, Progress
monitoring: Identifying LD and improving student outcomes, and Learning Disabilities
Quarterly were just some of the few used just in Module 2.
I can always refer back to these resources for instructional help, protocols when dealing
with parents and ESL students, or for help in conducting classroom assessments in reading,
writing, and math. I understand that it is necessary to have reliable sources to refer to when
teaching. It is beneficial to the teacher to attend workshops, subscribe to professional
magazines, and stay current on new developments in teaching, the laws, and special
education.