Response to

Intervention
Response to Intervention has been used in schools as far
back as the 1960s, and while it has many permutations,
most practitioners agree upon three main principles:

Universal Screening

Tiered Interventions

Progress Monitoring

Universal Screening Tiered Interventions Progress Monitoring

In this rst step, teaching
staff will screen either an
individual class or an entire
grade level in order to
require which students will
require additional support to
succeed.
The second step involves
using data generated from
universal screening to tier
instruction appropriately.
The triangle below indicates
how the three tiers work:
The third step requires
monitoring student progress
as needed to ensure that
interventions are
appropriate and effective.

Students in Tier 3 require

additional interventions,
characterized by one-to-one
support by resource staff. In the
youth sector, Tier 3 may indicate Tier 3
eligibility for special education.
Students who do not respond to
Tier 1 interventions will receive
Tier 2 additional interventions in
smaller groups, often by
specialized staff
Whole class screening and
instruction + group Tier 1
interventions as needed

An Alternative Approach
A recent adaptation includes
one by Solution Tree, which
offers "Four C's of RTI" Simplifying Response
to Intervention
(Buffum et al., 2011)

Collective Responsibility = All staff must take ownership of student success

Concentrated Instruction = Together, staff determine vital aspects of curriculum by grade/subject-area

Convergent Assessment = This requires keeping tabs on/measures of individual/group student progress

Certain Access = Ensures that all students receive the interventions and support they require

Challenges to implementing RTI in adult ed. include highly dynamic

student schedules and unpredictable academic paths. These factors
render RTI use more challenging than in the youth sector, but not
Overcoming RTI impossible. Smaller scale implementation may be more effective, at
least in early days, and staff may rst pilot RTI in English and Math
Implementation Challenges classes. And even if centre-wide implementation feels unrealistic,
in Adult Education individual teachers can still make use of each step of RTI in order to
ensure that students are directed to appropriate resources, and also
to provide teachers with crucial data with which to more effectively
design unit plans, differentiate instruction, and provide tutorials.