Starting off the Year

I took a huge leap of faith in May and decided not to return to my previous school and district. I spent the summer working on finding a new home. At the beginning of the week (after a driving though a thunderstorm which caused my interview to be in the dark) I started in a rural school district about an hours drive from my home. I'm still working K-5 special education but I'm leaving behind mild/moderate with inclusion for working with everything under the sun plus inclusion.

That being said, I've been working on a new questioning packet for 1st to 3rd. Each page has a short paragraph that students will use to answer five or six questions that include who, what, where, how, and when. Athe whole packet is working on literal comprehension answering. I've been pushing my students to answer questions both oral or written in a complete sentence. No, answering in one or two words.

Back to moving and starting over. First things first--breathe. I stored all my previous classroom items which one would think would be easy to find again but I still can't find a couple of things. I'll have to pull things apart this weekend and find them.
 As you can see I had my work cut out for me at the beginning of the week. As the week went one after reading the IEPs, I knew what needed to be done.  The only board missing is one for targets. I'm planning to pull all the items I need to make the board this weekend, so I can put it up on Monday.


 I share the details once I have it together.  I have a "How to" board for my flow maps anchor charts and I'm not sure what the board on the North side of my room will become.  Some fine tuning this next week but it will be ready for students the week after.






 Have a great weekend with much needed rest!

What Parents needs to know about RTI

What Are the Essential Components of RTI?

Simply, “Response to Intervention” refers to a process that emphasizes how well students respond to changes in instruction. The essential elements of an RTI approach are: the provision of scientific, research-based instruction and interventions in general education; monitoring and measurement of student progress in response to the instruction and interventions; and use of these measures of student progress to shape instruction and make educational decisions. The core features of an RTI process as follows:
  • ·         High quality, research-based instruction and behavioral support in general education.
  • ·         Universal (school-wide or district-wide) screening of academics and behavior in order to determine which students need closer monitoring or additional interventions.
  • ·         Multiple tiers of increasingly intense scientific, research-based interventions that are matched to student need.
  • ·         Use of a collaborative approach by school staff for development, implementation, and monitoring of the intervention process.
  • ·         Continuous monitoring of student progress during the interventions, using objective information to determine if students are meeting goals. (Progress monitoring like DIBELS Next)
  • ·         Follow-up measures providing information that the intervention was implemented as intended and with appropriate consistency.
  • ·         Documentation of parent involvement throughout the process.
  • ·         Documentation that the special education evaluation timelines specified in IDEA 2004 and in the state regulations are followed unless both the parents and the school team agree to an extension.

  • What Are the Key Terms?


  • Response to Intervention (RTI) is an array of procedures that can be used to determine if and how students respond to specific changes in instruction. RTI provides an improved process and structure for school teams in designing, implementing, and evaluating educational interventions.
  • Universal Screening is a step taken by school personnel early in the school year to determine which students are “at risk” for not meeting grade level standards. Universal screening can be accomplished by reviewing recent results of state tests, or by administering an academic screening test to all children in a given grade level. Those students whose test scores fall below a certain cut-off are identified as needing more specialized academic interventions.
  • Student Progress Monitoring is a scientifically based practice that is used to frequently assess students' academic performance and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction. Progress monitoring procedures can be used with individual students or an entire class.
  • Scientific, Research-Based Instruction refers to specific curriculum and educational interventions that have been proven to be effective –that is, the research has been reported in scientific, peer-reviewed journals.

What Role Does RTI Play in Special Education Eligibility?

IDEA 2004 offers greater flexibility to school teams by eliminating the requirement that students must exhibit a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and achievement in order to be found eligible for special education and related services as a student with a learning disability. This increased flexibility has led to a growing interest in using RTI as part of an alternative method to traditional ability/achievement discrepancy comparisons. IDEA 2004 addresses RTI procedures within several contexts.

Effective instruction and progress monitoring: For students to be considered for special education services based on a learning disability they first must have been provided with effective instruction and their progress measured through “data-based documentation of repeated assessments of achievement.” Furthermore, results of the student progress monitoring must be provided to the child's parents.

Evaluation procedures: The law gives districts the option of using RTI procedures as part of the evaluation procedures for special education eligibility. Comprehensive assessment is still required under the reauthorized law, however. That means that schools still need to carefully examine all relevant aspects of a student's performance and history before concluding that a disability does or does not exist. As before, schools must rule out learning problems that are primarily the result of factors such as poor vision, hearing, mental retardation, emotional disturbance, lack of appropriate instruction, or limited English proficiency.

Early Intervening Services: IDEA 2004 addresses the use of RTI procedures is by creating the option of using up to 15% of federal special education funds for “early intervening services” for students who have not been identified as needing special education, but who need additional academic and behavioral support to succeed in the general education setting. The types of services that can be included are central to the RTI process, and  include professional development for teachers and school staff to enable them to deliver scientifically based academic and behavioral interventions, as well as educational evaluations, services, supports, and scientifically based literacy instruction.

How Can Parents Be Involved in the RTI Process?

Being informed about your school's RTI process is the first step to becoming an active partner. Ask the following questions:
  • ·         Does our school use an RTI process? (Be aware that your child's school may call their procedures a “problem solving process,” or may have a unique title for their procedures, e.g., Instructional Support Team, and not use the specific RTI terminology.)
  • ·         Are there written materials for parents explaining the RTI process? How can parents be involved in the various phases of the RTI process?
  • ·         What interventions are being used, and are these scientifically based as supported by research?
  • ·         What length of time is recommended for an intervention before determining if the student is making adequate progress?
  • ·         How do school personnel check to be sure that the interventions were carried out as planned?
  • ·         What techniques are being used to monitor student progress and the effectiveness of the interventions? Does the school provide parents with regular progress monitoring reports?
  • ·         At what point in the RTI process are parents informed of their due process rights under IDEA 2004, including the right to request an evaluation for special education eligibility?
  • ·         When is informed parental consent obtained and when do the special education evaluation timelines officially commence under the district's RTI plan?

What Are the Potential Benefits of RTI?



Perhaps the most commonly cited benefit of an RTI approach is that it eliminates a “wait to fail” situation because students get help promptly within the general education setting. Secondly, an RTI approach has the potential to reduce the number of students referred for special education services. Since an RTI approach helps distinguish between those students whose achievement problems are due to a learning disability versus those students whose achievement problems are due to other issues such as lack of prior instruction, referrals for special education evaluations are often reduced. Finally, parents and school teams alike find that the student progress monitoring techniques utilized in an RTI approach provide more instructionally relevant information than traditional assessments.

For your freebie check out Classroom Freebies Too. Here you will find a list of questions I give to parents either at the beginning of the year or when their child moves into the RTI process. Be sure to check it out! 
Have a great week. 


About Me

Welcome to my all thing special education blog. I empower busy elementary special education teachers to use best practice strategies to achieve a data and evidence driven classroom community by sharing easy to use, engaging, unique approaches to small group reading and math. Thanks for Hopping By.
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