Response to Intervention (RTI)
Response to Intervention, in Georgia, is a three-tiered instructional process, or framework, that guides teachers in matching instruction and intervention to each student's learning needs.
What are the Key Components of Response to Intervention?
- High-quality, research-based instruction and behavioral support for all students in general education.
- Universal (district-wide) screening of academics and behavior to determine which students need intervention and/or enrichment and acceleration.
- Multiple tiers, or layers, of increasingly intense scientific, research-based interventions matched to student needs.
- School staff works together to develop, implement, and monitor the intervention process.
- Continuous monitoring, with objective data, of student progress during the intervention to determine if students are meeting their achievement goals.
- Systems in place to ensure fidelity of instruction and intervention.
- Parent involvement in the instructional process.
What are the Three Tiers of Instruction in a Response to Intervention Framework?
Tier 1 - All students receive AKS-based instruction matched to their readiness level in the general education classroom. Behavioral expectations are also specifically taught and reinforced in this tier. Schools will monitor all students to determine who may be at risk for not meeting grade level AKS, as well as who might benefit from enrichment and/or acceleration.
Tier 2 - Students with documented skill gaps in reading, math, or behavior will receive targeted intervention in their specific AKS area(s) of weakness.
Tier 3 - Students with documented significant skill weaknesses and students who do not respond to targeted intervention in Tier 2 will participate in more intensive intervention in Tier 3.
What is the Student Support Team?
The Student Support Team (SST) is an interdisciplinary group that uses a systematic problem-solving process to address learning and/or behavior problems of students K-12 in a school. Per Georgia Board of Education Rule 160-4-2-.32, every Georgia School must have an SST.
The Student Support Team (SST) generally engages in Tier 3 of a Response to Instruction and Intervention instructional framework. Each school's designated SST participates in problem-solving and monitoring of students who are documented as having significant skill weakness and/or who do not respond to Tier 2 instruction and intervention.
How Can Parents Help?
(Georgia Department of Education, 2009)
Parents are a critical partner in the continual success of teaching and learning in school. Active participation is the key. Read the AKS for your child's grade or course. Ask for ways you can help at home to improve your child's school performance. Participate in parent conferences and meetings related to overall progress in the AKS as well as progress related to intervention participation.