RTI at the Secondary Level - Whatcha doin’ about it?

Andrea Reichenberger contributed today's thinking.

The question I hear the most often in regards to what is happening at the high school level is “What are you doing about RtI?”  For those of you who may have been living under a rock or are new to the planet, RTI stands for Response to Intervention.  RtI is an organizational framework for achieving higher level of academic and behavioral success for all students. Using an RtI framework allows us to build a school system that meets the needs of all students (and allows us to meet the requirements of the SLD eligibility rule).

RtI and I have a love-hate relationship. I love it because it embraces the mindset that all students can learn and forces us to evaluate our instructional practices in order to ensure learning for everyone.  I hate that it has forced a push toward so much data---and I love data, but feel that in some cases our students are being over tested.  Also, with RtI and the SLD rule, we have to assess students in specific areas of reading and math.  If a student gets to the high school level and we realize that there is a deficit in one of these areas, there is a system of interventions that needs to be implemented and much data to be collected before the special education referral process can begin. High school teachers aren't prepared for this and neither are coaches.  The role of interventionist often falls to the coaches if there aren't any designated interventionists in a school or district.

Unfortunately, most high schools aren't designed to handle this process of intervention as the interventions themselves, for the most part, are very elementary focused.  This also means that there are very few progress monitoring tools and probes available at the high school level that won’t make students feel like they are in a remedial class.  We have to get creative. The good news is that schools leaders in our area have been reaching out to each other and sharing ideas.   In fact, one area coach, who is also a dear friend, recently sent me these links that I think others at the secondary level will find useful.

http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Practice%20Brief-Struggling%20Readers1.pdf

http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/PracticeGuide.aspx?sid=8

http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Secondary_Literacy_Instruction_Intervention_Guide.pdf

Our CESA (CESA 6) has also purchased school licenses for programs such as AIMS Web and Achieve 3000 so schools in the area can purchase a smaller number of licenses for Tier 3 interventions. This will be helpful as we continue to evaluate resources and try to be more cost conscious.

Please feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, and resources you have found helpful in the comments section.  We look forward to hearing about your struggles and successes!