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Robert Howell, Sandra Patton, and Margaret Deiotte  Understanding Response to Intervention: A Practical Guide to Systemic Implementation. For classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, special educators,  administrators  $18.45  Amazon.com

Harry Grover Tuttle

The authors lead  the reader through the critical aspects of Response to Intervention (RTI)  in their chapters on Common Questions about RTI, Leadership, Problem-Solving Teams, Interventions, Using Data,  Parent Involvement, Special Education and RTI, Evaluation, and Sustainability,

RTI enables all learners to be proficient through a hierarchy of interventions (Tier 1- Classroom/Universal – 80-90% of students; Tier 2- Classroom + Targeted – 10-15%, and Tier 3 – Classroom, Targeted and Intensive – 1-5% ) to meet the needs of students who underachieve in literacy and math.  RTI uses a triage concept in categorizing the type of and immediacy of treatment to help students overcome their  most critical learning gaps. Professional learning communities (PLCSs) within the school use continuous quality improvement (CQI) tools to address the ongoing needs of all students. RTI core principles include: understand and act on the idea that all students can learn; intervene early; use a multitier model of delivery service; use a problem-solving method to make decisions; use research-based instructions and interventions; monitor student progress to inform instruction; use data to make decisions; use assessment for screening, diagnosising, and monitoring progress;

The “Problem-Solving Teams” chapter explains that the teams discern current issues that contribute to failure, discover the root causes, and create a continuous improvement process the closes the gap between the child's performance and the expected achievement level.  The problem solving team analyzes the problem when they define the problem based on a sentinel event (serious indicator of failure), gather data and evidence such as pretest or in class work, identify contributory  issues using What? Where? And Who?, and delineate possible root causes by asking Why five times to delve into the real problem. In addition, these teams develop solution recommendations that will provide the greatest improvement in the shortest amount of time with the fewest resources, implement solutions and give weekly progress monitoring, retest solutions based on data or refer back to team, and review data for trends and patterns for systemic prevention for grade level, building and district level.

The PST consists of regular education teacher, school counselors, school psychologists, instructional specialists, special educators, parents, and principal. Everyone on the team must believe that all students can and will learn given time and appropriate help. This team breaks down a general learning gap issue into a specific skill. Then they administer a benchmark, a preintervention measure, such as words read correctly in a minute over three times. Next, they compare the student's baseline to the accepted  normed baseline. The PST develops a student action plan that determines frequency, intensity, and duration of the intervention. The student's intervention is a new strategy designed to improve on that specific goal. To determine student success the classroom teachers collect six to eight data points through Curriculum-Based Measures (CBM)  that take two to three minutes each to administer using a standard protocol and are  administered on a daily, weekly, semi-monthly or monthly basis.  If the student does not show improvement over three interventions, then he/she is moved to the next more intense  intervention tier.

According to the “Using Data” chapter, progress monitoring provides the formative assessment link between instruction and high-stakes testing. Progress monitor include measures for individual student, the class, the school, and the district. RTI helps districts align their core curriculum horizontally and vertically. This monitoring  puts theory into practice by answering “Are we teaching what students need to learn? Are they learning what we teach? If not, what are we doing wrong and what are we doing about it?” At a district level, progress monitoring involves high-stake testing over time by cohort (class of '09 over several years), and  benchmarking (assessing all students three times a year on reading, writing, and math).  The benchmarked results are graphed against the goal or aim line;  over time a trend line for the student emerges.  The Curriculum-Based Measure probes enable data to be collected and graphed.

This book serves as a solid introduction to RTI.  It confronts potential problems in implementing RTI such as lack of administration support, “silos of services”, and lack of belief that all students can be successful. The book ends with numerous useful forms (RTI Implementation Fidelity Checklist, Problem Solving Team Intervention Process, Student Interview Form, and Parent -School Partnership).

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