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RTI Questions and Answers
Jefferson County Schools – Grades K-5
Grade K:
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When to identify my 10% and start
interventions?
Some
students may be identified at the beginning of the school year based on the
first Think Link ESA benchmark assessment who are obvious strugglers needing
interventions starting at week 4; others may make developmental gains more
quickly with participation with the general curriculum. Best practices
include starting with those obviously needing immediate support and add
others by the end of the first grading period. Students may be added
throughout the year into the intervention process as needed.
Pre-First:
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How does pre-first grade fit into the RTI
process?
Students
in a pre-first classroom are already being recognized as “struggling
students” by definition of this placement. Therefore this classroom setting
can be considered as a Tier I setting. If a pre-first teacher believes a
student referral to RTI is recommended during this school year for a
student, a simultaneous tiered process will begin for both Tier I and Tier
II. At the time a referral to RTI is made simultaneously the classroom
teacher would begin Tier I interventions with weekly progress monitoring and
the Literacy Coach would begin Tier II interventions. Think Link scores
already administered would be the beginning data points for Tier I.
Grades K-2:
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During our 3 times a week intervention groups,
can we modify the Tier I intervention time into smaller increments if the
students cannot attend or focus the full 30 minutes?
Yes, as
students are able to attend for longer periods of time during the school
year, teachers may lengthen the group to the full 30 minutes. Until then
the thirty minute time period may need to be blocked into smaller segments
of time.
Grades 4-5:
- How do
we identify students for intervention?
Using all data available with
teacher discretion, identify those struggling students for intervention.
Students continuing RTI from the previous grade, below proficient TCAP
scores, Think Link scores and teacher observations may all be considered.
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Do we identify a 10% population, and do all
students in a classroom intervention group need to be a part of RTI with a
referral to the Student Intervention Team (SIT) and data collection?
Some
schools may prefer to identify an automatic 10% for grade 4 and 5. Our
process is designed for teacher referral to RTI at these grade levels.
Teachers would refer only those students to the SIT they think may need data
collection for a possible future psychological evaluation due to low Think
Link, TCAP, or other data. The benefit of referring all students in your
intervention groups to the SIT is having the data documented in case the
student continues to have trouble in a future grade.
General to all grades:
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What is the difference in RTI and the former
Support Teams?
The
Support Teams, S-Team or Care Teams were used as a pre-referral
process for moving a child into special education. The RTI process
is an early intervention and prevention for the
struggling students process with the goal being to eliminate the future need
for special education services for the child by intervening before a gap in
academic failure becomes too great. Parents should be reassured about this
process to understand the purpose of the interventions is to get immediate
help for a student within the classroom setting (not a pullout program) so
the child may reach grade level expectations without falling further
behind. RTI is about prevention and early support. It is not a re-tooling
of the pre-referral intervention process.
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When do we invite parents to the SIT meetings?
A letter
is sent home at the time a child is first placed into the RTI process or the
SIT may choose to meet with the parents. (approximately week 4) At the end
of the first grading period when teachers have some data from progress
monitoring to share with parents, school counselors will schedule parent
meetings with the SIT to discuss progress and make recommendations of
continued RTI options. After this initial parent meeting, the SIT would
want to invite parents when additional changes are being considered.
(examples - moving from Tier I to Tier II, requesting screenings, needing
consent for assessments, consideration of a special education evaluation).
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Can students be phased into or out of the RTI
process throughout the year?
Yes, using
the data driven decisions for each Tier, the School Intervention team will
move a student into or out of the RTI process. Think Link progress
monitoring graphs for students moving out of the RTI process should be filed
with the school counselor.
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Should a child already receiving special
education services be a part of my Tier I intervention group?
Best
practices indicate the interventions are helpful for all children. Our goal
is to have special needs children in the 90 minute language arts block of
the regular classroom to the full extent appropriate for the individual
child. If the special needs child is also in the classroom during the Tier
I interventions, it is recommended the child be a part of the group unless
otherwise determined by the IEP Team. Weekly progress monitoring with Think
Link probes would not be required for special education students for the
Student Intervention Team. A teacher may choose to use progress monitoring
for special education students in their class as a way to monitor success of
the interventions.
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When would a special education student be put
into the RTI process for data collection?
If a
child is receiving special education services for articulation/speech
services, no academic or language areas have ever been evaluated for this
child for special education eligibility. Therefore, if this student begins
to have academic concerns, the RTI process would need to be tried just as a
teacher would for any struggling student.
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What if I have a student I suspect has language
impairment? (expressive or receptive language)
Because
language impairments also impact academics, the child would start the RTI
process. The speech language therapist may be invited to a SIT meeting for
any such child, and the team may discuss the need for a language screening
or evaluation. A language screening can indicate if there is a further need
for a language evaluation.
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When would a child suspected of having a
disability not go through the RTI process?
The RTI
process is generally for academic and behavioral concerns. If a child
enters a classroom and is suspected of articulation, mental retardation or
developmental delays, the School Intervention team starts the RTI process
and interventions begin for data collection. The Special Education
Consultant can guide the teacher and SIT through the referral process
needed.
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How is it decided to move a student from one
Tier to another?
After a
teacher has collected data through progress monitoring, this information is
shared with the SIT. If the Think Link data shows little or no progress the
team should recommend the next level of interventions as based on the data
driven decisions for that Tier. While in Tier II or Tier III interventions
the teacher will continue to monitor weekly progress and provide the Tier I
interventions 3 x per week. If limited or little progress is made after 4
weeks of interventions, a full psycho-educational evaluation may be needed
for the child.
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How would I notify and talk with a parent of an
ESL child about RTI?
The SIT
can help you by providing a parent letter translated in the native language
for the parent. (Resources for translation include Babble Fish,
freetranslator.com and Goggle Translator). If an interpreter is needed for
a parent meeting, the school counselor can contact Central Office for help.)
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What information and data will be needed from
Tier II & Tier III by a school psychologist if determining a learning
disability?
According to the TN State Department
of Education, school systems may still use the discrepancy model (difference
between IQ ability and achievement) to identify eligibility for a learning
disability. Therefore data documented by the teacher and Literacy Coach
showing a lack of progress or limited progress will be used as part of the
evaluation. If a discrepancy is not found or is not great enough to be
considered under the standards set for identification of LD, the RTI data
will then have to be considered as the primary source for determining LD
eligibility. In this case specific data must be collected by the Literacy
Coach in the area of weakness identified for the suspected disability.
Jefferson County
Schools may use RTI as the evaluation method to determine learning
disabilities in the area of literacy (as opposed to the discrepancy model)
once the state approves our implementation plan and individual schools have
their process through the tiered interventions in place.
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