Implementing RTI strategies into a school or classroom can be stressful.  Many administrators and teachers, particularly at the secondary level, are unsure of how RTI fits into the school’s curriculum.

According to the 2000 National Reading Panel, RTI is “the practice of providing high quality instruction/intervention matched to students’ needs and using learning rate over time and the level of performance to make important educational decisions to guide instruction.”

To put this into plain language terms, RTI ensures that students understand the material taught before moving on to new material, and uses need-specific practices to help those students who may not understand material right away.

In other words, RTI is simply “Really Terrific Instruction”.

For those who may be new to RTI, Response to Intervention is typically considered a three tier model.

Tier One of RTI requires consistent high quality classroom instruction which incorporates three nonnegotiable components: 1) A standards-based core curriculum, 2) Differentiating instruction so that all students can learn, and 3) A variety of authentic assessments geared to monitoring student progress and driving instruction.

Tier Two interventions are for those students who do not respond to Tier One strategies and can be research-based practices used in Tier One, but with three modifications: 1) Specific students receive more intense instruction, 2) Students are given more time to practice and implement the strategies, and 3) The intensity of implementation may increase.

Tier Three requirements can be defined in a few different ways: 1) More intensive interventions implemented through a combination of means including classroom instruction, outside of school instruction, or in-school instruction outside of the general classroom, 2) A combination of intensive interventions implemented in general education as well as including special education services, and 3) Special education in school districts is considered Tier Three.

When implementing RTI it is important for teachers and administrators to understand that here are times when students will fail to learn despite the best efforts of the teacher.  Master teachers who differentiate instruction and respond to student needs still encounter students who struggle to learn the content required for the curriculum.   As teachers take note of the student who is failing to respond to the teaching methodology, they need to consider how to intervene so that students will become successful.

By doing this for all students, not only those who clearly need more or differentiated instruction, RTI becomes simply really good teaching.