Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tiered approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs. It is a proactive approach that aims to identify struggling students early on and provide them with the support they need to thrive in school. RTI is not a specific program or type of teaching, but rather a systematic method for evaluating the needs of all students and fostering positive student outcomes through carefully selected and targeted interventions.
The goal of RTI is to intervene, or step in, and start helping before a student falls really far behind. Teachers can provide targeted teaching, called interventions, to help struggling students catch up. A big part of the RTI process involves closely monitoring student progress so that the school can see which students need more academic support.
RTI can be considered an early intervention tool that is designed to quickly identify students who need extra help, thereby preventing long-term failure. It uses a tiered approach to delivering intervention, providing early intervention for students who need it. The federal IDEA law requires schools to apply a tiered approach to address academic and behavior concerns as part of the process to identify students with learning disabilities.
Some of the terms related to RTI include screening, progress monitoring, tiered instruction, high-quality, research-based instruction/interventions, differentiated instruction, and fidelity of implementation. One of the most commonly cited benefits of an RTI approach is that it eliminates a “wait to fail” situation, and learners get the specific help they need very quickly.
In summary, RTI is a proactive approach to identifying and supporting students who need extra academic or behavioral help to succeed in school. It uses targeted teaching and a tiered approach to intervention to help struggling students catch up and prevent long-term failure.
