Special Education Curriculum Plymouth State University, Plymouth, NH By: Katie Smith

 Individuals wit Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) 2004 permitted states to adopt RTI to determine students Special Education eligibility  Individualized intensive instruction  Designed to provide data based interventions for students that struggle in specific academic areas  Monitors students response to instruction  Adjusts instruction based on data that highlights students learning needs  Used as an alternative resource to identify students with Learning Disabilities (LD)  Offers intensive services for students that have learning difficulties within the general education classroom and students with behavioral issues

A conceptual framework for school and district implementation is designed to address WHAT will be the focus of Implementation Teams’ efforts and HOW schools will proceed from exploring RTI to fully implementing RTI and, ultimately, to sustaining RTI. As Fixsen and Blase (2009) explain, “Effective and sustained implementation [of RTI] occurs when staff competence, organization supports, and leadership are aligned, integrated, and focused on effective education for each and every student.” (p.4)

 Curriculum :  Align NH-RTI with core curriculum state standards; literacy, numeracy through NH DOE  Instruction :  Provide high quality instruction in tier levels  To all NH students/learners  Review and recommend NH RTI;  Offer professional development  Research/evidence based instruction in written language, behavior, math  Assessment :  Evidence/research based  Assess every level of RTI 1,2,3  High quality assessments  Recommend and review efficient evidence based data on assessments and tools to enhance RtI RTI Strategic Plan

 Includes training for staff and parents  Includes a basic mapping of RtI and how it should be implemented (Three Tier Model)  Includes basic definition of RtI as well as guidelines to follow  Performance assessments, training and coaching to enhance opportunity of intensive instruction given within RtI RTI Strategic Plan

 Department of Education selected nine states to receive “instructional assistance”  RTI through alternative to diagnose LD students: CT, MA, NH, RI, VT, VI  Department of Education permitted states to use RTI to determine LD eligibility  Uses Three Tier Model of RTI  7of 9 states use RTI as a whole school instructional improvement plan  Designed to provide data based interventions for students who struggle in specific academic areas  Promoted as a general education improvement  As well as maximizing student achievement

 Both used to help identify students with disabilities  Much of the time students are behind their academic grade level but not considered LD and the discrepancy is not found until it is too late and student is behind  IQ Discrepancy test:  Shows a 30 point gap in the expectation of the student (IQ) in comparison (discrepancy) to their academic level in a specific subject area  Discrepancy between IQ and Academic level  Given to only possible LD candidates  Issue is student may have low IQ but may not be considered LD due to their low academic level  If there is no discrepancy within IQ and academic level there is no ID of student having an LD

 RTI’s universal screening is given to entire general education classroom (all students)  RTI instruction is offered to all students (possibly LD students, as well as general education students)  RTI offers early intervention and early identification of LD students  IQ Discrepancy test does not ID student until later on in the academic grade level  IQ discrepancy test is a valid reliable source according to educational agencies  RTI (because it’s new) has no research based statistical references or resources to back up it’s usefulness  RTI does not yet have Federal and State Standards or core curricular based guidelines to provide evidence of it’s approval and usefulness Parents Guide to NCLD

 RTI is used as an alternative to the IQ Discrepancy Test  Offers intensive individualized instruction in various academic areas.  In general education classroom  Used as a whole school improvement plan (improving instruction and academic progress for all students)  RTI offers formative evaluation used to assess all students learning  Monitors students progress  Students at risk and students who are non-responsive to the general education curriculum pageoverview.pdf

IQ-Achievement Discrepancy Model Response -to- Intervention Approach What is the underlying purpose?To eliminate low intellectual ability (IQ) as the reason for reading problems To eliminate inadequate instruction as the reason for reading problems Who is targeted?Students with suspected learning disabilities Struggling readers students with suspected learning disabilities What process is used?A prescribed set of standardized testsIdentification of discrepancy between IQ scores and achievement scores Ongoing monitoring of students' performance Data-driven decisions leading to increasingly intensive services What information is typically used?Scores from standardized tests of intelligence (IQ) (e.g., Stanford- Binet) Scores from standardized tests of achievement (e.g., Woodcock- Johnson Achievement Test) Data collected frequently on students' performance Possibly some standardized test scores Who is responsible for collecting the data? Primarily a certified diagnostician or school psychologist Primarily the general education teacher or other personnel responsible for instructional interventions What are the data used for?To identify whether a disability existsTo guide instructional placement

 RTI is not clearly defined with one approach  A common framework used is the three tier approach to RTI  In NH other east coast states; the common 3 Tier RTI framework is used:  3 tiers (levels of interventions) are used the higher the tier the more intensive intervention is used:  Prior to the tiers universal testing is given to all students (gen. ed. and special ed.)  Tier one: school wide interventions are introduced as a primary prevention also to help target students that are ‘at risk’ of falling behind  Tier two: more intensive and frequent targeted interventions are given to students that did not respond well (progress) to Tier one  Tier three: is for students who have shown very little progress in Tier two and more individualized intensive instruction is given.  By Tier three, if the student has shown no academic progress, they may be eligible for receiving special education services

 RTI is used as an early INTERVENING method as well as an intervention method:  It intervenes prior to students academic failure  RTI aides general education students, special education students and has shown great success in helping ELL/ESL students as well  In American public schools reading has been a constant issue presenting the fact that many of our students are left behind  RTI helps this issue before it becomes a major issue specifically with reading: if student is behind in reading in kindergarten and first grade they end up being at lower academic level by third grade because all of their instruction and schooling is based on reading

 Successful implementation of RTI requires a partnership between general and special education at the state and local levels (Batsche et a l. 2005; Council for Exceptional Children 2007; Cummings et a l. 2008; Kealy 2007).  RTI has been adopted by many districts nationwide…  Therefore common core curricular definitions must be made clear:  Universal Screenings  Core interventions (all three tiers)  Strategies of assessment  Number of assessments and interventions  Criteria for gauging students academic level and what tier they belong to  How to measure the instruction given within RTI is in fact research-based intensive instruction

 Parent Advocacy: A Family Guide to RtI by: National Center for Learning Disabilities. pdf pdf  REL Features of state response to intervention initiatives in Northeast and Islands Region states Features of RtI. L_ pdf L_ pdf  National Center for Response to Intervention (NCRTI) pdf or pdfhttp://  NH RTI Strategic plan /strategic_plan.pdf

Parent Advocacy: A Family Guide to RtI by: National Center for Learning Disabilities. REL Features of state response to intervention initiatives in Northeast and Islands Region states Features of RtI. National Center for Response to Intervention (NCRTI). or NH RTI Strategic plan New Hampshire Department of Education. Cited from: Plymouth State University RTI Module. Cited from: Response to Intervention IRA/ Post Master’s Internship. Individuals Reading Association. Cited from: