The use of technology to enhance RTI instruction Laura Isbell, PhD Texas A&M-Commerce

What is RTI?  Response to intervention (RTI) integrates assessment and intervention within a school-wide, multi-level prevention model to maximize student achievement and reduce behavior concerns/challenges (National Center on Response to Intervention)

Defining RTI  Schools identify students at-risk for poor learning outcomes, monitor student progress, provide evidence- based interventions and adjust the intensity and nature of the interventions based on a student’s responsiveness  RTI may be used as part of the determination process for identifying students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) or other disabilities

Technology to enhance RTI  Technology offers a potential medium through which RtI implementation could be made easier and more likely to occur (Ysseldyke & McLeod, 2007).  Previous research found that the use of technology substantially facilitated collecting, managing, and analyzing educational data (McIntire, 2002; McLeod, 2005; Pierce, 2005; Wayman, 2005)

RTI model Tier 3:Tertiary Intervention Individualized supports and services 2%-5% of students Tier 2: Secondary Intervention Small group of students needing additional supports and services 10%-15% of students Tier 1: Primary Intervention Available to all students in all settings 80% of students

Tier 1: Primary Level  Tier 1 intervention includes a differentiated, empirically validated mathematics curriculum available to all students.  At the primary intervention, Tier 1, efforts are established to promote learning for all students, anticipating that at least 80% of students will respond to these strategies and will not require additional intervention (Ervin, 2009).  If less than 80% of students are meeting standards, additional focus on the core curriculum and teaching methods should be considered.

Tier 1 Recommendations using technology  Systematic monitoring of student learning for all students  Adjustment of instruction with acceleration or deceleration as needed using progress monitoring forms, data-bases, data maps, or RTI plan forms in excel  Version 3 of the Ecobehavioral Assessment System Software (EBASS) is based on the research of Greenwood, Carta, and Atwater (1991) and provides a technology-enhanced assessment of the instructional environment.Ecobehavioral Assessment System Software  EBASS is a software system that school personnel can use to conduct systematic classroom observational assessments with laptop, notebook, or hand-held computers.

How frequently should teachers assess students at Tier 1 ?  Teachers should administer a mathematics assessment to all students a minimum of three times per year to determine student progress and the need for intervention or additional supports. (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006)

Tier 2: Secondary Level  Tier 2 intervention is for those students who have mathematics difficulty and/or are at-risk mathematics disabilities and are performing below their peers. These students have not demonstrated sufficient progress in Tier 1  Secondary Intervention, Tier 2, instruction is provided to those students, approximately 15%, who display poor response to the group instructional procedures in Tier 1 (Murawski & Hughes, 2009).

Tier 2 recommendations  Currently the most common application of technology to tiered interventions is the use of Web sites to identify interventions (e.g., Intervention Central and IES What Works Clearninghouse).Intervention CentralIES What Works Clearninghouse  However, there are many well-constructed and research- based technology-enhanced interventions that both target the student deficit and allow for automated delivery.

How frequently should teachers assess students at Tier 2?  Effective Tier 2 interventions should be targeted to the student deficit, occur 3 to 5 times per week, and last approximately 30 minutes per day (Burns, Hall-Lande, Lyman, Rogers, & Tan, 2006).  Recent meta-analyses found moderate to large effects for various technologies, including personal computers, game-like curricula, and interactive simulations (Blanchard & Stock, 1999; Vogel et al., 2006), which suggest that schools could use technology to improve core instruction.

Tier 3: Tertiary Level  In the tertiary stage, tier 3 interventions, this level of intensive intervention is appropriate for those students who continue to show extensive gaps in their skills after Tier 2 intervention.  Tertiary intervention, tier 3, provides more intensive interventions for about 2-5% of students for whom Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions were not adequate (Murakski & Hughes, 2009)

Tier 3 recommendations  Functional assessment to identify the skills that must be addressed  Interventions that are individualized with monitoring and specific instruction in application of newly acquired skills similar to the application required in the classroom setting Fuchs & Fuchs (2008)  Three of the more commonly used technology-enhanced interventions for math include the VmathLive from Voyager Learning, and Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Math and Math Facts in a Flash.VmathLiveRenaissance Learning’s Accelerated MathMath Facts in a Flash  All three of these programs have interactive software that appears appealing to students, allows for automated interventions with little supervision, and can be used to target specific skills and objectives.(Burns, 2006)

How frequently should teachers assess students at Tier 3?  Systematic, on going progress monitoring should be in place. Assessments should be administered at a minimum once per week or if needed daily.

Progress Monitoring  To effective gauge student progress, teachers must monitor student’s response to primary, secondary, or tertiary interventions in order to determine future interventions using progress monitoring Educators should consider and document: 1)Are students meeting short- and long-term performance goals? 2)Does the instruction need to be adjusted or changed? 3)Are students making progress at appropriate rates?

Data based data collection  The use of technology makes ongoing data collection, data consumption, and data-based decision making a more plausible proposition, and it can keep these important aspects of RtI from monopolizing teacher time.

Data-based decision making  Data-based decision making guides intensity, frequency, and duration of interventions  Establish routines and procedures for making decisions  Compare state, district, national benchmarks to assess student progress  Using student data to make instructional decisions Video: RTI Data in ActionRTI

Successful implementation of RTI: Working together for students For RTI to be successful, a wide array of strategies:  Teachers need to actively collaborate with their colleagues to make sure that  (a) lessons are research based  (b) lessons address the wide variety of needs in the general education classroom  (c) lessons ensure access to the general education curriculum for diverse learners, stakeholders needs to collaborate  (d) data consistent; We don’t want no Dirty dataDirty data

Additional resource: The IRIS Center