RtI Eligibility Exclusionary Factors

Why Consider Exclusionary Factors? When We Think About Entitlement…It: Is a high stakes, high consequence, decision Has potentially lifelong consequences Needs to be based on established standards Requires qualification by virtue of following the established process as defined Should not be done “just to help” kids Should not be done for the money (modified from Tilly, Heartland AEA11, 2009)

Definition Exclusionary Factors Rule out important factors other than SLD Exclusionary Factors

Keyword Keyword = “primarily” Exclusionary Criteria…

Exclusionary Factors Screen first… Further assessment only if needed Vision, Hearing, Motor Cognitive Disability Emotional Disability Cultural Factors Environment, Economic

Use available screening level data Gather additional assessment data only if necessary No legal requirement to do an in-depth eval. of any of these areas

Vision, Hearing or Motor Disability Review of health records Results of past routine vision, hearing, and motor (e.g. from P.E.) screenings Observations and reports Parent reports Areas to Consider:

Cognitive Disability Performance in other academic areas (average/ expected performance in any academic area may indicate that student does not have a cognitive disability) Review of adaptive behavior history/ adaptive behavior screener (age-appropriate adaptive behavior indicates that the student does not have a cognitive disability) Classroom observations and/or reports Parent reports Areas to Consider:

Cognitive Disability Additional Considerations: Nothing in the law requires any IQ type assessment for disability determination “Slow learner” term no longer relevant (IL FAQ doc. #41) If low on adaptive behavior screener… – How low is “low”? – Consider possibly further directly assessing specific areas If low performance across all academic areas… – Again consider how low is “low”? – Consider any additional academic/ achievement data

Emotional Disability Any existing behavioral screening data (e.g attendance records, discipline referrals, etc.)… or any other district specific screeners Behavior checklists Behavior rating scales Observations Interviews (teacher, parent, student, etc.) Areas to Consider:

Emotional Disability Additional Considerations: If there are behavioral concerns: – Consider if student’s learning problems are an antecedent of the behavior?... – Or, if emotional problems are impacting the student’s ability to acquire academic skills?

Cultural Factors Compare results of academic/ achievement data with overall performance outcomes of the subgroup (e.g. race/ ethnicity, gender) in the district Consider student’s acculturation in comparison to similar peers Interviews (parents, students, staff) Areas to Consider:

Cultural Factors Additional Considerations: If data is low for subgroup… – Are we providing “appropriate instruction” to this whole group? Can we even consider eligibility for this student? – Compare student’s performance in intervention to other students with a similar culture also receiving those supports… are similar peers benefiting from this? – Possibly consider the magnitude of the discrepancy and use supporting data to evidence this

Environmental or Economic Disadvantage Free/ Reduced Lunch status Review and compare results of academic/ achievement data with overall performance outcomes of students of similar socioeconomic status in the district Also consider chronic medical conditions, frequent absences, sleep disruptions, etc. Interviews with the family Developmental histories Areas to Consider:

Examples…

Documentation on Eligibility Forms