Increasing Individualized Reading and Mathematics Instruction Helps Failing Students
Burris Laboratory School developed a Response to Intervention (RTI) model during the 2010-2011 school year as a collaborative project among elementary teachers facilitated by Dr. Susan Albrecht and Mrs. Dawn Miller. RTI is a process of providing increasing individualized, intensive instruction in reading and mathematics to students who are failing to respond to instruction in the general education classroom, even with differentiated instruction at that level.
Issues this Best Practice Addresses:
An examination of data in the first year of implementation indicated too many elementary students were failing to make satisfactory progress (grade of C or higher) through core curriculum instruction. The RTI model provides targeted instruction in the two content areas of reading and math in addition to the time that is spent in the classroom.
Major Challenges to Implementation:
Several challenges were presented, starting with the development from scratch of the model based on nationally recognized evidence-based practices. Once the model was outlined, curricula were chosen for the levels of intervention. Training was required for the RTI implementers who included two licensed teachers and two instructional assistants. Data meetings are held with the grade level teachers by Dr. Albrecht and Mrs. Miller, requiring release time from the classroom for teachers.
Benefits Derived from Implementing this Best Practice:
Data over the past three years indicate students are increasingly more successful in the core classroom curricula, and students who have received increasingly more individualized, intensive instruction have remediated skill deficits to approach grade level proficiency and, subsequently, not to require this more restrictive programming.
Evidence Illustrating Success:
Data is available on the number of students benefitting from the RTI model, increased academic proficiency scores in the classroom, and improved scores on norm-referenced assessments.
Submitted by: Dr. Susan Albrecht, Burris Laboratory School