¶ … classroom instruction, it is important not to overgeneralize. (Johnston, 2010, paraphrased)
RTI was introduced in the 2004 IDEA legislation and requests that schools utilize 15% of their special education funding for regular interventions for education. Required by this law is "appropriate" and "scientific, research-based instruction by qualified personnel." (Federal Register 2006, p. 46786 in Johnston, 2010) This law has built in flexibility and does not make a requirement of instructional tiers that are separate or layers that are interwoven or require any other structure. What is required is assessment on a regular basis although the frequency or nature of the assessment is not stipulated.
RTI is stated in the work of Johnston (2010) to be "framed as a strategy for preventing LD" and that from this view RTI "becomes an instructional problem, emphasizing responsive teaching and the most instructionally useful assessment, and providing the means and context for improving teaching and teacher expertise." (Johnston, 2010) RTI, when framed as identification is of the nature that emphasizes the student's qualities however, when framed as prevention, emphasized is the instructional qualities as it relates to the student.
II. RTI Benefits
Johnston (2010) notes the benefits of this program and states that the total number of students having problems reading has been reduced to 1-2% of the population. Furthermore, Johnston states that through collaboration geared toward honing the interactions among teachers that the potential exists in a period of 26-30 weeks to "bring most of the lowest group to average performance."Teacher expertise is at focus and it is held by Johnston (2010) that teachers with the highest levels of expertise should be those instructing students having the most problems with literacy acquisition and this requires professional development and instructional methods that are evidence-based. It is critical that the teacher document the student's abilities and their progress and that the teacher provides feedback and "adjust instructional accordingly." (Johnston, 2010) Data must be collected and then examined in a "context and process…that enables teachers to confront challenging data and to gain support for changing teaching accordingly." (Johnston, 2010)
III. Instructional Interactions
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