What Is Response to Intervention?

Response to intervention (RTI) is an approach to student performance that involves identifying students in need of assistance, providing help, and monitoring the response to determine if adjustments to the assistance program are necessary. Observation and monitoring provide a more scientific approach to student interventions that can help students with a variety of issues that may impact their performance in school. This can include undiagnosed learning disorders or disability-related issues that make classroom participation more difficult without officially being considered learning disorders.

The first step in the implementation of response to intervention is universal screening of all students. Rather than the cutoff approach used with some special education programs where students need to be diagnosed with a specific condition to receive help, response to intervention frameworks recognize that students may not fit into neat categories. This allows educators to catch students with problems as early as possible, rather than waiting to see which students struggle, and then intervening.

After screening, some students who need help may be identified. Educators, psychologists, and parents can work together to develop an intervention plan tailored to the needs of the student, based on the outcome of the screening. For example, a child might need some tutoring to stay on track with reading targets, or could require more time to complete tests. These interventions are enacted, and educators follow up to see how well the student responds.

In the event the student does well, the interventions can continue, with periodic checkups to determine if the needs of the student have changed. If the student continues to struggle or develops new problems, the response to intervention metric requires educators to return to the drawing board to discuss new options. They can adjust the intervention plan, request more screening, and explore other methods of meeting the student's needs. These could include more intensive interventions if the student does not respond to a more conservative initial approach, which can help schools allocate resources more effectively.

This method is less disruptive than some approaches because it customizes interventions for students. It assumes that a school can meet the educational needs of all pupils, as long as it has the right tools to support them. Students who need extra assistance can receive it discreetly to avoid attracting attention, and schools can identify budding problems before they become serious. The response to intervention method can help with timely assistance to prevent long term problems like being trapped behind peers due to low reading comprehension.