Response to Intervention (RTI): Overview
Response to Intervention aims to prevent unnecessary assignment to special education. With RTI, low-performing children are offered intense, individualized academic intervention. Student progress is monitored to see if response to this intervention yields adequate academic growth.
RTI Commission Addresses RTI Issues
Currently chaired by Marjorie Y. Lipson, University of Vermont and Karen Wixson, University of Michigan, the commission reviews the status of RTI, develops effective principles and activities, and recommends position statements to the IRA Board. For additional information about the charge of the RTI Commission, visit Response to Intervention Commission. For a working draft of a document that provides the Commission’s stance on how RTI intersects with issues of language and literacy, see IRA Commission on RTI: Working Draft of Guiding Principles.
RTI in the classroom: What do teachers need to know?
Report stresses new and expanded roles for reading teachers in schools contemplating an RTI approach.
IRA's RTI Resource Library lists articles, book chapters, and brief reports for IRA members who wish to know how RTI might affect their students and classrooms.
Several other pages on this website provide information and resources on topics related to RTI. Of particular note are
- Resources by Topic: Struggling Learners is a guide to information about diagnosis of reading/learning difficulties, classroom strategies and interventions, and the resources to assist educators in meeting the challenge of helping all learners succeed.
IRA is a Founding Partner of the RTI Action Network, a national initiative dedicated to the responsible and effective implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI). Explore a wide range of resources including Blogs, Voices from the Field, RTI Talks, and Ask the Experts features, and connect with educators and administrators nationwide through the RTI Discussion Boards.
Background and overview
IRA's Commission on Response to Intervention (RTI) has adopted six key principles to guide members' thinking and professional work in the area of RTI:
A brief summary of legislation:
Two states share the lessons they learned implementing RtI:
A number of U.S. schools provided successful intervention models that Congress drew upon in shaping the RTI provisions of IDEA.
In this position statement, the Association describes why misdiagnosis is so common and so serious a problem.