RtI Guidance from NCLD

RtI despite its frequent inservicing and discussions appears to be an elusive topic for many schools. Parents need to understand RtI if they are to effectively advocate for a meaningful process to take place for their child. The following guidance is a useful guidance document from NCLD.

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) released A Parent’s Guide to Response to Intervention, a must-have handbook for parents whose children are struggling in school, and an essential resource for understanding the Response to Intervention (RTI) process. 

 “The parents of millions of children who struggle to learn are searching 24/7 to help their children move forward in school.  This guide to Response to Intervention is an easy-to-understand and critical tool for these parents,” said James H. Wendorf, Executive Director of NCLD.  “It gives parents a way to engage teachers and other school personnel in supporting their children’s academic achievement.”  

The guide enables parents to determine if their child is struggling to learn, how to communicate with schools and teachers about the learning challenges of their children, and how RTI’s system of tiered interventions can respond to the needs of struggling learners. This release updates NCLD’s original parent guide for RTI issued in January 2006.  The guide can be accessed at

http://www.ncld.org/publications-a-more/parent-advocacy-guides/a-parent-guide-to-rti.

 Response to Intervention is an assessment and intervention pro­cess for systematically using data to monitor student progress.  Data are used to make decisions about instructional needs to improve academic achievement, behavior or both.  Under RTI, the intensity of services can be escalated for individual students through a system of “tiers” that provide increased levels of interventions and instructional support.  RTI is implemented in general education environments and supports struggling students including those with disabilities.  It enables instructional personnel to help students get the help they need to succeed in the classroom and to more accurately identify children who need special education.  Additional information on RTI can be found at www.rtinetwork.org. 

RTI was first recognized in federal education law with the passage of the 2004 amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.  Since its wide-scale adoption by states and many school districts, RTI has enhanced the ability of general and special educators to respond to the individual needs of students.