ASK A TEACHER RTI (Response to Intervention) with Nancy Downing |
Q: My son’s teacher has informed me that he is at risk and receiving RTI. What does that mean? He is in the third grade. A: At risk means that your son is not academically working on a third grade level. This can either be in one subject, a few subjects, or all subjects. The teacher should have given you this information. Ask for another conference to discuss the deficits your son has in each subject to make him at risk in that particular subject or subjects. You can then work with your son at home along with the teacher at school to decrease these deficits. RTI stands for Response to Intervention. Each school has this set up differently. Your son will work on his deficit areas in a small group (6-8 students) setting 30 minutes per day. This will allow for more individualized instruction. If no improvement is seen after a determined number of weeks (set by the school district), the instructional group size will be dropped to one or two students. The time commitment is also 30 minutes per day, and the determined number of weeks is also set by the school district. The 30-minute intervals are on top of the classroom instructional time. If there is still no improvement, your son’s teacher will take his data from the interventions to a committee set up at the school to see what academic direction needs to be taken. RTI is being done nationwide. It is in response to the law No Child Left Behind. Copyright © by Nancy Downing. All rights reserved. |
Nancy has been an educator for 30 years and is currently a special education teacher.
She is the former Center Director of LearningRx in Little Rock, Arkansas. She has
received local, state, and national recognition for her development of Downfeld
Phonics, a multi-sensory reading program. Nancy also wrote curriculum for an
educational technology company.
Nancy is a single mother of three children: one with learning differences, one gifted,
and one who has to work for his grades. Not only does she know what it is like to teach
all these different learning styles at school, but she has the experience of dealing with
all aspects of each twenty-four seven.
She is the former Center Director of LearningRx in Little Rock, Arkansas. She has
received local, state, and national recognition for her development of Downfeld
Phonics, a multi-sensory reading program. Nancy also wrote curriculum for an
educational technology company.
Nancy is a single mother of three children: one with learning differences, one gifted,
and one who has to work for his grades. Not only does she know what it is like to teach
all these different learning styles at school, but she has the experience of dealing with
all aspects of each twenty-four seven.
| Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6) |