Response to intervention - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, Response To Intervention (commonly abbreviated RTI or RtI) is a method of academic intervention used in the United States which is designed to provide early, effective assistance to children who are having difficulty learning. Response to intervention was also designed to function as one part of a data-based process of identifying learning disabilities. This method can be used at the group and individual level. The RTI method has been developed by proponents as an alternative to identifying learning disabilities with the ability-achievement discrepancy model, which requires children to exhibit a discrepancy between their ability, often measured by Intelligence Quotient|IQ testing and academic achievement as measured by their grades and standardized testing. Further, proponents claim that the RTI process brings more clarity to the Specific Learning Disability (SLD) category of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004) while opponents claim that RTI does not identify SLD (usually called LD) but instead identifies low achieving students. Proponents of RTI sometimes state that SLD (LD) has been referred to as a residual category for children with moderate learning problems. While opponents of RTI view it as a method of identifying LD, others view LD as a valid construct supported by practice and more recent scientific studies of the functioning of the brain.

RTI seeks to prevent academic failure through early intervention, frequent progress measurement, and increasingly intensive research-based instructional interventions for children who continue to have difficulty. Students who do not show a response to effective interventions are likely (or, more likely than students who respond) to have biologically-based learning disabilities and to be in need of special education.

The traditional means to identify children with learning disabilities has been through the discrepancy model which looks at the difference between ability as sometimes measured by a child's scores on both subsets of an IQ evaluation (such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) and an evaluation of achievement as indicated by the student's grades, teacher evaluations and testing (such as the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT) There are criticisms associated with the discrepancy model, for example, that the model does not allow for early identification and intervention. Another criticism includes the lack of a universal definition or formula for identifying a significant IQ-Achievement discrepancy. For children with learning disabilities, proponents claim that RTI may assist schools in avoiding the so-called "wait-to-fail" method by providing intervention as soon as children exhibit difficulty, while opponents of RTI claim that RTI may delay the specialized instruction and the provision of legal rights to students and their parents provided by IDEA only after a parent or teacher formally requests an evaluation under IDEA.

One criticism of the RTI method suggests that RTI is really a means for limiting access to special education services. The intervention model puts the onus on individual teachers to prove that they have done everything possible in the classroom before the child can be assessed. Because the RTI model is often implemented across years, assessment and classification of a student can be unreasonably delayed or never provided when each new year the student has a new teacher and a new RTI. Critics charge that requiring an extensive and lengthy paper trail prior to evaluation of a child is primarily used as a bureaucratic means for delaying that evaluation. They point to the fact that the cost of special ed services is a powerful incentive for districts to systematically delay services to as many children as possible as long as possible. It should be noted that IDEA 2004 prevents schools from receiving federal funds based on identifying more students
although proponents of RTI claim that public schools tend to receive more federal and state dollars the more students they identify as qualifying for special education. RTI may delay receipt of funding at the school level and delay the identification of a student as having a Learning Disability.

Which set of financial contingencies tend to influence the special education identification and referral policies of school district administrators has yet to be fully documented and researched; therefore, it would seem prudent, especially given that the process or results of RTI are rarely documented in a manner that allows for the evaluation of either implementation integrity or effect, and given that the financial gain of not identifying students as needing special education services far outweigh the monies gained from State and Federal sources, to err on the side of the argument that RTI is used as a budget management tool seems prudent. That is, until the null hypothesis can be demonstrably shown.

An additional criticism of this program is associated with the model that it replaces. Because the RTI model only results in evaluation of the most critical failures in the regular classroom, proponents of RTI claim that students in special education classrooms are less likely to succeed generally. The previous model which addressed discrepancy cast a net to students who could be said to possess areas of relative strength and were more likely to benefit from services. However, the body of relevant research suggests that slow-learners likewise benefit from services.

Description

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a philosophy that encompasses alternative assessment which utilizes quality interventions matched to student needs, coupled with formative evaluation to obtain data over time to make critical educational decisions.

RTI follows the following core assumptions:

that the educational system can effectively teach all children
that early intervention is critical to preventing problems from getting out of control
that the implementation of a multi-tiered service delivery model is necessary
that a problem solving model should be used to make decisions between tiers
that research based interventions should be implemented to the extent possible
that progress monitoring must be implemented to inform instruction
that data should drive decision making.

In this regard, RTI is not simply a set of interventions but a systematic model within general education and special education areas. In addition, RTI should be viewed as a systematic process for providing preventive, supplementary instructional services to students who are having challenges meeting benchmark levels. RTI is superior to the mathematical discrepancy approach in that it takes the focus away from within-child deficits to issues relative to the context of instruction or the extent to which a student has had the opportunity to learn. The assumption that a student cannot learn is typically attributed to some neurological or processing disorder residing within the child. This assumption fails to account for the possibility that interacting variables such as the lack of good instruction, the lack of an opportunity to learn, cultural variables, and/or language proficiency levels in the second language, for example, might be reasons for the lack of academic progress. Proponents of RTI claim that the literature is clear that the traditional psychometric discrepancy model does more harm to students and actually has created a special education system that serves a disproportionate number of minority students.

What follows is an opinion from a person with 30 years experience in the public school system: The statement above about disproportionality is questionable; there are many categories of disability that are recognized in IDEA legislation as making a student eligible for Special Education (for example - blindness, deafness, mental retardation, autism, emotional disturbance, speech/language impairments, orthopedic impairments, specific medical syndromes (such as ADHD), etc.

Learning Disabilities are only one of about a dozen such categories. No LD definition by itself could "create" a discriminatory Special Education system. The net effect of some actions to address the statistic that a higher proportion of minority students in some school districts are classified as eligible for Special Education can itself be discriminatory; that is, if minority students with similar educational profiles to non-minority students become less likely to be classified out of a misplaced concern about proportions, the minority students could actually be denied services that their tax dollars pay for. But what are the possible sources of disproportionate classification? That is the real question here. The discrepancy model of LD, even with its flaws, was not the culprit. In some school districts where pre-referral interventions are not an economic option, Special Ed has provided the most intensive and individualized services to students who are not making it. Whether this is a good thing or a bad thing is a matter of opinion, not fact. RTI has its own major limitations and perhaps unintended consequences as well. RTI as currently defined applies mainly to reading (decoding and comprehension). But there are writing LDs as well (encoding) and math LDs that affect some students. The RTI requirements for tiered services makes documenting non-reading LDs nearly impossible, because schools generally do not have staff to address writing and math with multiple levels of remedial services; the funding does not exist for such things, especially in urban and lower income areas. Remember how schools are funded (local property taxes). Until there is more government support for education, richer neighborhoods will have better schools. However RTI is a subtle way for Special Education legislation to affect non-Special Ed (general ed) practices in a major way. Notice that the steps prior to classification affect the way every school must handle their general education remedial reading programs. How prepared are lower income school districts to fund such services, which must be paid for out of local monies (because remedial programs fall within general ed; additional state funding is available only for Special Ed programs). An unintended consequence of RTI definitions of LD is that anyone at a below average IQ level could be considered LD if they have received the various tiers of instruction and fail to progress. Such traditional "slow learners" were previously ineligible for Special Ed when classification as LD was based on a discrepancy model. Be prepared for larger overall numbers of classified students once the slow learner population becomes eligible for Special Ed under RTI.)

RTI is conceptualized as a multi-tiered service delivery model including primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of support. The primary, or first tier is focused specifically at the school core curriculum level, meaning that the target level of intervention is the core curriculum. In this tier approximately 80% to 85% of the general student body should be able to meet grade level norms without additional assistance. The 15% to 20% of students who consistently show a discrepancy between their current level of performance and that of the expected level of performance are then given Tier 2 or secondary, supplementary instruction services (not to be confused with special education) targeting the problems the student is having. Of the students who are provided with intervention services at Tier 2, approximately 3 to 6% of them will continue to have difficulties and continue to show resistance to intervention. At this point in time, these students will then receive Tier 3 intervention services, which some proponents of RTI state is not to be confused with special education, while others such as the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) state should be special education. Hence, the intensity of intervention increases as the severity of the problem increases.

RTI has three basic components: School-wide screening, Progress monitoring and Tiered service delivery, and Fidelity of implementation

School-wide screening

For a screening measure to be useful, it should satisfy three criteria: a. It needs to identify students who require further assessment b. It needs to be practical c. It needs to generate positive outcomes (accurately identifies students without consuming resources that could be put to better use)
A screening procedure must be brief as well as simple enough to be implemented reliably by teachers.
Screening measures can use either a criterion referenced or normative comparison standard of performance. In the former, a specific criterion level of skills is specified as indicating an acceptable level of proficiency or mastery. In the normative comparison, the screening results are compared to an appropriate peer group (e.g., other students in first grade). Criterion measures are preferred because they give more accurate information about performance on relevant skills.
Screening is not a one-time process but an iterative system during the school year and across grade levels. During the course of primary instruction (Tier 1), the school uses school-wide screening (consistency) in essential academic areas to identify each student’s level of proficiency (usually three times per year).
The National Research Center on Learning Disabilities recommends that schools use school-wide screening in combination with at least five weeks of weekly progress monitoring in response to general education to identify students who require preventative intervention. Their rationale is that one-time universal screening at the beginning of the year can over-identify students who require preventative intervention.

Progress monitoring and Tiered service delivery

Progress monitoring is a set of assessment procedures for determining the extent to which students are benefiting from classroom instruction and for monitoring effectiveness of curriculum. Progress monitoring is the scientifically based practice of assessing students’ academic performance on a regular basis for three purposes:

To determine whether children are profiting appropriately from the instructional program, including the curriculum
To build more effective programs for the children who do not benefit
To estimate rates of student improvement.

The three tiers of Scientifically Research-Based Interventions (SRBIs) are in place to incorporate the key components of RtI and to ensure the academic growth and achievement of all students. The first tier in the SRBI model clearly states that all students receive core classroom instruction that is differentiated and utilizes strategies and materials that are scientifically research-based. Assessment in the classroom is ongoing and effective in that it clearly identifies the strengths and weaknesses for each learner. Any necessary interventions at this level are within the framework of the general education classroom and can be in the form of differentiated instruction, small group review or one-on-one remediation of a concept. Professional development for teachers is provided consistently throughout the year.

In Tier 1, progress monitoring procedures serve several functions. First, progress monitoring displays individual student growth over time, to determine whether the student is progressing as expected. The steps in Tier 1 are: data is collected, students are identified using benchmark scores, and measurable goals are set for next data collection point for the class and students displaying difficulties. Then, the team problem-solves to determine SRBIs for at-risk students that will work in whole-class instructions. Observations are conducted to ensure the fidelity of the classroom instruction. The teacher implements the interventions and the team reviews progress of students.

The second tier of SRBI closely resembles the first with the exception that supplemental interventions may occur within or outside of the general education classroom. Core instruction is still delivered by the classroom teacher. Small groups of similar instructional levels may work together under the teacher’s instruction and guidance. This type of targeted instruction is for a minimum of 30 minutes per day, two to four days per week and for a minimum of nine weeks. This targeted instruction may occur in the general education setting or outside in a smaller group setting with a specialized teacher such as a Literacy Support teacher for struggling readers.

In Tier 2, the main purpose of progress monitoring and beyond interventions is to determine whether the intervention is successful in helping the student learn at an appropriate rate. Decision rules need to be created to determine when a student might no longer require Tier 2 and beyond services and can be returned to the general classroom (Tier 1), when the intervention needs to be changed, or when a student might be identified for special education. The steps in Tier 2 are: see if the child has not met benchmarks in Tier 1, has significantly lower performance levels, exhibit significant deviation from their grade-level peers in academic or behavioral issues, and are learning at a much slower rate and falling farther behind. Tier two interventions

Tier 2 and beyond consists of general education instruction plus specialized intervention that has the following features: Size of instructional group. Tier 2 and beyond instruction is provided in small groups (two to four students). Cut scores identified on screening measures and continued growth as demonstrated by routine progress monitoring are indicators of content mastery. Although recommendations vary, weekly to three times per week monitoring of progress is typical. Tier 2 and beyond interventions last for nine to 12 weeks and can be repeated as needed. Tier 2 and beyond provides for three to four intervention sessions per week, each lasting 30 to 60 minutes. Instruction is conducted by trained and supervised personnel.

Tier three is for students who require more intense, explicit and individualized instruction. This type of targeted instruction is delivered for a minimum of two 30-minute sessions every day for nine to twelve weeks. The interventions in this tier may be similar to those in tier two except that they are intensified in frequency and duration. The instruction in tier three is typically delivered outside of the general education classroom. If tier three is not successful, a child is considered for the first time as potentially disabled.

Tier 3 demands more intense interventions. The steps are: see if the child is having marked difficulties and have not responded to Tier 2 interventions, requires more frequent, intense interventions and more frequent progress monitoring.

In Tier 3, special education instruction is provided to individual students or small groups. Special education programs, strategies, and procedures are designed and employed to supplement, enhance, and support Tier 1 and Tier 2 and beyond instruction by remediation of the relevant area and development of compensatory strategies. Mastery is relative to the student’s functioning and determined by individualized education program

Individualized Education Program

In the United States an Individualized Education Program, commonly referred to as an IEP, is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act...

(IEP) goal setting and through results of comprehensive evaluation. Continuous progress monitoring informs the teaching process. Special education instruction likely will be considerably longer than the 10 to 12 weeks of supplemental instruction delivered in Tier 2 and beyond. The frequency of special education instruction depends upon student need. Special education teachers deliver the instruction. Exit criteria are specified and monitored so that placement is flexible.

Fidelity of implementation

In an RTI model, fidelity is important at both the school level (e.g., implementation of the process) and the teacher level (e.g., implementation of instruction). Although both common sense and research support the concept of fidelity of implementation to ensure an intervention’s successful outcome, the practical challenges associated with achieving high levels of fidelity are well documented.
Factors that reduce fidelity of implementation:

Complexity. The more complex the intervention, the lower the fidelity because of the level of difficulty. (This factor includes time needed for instruction in the intervention).
Materials and resources required. If new or substantial resources are required, they need to be readily accessible.
Perceived and actual effectiveness (credibility). Even with a solid research base, if teachers believe the approach will not be effective, or if it is inconsistent with their teaching style, they will not implement it well.
Interventionists. The number, expertise, and motivation of individuals who deliver the intervention are factors in the level of fidelity of implementation.

Classification of RTI

In the educational literature, RTI is either referred to as a Standard Protocol Approach or as a Problem Solving Model. Both models incorporate problem solving to identify the academic problem the student is having. The main difference among these approaches is that the former uses a systematic, universal screening procedure during Tier 1 to determine which students are having difficulties meeting age or grade level benchmarks for a specific skill. Typically, Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM), or other methods are used to flag the students who are not meeting expected levels of performance. In the problem solving model approach, the teacher typically refers the student to the student success team or multidisciplinary team to ascertain the challenges a student is having within the classroom. Using information collected from the classroom teacher, observations, etc., the team determines what additional supports the student might need to address the learning gap.

Response To Intervention (RTI) is a method, or process, of educational intervention which includes, but is not limited to: reading

Reading (process)

Reading is a complex cognitive process of decoding symbols for the intention of constructing or deriving meaning . It is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information and ideas...

tutoring, peer

Peer group

A peer group is a social group consisting of humans. Peer groups are an informal primary group of people who share a similar or equal status and who are usually of roughly the same age, tended to travel around and interact within the social aggregate Members of a particular peer group often have...

tutoring, phonological awareness

Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness refers to an individual's awareness of the phonological structure, or sound structure, of spoken words. Phonological awareness is an important and reliable predictor of later reading ability and has, therefore, been the focus of much research.- Overview :Phonological...

, and phonics

Phonics

Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write that language. Phonics involves teaching how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations...

interventions. Key to the RTI method is the application of scientifically-based interventions that have been demonstrated to work in randomized controlled trials. The RTI method assumes accountability to the consumers of an educational program by ensuring the application of programs that work rather than programs that simply look, sound, or feel good. In terms of its methods, after the intervention, collecting of data on change in student performance is undertaken. Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) is often used to collect data

Data

The term data refers to qualitative or quantitative attributes of a variable or set of variables. Data are typically the results of measurements and can be the basis of graphs, images, or observations of a set of variables. Data are often viewed as the lowest level of abstraction from which...

on interventions and their effectiveness. CBM has over 30 years of scientific support (www.studentprogress.org). Response to intervention is based on discovering what works best for an individual student, not what might be the 'best' intervention for everyone. Additional methods are tried until students 'respond' to the intervention and improve their skills. Students that do not respond, or respond at significantly low rates, are deemed to have biologically-based learning disabilities, not simply learning difficulties.

RTI provides an alternative or additional means of gathering information to be used when classifying students for special education

Special education

Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...

. When a student is identified as having difficulties in school, a team provides interventions of increasing intensity to help the child catch up with the rest of his or her peers. After interventions have been tried and proven ineffective, the child may then be referred for additional, special education services (IDEA). Proponents of RTI claim that RTI is a way to ensure each student is afforded the opportunity to learn. Opponents of RTI say it is a way to allow some school districts to avoid or delay identifying students as needing special education.

RTI proponents claim that when interventions work, fewer children, particularly minority children, are referred for special education, and that the RTI model acts as a safeguard, insuring that a child is not given a label of a disability inappropriately. Opponents of RTI claim that delay of services is denial of needed services and that RTI often only delays needed specialized instruction. RTI proponents state that RTI also helps school districts by eliminating unnecessary referrals, which drain time and resources. RTI opponents say that in attempting to eliminate unnecessary referrals RTI also delays and eliminates necessary referrals which may mean that a student is not receiving the intensive services needed.

Support for RTI

Compelling evidence shows that Response to Intervention is our best hope as educators for giving every student the additional time and support needed to learn at high levels.
Not only should teachers and other school personnel use different interventions to help students before they are tested for special education services, educators should provide evidence-based targeted interventions to all students as soon as they demonstrate the need. RTI integrates assessment and intervention with a multi-level prevention program as already described previously in this article. The mistake some educators have made is to think that RTI only applies to special education. Clements and Sabella explicitly state, "RTI is not a special education pre-referral system." Response to intervention can apply to the classroom teacher, the school counselor, the paraeducator, and the administration. Simply stated, RTI can help identify students that are at-risk, make adjustments, monitor student progress, and then make other recommendations if necessary. The objective is though that with minor adjustments or simple interventions, students may respond and achieve at higher levels.
RTI is also very useful when interacting with students who have severe emotional problems. Response to intervention can help students with ED (Emotional Disturbance) as well as those with LD (Learning Disabilities). The structure and evaluation of RTI will help this particular group of students to be successful in the academic environment.

Relationship between IDEA and RTI

IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) was revised and signed into law in 2004 and became effective in July, 2005. The 2004 reauthorization of IDEA makes mention of Response to Intervention only as an optional method of part of the process of identifying LD, although proponents of RTI claim it is mentioned as a pre-referral intervention model and encourages its implementation in three significant ways:

In diagnosing learning disabilities, LEAs are no longer required to use the discrepancy model. The act states that, “a local educational agency shall not be required to take into consideration whether a child has a severe discrepancy between achievement and intellectual ability…”
Response to Intervention is specifically mentioned in the regulations in conjunction with the identification of a specific learning disability. IDEA 2004 states, "a local educational agency may use a process that determines if the child responds to scientific, research-based intervention as a part of the evaluation procedures".
Early Intervening Services (EIS) are prominently mentioned in IDEA for the first time. These services are directed at interventions for students prior to referral in an attempt to avoid inappropriate classification, which proponents claim an RTI model does. IDEA now authorizes the use of up to 15% of IDEA allocated funds for EIS.

RTI was included in the regulations due to considerable concerns raised by both the House and Senate Committees regarding proponents of RTI claims about the use of IQ tests to identify learning disabled students. There was also recognition in these committees of a growing body of scientific research supporting methods of pre-referral interventions that resolved learning difficulties short of classification.

The IDEA Committee Conference Report (CCR) discusses the use of scientifically based early intervention programs, describes a model Response to Intervention program, and recommends the development of the most effective implementation of responsiveness to intervention models. The report describes such a model as an essential service for reducing the need to label children as disabled.

Response to RTI

As RTI has recently entered U.S. schools, some teachers believe that it has brought about tension between regular education teachers and special education teachers. In other schools, RTI has led to increased cooperation and understanding between regular education teachers and special education teachers. Regardless of teachers' responses, proponents of RTI claim that students are benefiting from the RTI process.
Opponents of RTI point to delays in identifying students needing special education, the massive amount of training needed by general education teachers, and the lack of resources devoted in most schools to all the technical requirements of RTI.

RTI has brought more than tension into the regular education teacher's classroom. It is a whole new way of doing things, including evidence-based instructional practices and more focus on students individual needs (which ultimately create more stress for today's teachers). RTI proponents claim that teachers are used to referring students to special education whom they 'can't get through to' and that RTI forces teachers with little or no experience teaching children with learning disabilities to keep these students in their classrooms and to search for research-based ways to help them. All in all, it requires additional work from already overworked teachers than the old discrepancy model; this perhaps unreasonable change in expectations represents perhaps the greatest resistance towards RTI.

Among the school psychologists, multi-tiered progress monitoring approaches have been around as early as 1977 (Kovaleski, 2007). For school psychology, RTI is not so much a revolution as a return to the problem-solving that RTI proponents claim they should've been going on all along.

One shortcoming of RTI is that while its core assumptions include "that the educational system can effectively teach all children," the approach does not account for gifted education. An inverted pyramid showing analogous increasing interventions for gifted children could be added to the model so that all children are addressed. A framework for such an approach has been developed by the Montana Office of Public Instruction.

RTI can be very time consuming and require extensive training in order to implement this model correctly and appropriately.

Opposition to RTI

Sudbury model of democratic education schools contend schools

Traditional education

Traditional education or back-to-basics refers to long-established customs found in schools that society has traditionally deemed appropriate. Some forms of education reform promote the adoption of progressive education practices, a more holistic approach which focuses on individual students'...

should be improved, or changed -- not children. They adduce there are many reasons why children may have difficulty learning, specially when the learning is imposed and the subject is something the child, or the young, or even the adult is not interested in, as is frequently done in today's school system.

The Sudbury model democratic schools assert that there are many ways to study and learn. They argue that learning is a process you do, not a process that is done to you. The experience of Sudbury model democratic schools shows that there are many ways to learn without the intervention of teaching, to say, without the intervention of a teacher being imperative. In the case of reading for instance in the Sudbury model democratic schools some children learn from being read to, memorizing the stories and then ultimately reading them. Others learn from cereal boxes, others from games instructions, others from street signs. Some teach themselves letter sounds, others syllables, others whole words. Sudbury model democratic schools adduce that in their schools no one child has ever been forced, pushed, urged, cajoled, or bribed into learning how to read or write, and they have had no dyslexia. None of their graduates are real or functional illiterates, and no one who meets their older students could ever guess the age at which they first learned to read or write. In a similar form students learn all the subjects, techniques and skills in these schools. Every person, children and youth included, has a different learning style and pace and each person, is unique, not only capable of learning but also capable of succeeding. Sudbury model democratic schools assert that applying the medical model of problem-solving to individual children who are pupils in the school system, and labeling these children as disabled -- referring to a whole generation of non-standard children that have been labeled as dysfunctional, even though they suffer from nothing more than the disease of responding differently in the classroom than the average manageable student -- systematically prevents the students' success and the improvement of the current educational system. This, they clarify, does not refer to a minority of people who have a specific disability that affects their drives; nor is anything they say and write about education meant to apply to a minority of people who have specific mental impairments, which may need to be dealt with in special, clinical ways.

Describing current instructional methods as homogenization and lockstep

Lockstep

Lockstep systems are redundant computing systems that run the same set of operations at the same time in parallel. The output from lockstep operations can be compared to determine if there has been a fault....

standardization, alternative approaches are proposed, such as the Sudbury model

Sudbury Valley School

The Sudbury Valley School was founded in 1968 in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States. There are now over 30 schools based on the Sudbury Model in the United States, Denmark, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. The model has two basic tenets: educational freedom and democratic...

of democratic education schools, an alternative approach in which children, by enjoying personal freedom thus encouraged to exercise personal responsibility for their actions, learn at their own pace rather than following a chronologically-based curriculum. As Sudbury model of democratic education schools, proponents of unschooling

Unschooling

Unschooling is a range of educational philosophies and practices centered on allowing children to learn through their natural life experiences, including play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum....

have also claimed that children raised in this method do not suffer from learning disabilities, thus not requiring the prevention of academic failure through intervention.

Technology Application to RtI

Education has recently turned to various types of technology as a method to improve instructional practices and student achievement. Within the category of technology there are many tools for educators to utilize within their classrooms. Richardson's (2009) toolbox contains nine pieces: Weblogs, wikis, really simple syndication (RSS), aggregators, social bookmarking, online photo galleries, audio/visual casting, twitter, and social networking sites. Twitter, facebook, weblogs, and ning are a few of the social networking sites used for team based learning. As Richardson (2009) stated it’s not about the technology but the implementation and application of the skills to create new and innovative creation and collaboration structures. Also, Richardson (2009) offers how blogging uses a higher form of thinking such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis for students to learn.
Schools must be careful to instruct student on proper internet usage including not putting students and their locations on the web, appropriate behavior toward improper sites, inaccuracies found on the web, and posting information/images that will not affect their lives in the future.
Schacter and Fragno (1999) claim that properly integrated technology increases student learning in areas such as motivation, collaborative learning, critical thinking, and problem solving (p. 3). Marzano (1998) researched techniques that work in education and found nine to be the most effective. They include, but are not limited to, identifying simlarities and differences, summarizing and note taking, reinforcing effort and providing recognition, homework and practice, nonlinguistic representation, cooperative learning, setting objectives and providing feedback, generating and testing hypothesis, cues, questions and advanced organizers.
Technology rich environments have shown to be effective for at-risk students. Collins and Halverson (2009) feel that by combining national certification and interactive testing abilities with a student selected curriculum will revolutionize a k-12 education into a useful set of skills post graduation. Students will have a resume of nationally recognized certificates when they graduate. This motivation factor has the capability to encourage students to stay in school and lessen the achievement gap. As Collins and Halverson (2009) state "Even those of us who don't embrace technology in our lives now must understand the possibilities of the new technologies from the inside, if we want to guide the future of education"
Computer Assisted Instruction, otherwise known as CAI, has been studied for its affect on lower achieving students. It is particularly effective because “it is non-judgmental, motivational, gives immediate and frequent feedback, individualizes learning through designs to meet the students' needs, allows for more student autonomy, and provides a multi-sensory learning environment” (Barley et al., 2002, p. 97). After reviewing 17 different studies it was found that CAI positively affected scores in mathematics and literacy for all grade levels. CAI “significantly improved” scores for students labeled at-risk (Barley et al., 2002, p. 105). Drill and practice CAI along with project/problem solving CAI improved student knowledge.
Technologies can also effectively teach the basic literacy skills such as phonemic awareness, alphabetic principle, word recognition, alliteration, and comprehension. Today the use of specialized educational software applications can help support and enhance students’ literacy skills. PowerPoint is a presentation software that can be used to enhance young children learning experience. The use of pictures, colors, sounds, animation, slide designs, or slide transitions can be easily implemented into a literacy lesson (Grabe and Grabe, 2007) In addition, powerpoint has been used to help students with autism learn and respond to activity schedules. The use of a projection system and a large screen in the classroom makes powerpoint a very powerful instructional tool.
As for young learners, the use of animation grabs the attention of young learners to important features and prompts the learner to ensure correct responding. Teachers can create literacy lessons with attention-grabbing elements such as moving graphic images. For example, a teacher might focus on the initial /d/ sound in the word “dog” as an instructional goal. A PowerPoint slide for this would consist of a picture of a dog from Google Images, copy the image and then paste it onto the right-hand corner of the slide. Then the teacher selects three possible letters to represent the initial sound in dog: the letters /b/, /c/, and /d/. These letters are placed on the left-hand side of the slide. Finally, the picture of the dog appears first followed by each of the three letters which appear sequentially when the slide is clicked on. Then she asks the student what letter they think dog starts with (Parette, H. P., Blum, C., & Hourcade, J.J., January 2010).
Another type of Presentation software for literacy instruction is the Photo Story 3 that allows teachers to add a variety of special effects, soundtracks, and their own voice narration to the photo stories. Captions and titles can be placed on the slides. The use of sequential visual presentation of pictures and graphics along with voice narration is a powerful narrative literacy. Unfortunately, both early intervention program and school programs are faced with a tremendous economic challenge; therefore, it is very crucial that educators look for innovative ways to use existing technologies for instructional purposes.
Technology can also help students form cooperative learning environments where they help each other learn. Certain populations of students may need more assistance with computer generated activities than others but this teaches students valuable life skills which are applicable to working in a work-force environment. Using technology in meaningful ways such as organizing and synthesizing information more closely resembles real world applications.
Furthermore, we must look at equity for our at-risk populations. Oftentimes these students attend schools that are underfunded and are not current with modern technology. It must be a priority of local agencies to provide equal access to our students in low SES areas.
In relationship to teachers we also must be certain that teachers are given professional development in the appropriate uses of educational technology. They must be provided with ongoing support. If we want our students to succeed in the 21st century we must prepare them with the technology skills for an ever changing real world.