Our PLC team (special educators, teaching assistants, classroom teachers and specialists) reviewed students' math assessments and started Math RTI (response to intervention).
We began by targeting an essential skill, and breaking students up into smaller intervention groups and larger core groups. Educators were assigned to each group. We made a decision to assess regularly (formally and informally) and flexibly change the groups when needed. We also decided on spaces to accommodate each group.
The first day was terrific.
I had a small group at the front of my classroom. A teaching assistant worked one-to-one with one child on a specific skill in the back of the class. A parent led a group of students with a problem solving activity; a special educator held a session in her teaching room, and another teaching assistant led a group in the computer lab with an online menu of activities tailored to the students' specific skill, concept and knowledge needs.
The session lasted for 30 minutes. It was a super start that both responded to students' academic needs and informed our work for the next session.
Have you employed RTI for math? Do you use the broad definition of RTI like we do--"Response to Intervention for students at all levels of need and interest, not just students at risk?" What strategies inform and optimize your math RTI efforts?
We will use our PLC time to revise and modify our efforts to best meet students needs. We'll determine a common way to assess our efforts, and in the future we'll employ Hattie's research by establishing the success criteria and assessment at the start of each six-week effort rather than during the session. Since it was our first attempt, we weren't able to do that up front.
I'm a fan of RTI because I believe it is a step in the right direction of school transformation. With RTI, when well staffed, we are better able to respond to specific students' learning needs, interests and potential.
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Specific Example of a Math RTI Lesson
