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Free, printable parent communication log.

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Here's a quick and easy form to stick in every student file so you will remember to document communication you've had with parents. This will come in handy if you ever need to bring a student up for the RTI process!

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Here's a quick and easy form to stick in every student file so you will remember to document communication you've had with parents. This will come in handy if you ever need to bring a student up for the RTI process!

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Free, printable guide explaining RTI tiering to parents/guardians.

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Whether you call it Response-to-Intervention (RtI), Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), or Virginia Tiered System of Supports (VTSS), it's a complicated process. This resource will help you understand and explain the process to parents.
This free resource includes three pages of explanation and frequently asked questions about the RtI process. Feel free to share these information pages with parents!

If you're looking to improve your RtI process, my Response to Intervention (RtI) Guide, Planning, and Documentation includes fillable PDF documents that guide you through the process! It's customizable to the system that you use (PBIS, MTSS, VTSS, or RtI).
You can graph your data right on the fillable PDFs!
This product goes great with my Ultimate IEP At-A-Glance!, the Fillable Consultation Service Log and the Fillable IEP Service Log!
Check out some other great resources:
Shout out to Whimsy Clips for the adorable clip art in the product cover! Check out her amazing work!

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Response to Intervention (RtI) Explained- Free Resource for Teachers and Parents

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Whether you call it Response-to-Intervention (RtI), Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS), Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), or Virginia Tiered System of Supports (VTSS), it's a complicated process. This resource will help you understand and explain the process to parents. This fr...

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Elements of a strong tier 2 program.

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RTI Tier 2 Interventions are small groups. These groups are formed based on specific skills not mastered from Tier 1 instruction. Since they are formed around "skill mastery," these groups are temporary; they meet only until a specific set of skills are mastered.

Assessments (formal and anecdotal) from Tier 1 instruction help teachers identify students needing more support. In a targeted RTI Tier 2 interventions group, it's extremely important that instruction is not s-l-o-w-e-r. Or, LOUDER.

If students didn't understand the concepts in Tier 1 instruction, they need a totally different approach. Small groups are ideal settings for changing the tempo of instruction.

Elements of Effective (Intervention) Lessons

The following strategies are really best-practices for all instruction, but they will help you make the most of your RTI Tier 2 intervention time:

1. Short, frequent sessions. Take a cue from the caveman and keep it quick.

My son has ADHD and "severe dyslexia." After a long journey, we finally got a diagnosis and moved to a new school at the tail-end of 1st grade. As the dust was settling that first summer, he had a LOT of catching up to do! He had just missed the most critical year of literacy instruction; it was tempting to fill every available hour. His school provided summer school that met 3 hours/day, 3 days/week. But, I chose a different path.

I hired our babysitter to tutor him 1 hour/day, 5 days a week. I felt that one hour a day, five days a week, would be optimal; Mark would get a lot of practice, but still have plenty of time to play, create, and do all of the things that make his brain explode with excitement! That proved to be the right path. He was reading "at grade level" within a few short months.

Our brains were designed for primitive survival. In the wild, there is no such thing as intense, sustained attention for a long period of time. There is only survival. The "intense, sustained attention" is only needed in short bursts. In fact, exercise-science is confirming this is true for our bodies, as well. Research shows that short bursts of cardio-vascular exercise are healthier than long, sustained sessions.

Humans' environments have evolved light-years since we were living in caves. But, our brains have not evolved nearly as much. Our brains still very much prefer short sessions. The key to master is short, frequent, sessions.

2. Alternate activities. Change it up to keep the brain engaged.

Back to the story about my son... (Sorry, to drone on about my son, but I think stories are most effective...)

That summer, I chose to focus on his top 3 "bottlenecks" for learning: decoding/phonics, handwriting, and basic math facts. (All three of these functions are a result of a "working memory" deficit.) I chose three programs to help us target each of these three areas. During every tutoring session, my son spent 20 minutes working with three programs: a decoding/spelling program, a carefully chosen handwriting program (Handwriting Without Tears is far-and-away the best way to teach handwriting), and a math-facts computer game.

Each program required a different "output": The handwriting session was a paper-and-pencil drill. The spelling/decoding program was "hands-on" with magnetic letter tiles. The math program gave him a chance to work on the computer. Consequently, each 20-minute session was using different parts of his brain.
Changing the "output" or "modality" of instruction is key to avoiding the "s-l-0-w-e-r and LOUDER" trap that is so common in intervention.
3. Keep the Pace Moving.

In our media society, the pace has to be fast to keep all learners engaged. Learners who need RTI Tier 2 interventions, however, are more likely to have attention challenges; their minds are more likely to wander, get bored, and loose motivation quickly.

To handle this pressure, let a timer lead. Timers are neutral third parties; students don't argue with a timer. Timers also add a sense of urgency, which boosts students' engagement.

Timers also keep us on pace. I know I'm guilty of turning a "mini-lesson" into a waaaay-too-long lecture. I started using timers to challenge myself to keep "mini-lessons" mini.

This is a good time to remind ourselves that we must expect the bad days. Avoid the power-struggles. Avoid self-imposed guilt. Let bad days be. The timer will ensure that the torture does not last too long... for your students and for you!

One word of caution: you don't always want to push the pace. If a student is "in the zone," happily making progress, and doesn't want to stop, let him go. During these periods, emotions are positive and the brain is ripe for learning! Take advantage whenever you can.

4. Use the Power of Peer Discussions

Peer pressure is incredibly powerful, and that's not always a bad thing. A substance abuse counselor once told me, "If I am having trouble reaching an adolescent in a one-on-one therapy session, I will send them to group therapy. There is no greater influence in an adolescent's life than their peers, and group therapy is very successful in reaching our toughest kids!"
If group discussions can help teens break drug addictions, imagine the impact they can have on RTI Tier 2 interventions?
When students are hesitant, reluctant, and unsure if they can trust you, peers can have a big influence in turning that trust around! See my article, Make Your Job Easier by Harnessing Positive Peer Pressure, included in the appendix, for specific guidelines on hosting effective classroom discussions.

5. Sit. Stand. Lie on the floor.

Whatever it takes. Over the years, I have had many parents and teachers ask me to tell their child (or students) that they should be sitting at a table or desk to learn best.
Sorry. I can't do that.

There are times when a specific "posture" is important. For example, working on a flat surface when writing or tracking text for reading allows the hands to relax and work most efficiently with the eyes. However, in both of these situations, the child could be standing, or kneeling at a low table, or sitting on a large ball, or using a lap desk. My son went through his battery of tests, it was over the course of several visits. Each time, the evaluators noted that he preferred to stand and actually performed better while standing.

The body should be free to do what the body needs to do. Afterall, if the body is not comfortable, it will block the pathways to learning.

Success with RTI Tier 2 Interventions

Making students feel "safe" is the primary goal for all learning environments. RTI Tier 2 interventions are an extra opportunity to connect with a student and provide some personal attention, feedback, and encouragement.

If all has been successful with your targeted intervention group(s), students will return to the classroom for Tier 1 instruction, along with their peers. Maybe they'll come back to another Tier 2 session in the future. Maybe they won't.

If challenges continue, then RTI Tier 3 interventions are the next step. They are targeted, 1-1 instructional sessions. You can find more information on Tier 3 at the link below.

To your students' success!

Susan Kruger, M.Ed.
Author of SOAR ® Learning & Soft Skills
Founder of www.studyskills.com

RTI: Response to Intervention Menu

See more information on RTI: Response to Intervention at the links below:

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RTI Tier 2 Interventions:Elements of Effective Intervention Lessons - Study Skills by SOAR Learning

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It's extremely important that RTI Tier 2 interventions are not s-l-o-w-e-r. Or, LOUDER. Students need a totally different approach. Small groups are ideal for changing the tempo of instruction.

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Free, printable tier 2 referral sheet.

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RTI Response to Intervention Tier 2 Referral Form (ELA)

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This form is used to refer students to tier 2 of RTI. It can be used in conjunction with my RTI benchmark assessments, or can be used based off of the benchmark your school uses. The teacher would fill out the baseline data with the scores in which the student is struggling and goal score would be..…

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Web page from IRIS module explaining what tier 2 is in RTI.

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Page 7: Tier 2 Components

Students who require Tier 2 intervention are those who did not respond adequately to the high-quality instruction provided in the general education classroom (i.e., Tier 1). This tier of RTI usually involves more intensive targeted intervention and frequent monitoring.

Targeted Intervention

Targeted intervention involves providing a standard, validated instructional program to students in a group typically consisting of no more than five students. This intervention should be provided by someone who has received extensive training in the intervention program and may be implemented by general education teachers, paraprofessionals, reading specialists, or other qualified individuals. No matter who delivers Tier 2 intervention, the general education teacher should share responsibility for the instructional planning and the decision-making process for these students.

For more information on Tier 2 reading instruction, view the IRIS Module:

Frequent Monitoring

The individual providing Tier 2 instruction needs to continue to monitor student progress. The procedures and measures used for progress monitoring in Tier 2 are the same as those used in Tier 1. This phase of intervention should be provided for a minimum of 10 weeks, during which it is recommended that the Tier 2 instructor continue to plot each student's scores on his or her existing progress monitoring graph. The instructor should draw a dotted vertical line to indicate when Tier 2 intervention begins. This will allow school personnel to compare the progress made during the different tiers of intervention. Click here to see an example of a graph containing both Tier 1 and Tier 2 interventions.
LaToya's CBM Graph
Example of a graph that contains both Tier 1 and Tier 2 intervention

This graph shows LaToya's Tier 1 and Tier 2 data. The dotted vertical line indicates when Tier 2 intervention begins. It is common practice to draw a dotted vertical line on a graph to indicate the point at which instruction or intervention changes.

RTI Tier Decision Process

In addition to the two methods of evaluating student progress discussed in the Tier 1 section (i.e., performance level, rate of growth), a third method can be used to evaluate student progress. This method consists of using performance level and rate of growth in conjunction and is the preferred means for determining whether students are responding adequately to Tier 2 intervention. Research demonstrates that using both criteria provides a better picture of how students are responding to Tier 2 intervention than does either criterion alone.
dual-discrepancy approach
The use of twin criteria, performance level and rate of growth, to evaluate student progress.

Research Shows

The use of both criteria, performance level and rate of growth, was shown to be the most reliable means of distinguishing between students who respond to instruction and those who do not.
(McMaster, Fuchs, Fuchs & Compton, 2002)

Unlike the IQ-achievement discrepancy model, the use of both criteria (performance level and rate of growth) to determine academic progress avoids gender bias or the overrepresentation of specific ethnic groups in special education services.
(Speece, 2005)

To assess progress, teachers need to examine students' CBM data at the end of the predetermined Tier 2 monitoring period (a recommended minimum of 10 weeks). Teachers will examine both performance level and rate of growth for only the Tier 2 portion of the graph and will decide whether students are making progress based on the following guidelines:

Students are making adequate progress if their scores are at or above the established criterion for either performance level or rate of growth

Students are not making adequate progress if their scores fall below the criteria for both performance level and rate of growth

The table below summarizes this decision making process.

It is important to note that there is no set sequence for the evaluation of performance level and rate of growth. For the purposes of this module, an order has been imposed on this process (see steps below) because experience indicates that it is more common for students to meet their performance-level expectations (i.e., benchmark) than to meet their rate-of-growth expectations (i.e., slopes). In effect, evaluating performance level may first reduce the amount of work teachers have to do to make tier decisions.

As they evaluate how their students respond to Tier 2 intervention, teachers should do the following:

Step 1: Evaluate the performance level for each struggling student.

If a student's performance level meets or exceeds the relevant benchmark

If a student's performance level does not meet the benchmark go to Step 2

Step 2: Evaluate the rate of growth.

If a student's slope meets or exceeds the established rate of growth

If a student's slope does not meet the established rate of growth provide Tier 3 intensive, individualized instruction

In Summary

If the student's performance level is equal to or greater than the established benchmark or if the student's rate of growth (slope) is equal to or greater than the specified rate of growth (e.g., 1.8 on the first-grade Vanderbilt University WIF probe), the student is responding adequately to instruction.

On the other hand, if the student's performance level and rate of growth are less than the specified criteria, more intensive instruction is warranted.

For Your Information
Communicating with Students
When they view their academic growth in an easily understood format (e.g., on a graph), students can see the relationship between their effort and their progress. Graphs:

Offer students a visual representation of their progress

Demonstrate that hard work pays off

Motivate students to maintain their efforts or to work harder

Communicating with Parents
CBM data are an excellent resource to use when communicating student progress to parents. During a parent-teacher meeting, teachers can clearly demonstrate:

How the student is progressing compared to his or her past achievement

What goals the student is expected to meet by the end of the school year

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Students who require Tier 2 intervention are those who did not respond adequately to the high-quality instruction provided in the general education classroom (i.e., Tier 1). This tier of RTI usually involves more intensive targeted intervention and frequent monitoring. Targeted intervention involves providing a standard, validated instructional program to students in a group typically consisting of no more than five students.

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Free, printable data collection/progress-monitoring charts for reading:

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Simplify your data collection and effectively save yourself time with this progress monitoring freebie.

You can read more about how to use these Data Rings in this blog post.
What is included?
* editable 3"x5" card size

* editable 3"x5" cover for confidentiality

* editable 4"x6" card size

* editable 4"x6" cover for confidentiality
How do I use this in my classroom?
I explain exactly how I use this in my classroom in this here.

If you are in need of online training for data collection, I offer a data collection how to training at my sister site: The Intentional IEP. Grab the trainings here.
Connect with me:
Don't forget about the green ★ to follow my store to get notifications of new resources and freebies!

Thanks for Looking and Happy Teaching!

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FREE Progress Monitoring for IEPs and RTI | Data Rings for Special Ed

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Simplify your data collection and effectively save yourself time with this progress monitoring freebie. You can read more about how to use these Data Rings in this blog post.What is included?* editable 3"x5" card size* editable 3"x5" cover for confidentiality* editable 4"x6" card size* editable 4"x6...

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Example of an educator conducting a CBM with a student in order to monitor progress.

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Video explaining the importance of the universal screening process in identifying struggling readers.

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Free CBMs (including training on administration) & online progress monitoring tools for reading:

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Academic Progress Monitoring Tools Chart

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Use the briefs to evaluate academic interventions available on the academic intervention tools chart across the seven dimensions of the Taxonomy of Intervention Intensity.

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Web page from the IRIS module explaining what tier 1 is in RTI.

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Page 4: Tier 1 Components

Broadly speaking, all students receive Tier 1 services, regardless of their ability levels. As a result, many RTI practitioners consider universal screening a component of Tier 1 rather than a separate component. In this module, universal screening and Tier 1 have been treated separately simply to highlight the differences in the assessment process for these two RTI components.

During Tier 1 instruction, all students receive high-quality instruction in the general education classroom. Additionally, the students identified as struggling readers during the universal screening receive frequent monitoring of their performance.

High-Quality Instruction

High-quality instruction is effective instruction provided to all students in the general education setting using research-validated practices. Depending on the available resources and their students' needs, teachers may choose to provide adaptations for the identified students as part of high-quality instruction. These adaptations may include scaffolding and reteaching content.
effective instruction
The use of research-based instruction in the classroom.
research-validated practice
A strategy or practice that has been proven to work through experimental research studies or large-scale research field studies. Referred to in a variety of ways, such as scientifically based practices and evidence-based instruction

For more information on reading instruction in the RTI approach, view the IRIS Module:

Frequent Progress Monitoring

In conjunction with providing high-quality instruction, the teacher will need to employ frequent progress monitoring of those students identified through the universal screening as struggling. Progress monitoring is a form of assessment in which student learning is evaluated on a regular basis in order to provide useful feedback about performance to both learners and instructors.

More specifically, a form of progress monitoring known as curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is used in the RTI approach. Implementing CBM allows teachers to track students' academic progress across the school year. It is crucial to understand that Tier 1 data may be used for two distinctly different purposes:

If the teacher chooses to collect CBM data for the entire class, the data can be used to inform classroom instruction.

For struggling readers, the data are used to make individual RTI tier placement decisions.

CBM is useful in making tier decisions for struggling students and in informing classroom instruction for all students for the following reasons:

Each test (probe) includes items representing the skills that students are expected to master by the end of the year.

Probes, administration, and scoring are standardized to produce reliable and valid scores.

Graphs of each student's scores provide a clear visual representation of how students are progressing academically.

It is important to note that when all students are monitored, assessment results can be used not only to evaluate students' progress but also to determine whether the class as a whole is receiving high-quality instruction.

Research Shows

Students of teachers who use CBM achieve higher grades than students whose teachers do not use CBM.
(Fuchs, Butterworth, & Fuchs, 1989)

Students are more aware of their performance and view themselves as more responsible for their learning when they use CBM and graph their own data.
(Davis, Fuchs, Fuchs, & Whinnery, 1995)

We strongly encourage the reader to view the following IRIS Module to learn more about how to implement CBM and how to use the data to guide instruction.

Selecting a Measure

Several types of CBM measures, many of which are commercially available, can be used to track the performance of students in Tier 1. Click here to view a list of available measures.

In all probability, the district or state-rather than individual teachers-will determine which actual measure is used. Most of these CBM reading measures require a student to identify sounds, read a list of words, or read a passage aloud for one minute. The number of correct sounds or words is recorded as the student's score. Available CBM measures differ slightly in content, in the skills assessed, and in the benchmarks used to indicate satisfactory performance. Some sources offer non-English language versions for linguistically diverse students, and large-print versions are also available for students with visual disabilities.

View the video below for a demonstration of how to administer a CBM probe. Pay attention to how José pronounces his words and how the teacher scores his performance. As the movie illustrates, José's word pronunciation reflects his Mexican-American heritage (time: 2:08).

Transcript: How Will Teachers Initially Identify Struggling Readers?

Ms. Begay: Hi, José. When I say "go," I want you to read these words as quickly and correctly as you can. Start here and go down the page. If you don't know a word, skip it and try the next word. Keep reading until I say "stop." Do you have any questions?

José: No.

Ms. Begay: Go.

José: Reads the word list in the movie.

Ms. Begay: Stop.

Narrator: As José reads, Ms. Begay marks a "1" for words he reads correctly and a "0" for words he reads incorrectly. When the one-minute time limit is up, Ms. Begay circles the last word read by José. To score this test, Ms. Begay counts up the number of words read correctly in one minute and writes the score at the bottom of the scoring form.

In review:

WIF is for first-grade students or below grade-level students who are not able to read passages

Students are presented with a list of 50 words

Students read words for 1 minute

Teacher marks a "1" if the response is correct and a "0" if the response is incorrect

To determine the score, the teacher counts the number of correct responses

Listen as Leonard Baca discusses the issue of linguistic diversity in relation to administering and scoring progress monitoring probes, then listen to Alfredo Artiles discuss concerns about using Spanish translations of English language assessments.

Leonard Baca, PhD
Director, BUENO Center
for Multicultural Education
University of Colorado, Boulder

(time: 0:55)

Alfredo Artiles, PhD
Professor, College of Education, Arizona State University
Co-Principal Investigator, National Center for Culturally
Responsive Educational Systems (NCCRRESt)

(time: 1:01)

Transcript: Leonard Baca, PhD

Pronunciation is somewhat irrelevant in terms of cognitive and academic growth. There's an acceptable American accent and pronunciation that would be nice for everyone to have, but people pronounce things differently from the Northeast, from the Southwest, etc. That is irrelevant to academic and cognitive understanding. So teachers need to be very flexible in their interpretation of pronunciation for bilingual and linguistically different kids. Allowing them to use their standard dialect and certain sounds that they might not be able to produce as some standard-English speakers might produce would count as correct, in my view, because it had nothing to do with the academic content of the material. I really think teachers need to be very open and flexible to scoring those properly because accent has nothing to do with achievement.

Transcript: Alfredo Artiles, PhD

The idea of validity is concerned with to what extent are we measuring what we are supposed to be measuring with this assessment? We assume, by translating items, that the translation is going to reflect the same constructs or notions in the second language that we were trying to get at with the English version of the test. However, when you translate items then you run into a number of problems. One, the level of difficulty of certain items, for example, in the translated version might change. Items that were perceivably easier in English, when they are translated into Spanish, they have a higher level of difficulty because of the nuances and the meanings are altered in the translation process, and vice-versa. Then you run into the issue of dialectical variations in a language. So you have subtle differences in the way the language is used and whether they might mean very different things.

The primary purpose of progress monitoring in Tier 1 is to determine which students are making adequate instructional progress and which are not. Following the universal screening, the progress of the students identified as struggling should be monitored at least once each week for a period of 6-10 weeks. After each probe is administered, the teacher or student plots the score on an individual CBM graph. Click to see a sample CBM graph. An examination of the data plotted on the CBM graph will allow the teacher to determine whether a student is making adequate progress. Assuming that students are receiving high-quality instruction in Tier 1, those who do not respond adequately are provided with a standard intervention in Tier 2.
Sample CBM Graph
The sample CBM graph below shows how a teacher might indicate a student's reading performance over eight weeks of classroom instruction.

Click here for a blank graph that can be used with a variety of probes.

For Your Information

A teacher may choose to monitor the progress of all students in the classroom in the general education classroom (i.e., Tier 1). Doing so can help the teacher tailor instruction to meet the needs of the class. It also can help determine whether students are receiving high-quality instruction in the general education classroom. Students who receive high-quality instruction typically show increased reading performance levels and rates of growth across the year. On the other hand, if students in the class generally do not show adequate growth in their reading skills, the cause might be inadequate instruction.

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Broadly speaking, all students receive Tier 1 services, regardless of their ability levels. As a result, many RTI practitioners consider universal screening a component of Tier 1 rather than a separate component. In this module, universal screening and Tier 1 have been treated separately simply to highlight the differences in the assessment process for these two RTI components.