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Hi everyone,

The Valentine cards and candy are out: it’s almost February! Starting next week, I’ll be sharing The Love of Books on Thursdays. I asked several people involved in different aspects of education to share their favorite book to read with students and activities to go along. Start thinking about a book you love teaching and share the love!

Today, I wanted to share an analogy for effective RTI I love from an article on Lexercise’s blog. Read their post here. Don’t be afraid, unlike most articles on RTI, this one isn’t a 12-page PDF with size 8 font.

What RTI frameworks or intervention programs have you found effective?

Study Finds RTI Doesn’t Build Reading Skills

A recent government study found that RTI often doesn’t work to improve students’ reading skills. In some cases, intervention even had a negative effect!

How could this be?

Lexercise and the government study concluded that the RTI model isn’t the problem: the interventions are. There are 3 essential components to making RTI successful for struggling readers. Lexercise uses the analogy of a 3 legged stool to explain this in their article. If one leg is missing, broken or too short, the stool will fall over.

A Sturdy Stool

What’s needed for RTI to be effective?

• The intervention must be appropriate. For most struggling readers, that means structured, systematic instruction that includes phonics.
• The person administering the intervention must be an expert. The teacher or interventionist needs to be specially trained in how to teach the structure of language.
• The lessons should be frequent, customized for the student(s) and offer opportunities for extensive practice. Students need to receive intervention instruction and practice several times a week, daily if possible, to improve reading skills.

Share your thoughts. What are your criteria for choosing interventions? How do you gauge their effectiveness?

Share this with someone you know involved in the RTI process and remember to subscribe!