ED656: RtI Website Research

Response to Intervention

1) National Center on Response to Intervention: http://www.rti4success.org

This is an easy website to review, just type in the URL address and you are ready to peruse a user-friendly site. It answers fundamental questions for the novice such as, “What is RTI?” and sophisticated questions like, “Who are the stakeholders of RTI?” A teacher can learn specific planning in the elementary and secondary levels as well as the recommended ‘Tiers of instruction.’ It addresses such issues as cultural and linguistic diversity, behavioral interventions, early screening, English Language Learners (ELL), action planning, and much more. This is a great resource for the seasoned and new teacher. It includes specific topics such as math and literacy.
This website is maintained and updated by the US Department of Education Office of Special Education (USDOE OSEP) under the American Institutes for Research ®.


2) Wrightslaw: http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/rti.index.htm

One of my favorite websites links the RTI concept method to identifying Learning Disabilities per IDEA 2004. Every educator should be aware of this new intervention as it affects the general education teacher as well as the special education teacher. The websites provides fundamental information about the RTI technique as well as ways to link it to exploring whether a child may have a disability. This is an excellent range of information for the teacher, parent, and litigator.
Primarily, this site provides informational links as well as website links to related topics or issues dealing with RTI and related concerns. For example there are related sites to research-based reading and math instruction, basic information about learning disabilities, and skill/tier building for RTI. Additionally, there are helpful articles and publications to read as soon as you click on the URL! The sight is maintained by Wrightslaw and was last updated June 2008.


3) National Center for Learning Disabilities: http://www.ncld.org/content/view/1002/389

This is an interesting website as it provides a vast array of educational information for teachers, parents, and related parties. Because of its vastness, one would have to go to “LD infozone” as there is no RTI identified. If one were just to peruse the web, however, you can type in the specific URL for the RTI page and it will take you there. You can also do a search within the site, yet if one were not familiar with education one would not know to connect RTI with learning disabilities. This site needs to be more specific identifying RTI as it now is an integral part of our American school system and IDEA 2004.
All that aside, once the page is reached it provides general information for parents and teachers as well as a wide array of related sites and articles to review. It includes, parent guides, latest news issues, case studies, core findings, workshops on RTI, and most importantly how school districts can implement RTI’s multi-tiered instruction. The links are topic-specific and much of the research is up-to-date. This is a good sight for the informed parent or educator. This sight is maintained by NCLD and although no updates of the website can be determined, the articles are as recent as March 2008 (found in a related sight).


4) US Department of Education: http://idea.ed.gov/explore/view/p/,root,dynamic,QaCorner,8

The USDOE sight provides substantial information regarding the education of students in any American Educational Institution. This is one of my recommended sights for any educator – general or special – when concerns regarding education arise. USDOE addresses IDEA as well as NCLB and other historical educational milestones. This site is simple to peruse for a computer and web literate individual. One may type in the specific URL for RTI on the USDOE site or simply type in www.ed.gov and maneuver to the RTI question & answer page via the Q&A corner.
This RTI question and answer page is the perfect resource to determine how RTI affects what we do as general and special education teachers per IDEA 2004. This added responsibility holds general education teachers accountable to effective response interventions that are research-based prior to determining or suspecting a learning disability. The questions seem like typical questions from general and special education teacher, principals, attorneys, parents, and other education related personnel.

5) International Reading Association: http://www.reading.org/resources/issues/focus_rti.html

This website is very applicable to Guam education as the local IRA chapter is quite active with a high membership number, year round activities, annual guest authors, and teacher grants. The IRA simplistically describes RTI in a manner that the novice teacher or layperson can understand. It also describes the implications for RTI in the general education classroom and school district as a whole. The sight provides discussion on the new and expanded roles of the general education teacher in attempting to prevent unnecessary referrals to special education. It also highlights the monitoring of student progress to determine if the intervention type produces academic growth.
The links to pages, articles, and other websites are numerous. They can lead a teacher to any number of concerns regarding interventions for struggling learners or slow learners. Also, an RTI resource library is available for more information regarding the technical jargon of RTI. A number of meetings and events are also available. Maneuvering through this site requires a bit of browser knowledge. Unless one knows what to look for and under which title, the novice looking for RTI within the site may not find it. Luckily, this site provides a direct link to worde search engines like www.google.com or www.yahoo.com.