Response to Intervention is a process which includes the provision of systematic, research-based instruction and interventions to struggling learners. The instruction/interventions are matched to student needs, and the monitoring of student progress is continuous.
Furthermore, RTI is designed as an early intervention to prevent long-term academic failure. RTI represents an important educational strategy to close the achievement gap for all students by preventing smaller learning problems from becoming insurmountable gaps.
Key features of the RTI process include the following:
- Primarily a general education initiative designed to address the needs of struggling learners early in their educational experience;
- Based on a problem-solving model that uses data to inform the decision-making;
- Interventions are systematically applied and derived from research-based practices;
- Highly dependent on progress monitoring and data collection; and
- Intervention plans are designed, implemented and monitored by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals.