Response to Intervention

Response to intervention (RtI) is an organizational framework for guiding instructional and curricular decisions to prevent students’ academic and behavioral difficulties. RtI is not a curriculum and is not a program (like a reading program or a dropout prevention program). RtI models the public health approach for preventing and treating conditions and has increasingly specific and intensive interventions for students who are encountering academic and behavioral difficulties in school. The foundation for RtI was built from early reading research that demonstrated that specific components of academic domains were predictive of future achievement in that domain (e.g., reading, mathematics, and behavior). Research in early intervention addressed students’ component deficits and improved those students’ learning trajectories and achievement. Thus, predicted failure was averted and students progressed with ...