The Response to Intervention (RTI) is a multi-tier approach to the early identification and support of students with learning and behavior needs. The RTI process begins with instruction and universal screening of all children in the general education classroom. Struggling learners are provided with interventions at increasing levels of intensity to accelerate their rate of learning. These services may be provided by a variety of people including general education teachers, special educators, and specialists. The RTI system is all about progress which is closely monitored to assess both the learning rate and level of performance of individual students.
Educational decisions and how to best implement them are based on individual student response to instruction. RTI is designed for use when making decisions in both general education and special education, this process essentially links the two together and creates a bond where support is the ultimate goal.
Starting an RTI for a student depends on many different things. One of the best reasons to start an RTI is that the student is consistently not performing at grade level and is way below where he/she needs to be academically, this has an affect on keeping up with the class as well as for a teacher you think it is unfair for a student to consistently fail, starting an RTI helps develop a process and a plan to determine how you will get that student to succeed in your classroom. A second very important reason to start an RTI would be if a student is effecting not only their own learning environment, but also making it hard for others to strive as well. It is not fair for other students to have to feel uncomfortable in their own learning environments. If a student is thought to be a danger as far as ruining their own learning environment then it would be in the best interest for a teacher to start a RTI to determine what changes need to be made to ensure a positive learning environment for all