2011 RTI Implementation Report

  

Spectrum K12 (now part of the GlobalScholar brand) and leading education organizations including AASA, CASE, NASDSE and the RTI Action Network/NCLD have released the results of their 2011 web-based survey of K-12 district administrators to gauge the extent to which Response to Intervention (RTI) has been adopted. The survey was designed to determine:

     
  • How widely Response to Intervention (RTI) has been adopted in U.S. school districts
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  • How RTI is being implemented and scaled within a district
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  • The impact of RTI on student and district performance

 

Results from the 2011 survey have been compared to previous year survey results (2007-2010) to identify and illustrate critical trends.
The report analyzes data from 1,390 nationwide respondents and compares results to previous year survey results (2007 – 2010) to identify and illustrate critical trends.

KEY POINTS SUMMARY

Implementation of Response to Intervention

RTI implementation has steadily continued to rise from 2007 through 2011 with 68% of respondents in 2011 indicating they are currently either in full implementation or in the process of district wide implementation. Districts with 10,000 or more students are significantly more likely to be in full implementation than smaller districts.

RTI Adoption

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
  • While the majority of schools (94%) are in some stage of RTI implementation, only 24% have reached full implementation.
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  • Of those schools planning or implementing RTI, elementary schools lead the way, with 80% of respondents reporting they have fully implemented RTI with fidelity in one or more domain areas (reading, writing, math, behavior, or science). 98% of respondents using or considering RTI say they already use or are planning to implement in the elementary grades.
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  • In general, implementation of RTI for academics is ahead of implementation for behavior, particularly in the areas of screening assessments, research-based interventions, and data-driven decision-making. This was also true in 2010.
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  • Across all grade levels, Reading remains the predominant domain area for which RTI has been implemented followed by Math and then Behavior.
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  • In most districts using or planning for RTI not all buildings have fully implemented with fidelity. The median response was in the 50% to 74% category. Only 7% of these districts have 100% of buildings fully implemented.

 

Implementation Leadership

     
  • A majority of districts report that RTI is a unified effort between special education and general education. In districts where the effort is coming from a single area, general education is a little more likely to be leading.
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  • 56% of districts have a formal RTI implementation plan. This compares to 48% of districts in 2010.
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  • Most districts have school-based leadership teams in place, to implement RTI at the school—rather than district—level. Nearly three in ten have school-based teams in place at all buildings in their district.
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  • A higher percentage of staff has now been trained in RTI compared to 2010. Nearly all schools have given staff an overview of the RTI process. Next most common training areas are in core curriculum and in differentiation.

 

RTI Impact and Results

     
  • The impact of RTI on Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) is still somewhat difficult to judge, with seven in ten districts still reporting insufficient data to make a judgment. Of those with data, a higher percentage report improvement in AYP compared to those who report no improvement.
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  • Schools are increasingly using RTI to create personalized instruction for ALL students with an increase from 49% in 2010 to 62% in 2011.
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  • About five in ten districts have data on referrals to special education. Of these, eight in ten report reductions in referrals to special education compared to those who report no change. This is about the same as the previous two years.
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  • While still a small percentage of districts indicate RTI has been the focus of legal proceedings or official complaints (14% in 2011), the number has steadily grown.