RTI: Decision Rules

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RTI Decision Rules
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Team Activity RTI Team Decision Rules

• As a group, discuss
• What the duration should be of the typical RTI
  Team intervention plan at your school.
• How many intervention plan trials your RTI Team
  would make before considering a referral to
  Special Education.

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Methods to Determine a Students Expected Level
of Achievement
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Methods to Determine a Students Expected Level
of Achievement

• Local Norms. One method for determining the skill
  level required for school success is to sample
  the academic abilities of typical students at
  specific grade levels in a school or district.
  The resulting data can be compiled into local
  norms. An advantage of local norms is that
  they will show with precision the skill gap
  between a struggling student and his or her
  classmates. A potential drawback of local norms,
  however, is that these norms can vary
  substantially across districts and even across
  schools within districts. Districts can take
  certain steps (e.g., aggregating local norms from
  across the district to create district norms)
  to adjust for differences in average academic
  performance between schools. However, those steps
  can only minimizenot eliminatethe potential for
  significant differences in average performance
  between schools.

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Methods to Determine a Students Expected Level
of Achievement

• Research Norms. Some research studies have
  collected data on typical rates of academic
  performance or other instructionally relevant
  behavior from samples of students and published
  that data in the form of research norms. RTI
  Teams find such pre-existing research norms to be
  convenient to use. While research norms can be
  a helpful starting point in estimating expected
  levels of student performance, though, they
  should generally be used cautiously. One
  limitation to some research norms, for example,
  is that they are based on small samples of
  students and therefore may not reflect a true
  picture of average student performance across the
  nation. Another possible drawback of research
  norms is that the groups of students used in
  these studies are not representative of the
  racial and ethnic diversity of student
  populations in specific school districtslimiting
  the usefulness of those norms to these districts
  RTI decision-making.

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Selected Research-Based Norms for Academic Skills
and Related Behaviors (pp. 181-182)
Curriculum-Based Measurement Oral Reading Fluency (Tindal, Hasbrouck, Jones, 2005) Curriculum-Based Measurement Oral Reading Fluency (Tindal, Hasbrouck, Jones, 2005) Curriculum-Based Measurement Oral Reading Fluency (Tindal, Hasbrouck, Jones, 2005) Curriculum-Based Measurement Oral Reading Fluency (Tindal, Hasbrouck, Jones, 2005)
Correctly Read Words Per Minute Correctly Read Words Per Minute Correctly Read Words Per Minute
Grade Fall Winter Spring
1 NA 23 53
2 51 72 89
3 71 92 107
4 94 112 123
5 110 127 139
6 127 140 150
7 128 136 150
8 133 146 151
Comments These multi-state norms are based on a large sample size and are among the best research norms available for oral reading fluency. Comments These multi-state norms are based on a large sample size and are among the best research norms available for oral reading fluency. Comments These multi-state norms are based on a large sample size and are among the best research norms available for oral reading fluency. Comments These multi-state norms are based on a large sample size and are among the best research norms available for oral reading fluency.
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Selected Research-Based Norms for Academic Skills
and Related Behaviors (pp. 181-182)
Curriculum-Based Measurement Math Computation (Adapted from Deno Mirkin, 1977) Curriculum-Based Measurement Math Computation (Adapted from Deno Mirkin, 1977) Curriculum-Based Measurement Math Computation (Adapted from Deno Mirkin, 1977)
Grade Digits Correct in 2 Minutes Digits Incorrect in 2 Minutes
1-3 20-38 6-14
4 Up 40-78 6-14
Comments These math computation norms are still widely referenced. However, the norms were collected nearly 30 years ago and may not be widely representative because they were drawn from a relatively small sample of students. Additionally, the norms make no distinction between easy and more challenging math computation problem types. Because of these limitations, these norms are best regarded as a rough indicator of typical student math computation skills. Comments These math computation norms are still widely referenced. However, the norms were collected nearly 30 years ago and may not be widely representative because they were drawn from a relatively small sample of students. Additionally, the norms make no distinction between easy and more challenging math computation problem types. Because of these limitations, these norms are best regarded as a rough indicator of typical student math computation skills. Comments These math computation norms are still widely referenced. However, the norms were collected nearly 30 years ago and may not be widely representative because they were drawn from a relatively small sample of students. Additionally, the norms make no distinction between easy and more challenging math computation problem types. Because of these limitations, these norms are best regarded as a rough indicator of typical student math computation skills.
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Selected Research-Based Norms for Academic Skills
and Related Behaviors (pp. 181-182)
Curriculum-Based Measurement Writing (Mirkin, Deno, Fuchs, Wesson, Tindal, Marston, Kuehnle,1981) Curriculum-Based Measurement Writing (Mirkin, Deno, Fuchs, Wesson, Tindal, Marston, Kuehnle,1981)
Grade Total Words Written in 3 Minutes
1 15
2 28
3 37
4 41
5 49
6 53
Comments These research norms in writing are still among the few that have been published. While they can be useful as a general starting point for estimating typical writing skills, these norms also have limitations they are somewhat dated, were based on a relatively small sample size, and apply only to one area of CBM writing-- total words written. Comments These research norms in writing are still among the few that have been published. While they can be useful as a general starting point for estimating typical writing skills, these norms also have limitations they are somewhat dated, were based on a relatively small sample size, and apply only to one area of CBM writing-- total words written.
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Selected Research-Based Norms for Academic Skills
and Related Behaviors (pp. 181-182)
School Attendance Rates of Absenteeism (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2005) School Attendance Rates of Absenteeism (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2005)
Grade Days of School Missed Per Month
All Grades (K-12) 80 of students in a large national sample missed no more than 2 days of school per month.
Comments These attendance norms were compiled from a large data set. They are a reliable yardstick for estimating typical rates of student attendance. Comments These attendance norms were compiled from a large data set. They are a reliable yardstick for estimating typical rates of student attendance.
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Selected Research-Based Norms for Academic Skills
and Related Behaviors (pp. 181-182)
Time on Task (Anderson, 1976 Gettinger, 1985) Time on Task (Anderson, 1976 Gettinger, 1985)
Grade Time on Task
All Grades (K-12) 80 or more estimated
Comments There are few reliable norms for the amount of on-task behavior a student must show in the classroom to have an optimal chance for success. The issue is further complicated because existing studies of typical rates of time on task often fail to distinguish between passive academic engagement (student simply looking at the teacher) and student active academic engagement (student actively showing what they have learned through involvement in observable activities). There is little disagreement, though, that students need to attend to instruction in order to learn. Therefore, RTI Teams are encouraged to set a goal of at least 80 on task (counting both passive and active student engagement). Comments There are few reliable norms for the amount of on-task behavior a student must show in the classroom to have an optimal chance for success. The issue is further complicated because existing studies of typical rates of time on task often fail to distinguish between passive academic engagement (student simply looking at the teacher) and student active academic engagement (student actively showing what they have learned through involvement in observable activities). There is little disagreement, though, that students need to attend to instruction in order to learn. Therefore, RTI Teams are encouraged to set a goal of at least 80 on task (counting both passive and active student engagement).
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Methods to Determine a Students Expected Level
of Achievement

• Criterion-Referenced Benchmarks. Homework
  completion, reading comprehension, and knowledge
  of higher-level math operations are just three
  examples of academic competencies for which
  schools are unlikely to have norms. When faced
  with a lack of clear-cut norms (e.g., homework
  completion, reading comprehension, or knowledge
  of higher-level math operations), the RTI Team
  can work with the referring teacher to set a
  criterion-referenced benchmarkthat is, an
  assessment that compares a students performance
  on an academic task or behavior to a pre-selected
  standard of mastery (e.g., Fuchs Fuchs,
  2006).A disadvantage of criterion-referenced
  benchmarks is that they can be somewhat
  arbitrary, often based largely on teacher
  judgment. An advantage of such benchmarks,
  however, is that they can be applied flexibly to
  a very wide range of student academic skills and
  behaviors for which formal peer norms are
  unavailable.

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Closing the Gap Calculating Expected Rates of
Student Progress
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Methods to Calculate Expected Rates of Student
Progress

• Growth Norms Based on Research. While scarce,
  some research articles have been published that
  track average rates of student progress in basic
  academic skills over time. Research-based norms
  are convenient but may be based on small sample
  sizes. Still, when available, they can be helpful
  starting points for calculating expected student
  rates of growth.

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Methods to Calculate Expected Rates of Student
Progress

• Growth Estimates Based on Distance Between Target
  Student Performance and Local Norms. If a school
  or district has compiled its own local norms (for
  example, in curriculum-based measurement oral
  reading fluency), the grade norms of a student
  with academic delays represent the goal toward
  which that student will work. If for example, a
  schools local norms indicate that the typical
  reading rate in 4th-grade text is 73 words per
  minute in that building, then this figure may be
  used as the ultimate goal for a 4th grade student
  who has deficits in reading fluency. The RTI Team
  would calculate a rate of weekly improvement that
  the student must achieve to allow that student
  ultimately to catch up with his or her peers.

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Methods to Calculate Expected Rates of Student
Progress

• Growth Rates Based on Criterion-Referenced
  Benchmarks. If criterion-referenced benchmarks
  are set as goals for student performance, then
  these benchmarks become the goal toward which the
  student works. The RTI Team and referring teacher
  would set weekly rates of student improvement
  sufficiently ambitious to help the student to
  achieve the benchmark within a reasonable period
  of time.For example, a teacher may refer a
  student to the RTI Team because she turns in
  homework on average only 40 percent of the time.
  Based on the grading formula for the course, the
  teacher estimates that the student will receive a
  passing grade if she manages to turn in at least
  80 percent of assigned homework. So the RTI
  Team and teacher adopt this homework completion
  goal of 80 percent as a criterion-referenced
  benchmark and intervention goal. They agree to
  try a homework intervention for 8 weeks. The
  expectation is that the student will increase
  homework completion by at least 5 percent per
  week until the student reaches the goal of 80
  percent.

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Methods to Determine a Students Expected Level
of Achievement

• Growth Rates Based on Criterion-Referenced
  Benchmarks. (Cont.) For more advanced academic
  tasks, the referring teacher and team may want
  to
• Create a step-by-step checklist that breaks the
  global task into clearly defined essential
  sub-steps.
• Write a rubric that evaluates the students
  performance on each sub-step.
• The RTI Team would set a goal for the student
  based on the checklist. For example, a student
  may have a checklist to guide preparation and
  writing of the assignments. One goal for the
  student at the end of the intervention period
  might be to have at least 80 percent of his or
  her writing assignments meet minimal requirements
  using the checklist and rubric. Another goal
  might be tied to have the student attain passing
  grades on at least 80 percent of those
  assignments.

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When Does the RTI Team Refer a Student to Special
Education?
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Evaluating the Intervention Plan of the
Non-Responding Student pp. 183-184
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END