Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades

Practice Guide Details

Released:	February 2009
Topic:	Special Needs, Literacy
Education Level:	Elementary
Audience:	Administrator, Policymaker, Researcher, School Specialist, Teacher
Visit DWW:	For more on this practice guide visit Doing What Works
Related Resources:	Response to Intervention (RtI) in Early Reading and Mathematics: Moving Evidence on What Works into Practice

Authors

Russell Gersten (Chair)
Instructional Research Group

Donald Compton
Vanderbilt University

Carol M. Connor
Florida State University

Joseph Dimino
Instructional Research Group

Lana Santoro
Instructional Research Group

Sylvia Linan-Thompson
University of Texas, Austin

W. David Tilly
Heartland Area Education Agency

Handy Definitions

The amount of evidence associated with a practice guide recommendation.

No causal evidence for the recommendation exists. However, the recommendation is still considered as important as recommendations with strong and moderate levels of evidence (this rating was formerly low evidence).

Evidence exists for the recommended strategy, but the evidence may not be generalizable to a wide student population or show a clear causal relationship.

Consistent evidence exists that the recommended strategy improves student outcomes for a wide population of students.

Download Practice Guide (1320 KB)

Summary

This guide offers five specific recommendations to help educators identify struggling readers and implement evidence-based strategies to promote their reading achievement. Teachers and reading specialists can utilize these strategies to implement RtI and multi-tier intervention methods and frameworks at the classroom or school level. Recommendations cover how to screen students for reading problems, design a multi-tier intervention program, adjust instruction to help struggling readers, and monitor student progress.

Recommendations

	Recommendation	Level of Evidence
1.	Screen all students for potential reading problems at the beginning of the year and again in the middle of the year. Regularly monitor the progress of students at risk for developing reading disabilities. Source – 1320 KB	Moderate

Tier 1 intervention/general education

	Recommendation	Level of Evidence
2.	Provide time for differentiated reading instruction for all students based on assessments of students’ current reading level. Source – 1320 KB	Minimal

Tier 2

	Recommendation	Level of Evidence
3.	Provide intensive, systematic instruction on up to three foundational reading skills in small groups to students who score below the benchmark score on universal screening. Typically, these groups meet between three and five times a week, for 20 to 40 minutes. Source – 1320 KB	Strong
4.	Monitor the progress of tier 2 students at least once a month. Use these data to determine whether students still require intervention. For those students still making insufficient progress, schoolwide teams should design a tier 3 intervention plan. Source – 1320 KB	Minimal
5.	Provide intensive instruction on a daily basis that promotes the development of the various components of reading proficiency to students who show minimal progress after reasonable time in tier 2 small group instruction (tier 3). Source – 1320 KB	Minimal

What Works Clearinghouse

Assisting Students Struggling with Reading: Response to Intervention (RtI) and Multi-Tier Intervention in the Primary Grades

Summary

Recommendations

Tier 1 intervention/general education

Tier 2