My Child Was Referred to a Tier 2 RTI Intervention. What Does That Mean?!

 You just got off the phone with your child's school, only to be told that your son or daughter has been referred to a tier 2 intervention under their school RTI model. They probably said something along the lines of how they have been progress monitoring your child for some time since he wasn't making the necessary growth that was expected. Through different in classroom interventions and reteaching, you were probably told your child was still struggling to make progress. Thus, the tier 2 placement. 

What does that even mean? In RTI (Response to Intervention) there are 3 tiers of instruction delivery. The first tier is the teaching that occurs in the classroom with the entire class. Think of this as the lessons that occur each day. Students are regularly assessed to determine how well they are learning with the instruction that was provided to all students. After instruction and practice, if your child is still struggling to understand the concept and make gains, they are referred to tier 2 of RTI. All this means is that your child may need more intensive, small group support and reteaching in order to close the gaps between your child and your child's peers within the class. 

When and how does this happen? This will generally be 3-4 times a week for 20-30 minutes. Your child will be placed with a group of 3-5 students also recommended for tier 2 interventions. They will work closely with a different teacher to help your child make gains in the area they are struggling in. This will occur outside of the classroom during an enrichment activity, and will be monitored closely to differentiate the intervention and determine the next steps for you child. 

What are the next steps for my child? That will depend on how tier 2 goes. If your child is successful after a given amount of time and with intervention, your child is placed back down in tier 1 until needed tier 2 supports again. If your child still struggles to meet expectations with different interventions within a specific amount of time, your student will be placed into a more intensive intervention in tier 3 of RTI.

What is tier 3 of RTI? That will be discussed in more detail in the next post.