RtI Meeting Preparation

Earlier this year, I explained the changes that we made to our interventions, schedules, and meetings for RtI.

One of our big challenges as a building has always been meetings.  We have a large amount of Tier II and Tier III students (which we hope to be turning around as we dive deeper into RtI).  Due to this large amount of students, meeting on ALL of them has been hard, frustrating, tricky...I don't know...just not happening the way that it should.  Our mission this year was to change that.

It was a bit of a scary endeavor.  In order to meet on all of these students in a consistent, efficient manner, it would take some "leg work" up front.  Previously, teachers would bring all of their data and then we would listen to the data on each student.  This was not a quick process and conversations could quickly stray off topic.

Although we had folders set up for each team member that included "decision rules" and intervention options, we really needed more than that.

What we needed was all the student data in a clean, clear format.  This would help us to move through each student efficiently. We needed something like this:

And so that is what we did.  First, we assessed each Tier II and Tier III student on the DRA (that is our reading assessment).  This assessment helped us to determine if their interventions were impacting the overall "picture" of their reading progress.  Second, we gathered all of the progress monitoring data.  This could have been LLI reading records, an Aimsweb assessment, or any other predetermined progress monitoring tool.  Finally, we imported all this information into the slide (like the one above) for each student. 
As an intervention team, we came up with a "rough draft" of the interventions that would change, stay the same, or be discontinued.

Then came the meeting day...

As an intervention team, we met with each grade level during their plan bells.  We flipped through the slides.  None of this data was unknown to the classroom teacher, of course, but having it all on one slide for us to look at collectively was extremely helpful.  It was a HUGE time saver in terms of our meeting.  Once we quickly went over the data, the intervention team provided their recommendation for an changes to the support the child needed and the classroom teacher would agree or disagree.  Then we moved on to the next student.  And this would continue on until all of the slides were complete or the plan bell time was up!

We met on each and every Tier II and Tier III student each 7 weeks.  This has never happened in this manner before and I will tell you...I think it made a HUGE impact on our interventions this year.  Yes...it took us a full week to assess, prepare the slides, and complete RtI paperwork...BUT...the payoff for this time commitment has been great.  We have seen more growth this year than I can ever remember observing in the past.
 
Now.  That could be for several reasons. 
We just started using LLI.
We added a Title I person to our team.
We were no longer tied to grade levels.
We were following a true RtI framework.
We had consistent meetings every 7 weeks based on current data.

All of these factors played a part in the success that we have seen this year.  But stopping to analyze, reflect, and make changes (no matter how small or how big) has been really important.  Each student received interventions tailored to their needs. 

And that is what it is all about, right?  Meeting them where they are and taking them to where we know that they can go!  While supporting and loving them the whole way.

Em

Handwriting Intervention and Tools

This has proven to be a rather productive year when it comes to intervention.  We saw gaps in our RtI process and we worked hard to fill them.  Is it a perfect system?  No.  It never will be because we are working with changing, growing little humans.  But we are meeting their needs on a more individual basis better than any other year I can remember.  And that is progress, for sure.

Earlier this school year, I shared what we did to change our RtI process.  One important change that we made has to do more with our philosophy that resulted in action.  We really believe that one blanket intervention is not the answer.  And I will admit that before I knew better, this is exactly what I did.

"Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better." -Maya Angelou

 

I had access to one program and that is what I used to intervene with all my Tier 2 students.  I truly believe that we need to analyze and determine what each student really NEEDS to move them forward.

So this is exactly what we did this year.  We assessed, analyzed, and determined what intervention would best meet the needs of each and every student in our K-2 building.  Some of them needed a handwriting intervention.

I have never provided handwriting interventions before.  Over and over again it has been mentioned that students are moving grade to grade and their writing is not legible.  So we decided to do something about it.  And what we found is that it was a very quick intervention.  For most students it took less than 5 minutes a day and lasted only a couple of weeks.

Once I analyzed some baseline data, I was able to determine the students that needed additional assistance on letter or number formation.  Then I made a list of the exact letters or numbers that were in need.

Handwriting Without Tears has a sequence that they feel is best when teaching upper case and lower case letters. By using this sequence, I was able to make connections between letters that are formed in a similar way. I used their sequence, plus the assessment data to determine the letters that I would focus on each day.  Here is an example:

Then I began working with each student. We would review previous letters learned.  Then I would show them how to form two new letters.  First they would trace the letter with sandpaper.  Then we would draw the letter in the air with our arm and on the table with our index finger.  These movements would transfer onto paper.  I would model the letter formation with a highlighter on lined paper.  The student would trace my letter and form their own letter next to mine.

The multi-sensory materials used were key.  Here are some other options to provide a multi-sensory experience. 

This is just salt in a small tin that I bought at Dollar General for 25 cents.  Students use the eraser end of a pencil to form the letter.

This is an old place mat that I cut up.  I drew lines on it so that we could use our finger to write the letters.  I have also placed paper on top to provide a bumpy surface when they write.

I like to use a variety of writing tools for motivation, engagement, and to provide different sensory experiences.  Kwik Stix just came out with these Thin Stix.  It feels very smooth when you write with them.  For my students, these really "force" them to write with continuous motion.  If you do not, a gap will form in the letters (see image below).  For this reason, I have found these to be really helpful when I work on handwriting.

I found great success with the intervention because it was multi-sensory, one on one, explicit, and direct.  I was worried that the new learning would not transfer over into class work and writer's workshop.  For the students that I worked with, I did analyze their writing pieces with them.  We looked over their letter formation together.  Then practiced any letters that they still were not comfortable writing.  This little added analysis really made a difference with the transfer of knowledge.

Any handwriting tips?  I'll take them!
Em

Analyzing RtI: Professional Development

After realizing our RtI model wasn't really working for us or our students, the teachers in my building decided to analyze the different components of our RtI model.  This blog series will go in depth with how we scrutinized each of the following parts of the model:

An overview
High Quality Instruction
Universal Screening
Research Based Interventions
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Fidelity
RtI meetings
Professional Development

 As I wrap up this blog series on RtI, I want to take a moment to recognize the power of professional development.  It comes in many, many forms.  And it can be all around us...if we are listening.

When analyzing the RtI in my own building, one of the most important things that I can do is listen to my peers.  The discussions that we can have around RtI meetings, interventions, classroom instruction, and progress monitoring are really important.  We are able to meet once a week as a K-2 vertical team in order to have these conversations.  As we discuss concerns, questions, and changes, we refer to the RtI framework that we created to help us lay out exactly how we want everything to run (ideally).  This is a working document and can be changed as we experience challenges.
These conversations have led to more trust and awareness in our building.  We have been able to determine where our instruction could be stronger for the next grade level and common vocabulary that we want to use.  Without these conversations, trust, and support from each other, I don't think change can occur as easily.

I think we are great professional development for each other, as well.  I know that each of our schools are different; however, we can learn something from each other.  From reading blogs about RtI, I was able to try out some of the organizational techniques that were explained.  This helped me to determine how I could tweak them for our building. 
Another great source for professional development are the RtI websites available to us that have research based interventions, progress monitoring ideas, or definitions that may be needed.  My two "go to" websites are: Intervention Central and RtI Action Network.
I also wonder what resources may be around you that you may not be aware of.  This was the case for me.  We have representatives at a county level that hold expertise in particular areas.  The RtI consultant that worked with my building helped me tremendously.  She pointed me in the direction of articles to read, books to recommend, and resources that could help me understand RtI more.  Maybe there is a mentor like this around your district?

Funding-wise I know that conferences are not always the best option.  But it is a great way to learn about new intervention techniques and high quality instruction.  I try to go to any conference that I can because I know that I can always get something from it!  For example, I went to Nerd Camp this summer in Michigan.  I knew that I was going to get A LOT from it because I had heard great things.  But I was not expecting to learn about intervention techniques.  And sure enough...I was wrong!  I came away with some great ideas to support our RtI.

I hope that overall this blog series has given you a glimpse into our process and from that you are able to pull some ideas for your own school.  For me, the reflection process has given me much insight.  I look forward to the growth that will take place in not only my students this year, but also in me!

Em

Analyzing RtI: RtI meetings

After realizing our RtI model wasn't really working for us or our students, the teachers in my building decided to analyze the different components of our RtI model.  This blog series will go in depth with how we scrutinized each of the following parts of the model:

An overview
High Quality Instruction
Universal Screening
Research Based Interventions
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Fidelity
RtI meetings
Professional Development

 

I have been really excited about this post of the series because it the area that we really needed to grow in.  Last year we focused a lot of attention on interventions, progress monitoring, storing data, and fidelity.  At the end of the school year we came with A PLAN for our RtI meetings.

This post from Conversations in Literacy was super helpful to us.  It helped us to form our thinking about how we wanted to structure the meetings.

Here's what we came up with: 

At the end of each intervention cycle (7-8 weeks long), my team and I will make sure we have all the intervention data for Tier II and Tier III students.  This includes the intervention progress monitoring and a DRA progress monitoring.  We want to analyze their progress on a skill based level (interventions) but also on the "big picture" level (DRA).  Once we have all of this, we will meet as an RtI team to discuss the interventions that stay the same, need to be intensified, or need to completely change.  These are the decision rules that we will be using this year:

Each person at the meeting will have an RtI folder within it that contains the decision rules, our grade level benchmarks, and a list of the interventions that are available to our students.

We will be sending home information to the parents to inform them about the interventions that their child will be receiving and how they can support those skills at home.  If the interventions must intensify or progress is not being made, then we will be scheduling additional meetings to meet with the parents.

Our goal is that meetings will be more fluid.  There will not be any questions about when they will occur.  They are already on the calendar and every Tier II and Tier III student will be discussed based on the data.  Our goal is that we will be better serving our students because decisions will be made and changes will be made in a timely manner.  This is our hope...and goodness...I really want it to work!

One question that we have had....What if we get a new student that is not in a Tier yet?  And what if a student all of sudden takes a turn and needs an intervention before our next RtI meeting?  These are important concerns.  So we created a consultation form that can be used anytime a teacher would like to meet with us about a student prior to our pre-scheduled RtI meetings. Then we can work together to come up with a plan for that student.

It will be really interesting to see how this plan turns out in action this year.  Next up...how do we all stay on the same page when it comes to RtI?  What professional development do we need?

Em

Analyzing RtI: Fidelity

After realizing our RtI model wasn't really working for us or our students, the teachers in my building decided to analyze the different components of our RtI model.  This blog series will go in depth with how we scrutinized each of the following parts of the model:

An overview
High Quality Instruction
Universal Screening
Research Based Interventions
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Fidelity
RtI meetings
Professional Development

Fidelity is the act of delivering instruction in the manner for which it is meant to be implemented.
 In the article titled: "Reviewing the Roots of Response to Intervention: Is There Enough Research to Support the Promise" by Tammi Ridgeway, Debra Price, Cynthia Simpson, and Chad Rose, it is stated that "...implementing instruction with fidelity is essential when measuring the outcomes of both the core curricula and individualized interventions."

In an earlier post within this series, I discussed our analysis of the core curriculum in our school and our need to be on the "same page."  We created a literacy framework for our Tier I instruction with the thought that each of us would follow it with fidelity so that students would be receiving instruction rooted in the best practices in reading.  This strong Tier I instruction is essential.

Fidelity is also essential when discussing interventions but for a slightly different reason. We use research based interventions in our RtI model; therefore, there is a protocol to follow in order for these interventions to potentially produce the same positive results. The routine that was established by the researchers needs to be what occurs during the interventions within our school, as well.

Why?

Well...our goal is to support a student in an area of need.  Let's say the intervention that we try does not work.  If we know that the intervention was carried out with fidelity, then we can get down to the matter of what is really go.  Does the student need a more intense intervention?  Is there another sub-skill that we missed and need to look at again?  Is there an intervention that would be more suitable for this child?

None of these questions have to do with the implementation process of the intervention received.  Honestly, there is not time for that.  Our students in intervention are behind.  They need us to do our best to get to the root of their need, support them, and then reanalyze.
 

Within the RtI model, I know that fidelity refers to much more than just the implementation of instruction.  The RtI Action Network lays out a comprehensive definition of fidelity with the model.  But, to be honest, I have a lot to learn.  I know that I need to pay attention to my delivery of instruction.  I know that I need to be consistent with my progress monitoring.

I also know that my building must be consistent with our meetings to reevaluate the data.  And this is the next topic within our blog series!

Em

Analyzing RtI: Continuous Progress Monitoring

After realizing our RtI model wasn't really working for us or our students, the teachers in my building decided to analyze the different components of our RtI model.  This blog series will go in depth with how we scrutinized each of the following parts of the model:
An overview
High Quality Instruction
Universal Screening
Research Based Interventions
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Fidelity
RtI meetings
Professional Development

Progress monitoring is an interesting beast.  It can feel like it is taking away from instructional time.  It can be time consuming.  It can be an organizational challenge. But...it provides necessary information.  It helps to drive intervention and instruction.  And it helps to illustrate what is working and what is not working.

It is a critical part of the RtI model because it allows you to analyze whether your core teaching and interventions are making a positive impact on student learning.  The trick...making sure you have a tool that measures what you are really trying to analyze and learn about your student.

This was one of the biggest conversations that we had to have around the topic of progress monitoring as we analyzed our RtI model.  Did we have the necessary tools to measure what we were actually teaching and intervening on.

The answer...not exactly.

Our main progress monitoring tools at the time were Aimsweb.  So this means we were measuring fluency, nonsense word fluency, and computation.  We could also use the letter naming and sound probes.  None of these are bad, but they really didn't match all the interventions that we starting to incorporate into our instruction.  We were missing tools to look at phonological awareness, number sense (or pre-computation skills), phonics skills other than short vowels (within nonsense words), and comprehension.

So the search began.  And we found some resources to help fill our gaps.  One important file that we found came from the Southwest Plains Regional Service Center (I think...please don't hold me to it!)  This resource has some quick phonological awareness and phonics progress monitoring tools.  I retyped some of them so that the directions were very specific to our student needs. (Okay fine...it was also because I wanted all the PM to look the same because I am super weird like that!)   But it was a great starting point for me.

 We keep the progress monitoring in the binders with the interventions.  This helps to keep it all together in one place.

These tools are great for the week to week data that lets us know what is working for a student when it comes to very specific skills that they need to work on such as blending sounds or reading fluently.  But one area that we found we were lacking in was "the big picture." (I realized this when reading Conversations in Literacy blog--so good!!)  Were these interventions actually impacting their ability to read on grade level?

To answer this question, we added a new component to our progress monitoring this year.  After our RtI cycle, my team will be completing DRA progress monitoring assessments on our Tier II and Tier III students.  These are shorter passages with fewer comprehension questions.  This will allow us to look at how our interventions are impacting a child's reading, as a whole.  I am really excited to see how this helps us to make decisions about interventions and individualized instruction.

With universal screenings complete, interventions in place, progress monitoring prepared...we are ready to begin.  But another question remains...how do we maintain fidelity in our RtI model?  This is our next topic!

Em

Analyzing Your RtI: Research Based Interventions

After realizing our RtI model wasn't really working for us or our students, the teachers in my building decided to analyze the different components of our RtI model.  This blog series will go in depth with how we scrutinized each of the following parts of the model:
An overview
High Quality Instruction
Universal Screening
Research Based Interventions
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Fidelity
RtI meetings
Professional Development

 In the previous post, I described our assessment flow charts that help us to "nail" down the skills that each student needs to begin working on.  For some it may be phonological awareness, while another group of students need an intervention for fluency, and others may need a more comprehensive program like LLI.

But then what?  And who does them?  And how do you fit them all in the schedule?

Well...this is also going to vary greatly from school to school because we all have different resources, different constraints, a varying amount of support, and unique populations of students.   But I want to share with you what we did in the hopes that it can help you along your journey.

First things first...we had to figure out what we even had available to us.  We were looking for interventions that were research based, could be completed with fidelity, had a script or at least a very clear sequence.  When we sat down and really looked at all of our resources, this is what we discovered:

This list will certainly grow and change as we grow with our RtI model.  But it was and is a place for us start.

Some of our interventions are actual programs that are sequential and include all that we need.  These include PALS, LLI, Orton Gillingham, and Do the Math. But there were some gaps that needed to be filled and the Florida Center for Reading Research and Intervention Central are great resources to help fill the gaps!

Florida Center for Reading Research has some great hands on activities that lend themselves well to being used as a phonological awareness intervention.  To fit our needs, I typed them up.  Here is one example:

All of these interventions were put into a binder with tabs to separate the different components of phonological awareness.  Then we put all the materials needed to do any of the interventions in a bin and labeled them by the intervention number.

Intervention Central has some research based interventions for fluency and sight words that we found worked well for our students.  So I printed them off and also placed them in a binder so that they could be easily accessible to anyone conducting that intervention. 

As we continue on our journey through RtI, we will continue to evaluate how our interventions are working for our students.  Some guiding questions for us include: Are there any gaps that we are not filling?  Are the interventions that we are using providing the support needed for each individual?  Are there interventions that are not proving to have solid and productive results?

LLI will be a new intervention piece for us this year and I am super excited to use it!

The next piece to our RtI model...progress monitoring.

Em

Analyzing Your RtI: Universal Screening

After realizing our RtI model wasn't really working for us or our students, the teachers in my building decided to analyze the different components of our RtI model.  This blog series will go in depth with how we scrutinized each of the following parts of the model:
An overview
High Quality Instruction
Universal Screening
Research Based  Interventions
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Fidelity
RtI meetings
Professional Development

 

The RtI Action Network has a great definition of for universal screening.  Basically, they say that the purpose of these screenings (within the RtI model) is to determine the students that are in need of additional academic support.  The assessments are given to all students and help a school to identify their "at-risk" students.

Universal screeners vary per school district and maybe even per grade level within a school.  But they are typically the first step.  As we worked to analyze our RtI, we had to take a close look at our screeners and what they were telling us...or not telling us.

Currently, my K-2 building uses Aimweb as a universal screener.  This is a decision made at the district level. This assessment provides us with a quick one minute look at the following literacy components: 

• phoneme segmentation
• letter names
• letters sounds
• nonsense words
• fluency
• maze completion

We also decided that, as a building, we wanted to use the DRAs to provide us with a reading level, strategies, comprehension, and general knowledge about each student as a reader. 

What we found was that these universal screeners gave us a starting point but did not provide us with the information that we needed to actually start intervening with our Tier II students. For example: if a student showed that they were having difficulty with phoneme segmentation, it is not clear as to where to start on the phonological awareness stair step because Aimsweb only looks at this one component. We needed to dig a bit deeper.

 We created a flow chart for each grade K-2 for what we would do if a student fell below proficient on the universal screeners.  Here is an example of our first grade chart:

 Once the universal screeners are complete and the data is in, we can use the flow chart to determine exactly what diagnostic assessments we need to give to our Tier II and Tier III students.  Our hope is that we are getting to the root of their achievement gap.  It can be easy to fall into a "one size fits all" model that does not reach the true gap that keeps the student from reaching their full potential.

But then came the next challenge: ensuring that we had diagnostic screeners for each of these smaller components.  And we didn't.  So we went searching.

Phonological Awareness Diagnostic:

I love the phonological awareness assessment in this book.  It covers all the parts of the continuum:

• rhyming identification
• rhyming utilization
• alliteration identifcation
• alliteration utilization
• sentence segmentation
• syllabication
• onsets
• rimes
• blending task
• phoneme segmentation
• phoneme deletion
• phoneme substitution

This assessment provides me with a great starting point.  I know exactly where to start my interventions for phonological awareness.

Phonics Diagnostic:

Aimsweb gives me a good starting point.  It tells me if they can quickly tell me letter names or letter sounds in one minute.  But if they cannot do this, it does not tell me exactly what letters and sounds they do not know.  It also does not tell me if they can read digraphs, vowel teams, or words endings.  This is necessary information for me to have, if they need a phonics intervention.

The University of Texas has a Quick Phonics Screener (QPS) that they put out.  I like the way that it is set up because I can pinpoint what phonics skills a student has mastered and where to begin our interventions.  My teammate and I reworked it and typed it up to match our exact needs.  But here is a snapshot of what part of it looks like:

Fluency:

Aimsweb gives us a pretty good picture of whether a student has fluency or not.  It is a quick snapshot.  But if the phonological awareness and phonics prove to not be a problem, then we really do not need to give an additional fluency assessment.

Comprehension:

This one is a bit more involved because there are different components to comprehension.  It is important to pin point where the gap is for each particular student.  Is it retelling, literal questioning, inferential questioning, or evaluative questioning that the student is struggling with?  The DRA or a similar tool is helpful for determining this. We also found a quick assessment on Neuhaus website.  

Once the assessments are complete and the needs are determined, it is time to look at an appropriate intervention to match the need.

Em

Analyzing Our RtI: High Quality Instruction

After realizing our RtI model wasn't really working for us or our students, the teachers in my building decided to analyze the different components of our RtI model.  This blog series will go in depth with how we scrutinized each of the following parts of the model:
An overview
High Quality Instruction
Universal Screening
Research Based Interventions
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Fidelity
RtI meetings
Professional Development

This is where we needed to start when my building sat down to really talk about RtI.  Before we could look at interventions, RtI meetings, etc, we needed to determine if we were all on the same page with our Core classroom instruction.  And that is what we did.  We started with our reading instruction.

My district has a reading program that is followed.  But as we know, reading programs have a lot in them.  There is no way to hit everything that is in them.  So we pick what matches the needs, the standards, and what we all feel is best.  But this can also be tricky.

So we started with large chart paper.  I wrote each ELA standard on a separate piece of paper.  In vertical meetings (K-2), each teacher wrote down what they were doing to hit that particular standard or how it was hit in the basal program.

Then came the hard part...determining what we felt was best practice and backed by research.  We wanted to ensure that we were utilizing our time and resources to their fullest potential.  Please don't think this was an easy discussion.  It never is.  We all have activities that we like to do, but that doesn't always mean that they are the best utilization of our time.

By looking at each standard and the ways of teaching it, in this type of detail, we were able to outline a literacy framework.
 After looking at many different samples, we decided our framework would include:

•  an outline for each component of literacy that should be found in each classroom (here is one example):

•  Guidelines of best practices for each of those literacy components (here is one sample):

•  Description of what students and teachers are doing (another sample):

•  Resources for each component of the ELA block: books, websites, articles

• Glossary of terms

• Definition of teacher roles

• Common vocabulary to use as a building (this is to help students as they move from grade to grade)

• Common materials needed.  We included the sight word lists that we would use as a building and some common vocabulary assessments that could be used.

Through this process we made a few discoveries:

• As a building, we had a great foundation to start this framework.

• Many best practices were already in place.

• Teachers had a strong knowledge base about research based strategies

We also realized that we had some gaps:

• We needed to "tighten" our times spent on different literacy components in order to "free" up time for Tier II interventions.

•  We were not hitting vocabulary to the degree that we would have liked; therefore, we came up with a plan and a weekly assessment to integrate more vocabulary instruction.

• Common usage of terms needed to be address because it would be beneficial to our students.

Analyzing the Core instruction at your school is similar to any assessment that is given to our students.  There are strengths and weaknesses.  As I reflected with the RtI specialist, she expressed that each time she goes through this process with a school different results are produced.  Each school comes to the table with a different set of needs.  The framework that works for one school may not work for another.  But  the conversations between staff members, the honesty, the tears, the letting go, the holding on, the learning, the growing, and the changing all help to create one strong framework and school.

With the literacy framework complete, we can now focus on our next chapter: universal screenings and their impact to uncover our Tier II needs.

Em

Analyzing Your RtI: A Blog Series

2 years ago we started to really...like really...analyze our RtI process when a specialist came into my school to discuss research based interventions. She had so much to share: research based interventions, intervention menu boards, and background information on the RtI model.  Meeting after meeting my brain became more overloaded, frustrated, and (quite frankly) angry.

Que the rain cloud:

Why?  Her information was good.  It was accurate.  She was willing to help.  We needed it.

But I was so overwhelmed.

And what I realized was that we did not have our school set-up for this.  We did not have the structures in place to make RtI work for us.   But I did not understand this (at the time) and so my frustration grew.

And learning what I I didn't know (that I needed to know)...was my first step to understanding RtI.

Every school is so SO different.  What works for one may not work for another.  But that does not mean that we don't learn from each other.  We can take a some ideas from one school, some from another, a bit from yet another.  And that is what I started doing.  Reading, researching, and learning about how to make RtI work for us.

This summer I read an article titled: "Reviewing the Roots of Response to Intervention: Is There Enough Research to Support the Promise" by Tammi Ridgeway, Debra Price, Cynthia Simpson, and Chad Rose.  They outlined the components of RtI and those are: high quality instruction, research based instruction, common assessments, universal screening, continuous progress monitoring, fidelity, and professional development.

My building has gone through and analyzed these different components of our RtI model.  I am going to start a series of blog posts that will go through these parts of RtI and what we did to try to make a change.
An overview
High Quality Instruction
Universal Screening
Research Based Interventions
Continuous Progress Monitoring
Fidelity
RtI meetings
Professional Development
 My thinking may not match your school perfectly.  But my hope is that you can pull a little from here and some from other sources.

Em