runningheadwholeschoolingandresponsetointervention.docVIP

WHOLE SCHOOLING AND RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION Claudia Rinaldi Boston College Shannon Stuart University of Wisconsin-Whitewater This article describes how an urban elementary school that practices the principles of Whole Schooling developed a Response to Intervention (RtI) model. Data from a survey, focus groups, and in-depth interviews were used to develop the model. Participants were also presented with a collaborative planning framework (Stuart Rinaldi, in press) designed help educators plan instruction and monitor academic progress. Introduction Today, a central concern of United States educators is ensuring equitable access to general education for all students, including students with disabilities, students from diverse cultural backgrounds, and students who speak English as a second language. Both the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004 (U.S. Department of Education, 2004) articulate the school’s responsibility to ensure that all students can access the core curriculum in the general education environment whenever possible, with appropriate supports and services. Recently, collaborative planning structure examples have been adopted into the IDEIA that encourage the implementation of the Response to Intervention (RtI) model as a way of ensuring appropriate instruction and continual monitoring. RtI refers to a multi-tier model for addressing the individual needs of students experiencing academic or behavioral difficulties by providing evidenced-based intervention and close progress monitoring. In the three-tiered model, Tier I provides researched-based instruction in the general education classroom. Tier II provides Tier I instruction plus intensive assistance as part of the general education support system usually in small group formats. Tier III provides the supports of Tiers I and II as well as possible special edu