I can certainly see how many would worry about a shift in the focus of student’s academic ability when RTI is being put into place. There is always a chance that some children may receive more attention than others. I personally feel like the method of using RTI would benefit more children than it would hinder. There are many children that have academic, physical, or mental struggles that far exceed just “lagging” behind their peers. However, these students would have most likely already been identified and there should be a process of having an IEP set up for the needs that need to be met.
RTI, I believe is something that is put into place that will hopefully help children that are struggling before they have other transitions that may need to happen. I am just starting to learn about this method but from the article it seems that RTI is more geared towards students that are starting to show signs of mild to moderate struggles that would differentiate them from their peers. The article stated, “Only 31% of fourth grades are proficient readers and 36% are proficient in mathematics” (NCLB Stats). It is sad that so many children are starting to fall behind at such a young age. These years are so formative in education and socially with their peers. I think that the RTI method can be used as a building block to get these children the help that they need early on. This will hopefully ensure that they do not fall further behind.
The main issue that was mentioned in the article related to using RTI was that children with much more severe needs would not get the help that they need, or to the extent that they need. Maybe I am misunderstanding the question, but I would think that if it has been identified that these children have more severe needs, then they would have already benefitted from this RTI tiered process and are receiving the help that they need. This could mean that they are now in Special Education and have possibly been given an IEP. I do completely understand that the parents of these children would be the ones with concerns, but as parents of children with special needs, they should be well informed of the academic procedures that will be taking place to help their children succeed.
Lastly, the article mentioned what could happen to children that are not treated or helped until farther along in their academic career. The article said that if children that are seen as being on the bottom 30% of pre-reading skills are not helped until farther along in their schooling than their chance of being labeled as having a learning disability increases 450%. Those are not odds that any educator or parent would like to risk. I believe with the knowledge that I have on RTI so far that it is being put into place with good intentions to hopefully better the academic success of students and should not be taken lightly.
RTI, I believe is something that is put into place that will hopefully help children that are struggling before they have other transitions that may need to happen. I am just starting to learn about this method but from the article it seems that RTI is more geared towards students that are starting to show signs of mild to moderate struggles that would differentiate them from their peers. The article stated, “Only 31% of fourth grades are proficient readers and 36% are proficient in mathematics” (NCLB Stats). It is sad that so many children are starting to fall behind at such a young age. These years are so formative in education and socially with their peers. I think that the RTI method can be used as a building block to get these children the help that they need early on. This will hopefully ensure that they do not fall further behind.
The main issue that was mentioned in the article related to using RTI was that children with much more severe needs would not get the help that they need, or to the extent that they need. Maybe I am misunderstanding the question, but I would think that if it has been identified that these children have more severe needs, then they would have already benefitted from this RTI tiered process and are receiving the help that they need. This could mean that they are now in Special Education and have possibly been given an IEP. I do completely understand that the parents of these children would be the ones with concerns, but as parents of children with special needs, they should be well informed of the academic procedures that will be taking place to help their children succeed.
Lastly, the article mentioned what could happen to children that are not treated or helped until farther along in their academic career. The article said that if children that are seen as being on the bottom 30% of pre-reading skills are not helped until farther along in their schooling than their chance of being labeled as having a learning disability increases 450%. Those are not odds that any educator or parent would like to risk. I believe with the knowledge that I have on RTI so far that it is being put into place with good intentions to hopefully better the academic success of students and should not be taken lightly.
