Response to Intervention (RtI) is a value-added practice that provides many benefits. It enables schools to increase professional collaboration between teachers, support staff, and leadership, intervene early as a result of screenings, provide more effective instruction and targeted interventions in skills-deficit areas, and accelerate learning due to appropriate instruction. It can also help differentiate between ineffective instruction and disability as contributing to a child’s delay and help close the gap between identification and treatment. Most important, RtI can increase student achievement and impact overall school improvement.

 As RtI crosses the “research to practice” gap, there are key features that are identified as essential for any successful RtI plan:

1. Designed to address the needs of all struggling learners
2. A problem-solving process with shared responsibility
3. School-wide instructional and behavioral supports in place
4. Intervention plans designed, implemented, and monitored by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals
5. Data-based decisions using universal screening and progress monitoring data
6. Interventions provided with fidelity, integrity, and intended intensity
7. Use of scientific research-based resources, programs, and practices
8. Written parent notifications describing RtI and student placement.
9. Ongoing, high-quality professional development to enhance core instruction
10. RtI as part of specific learning disability determination