Recent legislation requires schools to implement a Response to Intervention (RTI) model that is based on multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS). The goal of RTI is to identify students early who are struggling academically or behaviorally and provide appropriate interventions to prevent these challenges from becoming more serious and detrimental to their success. Under the traditional system, students may not receive extra services until a problem becomes severe, and they meet criteria for a special education qualification. RTI helps schools identify children earlier using systematic and scientific universal screeners of all children. Therefore, RTI gives students who are at-risk the opportunity to receive less intensive intervention services, …show more content…
The aim of Tier 2 is to catch students’ problems early, provide basic targeted interventions within the general education environment, and prevent long-term negative impact. The goal of a Tier 2 intervention is to support students in meeting grade level benchmarks and catching up to their same aged peers through evidence-based interventions. Examples of Tier 2 interventions are extra reading supports, behavior charts, or home-school notes. After continuous progress monitoring, a problem-solving team may then decide to place a student back into Tier 1, continue Tier 2 interventions, or consider evaluating the student for more intensive Tier 3 services. Ideally, if early intervention is working well at Tiers 1 and 2, only about 5% of children should need services at the intensity of Tier 3. Special education services, such as speech therapy, resource classes, and self-contained classes, are considered Tier 3 services. Tier 3 services typically require students to have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) because they offer specially designed instruction. MTSS is intended to address both academic and emotional-behavioral difficulties, and this study will address a Tier 1 universal behavior