Meeting a key need, this is the first comprehensive guide to implementing a schoolwide response to intervention (RTI) program. The book is geared to helping practitioners understand and respond to No Child Left Behind and to the new special education eligibility guidelines outlined in IDEIA 2004. Presented are the theoretical and empirical foundations of the approach and a clear, 10-step model for conducting RTI procedures with students experiencing learning difficulties. Special features include reproducible planning and implementation worksheets and more than two dozen overhead transparency masters for use in RTI training sessions, with lay-flat binding to facilitate photocopying. For optimal utility, RTI training materials are also available online as PowerPoint slides and PDFs. Contents: Introduction: What Is Response to Intervention (RTI)? 2. NCLB, IDEIA, and RTI: Linkages across National Education Policies 3. RTI Instead of Discrepancy Models 4. Evidence-Based Interventions 5. Single-Subject Experimental Design 6. Single-Subject Research and RTI: A Natural Collaboration 7. Using RTI Procedures for Assessment of Academic Difficulties 8. Using RTI Procedures with Students from Diverse Backgrounds: Considering Ability, Culture, Language, Race, and Religion 9. Using RTI Procedures as Part of Special Education Eligibility Decision Making 10. RTI Reports: Formal Evidence of Student Progress 11.Training Educators to Use RTI Methods 12. Frequently Asked Questions--and Our Best Responses: Some Conclusions about RTI Review: "The authors present a clear foundation, rationale, and framework to implement an RTI model. In an age of standards-based accountability, school personnel must have access to models and methods for data-based decision making. This text effectively communicates how to collect and use data to better understand the relationship between the educational environment and student progress. In this way, the text will support the preparation and training of educators as practitioner-scientists--professionals who know how to use assessment data dynamically to modify the instructional environment and maximize student outcomes." -Theodore J. Christ, PhD, School Psychology Program, University of Minnesota About the Authors: Rachel Brown-Chidsey, PhD, is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the School Psychology Program at the University of Southern Maine. Prior to obtaining her doctorate at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, she taught middle and high school history and special education for 10 years. Her research areas include curriculum-based measurement, response to intervention, and scientifically based reading instruction methods. Dr. Brown-Chidsey participated in the 2002 Multi-Site Conference on Future of School Psychology and subsequently edited Assessment for Intervention: A Problem-Solving Approach, which stemmed from the research presented at the conference. Dr. Brown-Chidsey is a nationally certified school psychologist and a licensed psychologist, and she has served on the Maine Advisory Board for School Psychological Service Providers and the Maine Task Force for Special Education Eligibility. Mark W. Steege, PhD, is Professor and Clinical Coordinator of the School Psychology Program at the University of Southern Maine. Dr. Steege earned his doctorate at the University of Iowa and completed postdoctoral work as a pediatric psychologist at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. His research areas include functional behavioral assessment, interventions forindividuals with developmental disabilities, and assessment of autismspectrum disorders. Dr. Steege coauthored Conducting School-Based Functional Behavioral Assessments: A Practitioner's Guide, with T.Steuart Watson, and has published numerous articles related to applied behavior analysis, functional behavioral assessment, and single-subject research design. |