Response to Intervention (RTI) is a process that provides immediate intervention to struggling students at the first indication of failure to learn. Through systematic screening of all students in the early grades, classroom teachers identify those who are not mastering the critical reading skills and provide differentiated intervention to small groups of students. 

Continuous progress monitoring of students’ responses to those interventions allows teachers to identify students in need of additional intervention and to adjust instruction accordingly.

Purpose of RTI

Bensenville School District 2 believes in providing the highest quality of education for every student. In order to provide the most effective education for all children, we believe we must start by providing effective instruction for each child. RTI's three-tier approach to instruction allows us to meet that goal.

There are two overreaching goals of RTI. The first is to deliver evidence-based interventions and the second is to use students’ responses to those interventions as a basis for determining instructional needs and intensity.

Is the goal of RTI to identify students for the special education program? 

Special education decisions can be a product of these efforts, but not the primary goal. Using RTI as the database for making that decision, special education services are determined by the student’s rate of response to intervention and the size of the gap that exists between the student and the benchmark. As a result, identification is not about the student’s label, but rather about determining what interventions are most helpful in closing the gap in a timely manner.

Who is responsible for deciding that a student may need support and initiating the RTI process?

The central principle of the RTI approach is that it is not one particular person’s responsibility, but everyone’s responsibility. A student’s need for support may be identified from informal observations or a universal screening measure.

This process, known as Response to Intervention or RTI, started when federal law established these practices as a way to identify and provide early intervention to struggling students. Each tier provides additional support beyond the core curriculum. Students needing additional support academically and/or behaviorally will be monitored frequently to ensure students meet grade level expectations.

The tiers are as follows: