UnderstandingPre-Referral Assessments
Institution’s Name
UnderstandingPre-Referral Assessments
Whendealing with exceptional students, it is important to understand themanner in which they should be handled. In light of acquiring suchknowledge, getting information from experienced educational personnelis a plausible option. As such, this paper presents the findings ofan interview conducted with a teacher about Response to Intervention.
Criteria forDistinguishing RTI Tiers and Examples
Theinterviewed teacher made it clear that the three RTI tiers aredistinguished on thebasis of the intensity of the exceptionalities. In essence, sheindicated that the Tier 1 approach involves the provision ofhigh-quality instruction to students with exceptionalities. Suchstudents must be in a condition that requires screening to determinewhether they need more support for academic purposes. In this case,for instance, a curriculum-based evaluation can be conducted forscreening purposes. The second tier of RTI involves is necessitatedby the fact that a student is not making progress in the Tier 1approach. For example, interventions can be conducted in a K-12 classin regard to numerical and reading skills. In Tier 3 approach, thestudent is in such a condition that requires individualizedattention. In cases where progress is not evident, the student can berightly referred to a special education program. For instance, aparent may request the third tier approaches to determine whether hisor her child should go for special education programs.
Recording and InterpretingRTI Information
According to the respondent,the teacher is required to conduct an assessment on weekly basis suchthat the test for each child lasts for 1 to 5 minutes. The scores arerecorded against the name of the child for the ease of identificationand individualization of the scores. During interpretation, s/heshould compare the actual student’s results with the expected onesto determine the next course of action. The comparison is done usinga graph such as the one b elow.
Figure 1: Agraph used to make comparisons on the child’s actual performanceand expected one (Wixson& Lipson, 2013)
Communicationof RTI Information and Placement Decisions
Theinterviewee stated that RTI information is communicated on areal-time basis such that the parents are aware of the progress andassessment results whenever they are done. Once this assessmentinformation is communicated, the stakeholders are consulted andadvised in regard to the question of whether the child should beplaced in a certain program. The placement decision is based on theresults of the RTI and the main underlying factor is the presence ofprogress or lack of it.
References
Wixson,K. K., & Lipson, M. Y. (2013). Assessmentof reading and writing difficulties: an interactive approach.Boston: Pearson.
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