Capstone C/RTI Dialogue Script

Amanda Wilson
Capstone C
Parent/Teacher RTI Script

Capstone C/RTI Dialogue Script

Script: RTI with Parent/Guardian

Teacher: Hello, thank you for meeting with me today to discuss RTI and the
effectiveness of this specific strategy set in our district, specifically at Stoney Creek High
School.
Parent/Guardian: What is RTI, and why is it necessary within my childs (son or
daughter) academic career?
Teacher: If you were to look inside any general education classroom, chances are
good that youd see different students struggling for different reasons. The goal is for the
school to intervene, or step in, and start helping before anyone fall really far behind. RTI
or response to intervention integrates assessment and intervention within a schoolwide, multi-level prevention system to maximize student achievement and reduce
behavior problems. In other words, RTI allows schools to monitor and address your
childs learning and behavioral needs in real time in order to prevent poor learning
outcomes.
Parent/Guardian: How does Response to Intervention work within middle or high
school setting?
Teacher: The RTI process begins with your childs teacher assessing the skills of
everyone in the class. These assessments help the schools RTI team (intervention
specialists) tell which students need instructional interventions. Interventions can be
part of classroom-wide instruction. The teacher may break students into small groups
tailored for different skill levels or learning styles (differentiated instruction). Students
who do not make enough progress getting this kind of help during class may start to
work on skills in small groups that meet during enrichment activities like music or art. As
part of the RTI process, schools help struggling students by using teaching interventions
that researcher have studied and show to be highly effective.
Parent/Guardian: How does the teacher ACTUALLY track my childs progress?
Teacher: Within RCS, we as a staff frequently assess your childs skills to determine
whether an intervention is working. During an intervention, your childs teacher or
another member of the RTI team uses an assessment tool that research has shown to
be an effective way to measure certain skills. This tool is used to assess every week or
even every other week.
Parent/Guardian: How much support do students ACTUALLY receive?
Teacher: To be honest, there is no single way of doing (implementing) RTI, but its
often set up as a three-tier system of support. Many school districts like RCS call this
framework a multi-tier system instead of RTI. One way to understand this tiered system

Capstone C/RTI Dialogue Script

is to think of it as a pyramid, with the intensity of support increasing from one level to the
next. Here is the breakdown:

Tier 1/Whole class

The general education classroom, the teacher measures everyones skills. This is
known as a universal screening. All students are taught using methods that research
has shown to be effective. Stoney will then let you know if your child is struggling and
will update you on his or her RTI progress. During the intervention, the RTI team
monitors students progress and see who might need additional support.
Tier 2/ Small group interventions
If your child isnt making adequate progress in Tier 1, he or she will start to receive
more targeted help. This will be in addition to regular classroom instruction, not a
replacement for it. Tier 2 interventions take place a few times a week during electives or
enrichment activities. They may even have an additional academic center hour or math
lab hour to help support the intervention. Again, our staff will monitor your childs
progress so it is clear whether the tier 2 intervention is helping.
Tier 3/Intensive interventions
Typically, only a small percentage of students will require tier 3 support. If your child
needs tier 3, it will be tailored to his or her needs. Every day hell receive one-on-one
instruction or work in very small groups. It even may require students who are receiving
special education services who need to work on the same skills. Your child will continue
to spend most of the say in the general education classroom. If he or she doesnt make
adequate progress in tier 3, its likely our school will recommend and an evaluation for
special education services. This will be no cost to you.
Parent/Guardian: Wow, the three-tier intervention process can be very intense but in
the end what are the benefits of RTI?
Teacher: RTI is a fluid process. At any time during the school year, you can
communicate with the teacher and find out which interventions are available to help
your child. RTI is designed to take students from where they are in terms of skills and
help them move toward grade-level expectations. That means adjustments can be
made to your childs instruction based on his individual response to an intervention, not
the response of the whole class or even small group.
Parent/Guardian: How can I (parents/guardians) participate in RTI?
Teacher: Requesting a written intervention plan can help you take an active role in RTI.
There are others ways you can be involved in the process: ask the school for more

Capstone C/RTI Dialogue Script

information about the intervention your child is receiving, ask for a copy of your childs
progress monitoring assessment, and ask how you can help at home. In the end, an
ongoing challenge for every educator is to develop and enhance skills that will offer
students the best possible learning experiences and opportunities, in school, at home,
and in community settings. It is therefore essential that every effort be made to ensure
that ongoing and effective communication and partnerships be established and
maintained with parents. As Zander & Zanders (2002) state: I am now able to use the
possibility that my every act can affect the world to communicate with people in such a
way so that a wave of inspiration and happiness can flow throughout the world (p. 62).
Personally,this rewarding to me when communication is at its finest and students are
seeing a big difference in RTI because everyone is on board.
Parent/Guardian: Wow, a lot of information to take in at this meeting today, but this
was very valuable and I hope RTI has a lot of success within every student.
Teacher: As Zander and Zander (2002) state, the ways things are calls for an
expansion of ourselves. We start from what is, not from what should be; we encompass
contradictions, painful feelings, fears, and imaginings, and without fleeing, blaming, or
attempting correction-we learn to soar (p. 111)...[RTI might not be smooth sailing at first
but we will get there and it will be a great accomplishment for your child. I thank you for
your time and questions and I hope RTI will be a wonderful strategy to implement in
your son or daughters academic career.

Capstone C/RTI Dialogue Script

References
Zander, B., & Zander, R. (2002). The art of possibility. New York: Penguin.