The RTI model is based on research conducted by some of this nation's leading educators and researchers. While the RTI model provides a valid means for identifying students, another benefit of RTI is that it merges special education into the overall policies of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) such as having clear standards, useful measurement and sound instructional practices. It clearly lays the groundwork for bringing a new focus on enhancing the performance of all students including those with disabilities through a common system in which classroom teachers, special education teachers and other specialists can work together. What makes learning more difficult for these students is we sometimes try to make students change their learning style when it is our instruction that should change. RTI can and should be used for any student that is experiencing difficulty in our schools. To determine the relative effectiveness of interventions for struggling early readers are briefly listed below:
1. Extensive interventions can be effective even when provided by relatively low-cost implementer when appropriate training is provided and the interventions are fairly structured and delivered one-on-one or in groups of two or three students.
2. In studies that included a follow-up assessment, gains from early extensive interventions appear to be maintained over time, at least into second grade.
3. All of the effective early interventions examined in these studies shared four essential elements: training in phonological awareness, decoding, and word study; guided and independent reading of progressively more difficult texts; writing exercises; and engaging students in practicing comprehension strategies while reading text.
4. Other elements of these interventions that may be related to their success include group size (one-on-one, small group), the daily or near-daily frequency of the intervention sessions, and the early identification (in K or Grade 1) of students in need of intervention. These elements were evident though not directly tested in most relevant research studies.
5. We know considerably more about the effectiveness of early interventions than we do about interventions provided at later stages of development.
6. Considerably more research is needed on students whose response to treatment is relatively low.