I just wanted to say a few things about RTI. CPS has not fully gotten on board with this initiative so my school is not on board. I think RTI is great on paper, but I have a few problems with it. For one, like many things in education, the government lets things work out. We are demanded to do one thing and just when we think we are comfortable doing that they go and demand something different from us. I'm not complaining because of the work but this really affects students.
One thing I like about RTI is that it has the learner in the center of everything. Students should not have to adapt to our teacher. We should adapt our teaching to the learners. Another thing that I got from the video we watched in class, is that we have to have more than one person, the classroom teacher, assisting our students. I was happy to see the success that this particular school was having with RTI. However, they had many extra people involved. What happens to this program once the extra people leave? I'm afraid that funding from RACE TO THE TOP will be used to support programs that will bring more demands for educators without giving up on others and not offer the appropriate support. I would love to see this money be used to make class sizes smaller and add personal that works directly with students.
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A blog for Ruiz's students to use
1 comment:
Ibett, speaking as a classroom teacher with one year of RtI under my belt, having more people to assist with interventions is crutial. Regular, best practice education within the classroom should not be cut in order to provide the interventions. A single classroom teacher can only do so much in a day. At some point, we just run out of time! Smaller class sizes makes a big difference as well. It seems logical to me that those students in smaller classes would do better, but I have no research to quote to back up my claim!
One thing I like about RtI is that it is quick. You don't have to wait months and months for parents to agree to testing, conduct testing, interpret results, share results with parents, and make a plan. If a child is struggling, you start right away with an intervention. Sometimes further testing may be needed (for example, is the child strugling in math because he/she doesn't know math facts? because he/she doesn't understand the algorithms for multidigit addition and subtraction? because he/she has been told for years that math is not their best subject?) but many times the intervention nips a deficiency in the bud and the child experiences success.
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