Response to Intervention And
Special Education Entitlement
Traditionally, students that
were failing were referred for a comprehensive case study evaluation to
determine if a disability existed for which a student could receive special
education services. In the traditional
model, a severe discrepancy between a student’s ability and his/her achievement
( IQ-Achievement discrepancy model) was needed in
order to be eligible for special education services.
If a severe discrepancy
could not be determined, those students had to get much further behind before
they could become eligible for special education services. This “wait to fail” situation prevented
students from receiving the early intervening services that are found to be
beneficial in preventing or reducing the effects of a Learning Disability.
The Individual with
Disabilities Improvement Act (IDEIA) 2004 has provided alternative ways of
identifying students with a Learning Disability. There is no longer the requirement that
students must exhibit a severe discrepancy between intellectual ability and
achievement in order to be found eligible for special education services as a
student with a disability.
IDEIA emphasizes the use of
Response to Intervention (RtI) as a process to be utilized in order for a student to be entitled to special
education services. This process
provides research-based interventions early in a student’s program. Students are first provided with effective
instruction and their progress is monitored over time to make educational
decisions. Struggling students receive
additional and increasingly more intense interventions before they have fallen
significantly behind. These
interventions are in addition to the regular classroom instruction.
The primary purpose of a Response to Intervention program is to provide an
appropriate intervention before considering a disability. Student performance
is monitored. The goal is to quickly
identify those students in need of help and provide scientific, research-based
interventions. Data is gathered frequently to determine if an intervention is
working for each student in the RTI process.
Beginning with the 2008-2009
school year, Evergreen Park Elementary District 124
utilizes a school-based problem-solving model for designing effective academic
and behavioral interventions for students. A learning disability is not suspected
until the student shows a lack of response to the interventions attempted.
If a student is evaluated we will consider all relevant aspects
of a student’s performance. As part of the evaluation procedure we will use the
information gained from the RtI process to determine
special education eligibility.
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