TopBarriers To Rti Implementation At The Secondary Level
Unlike at elementary schools, students attending middle and high school typically have a different teacher for each academic subject. This arrangement can cause problems because secondary teachers may not ever see, let alone talk with, one another, especially if they are teaching different subject areas or are not on the same team. Since teamwork is a huge part of RTI, this lack of collaboration can be a pitfall for offering RTI at the secondary level.
Scheduling is another barrier to implementing RTI at the secondary level. Tier 1 interventions can be handled by the general education classroom teacher, but if Tier 2 is handled by a specialist or a specific content area teacher, figuring out a time when the specialist can meet with different students can be daunting.
Moreover, secondary schools must be mindful of the fact that students must earn a certain number of credits to graduate on time with their peers, and remedial classes do not count toward those required credits. If a student needs to move from Tier 1 to Tier 2 and the only time the specialist is available for that level of intervention is during seventh period, and that happens to be the time that the student must take a math class, then a decision must be made on whether the school forgoes the intervention and allows the student to struggle or whether the student does not take the math class and does not graduate on time. It is a difficult choice for any school to make.