Abstract
The response to intervention (RTI) service delivery model has been used primarily in the secondary language arts (reading) academic content area and in the various math courses. RTI has rarely, if at all, been introduced in secondary science courses, even though students are struggling in these courses due to the increase in reading and math content embedded within them. This chapter focuses on implementation of RTI in science courses at the secondary level. The utilization of a universal screener, tiers, progress monitoring, and fidelity is discussed, followed by a presentation of specific examples of research-based interventions that can be used at each tier level in the science content areas.
TopRti Components
The most common format of the RTI service delivery model includes a universal screening, tiers, progress monitoring, and fidelity. A brief overview of each of these aspects in relation to implementation in science is included below.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Literacy Skills: The process of learning to read academic, content-specific vocabulary.
Fidelity: Using a tool or intervention the exact way it is meant to be used. Using it in any fashion other than what is intended can cause progress-monitoring data to be skewed.
Universal Screener: Assessment tool used to determine if a student is on or behind grade level. This tool can be a state assessment, a commercial norm or criterion-referenced test, or a curriculum-based measurement.
Middle and High School Science: Classes in general science, biology, chemistry, and physics.
Tiers: The levels a student must pass through in the RTI service delivery model prior to being evaluated for special education services. Most RTI models have three tiers, though some have four or even five.
Progress Monitoring: Charting student progress at least weekly to ensure that the intervention is working.