Responce to Intervention (RTI) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Responce to Intervention (RTI) - Essay Example student progress in response to the instruction and interventions and using these measures of student progress to shape instruction and make educational decisions (Klotz and Kanter, 2007, p. 1). RTI is in line with the provisions of the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) which promotes equity, accountability and excellence in education for students with disabilities along with the debate on how to identify students as learning disabled (LD) and the need for special education of these students. According to Cortiella, of the 6 million children in special education, half of those are identified as having a â€Å"specific learning disability† and the number has grown more than 300 percent since 1976 thus policy makers have consistently expressed concern about the substantial number of students being served as LD under IDEA (2006, p.5). Research suggested that the prior methods of identifying students’ eligibility for special education services requires students to fall behind or accumulate failure for a long period of time even though recent studies show that the more a student is delayed the more help he or she will need close the achievement gap. Before the advent of RTI, the U.S. Department of Education crafted the regulations to implement the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act which needed to provide a process and criteria for identifying students in the category of specific learning disability (Cortiella, 2006, p. 5). Educators then used the ability-achievement discrepancy model, which requires children to take ability or IQ tests and academic achievement tests, comparison of standard scores and the recognition of a severe discrepancy between the child’s achievement score and ability score. The IDEA law enacted on 2004 also provides grants to states, discretionary grants for research, technology and training. This act also authorizes up to 15% of IDEA funds to be used