Eric.ed.gov – Supporting Early Grades Student Achievement: An Exploration of RTI[superscript 2] Practices. Tennessee RTI[superscript 2] Model

Almost half of Tennessee’s students are not on grade level in reading and math by the time they complete third grade, and very few of those students achieve proficiency in later grades. To combat this trend and support the skill development and academic achievement of all students, Tennessee has adopted a framework for addressing individual learning needs called Response to Instruction and Intervention (RTI[superscript 2]). RTI[superscript 2] promotes the use of research-based, high-quality instruction and interventions and provides an integrated, seamless model that supports student progress at every level. Statewide implementation of RTI[superscript 2] occurred in elementary schools in 2014-15. According to educator reports, elementary schools have embraced the RTI[superscript 2] framework, incorporating its key components into their daily routines. Despite schools’ concerted efforts to implement RTI[superscript 2], student achievement data reveal that patterns of student growth still vary considerably between schools. This report uses evidence from the 2015 Tennessee Educator Survey to identify RTI[superscript 2] “high implementers” and addresses the following question: What differentiates the high implementers that are more successful than others at moving non-proficient students to proficiency? Key findings include the following: (1) On average, the majority of teachers reported that their schools were either fully or partially implementing RTI[superscript 2]. However, only 153 of the 634 schools included in the Tennessee Educator Survey analysis were categorized as high implementers–schools in which almost all teachers reported implementing the key components of RTI[superscript 2]. This suggests that many schools can continue to refine and improve their RTI[superscript 2] implementation; (2) Implementation of key RTI[superscript 2] practices looks similar across high implementers. Yet, some of the high implementers have been more successful than others at moving non-proficient students to proficiency between grades 3 and 5; and (3) After interviewing school leaders and staff in high implementers that were successful at moving students to proficiency (“big movers”) and high implementers that were not as successful at moving students to proficiency (“small movers”), key differences were discovered. The following are appended: (1) Percent of Students Moving from Non-Proficient to Proficiency and Proficient to Non-Proficiency between Grades 3 and 5 in Big and Small Movers; and (2) School Leader and Staff Interview Questions. Contains endnotes. [This report was written with support from the Research and Strategy Team in the Tennessee Department of Education’s Division of Data and Research: Jonathon Attridge, Isaiah Bailey, Laura Booker, Shelby Buono, Lila Goldstein, Lacey Hartigan, and Nate Schwartz.]