Assessment

This week I read the article, “A Child’s Response to Intervention Requires a Responsive Teacher of Reading”.  IDEA offers U.S. schools confronting rising enrollments of students with learning disabilities two options for individuals with disabilities. The first option is that local education agencies can use as much as 15% of their special education funds to pay for early intervening services and to support professional development and literacy instruction. Second, offered by IDEA response to Intervention that can be used to provide early interventions with labeling students at risk for school failure as learning disabled.  The article then goes into the fundamental principles of the RTI Model. The main principles are ensuring identification of a struggling child, provide effective intervening services, and monitor the child.

Overall, it is pretty evident that a struggling child needs an expert teacher.  A teacher needs to be trained and know how to work with children who are lower-performing learners. Given the federal requirement for evidence-based interventions, the most reliable source for teachers, administrators, researchers, and policymakers seeking effective reading interventions is the What Works. TheWWC’s mission is to provide “a central and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education.” The article offered some good information on RTI and the requirements of a teacher who is teaching a struggling student.