Response to Intervention or RTI is a system used to screen, assess, identify, plan for and provide interventions to any student at risk of school failure due to academic or behavior needs. (Currently New York State requires the RTI system be used for reading.)
It is the school's responsibility to find the instructional strategies that will unlock the student's learning potential. Only when the student shows through well-documented interventions that he or she has 'failed to respond to intervention' do we begin to investigate the possibility that the student may have a learning disability or other special education condition. This documentation process is done through the Response to Intervention/RTI Team in each building. The team is made up of general education teachers, special education teachers, school counselor, school psychologist, principal, and other service providers who brainstorm ways to help each individual.
It is our hope, that through interventions, each child will become as academically successful as he or she can be. Just because a child is brought to the Response to Intervention Team does not mean he or she has a disability.