Achievement for All: Response to Intervention (RTI) Services

Achievement for All is a Response to Intervention (RtI) process that improves achievement for students with disabilities and other students who struggle with learning.

Achievement for All promotes a tiered intervention system based on collaboration between general education and special education. The emphasis is on prevention of academic failure and interventions that accelerate learning.

The key elements of Achievement for All include:

• Standards-based instruction for all students
• Tiered interventions for both academic and behavioral challenges that are based on data analysis and assessment
• Collaborative special education service delivery model

Download the Achievement for All and Building Leadership Capacity brochures and the Response to Intervention Leadership Institute flyer to learn more about this training for your district or school.

Who benefits from Achievement for All?

Districts or schools that have a firm commitment to:

• Accelerate all students to achieve grade-level standards
• Improve their systems that support prevention and early intervention
• Reach federal accountability targets for all subgroups, including students with disabilities
• Avoid disproportionate identification of specific ethnicities for special education
• Correct compliance issues related to state and federal special education statutes

What Do You Learn?

Module 1: Building a Prevention and Early Intervention Belief System
Research Support for Prevention and Early Intervention * Research Support for Inclusive Education * Maintaining High Expectations and Accountability * Integrated Standards-based Intervention System * RtI Readiness Assessment * Implementation Plan

Module 2: Accessing State Standards for Prevention and Intervention Students
Curriculum Maps for Intervention Classes * Standards-based Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) * Differentiated Instruction * Research-Validated Instructional Strategies * Selection and Evaluation of Accommodations, Modifications, and Adaptations * Implementation of Supplementary Aids and Services * Technology to Engage

Module 3: Implementing Tiered Academic Interventions at Elementary, Middle, and High School Levels
Research-Validated Academic Interventions * Data Analysis that Drives Instructional Planning * Universal Screening * Progress Monitoring * English Language Arts Interventions for Tier I, II, and III * Mathematics Interventions for Tier I, II, and III

Module 4: Implementing Tiered Behavior Interventions at Elementary, Middle, and High School Levels
Connection between Behavior and Learning * Review of Successful Behavior Models * Rituals and Routines * Universal Screening * Intervention Entry and Exit Criteria * Behavioral Interventions for Tier I, II, and III * Progress Monitoring * Behavior Support Plans

Module 5: Ensuring a Collaborative Special Education Service Delivery Model
Grade Level/Course Collaboration Meetings * Consultative and Collaborative Special Education Supports * Co-Planning and Co-Teaching * Identification of Students for Special Education Services Based on RtI * Cultural and Linguistically Appropriate Assessment and Instruction

Who Facilitates Your Learning?

Achievement for All consultants are experienced former special education and general education administrators and teachers who have served across the grade spans. As trainers and coaches, they are able to synthesize their knowledge of special education law and relevant research and translate these for practical application.

How Can You Implement Achievement for All in Your District or School?

Achievement for All comprises interactive workshops offered in five modules and technical assistance reinforced with modeling and coaching. Based upon your needs, we can provide any or all of the five Achievement for All modules and customized technical assistance services.

We recommend that you start with Module 1 to build an understanding of the theory behind and research-base for prevention and early intervention. A key component of Module 1 is an assessment of your district or school's readiness to implement RtI.

The RtI Readiness Assessment includes onsite observations, and provides you with recommendations for improving your prevention and intervention services. Module 1 can be completed in three days — one day as an interactive workshop, two days to complete the RtI Readiness Assessment, including onsite classroom observations.

Modules 2–5 can each be provided as a combination of interactive workshops and technical assistance. The length of time is negotiable depending upon your district's or school's needs.

What Research Informs the Achievement for All Process?

The principles of Achievement for All are based on research that identified effective practices employed by schools with high achieving special needs students (University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, 2004). In addition to practices identified by other effective school studies, the Donahue study found that higher achievement for students with special needs included an emphasis on inclusion and access to the core curriculum.

All strategies included in the Achievement for All modules are validated by research. The RtI practices used in the Achievement for All training have been validated by several studies (Fuchs & Fuchs, 2006; Marzano, Pickering et.al., 2001; Conroy, Sutherland, et.al., 2008).

Achievement for All bases its reading and math intervention strategies on recent research synthesis reports published by the Center on Instruction (Boardman, Roberts, et.al., 2008; Gersten, Beckmann, et.al., 2009).

Student behavior and learning outcomes have been linked through research, and the Achievement for All Module 4 incorporates behavioral interventions that have a proven record of success (Epstein, Atkins, et. al., 2008; Sugai, Simonsen, et.al., 2008).

Contact Information

Dona Meinders
916.492.4013
dmeinde@wested.org