Simplifying response to intervention

Educators who have struggled with Response to Intervention may find its promise buried under forms, compliance checklists, and test-score targets. This book, a follow-up to Pyramid Response to Intervention, starts from a different place: a strong RTI model begins with asking the right questions so that every student is served by a sound learning environment. Its central claim is that RTI works better as a mindset than as a sequence of steps to tick off.

The author first examines why bureaucratic, paperwork-driven, compliance-focused approaches that rely on test scores tend to fall short. From there, the book walks readers through building a focused RTI model that can actually function in a school. Its chapters are organized around a sense of urgency, collective responsibility, concentrated effort, convergent planning, and certainty about outcomes, moving through questions about why the school exists, where it needs to go, where it stands now, how to build a system of interventions, and how to make sure every child gets there.

The book closes with a discussion of special education and a new vision for how it can fit into this approach. It is written for school leaders, teachers, and specialists who are responsible for putting RTI into practice.