A Schoolwide RTI Intervention Block Doesn't Make a Lot of Sense
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses why schoolwide intervention blocks where teachers randomly pull students for ad hoc support are an inefficient use of resources.
Key Takeaways
- Random pull-out interventions waste time - Having any teacher work with any student during a schoolwide block lacks the structure needed for real progress
- Dedicated intervention classes are more effective - Students who are years behind need consistent, targeted instruction with structured curricula
- Staff time has real opportunity costs - Setting aside time for all staff and students to help only a few is inefficient
- Hire dedicated interventionists - Specialized professionals with proper training and materials deliver better results than classroom teachers doing ad hoc support
Transcript
Okay, so if you have a school-wide intervention time as part of your RTI process and there's a time set aside either every day or every week or a couple times a week where any teacher can poll any student for some sort of intervention and kind of help them catch up, like, help me understand how that's supposed to work because it seems like schools are doing this because it's free or else it seems free.
But it also seems like a massive waste of time and a much worse way of getting students who are really far behind the support they need.
So if you have a student who's multiple years behind in reading or math, it seems to me like the best way to address that is with a dedicated class period.
So you're in your grade level, say English class, and you get like a reading support class or an ELA support class that goes along with that that can take you through a curriculum designed to help you catch up in addition to your class that's teaching you grade level stuff so you don't fall behind.
You could do that in math as well.
But if people are kind of pulling kids randomly, if they're having to come up with things at random or ad hoc to help kids, it seems like honestly that's probably not going to get done And it seems like a huge waste of time for everybody else who's not doing or receiving some sort of intervention during that time.
Like, why would we set aside everybody's time to help a few kids?
It seems like we should just set aside a whole period for those kids.
And then you can have an actual teacher who's responsible for it.
You can have an actual curriculum that they're going through.
So let me know what you think about this.
Let me know how this works in your school.
But it seems like...
We're doing this just because it's free, like setting aside 45 minutes a week or whatever seems like it's free.
But that's staff time.
That is opportunity cost.
That is like the cost of inconsistency.
And that kind of thing really adds up to me.
So my take is that we need dedicated interventionists.
We need people who are experts and have special training and special materials and helping kids who are multiple years behind catch up.
Let me know what you think.