Earlier this winter, the U.S Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs released a memo reminding states that a response-to-intervention (RTI) process cannot delay the initial evaluation for special education services of a child suspected of having a disability.
RTI is an educational framework based on universal screening of all students, with increasingly targeted and intensive lessons – “interventions” – to students who have identified areas of weakness. Students are monitored closely for their response to those interventions.
Federal regulations require that states allow RTI to be used as part of the criteria for determining if students have a specific learning disability. In the memo, leaders in Washington underscore that RTI can be part of a comprehensive evaluation process for a student, but it cannot replace the need for a comprehensive evaluation. The results of an RTI process may be one component of the information reviewed as part of the evaluation procedures required under federal policy
.