Enriching Students is an RTI scheduler that enables users to schedule intervention and enrichment sessions, take attendance, and track engagement and usage for accountability. Why use an RTI scheduler? Before we dive into that, let’s briefly talk about RTI. RTI stands for Response to Intervention. This model has proven to be extremely effective in assessing student needs and meeting, or responding, to them.
What does this look like?
Many schools designate a portion of their daily schedule to provide students with intervention or enrichment opportunities. This time period may be called and Intervention Period or and Enrichment Period, an Intervention/Enrichment Block, or even RTI time. We will use some of these terms interchangeably in this article.
To manage an intervention period and make sure students are getting the supports they need, an RTI scheduler can come in handy.
Do I really need an RTI scheduling tool?
It is possible to manage RTI sessions without a scheduling tool. However, having a tool to schedule students for an intervention period helps teachers and administrators stay organized, ensure accountability, and track data that will be useful for future sessions.
Student needs change, so where they are scheduled and why is going to change over time as well. Using a system of paper hall passes can become tedious and time-consuming. An RTI scheduling tool allows teachers to schedule kids quickly and efficiently.
How can you schedule RTI sessions?
Scheduling RTI Sessions
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Identify which students need intervention
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Pinpoint a student’s exact
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Provide a targeted intervention in response
First off, it’s important to make decisions about where to schedule students for intervention, and for what. Data can help you make informed decisions. Ultimately, you want students to get exactly what they need to help them succeed. Do they need academic support and extra help in a subject area? Do they need time to meet with a school counselor or psychologist? Do they need both?
Examining the data, as well as communicating with other staff members and the student will help you to make the best decision.
Data will enable you to:
Identify which students need intervention
Pinpoint a student’s exact
Provide a targeted intervention in response
Once you have pinpointed what a student needs, schedule that student where they need to go during your intervention or enrichment block. Select which teacher the student will be meeting with, as well as when, and what type of appointment this will be. For example, is this an extra help, intervention, or enrichment session?
Provide Ongoing Support
Some students will need more than one session to reach a competent level of understanding in a subject area. In addition, they may be dealing with more than academic struggle. If a student is dealing with an ongoing difficult situation at home or a mental health concern, they will need ongoing support from a school counselor. One or two sessions likely aren’t going to be useful.
So, when setting up an appointment for intervention, find ways to provide ongoing support. You could create an intervention session that repeats on a consistent basis over time, for example every Friday for three months.
What makes an Intervention Block effective?
For an intervention block to be effective, you need to plan. Planning involves knowing student needs. Of course, a student should then be scheduled to an intervention that meets their needs the best. For example, if a student needs a Math intervention they probably wouldn’t be scheduled to their English teacher during their intervention block.
Planning will come in handy when figuring out how to dispense intervention to small groups as well. Ensuring in advance that students are grouped by similar needs will make that intervention effective. This will help the teacher assigned to them deliver the right kind of supports, at the right pace.
Next, plan what intervention will look like at your school. Figuring out how and when you will determine if a student needs intervention, how long they should attend an intervention etc., are all questions your teams should discuss in advance. In addition, consider giving the intervention block another name, and schedule it at a common time during the school day that all students will be receiving some form of support or enrichment (ex. WIN time, flex period, Power Hour). This prevents students from being pulled out of class and labelled negatively.
If your teams have planned out your RTI strategy carefully, an RTI scheduler can be of great benefit. How? By making this plan actionable and maximizing the results.
Tracking things like attendance, engagement, and the usage of your intervention period can determine where a student needs interventions, and if those interventions are being effective. For example, the chart below displays a student’s attendance types, and attendance percentage per intervention and enrichment session. Having this kind of data available can help you make the best decisions.
When well-supported and organized, RTI can have a powerful impact on individual students, and as a result, the entire school. An Intervention Period isn’t a place a student goes to just fix a grade or do better on tests. It’s a tool that promotes school-wide success and well-being.
Looking for more?
Check out Intervention and Enrichment Ideas, How to Run an Intervention Period, as well as Using Data to Provide Meaningful Interventions.