One of the major frameworks that teachers and administrators use to organize their remediation efforts for struggling students is called Response to Intervention, or RtI for short.

Through a series of assessments, remediations, and behavior corrections, students are organized into three tiers:

• Tier 1 – Students who are in general education classes. They are assessed consistently, but need no remediation.
• Tier 2 – Students who are struggling, usually do to a lack of background knowledge compared to their peers. They spend about half of class time in a general classroom and half being “pulled out” by a remediation teacher to receive instruction in the skills they lack that are keeping them from staying on pace. If done correctly, a student should move up from Tier 2.
• Tier 3 – Students who are profoundly struggling or have diagnosed learning or behavioral disabilities. These students spend the majority, if not all, of their time in self-contained classes with a team of teachers. Moving up from Tier 3 is rare but it does happen.

There are specific intervention strategies that go along with each tier. If a school or district is using RtI, most teachers and administrators have received significant training not only in the framework but also the instructional skills needed under the program.

If your child is at an RtI school and you are approached to allow remediation (a move to Tier 2 or 3), here is what you should ask.

What input do I have? – Yes, you should be approached. It’s rare that a parent is not updated regularly under the RtI program and most moves or changes need to be approved, especially if the student has an Individual Education Plan (IEP).

What data supports this move? – RtI is based heavily in data, not only with major state assessments but also with grades and thorough, periodic assessments that are given by the school to inform their instruction. Ask to see this data and how it indicates that your child needs more support.

What specific interventions will my child be receiving? – You want to know what your child’s school day will look like. If they will be spending a significant amount of time with a pullout teacher, ask to meet them. They will be your child’s most important instructor.

What is the forecast? – RtI is designed to help students receive the support they need in order to make educational progress. Students move up and down the tiers all the time. Ask for an estimation of what can be expected of your child in the near future.

One of the hottest trends in the classroom is project-based learning. It’s a curriculum in which class instruction is geared toward giving kids the tools needed to complete one big project, preferably one they would be asked to accomplish in the real world.

For example, a geometry class might focus its instruction toward having the kids design their own buildings. A biology class will cover DNA for the sole purpose of having kids take samples of food from restaurants to see if it is, in fact, chicken.

All stakeholders like the approach because it better reflects what goes on in life after students have finished school. Is there a way for parents to approach home life in the same way with their kids? Absolutely! Give these a try.

Food shopping

Give your child a realistic budget and the same dietary parameters you try to follow and then put them in charge of food shopping for a week, starting with researching a shopping list. They will quickly find out that eating at McDonald’s every day is not a realistic plan, either for the budget or for the diet.

Show them how to examine recipes, nutrition information, and even coupon sources. With your help, they will find out just how complicated the family’s food shopping can be, while practicing their math and economics skills.

Big projects

Project-based learning, boiled down to its simplest element, can be described as “figure out how to do it, then do it”. There are plenty of projects around the house where this can apply.

Let’s say, with spring coming up, it’s time to landscape the back yard. You might hire a landscape designer and crew… or you can turn your child into a landscape designer. Give them the tools and information to learn about design and the goals of landscape architects, and then have them come up with a plan that makes sense (and, again, fits the budget). Then let them make it happen. They will be bringing some geometry and biology into their daily lives.

Civic responsibility

There aren’t as many options for students to use their reading and writing skills in home-based projects, but the worlds of politics and newspapers can help. Hopefully they have an issue they care about, even something as simple as building a new skate park in town. Show them how to research the issue and find the best place to direct their ideas. It might be a letter to the editor, the mayor, or even the president. But through this project, they will be practicing their literacy and government skills and might even be printed in the newspaper or receive an autographed picture from the president.

The Athena Advantage℠ encompasses an entire tool box available to students to help them succeed academically, prepare for high stakes exams, and give them the necessary critical thinking skills for the 21st century workplace.

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