Necessary Assessments Within a Response to Intervention Model
Summary
Determining who is and is not achieving academically requires a solid measurement system and is the basis of any successful RTI framework. Dr. Gibbons’ report,
Necessary Assessments Within a Response to Intervention Model, discusses different types of assessments, methods for progress monitoring, and the skills teachers and related services personnel need in order to operationalize an RTI system.
Two purposes must be met for successful implementation of assessment within an RTI model: It must screen all students regularly, and students below target are monitored more frequently. Both purposes are designed to assist teachers and related services personnel in determining whether interventions have met success. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) or general outcome measures (GOM) can both be used for formative and summative evaluation and can provide benchmark assessments. A number of decisions need to be made in order to successfully implement a measurement system:
• Determining who will conduct the assessment
• Determining how to train the assessors
• Determining data collection procedures
• Determining target scores
• Determining how to communicate results to staff and parents
Determining who will conduct the assessments and their training needs is the first step toward conducting the assessments. Teachers require knowledge regarding the measures’ administration and scoring procedures, their technical adequacies, and how the measures are linked to instruction and intervention. Dr. Gibbons and the St. Croix River Education District have identified competencies for teachers and related services personnel:
• Overview of General Outcome Measurement (GOM)
o Educators will understand the conceptual foundations of GOM.
o Educators will be proficient in administration and score of GOM in the areas of reading,
mathematics, written expression, and early literacy.
o Educators will understand how the use of GOMs fit within the problem identification stage of the
Problem Solving Model.
• Preparing to do Benchmark Measurement: Logistical Issues
o Educators will identify the logistical steps necessary to collect benchmark data.
o Educators will understand how to develop a detailed plan for collecting benchmark data in their building.
• Interpreting Benchmark Measures: Using Data to Make Decisions
o Educators will understand how to use benchmark data to identify students in need of strategic and
intensive monitoring.
o Educators will understand how to conduct survey-level assessment.
• Strategic and Intensive Monitoring Issues
o Educators will understand the difference between long-term and short-term measurement.
o Educators will understand how to use GOMs to write measureable goals.
o Educators will understand how to select or create a progress monitoring plan.
o Educators will understand how to graph GOM data.
• Plan Evaluation Decisions
o Educators will understand how to use GOM data to determine program effectiveness.
o Educators will understand data-based decision-making rules.
o Educators will understand how to use GOM data to determine whether a problem has been solved.
The link for the complete paper is included below:
http://www.tqsource.org/forum/documents/GibbonsPaper.doc
