Effective Reading Intervention Guide Reissued for RTI

Newswise — For years, teachers have been frustrated by their inability to provide extra instruction to young children who weren't learning to read. This year, many classrooms will provide better support thanks to a new, federally-sanctioned initiative called RTI, or response to intervention. Introduced as part of the 2004 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, RTI is an effort to separate struggling readers who require limited intensive instruction from those who need long-term special services.

This is welcome news to the editors and contributors of No Quick Fix, which more than a decade ago advocated an approach to reading instruction that would prevent many reading difficulties and reduce the number of students referred to special education classrooms. Richard L. Allington and Sean A. Walmsley, coeditors of the reissued No Quick Fix: The RTI Edition, point out, "The federal government has sent billions of Title I and the IDEA dollars to state and local education agencies, but the monies rarely seem to fund intervention designs that actually solve the problems of struggling readers. By reissuing No Quick Fix: The RTI Edition, we hope to introduce a new group of educators and policymakers to a collection of successful case studies that fit the RTI initiative model. Because they preceded the legislation, these studies don't use explicit RTI terminology. They can, nonetheless, assist schools that are trying to reduce the number of students who struggle with learning to read."

Four of the reading intervention models described in No Quick Fix are now recognized national program models—Reading Recovery, Four Blocks, Early Intervention in Reading, and Accelerated Schools. In addition, the book features models for kindergarten, rural, and urban schools, and discusses ability grouping and portfolio assessment. The editors also discuss the three-tier intervention approach and the role of reading specialists in RTI support.

No Quick Fix, The RTI Edition: Rethinking Literacy Programs in America's Elementary Schools is copublished by Teachers College Press (www.tcpress.com) and the International Reading Association (www.reading.org).