Secondary Prevention in an RTI Model: A Step Toward Academic Recovery

The secondary level of a Response to Intervention system, sometimes referred to as Tier II intervention, targets students who experience inadequate response to good classroom instruction for 10–15 weeks of validated small-group instruction. The twin purposes of secondary prevention are to (a) prevent the development of long-term reading difficulty and (b) assess whether a more intensive level of intervention (i.e., tertiary prevention, sometimes delivered under the auspices of special education) is necessary to ensure that the student exits school with the reading competence necessary for success. In this article, the author discusses a secondary prevention initiative that began in the New York City Public Schools in 2004; describes the resulting academic intervention toolkit with options for RTI assessment methods and instructional interventions; and discusses challenges to secondary prevention including building staff capacity, keeping parents informed, and the costs.

_eprint: https://ila.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1598/RT.64.3.8