Long Term Effects of First Grade Multi-Tier Intervention.

Area of Science:

• Education
• Developmental Psychology
• Applied Linguistics

Background:

• Early identification of reading difficulties is crucial for academic success.
• Response to Intervention (RTI) models aim to provide targeted support to struggling students.
• Understanding the long-term impact of different RTI models is essential for effective educational practices.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the long-term effects of Dynamic RTI versus Typical RTI on student reading performance in second and third grades.
• To analyze how different student response groups (no risk, easy to remediate, sustained remediation) are affected by RTI models over time.

Main Methods:

• Longitudinal study comparing two first-grade RTI models: Dynamic RTI and Typical RTI.
• Participants: 419 first-grade students, with follow-up data for 352 in second grade and 278 in third grade.
• Student classification based on initial screening and response to intervention (no risk [NR], relative easy to remediate [ER], requiring sustained remediation [SR]).

Main Results:

• Students in the Dynamic RTI condition demonstrated higher reading comprehension scores by the end of third grade.
• By second grade, both ER and SR students scored lower than NR students; by third grade, ER students' scores matched NR students, while SR students remained lower.
• ER students in the Dynamic RTI group showed better reading scores in second grade compared to the Typical RTI group.

Conclusions:

• The Dynamic RTI model shows promise for improving long-term reading comprehension, particularly for students requiring more intensive support.
• While initial reading gaps may persist into second grade, the Dynamic RTI approach can help close these gaps by third grade for some students.
• Further research is needed to fully understand the nuances of RTI model effectiveness across diverse student populations and intervention durations.