RTI and Socio-Economically Disadvantaged Students

In this six-page (tri-fold) laminated guide, Dr. Angel Barrett provides a range of evidence-based Tier 1 and Tier 2 Response To Intervention (RTI) strategies that are targeted to address the educational needs of students who are socio-economically disadvantaged. It identifies the greatest challenges these student face, which include

• Lack of prior background knowledge and experience
• Language deficits, especially in vocabulary and linguistic patterns
• Lack of prior success in school

Specific strategies are provided for overcoming each of these challenges and for improving access to the core curriculum. These include backwards lesson planning, pre-teaching, modeling strategies and reasoning aloud, guiding questions, choral reading,  and sentence frames. 

The guide addresses the impact of the Common Core State Standards on students who are socio-economically disadvantaged, including the likelihood that scaffolding will be needed to narrow the proficiency gap, especially in English Language Arts (ELA). It includes an at-risk flowchart that identifies when and how to provide supports to help students with ELA skills such as reading fluency and comprehension and mathematics skills such as computation and problem-solving. Interventions specifically targeting language development in English language learners are included as well. 

Dr. Barrett draws from her extensive experience working with socio-economically disadvantaged youth as a teacher and principal to offers tips for creating a college and career-ready environment and involving parents.