Response to Intervention (RtI) is used to promote the use of evidence-based instruction in classrooms with the goal to make general, remedial, and special education work together in a more integrated way. In doing so, RtI provides a means of identifying students at risk for academic difficulties and specialized forms of education. The essential elements of an RtI approach are:

1. Universal (school-wide or district-wide) screening of academics and behavior in order to determine which students need closer monitoring or additional
   interventions.
2. High quality, research-based instruction and behavioral support in general education.
3. Multiple tiers of increasingly intense research-based interventions that are matched to student need.
4. Use of a collaborative approach by school staff for development, implementation, and monitoring of the intervention process.
5. Continuous monitoring and measurement of student progress in response to the instruction and interventions.
6. The use of this data to shape instruction and make educational decisions
7. Follow-up measures providing information that the intervention was implemented as intended and with appropriate consistency.
   Districts are learning more and more about RtI, but there are still many questions. Schools who are attempting to implement an RtI approach without full understanding of the essential elements of the approach will struggle to be successful. It is important then, to be fully aware of these elements.