Meeting Needs the Gifted of Students Within RtI an Framework by Mary Ruth Coleman and Claire E. Hughes 14 summer 2009 • vol 32, no 3 “The purpose of RtI is squarely improving results for students: All students. Indeed, RtI is not about special education, nor gen- eral education, nor talented and gifted, nor at-risk, nor migrant education . . . RtI is about Every Education” (Tilly, 2009, p. 12). Response to Intervention (RtI) is sweep- codified with clear boundaries delineating ing the country, changing the way chil- the allocation of resources. dren’s educational needs are recognized and Key components of RtI include: (a) a met. RtI was introduced through special tiered approach to supports and services; education legislation as part of IDEA 2004 (b) early intervention prior to formal iden- and offered an alternative approach for tification; (c) screening, assessments, and identifying students with learning disabili- progress monitoring (dynamic assessments ties (Bender & Shores, 2007). Its impact to determine the child’s needs and to plan today, however, has moved well beyond instruction); (d) the use of standard pro- this initial goal (Council for Exceptional tocol interventions; and (e) collaborative Children, 2007). RtI is designed to bring problem-solving and planning for the child together information about the child’s with the parents. This article will explore strengths and needs with evidence-based what gifted education might look like instructional approaches that support the within an RtI framework. child’s success (Kirk, Gallagher, Coleman, The Tiered Approach to & Anastasiow, 2009). Although RtI is still an emerging practice, it hinges on a col- Supports and Services laborative approach to recognizing and responding to the needs of each child. This The use of tiered approaches to support- collaborative approach requires educators ing strengths is not new for gifted education. to think about the child first and match We have relied on curriculum differentiation the supports and services to the child’s strategies that promote tiered lessons and strengths and needs. The allocation of units for many years (Tomlinson, 1999). resources follows the supports and services, The tiered approach within RtI extends promoting synergy rather than increasing this thinking to the supports and services fragmentation, as the needs of the child provided. What this might look like in each increase. In other words, within the RtI service tier is briefly presented below. model, when the child’s needs are the most intense, educational resources can be com- Tier I bined to provide greater support. This use of resources differs significantly from the The general education classroom offers a traditional approaches where as the needs quality learning environment, nurtures all of the child intensify, the supports and children with a focus on high-end learning continued on page ?? services become more separate and rigidly opportunities, uses dynamic assessments gifted child today 15 Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students Within an RtI Framework The focus of RtI is on for the child’s continued success. In many schools, formal identification early intervention, the of giftedness does not take place until the end of second or third grade; thus, young children with high potential are early provision of services left with little to no additional support. Early recognition of and response to that build on the child’s the child’s strengths is important for all children, but it is essential for young strengths and address his gifted children from culturally/linguis- tically diverse and economically disad- or her learning needs. vantaged families. The focus on early nurturing of potential helps to ensure that each child is placed on a trajectory for maximum success. including whole-class screenings for child’s strengths and a body-of-evi- potential, and uses standardized prog- dence (including standardized mea- Screening, Assessment, ress monitoring to document children’s sures), are conducted to look at the and Progress Monitoring mastery of the curriculum. (The gen- child’s needs. Nomination for formal eral education teacher is responsible for identification is considered and parents supports and differentiation.) are included in the decision making. The use of screening to recognize chil- (The gifted education specialist may dren with high potential is part of the Tier II take the lead at this point.) culture of gifted education. Screening remains critical within an RtI approach. A collaborative approach provides Early Intervention Assessments concentrate on the child’s additional supports and learning strengths and include both formal and to Support the opportunities for children based on informal measures to document the Child’s Strengths strengths and needs. It responds to child’s needs. The newer feature of the child based on data showing evi- assessment, introduced by RtI, is prog- dence of strengths, needs, and inter- The focus of RtI is on early inter- ress monitoring. Progress monitoring ests; provides supports often to small vention, the early provision of services requires the use of dynamic assessments groups of children within the general that build on the child’s strengths and to monitor the child’s mastery of spe- classroom setting; administers indi- address his or her learning needs. cific learning objectives and to inform vidual assessments to understand the Early intervention is critical in order instruction. It relies on standardized child’s strengths and develop plans for to prevent problems, to mitigate the measures of skill development and on differentiated instruction; and uses a impact of existing problems, and to curriculum-based measurements of standard protocol to offer additional ensure that strengths do not diminish. content mastery. These measurements challenges and high-end learning Early intervention generally focuses on are used to document where the child opportunities. (Collaboration between remediation to shore-up areas of weak- “is” in relation to normative expecta- the general and gifted education teach- ness for the child. For gifted children, tions when compared with others of ers is essential, with parents being however, the early intervention focuses his or her same age and/or in relation included in the discussion of the child’s on nurturing potential to support the to curriculum mastery for grade-level strengths and weaknesses.) child’s areas of strength. With the RtI expectations. For gifted children, in approach, early intervention can begin their areas of strength, this documen- Tier III as soon as the strengths of the child tation must reflect early mastery of are recognized—often well before the content and may require the use of More intense and individualized child is formally identified as gifted. off-grade-level measures to accurately services are provided to meet the needs In this way, the child’s strengths are capture the child’s learning levels. In of the child. Assessments, including nurtured during the first years of this way, progress monitoring docu- additional information regarding the schooling, building a strong platform ments the child’s actual mastery so that 16 summer 2009 • vol 32, no 3 Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students Within an RtI Framework appropriate adjustments in curriculum of children, RtI includes a collab- across general and gifted educa- and instruction can be made. Thus, for orative problem-solving approach. tion reminds us of our commit- gifted children, progress-monitoring Some advocates of RtI see these as ment to excellence for all; data become the foundation for cur- mutually exclusive approaches to • the use of dynamic assessments riculum compacting by documenting addressing children’s needs. For gifted that inform instruction reminds us the need for additional enrichment or children, however, standard protocols of the importance of data-driven acceleration. and collaborative problem-solving decision making; approaches seem to be extremely • the use of standard protocols Standard Protocols compatible and mutually comple- reminds us that rigorous curricu- mentary. Standard protocols can and for Instruction lum is central to differentiated should be used to meet the needs of instruction; and gifted children, yet these alone often The use of research-based practices • the use of collaborative planning will not be enough. Collaborative to provide appropriate support for chil- reminds of the importance of part- problem solving is a key addition dren is a mainstay within RtI. Research- nerships with parents as we plan to because it (a) ensures that families are based standard protocols are developed meet the child’s needs. included as partners in planning; (b) to bring consistency to instruction provides a vehicle to allow planning and to help ensure that all children All in all, done correctly, gifted edu- for the child to go beyond standard have access to learning opportunities cation can be a good fit with the RtI protocols (e.g., social and emotional that are grounded in “best practice.” approach! GCT needs, dual-enrollment opportunities, Standard protocols provide teachers interest-based learning, independent with predetermined and ready-made References studies); and (c) can be used to plan lessons, strategies, and instructional for gifted children with more unique materials to be used with their students. and/or complex needs (e.g., twice- Bender, W., & Shores, C. (2007). Response Currently, most standard protocols are to intervention: A practical guide for exceptional children, gifted English aimed at providing intensive support every teacher. Arlington, VA: Council language learners, highly gifted chil- for children who are struggling with for Exceptional Children. dren). Collaborative planning across reading or math. Standard protocols Council for Exceptional Children. (2007). school personnel and with families for gifted students will look different Position on response to intervention has always been considered important from these because they will focus on (RTI): The unique role of special edu- within gifted education and should the child’s strengths, ensuring that rig- cation and special educators. Retrieved remain so within an RtI framework. from http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/ orous curriculum is provided. Standard Template.cfm?Section=Home&CON protocols for children in their areas of Conclusion on RtI TENTID=9237&TEMPLATE=/CM/ strength have not yet been widely devel- and Gifted Education ContentDisplay.cfm oped within our field. As we move to Kirk, S., Gallagher, J., Coleman, M. R., & develop these, we can draw on our rich Anastasiow, N. (2009). Educating excep- Thinking about how gifted edu- history of curriculum differentiation to tional children. New York: Houghton cation fits within an RtI framework design high-end learning protocols that Mifflin. provides an opportunity to reexam- can be used to support children with Tilly, D. (2009). Questions and answers ine what we believe about meeting the strengths and interests across the cur- on response to intervention. Journal of needs of children. Some reflections on riculum (Tomlinson, 1999; VanTassel- Special Education Leadership, 50(4), 7, RtI for gifted education include: Baska, 2003). 12. • the emphasis within RtI on early Tomlinson, C. (1999). The differentiated intervention or the recognition of Collaborative classroom: Responding to the needs of strengths prior to formal identi- Problem-Solving With all learners. Alexandria, VA: Associa- fication reminds us of our com- tion for Supervision and Curriculum Parental Involvement mitment to nurture potential in Development. all children; VanTassel-Baska, J. (2003). Curriculum In addition to the use of standard • the provision of tiered responses planning and instructional design for continued on page ?? protocols to respond to the needs that scaffold learning and support gifted learners. Denver, CO: Love. gifted child today 17