Excellent Report on RTI models that incorporate Dual Language Programs
This collaborative position paper is propelled by the urgency to improve educational achievement opportunities for students who are English Language Learners (ELLs ), whether with or without disabilities. Prior to a statewide adoption of a Response to Intervention/ Multi-tiered (RTI/MTI) model, it is imperative that the RTI/MTI approach takes into account the specific educational needs and research-based interventions found to be effective with ELLs.
ELLs are entitled to the same rights as other students in American schools. They are en-titled to a free and an appropriate public education in the least restrictive environment. Equally, they are entitled to valid research-based instruction, delivered by appropriately qualified educators. ELLs have the legal right to learn English as a new language at high levels of proficiency and to receive the same grade level academic content, delineated by state curriculum frame-works, as every US student.
RTI/MTI, a tiered instructional model designed to provide more tailored supports to students, has quickly gained prominence as a vehicle for school improvement. The implementation of an appropriate RTI/MTI model has many potential benefits for ELLs. This position paper presents a modified RTI/MTI model called 2RTI/2MTI that addresses improving academic achievement, increasing English language proficiency, making progress in AYP, de-creasing dropout rates, reducing or eliminating the achievement gap, and avoiding the misrepresentation of ELLs and culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students as having disabilities. Ultimately, the proposed 2RTI/MTI Model will produce socially and academically well-prepared students, who are able to meet the challenges of life in the 21st Century.
(an excerpt of the introduction)
The Massachusetts 2RTI Working Group is an independent group of Culturally and Linguistically Di-verse (CLD) educators, researchers and academics. It was convened at Lesley University, Center for Special Education, in 2008 to address the promise and the possibilities for the implementation of Re-sponse to Intervention (RTI) Multi-tiered instruction that is appropriate and effective with students who are English Language Learners in Massachusetts.
How to reference this article: Massachusetts 2RTI Working Group (March 2010). 2RTI: A Focus on Eng-lish Language Learners and Their Academic Achievement: A Position Statement. Cambridge, MA: Les-ley University.
Authors of the working RTI group:
Michaela Colombo, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Education,
UMass Lowell, Lowell MA
Sue Cusack, M.Ed.
Director Collaborative with Boston Public Schools
Lesley University, Cambridge MA
Kathy Frye, M.Ed.
Director of English Language Learners Education and World Languages
Randolph Public Schools, Randolph MA
Phyllis Hardy, M.Ed.,
Member, Massachusetts Association For Bilingual Education Consultant
Patrícia Medeiros Landurand, Ed.D.
Mary Thorpe Professor of Education
Rhode Island College, RI
Solange de Azambuja Lira, Ph.D.
Professor of Education
Lesley University, Cambridge MA
Claudia Rinaldi, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Special Education
Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA
Maria Luisa Wilson-Portuondo, M.Ed.
Member, Massachusetts Association For Bilingual Education Consultant
Maria de Lourdes Serpa, Ed.D. – Co-Convener
Professor of Education and Special Education
Lesley University, Cambridge MA
Karen Zimbrich, M.Ed. – Co-Convener
Associate Director, Center for Special Education
Lesley University, Cambridge MA
