Before a student is referred for special education, a general education teacher must complete certain steps to ensure only students who truly need special education services receive them. There are observations, assessments, and interventions to facilitate and gather data to measure student growth or lack of growth. And, typically, the general education teacher will complete a referral form to “bring the student” to the intervention assistance team and discuss his or her concerns. The first step is to refer the student for interventions such as RtI (Response to Intervention) before a referral for special education testing occurs.

This 3-part assignment provides you the opportunity to follow the typical path that an elementary-age student may take if he or she needs to be evaluated for special education services.

Complete Parts 1–3 below.

Part 1: Student Profile

Select the following characteristics for your fictional student:

• Male or female
• Elementary grade level (between grade 2 and 6)
• Students who go through the RtI process are those who have not been diagnosed with a disability prior to starting school. Many students who have a specific learning disability often go through the RtI process for reading interventions.

Write a 350- to 525-word fictional student profile that includes the following:

• General student information (gender, grade, exceptionalities, etc.) and literacy skills such as reading (should be 2 years below grade level)
• Cognitive, learning, and social characteristics and language development history (Consider your fictional student’s low literacy skills.)

Part 2: RTI Outline

Create a 350- to 525-word outline that highlights the RTI process that may be used for your fictional student.

Provide the following:

• Explanation of RTI
• 2 assessment and 2 intervention examples for each RTI level (for a total of 12), specific to your fictional student’s literacy skill deficits:
• Tier 1
• Tier 2
• Tier 3

Include the following information for each example:

• Description
• Justification for use

Part 3: Referral and Evaluation Summary

Your fictional student has not made the appropriate progress he or she should be making, and you feel that there may be a need for an evaluation for special education services. At this point, there is a process with specific procedures that your school must follow, as stated by special education law that will guide the next steps.

Write a summary that outlines the referral and evaluation process for special education services.

Include the following information:

• Explanation of:
• Referral request, next steps, and required time frame
• The evaluation process, including possible assessments and/or evaluations that may be used
• Description of:
• School professionals (and their role) involved in the referral and evaluation process

Compile the following for submission:

• Student Profile
• RTI Outline
• Referral and Evaluation Plan Summary