Research Roundup:
Recognition & Response — RTI Goes to Preschool?

By Dr. Sheldon H. Horowitz
Director of Professional Services, NCLD

In my June 2004 column about early transition, I wrote about the opportunities and challenges faced by parents and educators as young children migrate from early care settings to the start of their formal school careers. I also offered a list of resources that speak to the unique roles of parents and families, the research on transition to kindergarten, and the interface between general and special education during these early years.  In my March 2005 column on 'readiness' for early school transition, I made reference to the need for more well-defined models and articulation of the essential ingredients for successful transition from early care and preschool to kindergarten and the early grades. During the past eighteen months, such a model has been born, and it is called Recognition & Response (R&R) (www.recognitionandresponse.org).

What's In a Name?

Recognition & Response is based on an approach called Response to Intervention (RTI), which was designed for school-age children who struggle with learning and who might be at risk for having learning disabilities. Both R&R and RTI emphasize collecting information (data) about how children are performing across any number of domains (specific areas of learning and behavior) and intervening with well-targeted and intentional instruction and support rather than waiting until children fail. Both of these systems (also referred to as models or approaches) presume that early intervening can prevent academic failure and frustration for many students. They also presume to identify which students, at the earliest possible points in time, actually have (or may be at risk for) learning disabilities versus those whose underachievement can be attributed to other factors, such as inadequate instruction.

Every Student is "Special"

Recognition & Response is not an approach to driving students toward special education assessment and services. It is not intended to attach labels to children or to isolate youngsters from their peers or diminish their participation in general education. Quite the opposite! R&R is based on the most current thinking about best practice in the early education field and emphasizes:

• recognizing a child's strengths and early signs of difficulties with learning,
• responding with appropriate activities and learning experiences, and
• passing that information on to a child's parents and future teachers as necessary steps for a child's success in school.

Learning disabilities are rarely evident in young children and all children struggle with learning from time to time. The Recognition & Response system addresses the needs of all children by

• recognizing learning difficulties prior to referral for testing,
• helping teachers (and parents) support children’s academic learning as well as their social-emotional development, and
• building an important link between early care and early school settings so that information about children and effective teaching practices can be shared between settings and among parents and professionals.

The Recognition & Response approach is not intended to replace or diminish the importance of a special education evaluation and the opportunity to access specialized services and supports. Parents are free (and encouraged) to exercise their rights to requesting these resources as needed.

The Research Says ...

Because the R&R model is first now being piloted, there is no current research about the implementation of an R&R model. There is, however, a sizeable and growing body of research that points to components shared by R&R and RTI including:

• systematic screening and student progress monitoring,
• the use of multiple tiers of increasingly intense interventions, and
• a problem-solving process to aid in decision-making.

Evidence-Based Practice
While the early childhood field has not yet reached consensus on a definition of the term "evidence-based practice," a working definition might be:

"...a decision-making process that integrates the best available research evidence with family and professional wisdom and values."

A key aspect of this definition is the notion that evidence-based practice is essentially a process or a way of empowering professionals and others to integrate various sources of knowledge to make informed decisions that directly benefit children and families. This definition recognizes that knowledge can be represented in multiple forms and, particularly important with respect to the early childhood years, that emphasis should also be given to professional wisdom (knowledge based on experiential learning and situated in practice) as complementary sources of data and knowledge to an already substantial and rapidly growing pool of scientifically-based practices. This represents a dramatic shift in thinking and calls for decisions to be made with great care. Visit the evidence-based practices page on the Recognition & Response Web site for helpful resources and to learn more.

Learn More about Recognition & Response

A live online chat was conducted about Recognition & Response with experts Mary Ruth Coleman and Virginia Buysse of the University of North Carolina's Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute. To read a transcript, click here.
 
Recognition & Response is a collaboration among national organizations and state and local partners.  Funded by grants from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, activities focus on implementing features of the Recognition and Response system, professional development, policy initiatives and improving early childhood education practices. Visit the R&R Web site to learn more about the work of the partner organizations.

A Strengths-Based Approach to Supporting Early Learning is an article based on an interview with Dr. Mary Ruth Coleman. To read this article, click here.