Letter+to+parents

Fall 2011

Dear Parents/Guardians,

The staff at Custer Elementary is committed to helping yourchild become a successful reader. Aspart of this commitment, our school is taking part in a Response toIntervention (RtI) program for grades kindergarten through 5thgrade.

RtI is a data driven method of teaching that allows teachersto meet student’s reading needs based on ongoing student assessments. These ongoing assessments, called “progressmonitoring”, occur either once a week or two times per month. Basically, in addition to the regular 90minutes of core reading instruction teachers provide to all students, teacheralso provide 30 minutes of research-based interventions to “boost” student’s readingskills. The additional reading instruction is offered at a designated time whenno whole group instruction is occurring,

Through the RtI process, students are placed in one of threetiers as identified by the Benchmark assessment and more informal assessmentsin the class. Students that are readingat or above grade level are in the “green tier”, students that have scored asneeding some assistance are placed in the “yellow tier”, while the students whohave scored as needing more intensive assistance are placed in the “red tier”.

Staff members will discuss your student’s progress duringconferences. If you would like todiscuss any questions or concerns prior to conferences, you may contact Mrs.Veit or myself at 673-4483. Please feelfree to talk with your child’s teacher at any time for more insight into howyour child is doing in reading.

We look forward to working with you and your child thisyear.

Sincerely, Eve Trandem RtI Coach, Custer Elementary School