Abstract
Staff development opportunities have traditionally been one to three day lectures based on curriculum components or methodologies. These trainings have been disjointed and irrelevant to teachers' daily classroom issues. Educators feel that limited information is provided on academic interventions and behavior management techniques. Additionally, teachers feel that even when presented with valuable information, time is not given to discuss, plan, and implement new ideas through collaboration with peers. The purpose of this project was to create a staff development model to provide teachers with relevant information about developing and implementing a Response to Intervention Model (RTI) in a school site. The authors designed surveys to gain information about staff members' prior knowledge of RTI. PowerPoint presentations were developed using the information from the surveys. The presentations focused on an overview of what RTI entails, how RTI can be used to effectively intervene with behavior, possible interventions, and assessments to be used to target the five crucial areas of reading. Opportunities to question, discuss, reflect, and revisit the provided information were given. The authors strove to incorporate the standards of effective staff development as outlined by the National Staff Development Council and No Child Left Behind. Focus was placed on the components of strong Professional Learning Communities to ensure that this project was a starting point for these school sites in their quest for improved student achievement. The project is a result of the equal collaborative efforts of Jennifer Susan McCarty and Jennifer Ann Nunes.