Universal Screening
Universal school-wide screening is the first level of data collected in the RTI process. These screenings occur three times per year (fall, winter, and spring), and the data from these assessments help to guide instruction through the three tiers of the RTI process.
Purpose
Universal school-wide screening is the first level of data collected in the RTI process. These screenings occur three times per year (fall, winter, and spring), and the data from these assessments help to guide instruction through the three tiers of the RTI process. They serve two main purposes:
- To help evaluate the health of your core system of supports (Tier 1) for all students
- To identify at-risk students who may need additional support
Features of Universal Screening Tools
Screeners are:
- Brief and easy to administer
- Given multiple times a year (3 times a year)
- Available in multiple equivalent forms
- Sensitive to growth
- Reliable and valid indicators of academic risk
Benefits of Universal Screeners
Screeners in the area of early reading often include measures of phonemic segmenting and blending, identifying letter sounds, blending short word and nonsense words, and oral reading fluency. These measure have strong technical adequacy, meaning that they are reliable and valid measures that do a good job of predicting which students are on-track to be readers, and which students are at-risk for reading difficulties.
Resources
- Center on Response to Intervention Review of Screening Tools - Website
- RTI Action Network: Universal Screening - Website
- Screening/Progress Monitoring Measures & the Big 5 (for districts using AIMSWEB, DIBELS Next, or easyCBM)