Among the lessons learned from the 9 selected studies summarized in the report were that tutoring helped at-risk students, 2nd-graders benefitted more than 1st graders from a Tier 2 intervention and that schema-broadening instruction was particularly effective as a Tier 2 instruction for 3rd graders. Schema-broadening instruction uses an explicit approach and emphasizes meta-cognitive skills, such as use of categorization (e.g. types of math problems). Other studies examine use of whole-class interventions and of curriculum-based measurement in student response.

The report, "A Summary of Nine Key Studies: Multi-tier Intervention and Response to Interventions for Students Struggling in Mathematics," summarizes the designs, methods and results of the 9 studies, which were selected from 541 studies with titles and key words related to RTI.

After screening based on titles and abstracts, the number of studies was reduced to 33 studies which were then evaluated against three criteria. To be selected, a study need to include:

• a defined screening process to identify students in need of intervention,
• the delivery of a tier 2 intervention, and
• a procedure to monitor student response to the intervention.

"A Summary of Nine Key Studies: Multi-tier Intervention and Response to Interventions for Students Struggling in Mathematics, Rebecca Newman-Gonchar, Benjamin Clarke and Russell Gersten, Center on Instruction website, Jan. 11, 2009. http://www.centeroninstruction.org

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