A problem with some RTI programs is that in some schools the RTI process is done without the regular classroom teacher being involved in much of the process. The classroom teacher is the adult that interacts with the student more than any other and should as a consequence know the student better. If the student's teacher has no input on what is going on in an intervention then the students needs may not be being fully met. Also there would be no collaboration going on between the classroom teacher and the intervention teacher. When no collaboration takes place then there will be very little to no transfer happening between what is being taught in the intervention and what takes place in the classroom.

Teachers often see the students as simply needing extra time for reading to reach grade level. Lost is what is causing the problem. Is it low IQ, motivational, phonics, comprehension or outside environmental problems that is causing the student to not read at grade level? No one can be complacent in the process.

Another problem is the fact that tier 1 interventions are suppose to be taught using sound research based reading instruction in the classroom. Problems arise when teachers provide instruction that is not good enough. Good instruction may be very sporadic. If interventions given to students are not what they need then other problems occur also. The classroom teacher should be willing and needs to be involved with deciding the content of intervention. This causes another problem however. When will be classroom teachers have time. As a classroom teacher for the past 9 years I know this can be hard. You must be provided time to do this.

RTI has been proven to work through good scientifically based research and many studies. This does bring up another concern however. The fact that in most research studies on RTI, the interventions have been given by well trained research personal or teachers that have received training and continue to receive support. These services and support will not always be available as RTI is used more and more. I have been in a school the has received a Reading First grant in Kansas. I was trained in a program very similar to Reading Recovery. I gained my passion for literacy through this program. However staff leave, and Reading First grants are used up and extra support is taken away that comes along with implementing RTI and other scientifically based programs accepted by most research grants using government money. Do the programs continue to work well long-term when the funds to support them fade away? What about when trained staff leave? Are new staff trained properly? RTI has to be funded and supported to work.

As I have talked about before also research shows that students make the most gains when being given interventions from trained reading teacher. How does RTI work when interventions are provided by well trained reading teachers versuses support help and classroom aids. What do you do when your reading teacher is working with as many students as he can, and you still have students who need interventions? How do you prioritize?It takes lots of good planning in advance before setting up a good RTI program.