AI vs. RTI? They're more connected than you think

Are you using AI to support your RTI process? If not, you might be missing one of the most powerful tools in your educator toolkit.

How have you used AI today? No, seriously, if you’re reading Dr. Mollick’s work on AI in knowledge work (and I hope you are!), then you’re taking his recommendation to invite AI into your work daily. I tried using AI every day this year as my New Year's resolution, and it has been a wild 2026. At least once a day for the past six months, I have been doing at least one task with AI. A non-exhaustive list of tasks I have invited AI to join me for:

• Proofreading a form letter

• Alphabetizing student data by last name

• Creating a vertical alignment document with the Early Learning and Development Standards (this was followed by the task of investigating why there were gaps in the alignment, but that's another story for another dispatch)

• Illustrating the relationship between data identification, analysis, and action planning

• Creating a birthday party invitation for a certain toddler who changed his mind about his party theme after I had already ordered invitations (this one still stings)

I have a mix here of routine tasks, creative work, and intellectual heavy lifts. Sometimes these tasks have gone amazingly well, but sometimes I have been disappointed and wanted to scream "bad robot" at my computer. Truly, a mixed bag.

Understanding AI's "Jagged Frontier"

AI right now has what research scientists call a "jagged frontier." Some things AI does really well. Some things, AI does not do well at all. These Data-Driven dispatch posts do not get written by AI, because I find AI prose insufferably bland. But they do get edited by AI, because I have not taken an English class in twenty years and have somehow lost the ability to differentiate between a colon and a semicolon. I know, Ms. O'Neil would be weeping.

How AI Can Support Your RTI Process

AI can be a tremendous help for your RTI work. If you have not yet read our work on Response to Intervention (RTI, read more here), here is a quick summary:

• Response to Intervention (RTI) is a structured process of creating supports, assessing efficacy, deploying intervention, and bringing all students to mastery.

• RTI is a pyramid. The majority of your students (80% or more) should be responding to core instruction with mastery on assessments. If your core instruction is not strong, your pyramid is going to flip on its head.

• Tiering your students is a job for data, not a job for vibes. It’s way too much work to do without data to guide you.

You may assume that AI can only help you with the mundane parts of RTI, like alphabetizing names or formatting letters. And sometimes, it is easy to be nervous about using AI because of concerns about hallucinations, or because you have given AI directions it did not follow, leading you to take a deep breath and Google "why is chat broken." One of my friends once described AI as "an eager, if inept, research assistant” (that tracks).

But here is the thing: the issue may be that you have not taken the time to prompt AI correctly. AI, when prompted well, is going to be a great help!

Three Tips for Prompting AI More Effectively

1. Define the role specifically. Tell AI exactly what it is before you ask it to do anything. Examples: "You are a detail-oriented statistician." "You are a meticulously organized executive assistant." "You are an expert in education and MTSS with great attention to detail." Specificity here will make the response much better.

2. Define the process step by step. I find that people give AI a role but do not follow up with clear process instructions. Try phrases like: "Walk me through this step by step." "Ask me one question at a time." "What do you need to know to help me?" and "How will you know when you have gotten it right?" These prompts dramatically improve your results.

3. Expect a draft, not a finished product. Do not expect a final product on the first try. Work with AI and give it feedback. You can say something like: "I have adjusted your response to better fit the prompt. Take what you have learned from these adjustments and produce a second draft that better aligns." Tell it the style you want and give an example.

AI as a Thought Partner for RTI

While you can certainly use AI to handle the tedious parts of RTI, like formatting a spreadsheet, you can also feed it your student data and ask it to make suggestions for sorting students into tiers, suggest revisions to tiered supports, and draft communication strategies. Think of AI as a coworker, not a menial servant. There is a lot of power in this tool for RTI.

Final Thoughts And How to Take Action

The Cohort Achievement Tracker (CAT) can significantly streamline your RTI implementation. The CAT uses your existing student data to create intervention groups based on your selected criteria. Both the criteria and student data points are fully customizable to match your school or district specifications. For example, if you want to focus on DIBELS data for 2nd graders, you can customize your RTI dashboard to highlight specific DIBELS benchmarks and progress monitoring data.  Once you set your criteria, the CAT analyzes the student data and spits out a list of students for each tier AND suggests appropriate resources using the power of AI!

How does your team think about Response to Intervention? We’re all ears and invite you to join in the conversation on social media. And if you are ready to use RTI to support student learning, we invite you to grab time with us to talk more!

About Instructional Data Solutions: Our mission is to remove barriers to enable education organizations to focus on what matters most. We assist school systems and education organizations of all sizes by collecting, analyzing, and clearly communicating data. We are committed to empowering educators through comprehensive data analytics and tailored support. Additionally, we provide dedicated support for operational needs, process improvement, and special projects, offering customized solutions to enhance effectiveness and success. Our solutions bridge the gap between data collection and instructional improvement in PK-12 settings.