Pre-referral interventions in schools are designed to ...

• A. They must be tried and found ineffective before a student can be referred for special education services
• B. Their main goal is to lay the groundwork for the student's eventual referral to special education
• C. They are generally ineffective
• D. They are designed by each of the student's classroom teachers individually

Answer: (A)

Pre-referral interventions are a process of providing targeted supports within the general education setting to address a student’s learning or behavior concerns, using data to track progress before considering special education. The best answer reflects that these interventions are intended to be tried and evaluated to see if they improve performance; only if there’s insufficient progress would a formal referral for special education be pursued. In practice, teams implement evidence-based supports with fidelity and monitor response, often within MTSS/RTI frameworks, to determine whether the student can succeed with supports in the general education setting. If progress remains limited, a referral and evaluation may be considered. The other ideas misrepresent the purpose: pre-referral efforts aren’t simply about laying groundwork for a referral, they aren’t inherently ineffective, and they’re not typically designed by each teacher in isolation but through collaborative, district-supported processes.