In a matter of a few short years, RTI has become a familiar phrase in the early childhood field. Because RTI is an emerging practice, it is critical that the early childhood field has a reliable source of information as programs begin to define and implement these practices. Representatives of three national organizations (The Division for Early Childhood of the Council for Exceptional Children (DEC), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), and the National Head Start Association (NHSA)) participated in a process for developing guidance to the field. This included gathering national input from multiple sources (listening sessions, national experts, work groups). The National Professional Development Center on Inclusion (NPDCI) facilitated that process from September 2009 to December 2011, and developed a concept paper on RTI-EC that reflects the work completed during that time period .