The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) allows alternate pathways for school districts to identify and classify students with a specific learning disability (SLD). Response to Intervention (RtI) is one of the frameworks schools can use when eliminating the use of the discrepancy model. The premise of RtI posits that…

Response to intervention (RTI) is an evidence-based approach to educational service delivery that is being increasingly adopted by schools across the country. To effectively implement RTI models, teachers require specialized training. Little is currently known, however, about the extent to which this training is being provided at the preservice…

Concepts from the Response-to-Intervention (RTI) Model were used to promote a successful course outcome for students at risk for making low grades in an entry-level college course. The first exam served as a universal screener to identify students who could potentially benefit from RTI assistance. The researchers developed a tiered coaching…

Special educators assume an essential leadership role in school-wide multilayered instructional systems for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse learners with and without disabilities, including learners at risk of being inappropriately referred for special education. Research findings from a model demonstration project are presented…

This study details the creation of a four-tiered format designed to help preservice teachers write differentiated lesson plans. A short history of lesson plan differentiation models is described and how the four-tier approach was developed through collaboration with classroom teachers and university faculty. The unifying element for the format…

Response to intervention (RTI) was included in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), specifically as part of an assessment process to determine if a child has a disability. Although IDEA's focus is on students with disabilities, 10 states have developed policies that attend to students with gifts and…

The most recent reauthorization of the Individual's with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA, 2004) allows for the expansion of occupational therapy's role in school-based practice to include students who have not been identified for special education through early intervening services such as response to intervention (RtI).…

This article presents the conceptual foundations and specific features of an ecologically oriented model of school-based organizational consultation. We begin by providing an overview of ecological theory. This is followed by a brief description of a model of school-based organizational consultation with a special focus on the ecological elements…

Legal mandates, educational reform, and professional policy changes, have emphasized the need to promote the integration of services for students with communication impairments within the general education curriculum. However, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) continue to report the provision of primarily pull-out services with intervention…

Over a three-year period educators at an urban elementary school were interviewed about a Response to Intervention model from development to implementation supported by professional development within a university-school partnership. While the model was initially viewed as an administrative directive, in Year 2 educators began to assume…

President George W. Bush signed into legislation one of the most influential and controversial educational reforms--the 2001 "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB). The purpose of the NCLB is to "ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum,…