Many students in schools in the United States today are considered at-risk in their reading ability. The disproportionate number of students making inadequate progress places the fate of students at stake. Response to Intervention (RTI) was created to support student growth in reading while reducing the number of students requiring testing for…

Current literature exists centered on Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) framework, its components, and ways in which MTSS is intended to support all students. Yet, there is a gap in the literature that examines how elementary schools are implementing it. This dissertation study sought to understand what the MTSS framework implementation at…

This research study examined how school leaders internalize new state-level reading policy aligned with the body of research known as the Science of Reading and how they make sense of district expectations to make decisions for their school community and its impact on students at-risk for reading difficulty. The Ready to Read Act is a Maryland…

Due to barriers to kindergarten readiness, many kindergarten students do not enter kindergarten with the prerequisite skills needed for reading. A number of students do not leave kindergarten with adequate reading skills needed for future success. As a result, students are ill-prepared for first grade and are at risk for future reading failure.…

This study was designed to highlight how students best learn to learn to read, best practices of reading instruction, innovative resources, and effective instructional strategies. The aim of this dissertation was to address the problem of kindergarten through fourth grade students in the United States not reading on grade level. The purpose of…

This qualitative case study examined the contribution a year-long professional development in the science of reading had on 10 first-grade teachers' knowledge of how reading develops and their instructional practices. Data for this research study was collected through a longitudinal interview process, from pre- and post-knowledge inventory…

Elementary school teachers struggle to collect and use reading progress data to make instructional decisions. Collecting and interpreting reading progress data when making instructional decisions allows districts to identify and support students who need early reading intervention and may protect districts from Free Appropriate Public Education…

Using data to inform instructional decisions is a pillar of special education practice. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a systematic, ongoing assessment framework that allows special educators to monitor the progress of their students to determine the need for instructional adaptations. CBM and data-based instructional decision-making have a…

The location of this study is Bulldog Elementary School (BES) (pseudonym) in Suburban School District (SSD) (pseudonym). According to the Read to Succeed Act (2016), students must read on grade level by the end of third grade. Therefore, the students reading achievement level is the problem of practice. This action research study describes the…

Reading comprehension assessments often lack instructional utility because they do not accurately pinpoint why a student has difficulty. The varying formats, directions, and response requirements of comprehension assessments lead to differential measurement of underlying skills and contribute to noted amounts of unshared variance among tests. Maze…

The problem in an elementary school in Southern Texas was poor reading performance on grade level and progress monitoring tests for students with disabilities (SWDs). SWDs may learn to read proficiently when reading instruction is provided using the support facilitation model (SFM) that features a special educator who helps SWDs in literacy or…

Many American students struggle with reading, particularly in the area of comprehension. As such, early identification of reading difficulties, use of evidenced-based interventions, and monitoring of student reading progress over time is essential. Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) is a technically adequate, efficient tool whose features and…

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of Data-Based Individualization (DBI) on the reading comprehension of high school students with intensive needs in reading; specifically, two students with specific learning disabilities in reading (RD) and one student with high functioning autism (HFA). Perceptions of social validity of DBI by a…

Response to Intervention (RTI) is defined by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) as the practice of providing high-quality instruction and intervention matched to student needs and using learning rate over time and level of performance to make important educational decisions (2007). Both IDEA 2004 and the…

The purpose of this study was to determine effective reading interventions for primary grade students, utilizing the Response to Intervention (RtI) model. The purpose of RtI is to enhance the quality of education for children, if appropriate levels of academic instruction are present (Hanover Research, 2015). The research questions were posed to…