Getting it Right from the Start (GIRFTS) is a research study that aims to implement a response to intervention (RTI) framework in early primary school (Foundation and Grade 1) to improve oral language and reading. RTI is a multi-tiered conceptual framework that supports student learning through delivery of high-quality classroom instruction, early…

The ability to adapt positively to change is called resilience (Center for the Developing Child, n.d.). Individual and collective resilience are cultivated in the context of nurturing and supportive relationships (Gittell, 2008; National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2004). Ideally, this should occur in the early stages of change and…

Current educational reform mandates the implementation of school-based models for early identification and intervention, progress monitoring, and data-based assessment of student progress. This article provides an overview of interdisciplinary collaboration for systems-level consultation within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework.…

Soon after the implementation of federal and state early education mandates that require the teaching and testing of more formal "academic" skills, many highly experienced early childhood teachers began voicing concerns about the negative impact the mandates were having on the young children in their classrooms. Many of these concerns…

The Response to Intervention initiative is in danger of failing and being thrown on the ash heaps of countless education reform initiatives, but not because it is poorly structured, rather on account of poor implementation. Among the implementation mistakes are seven that can be watched for and avoided. (Contains 3 tables.)

This study investigated the relationship between organizational culture and the implementation of Response to Intervention in one elementary school. It examined issues corresponding to change within a system, with particular attention to those relating to school culture. An ethnographic approach was used to gather data, including the collection of…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of an Australian health promoting schools (HPS) project to identify key features of the concept of resilience and how it can be used in a school setting to develop and strengthen protective factors in young people, as a mechanism for improving social functioning and reducing involvement in…

National policy affects local practice in a variety of ways and through a variety of mechanisms. In this article, the authors examine what has been learned from Individuals With Disabilities Education Act's (IDEA) two early childhood (EC) programs about the power and limitations of policy as a lever to improve the lives of young children.…

Response to Intervention (RtI) came into the national forefront in the late 1990s as an alternate approach for identifying students with specific learning disabilities. In brief, RtI assumes that a broad system of early intervention and support is in place, one possible component of which is evaluating a student for suspected learning…

A literacy intervention is designed to produce accelerated change, moving student achievement rapidly and providing for sustained performance over time. Adopting a complex intervention is a problem-solving process that requires understanding of the conceptual congruity of all aspects of the theory, intervention, and training underlying the…

In this article, the author discusses Response to Intervention (RtI), a school-wide system of intervention. One of the advantages of RtI in the diagnosis of disabilities is that it allows schools to intervene early to meet the needs of struggling learners. RtI also maps those specific instructional strategies found to benefit a particular student,…

This study is a retrospective examination of elements that influenced one elementary school staff to initiate and implement a school-wide innovation in their reading program in 1990-91. This school served 315 preschool children through grade three in a small town set in the rural countryside. Case study methodology was used to discover how the…

Two articles are presented on the implementation of Reading Recovery in Maine. The first article, "Collaborative Efforts Can Make a Difference: The Development of Reading Recovery in Maine" articulates and shares the process which took place in Maine in the hope that it will assist interested stakeholders in other states in the…

This article describes progress made by states and U.S. territories in implementing the Part H program for handicapped infants and toddlers and the Section 619 preschool grants program, both authorized by the 1986 Amendments to the Education of the Handicapped Act. Challenges faced by states include financing, personnel supply and standards, and…

Interviews with 15 families of young children with disabilities and 14 professionals working with them indicated that professionals have an understanding of the change in focus from child-centered to family-centered intervention; however there was some incongruence between family-centered attitudes and actual practice. Families expressed overall…