This study investigated special education teachers' (SETs) work in Finnish lower secondary schools. We wanted to determine what is included in the work and what kind of knowhow is needed to manage it in the contexts of inclusion and the three-tiered support system. Our data consisted of 63 SETs' answers to an e-questionnaire. Using content…

Pre-service teachers (PSTs) need sound Knowledge About Language (KAL), both for their own professional communication and for their teaching practice. In the longer term, enhanced KAL will benefit our graduates in their implementation of the Australian Curriculum. This paper reports on work with First Year PSTs at one Australian university. We…

RtI refers to a specific set of interventions to support students who struggle to make progress in the general education settings. Fuchs and Deshler emphasized that teachers need to understand the conditions and contextual factors of RtI within a school district that may influence its implementation. Implementing these reforms requires ongoing…

The purpose of this action research study was to design, implement, analyze, and evaluate a series of interventions to increase the elementary teachers' utilization of the RtI process. Another purpose of the study was to determine the teachers' background knowledge and perceptions about the Responsiveness to Intervention (RtI) process at the…

We conducted a survey of special education teachers to determine their perceptions of the barriers and benefits to the process of Response to Intervention (RTI). This process is used for identification of students with disabilities and for early intervening for students who may or may not qualify for special education services. A total of 211…

This study examined the knowledge base of 142 elementary-level educators for implementing response-to-intervention (RTI) models in reading. A questionnaire assessed participants' professional background for teaching reading, as well as their familiarity with specific assessments, research-based instructional models, and interventions potentially…

Rural students are at risk for vocabulary underdevelopment and often have less access to educational resources. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the effectiveness of an Internet-based Speech/Language Pathologist (SLP)-teacher consultation to support rural teachers' vocabulary instruction to improve their students' lexical…

Revisions to Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) proposed alternative models, such as Response to Intervention (RTI), as a preventive measure that supports students at risk. As teachers' roles evolve in response to RTI, teacher preparation programs must adjust their focus and curriculum accordingly. A mixed-methods…

In this study, the authors represent an exploratory investigation of current preparation of preservice teachers related to response to intervention (RTI) in institutions of higher education (IHEs) in the Office of Special Education Program (OSEP) Regional Resource and Federal Centers (RRFCs) North Central Region and Pennsylvania. In this study,…

The purpose of the present inquiry was to identify how thoroughly degree-granting institutions in our state prepare elementary educators to serve students' literacy needs from a response to intervention perspective. The first investigator collected syllabi via a Freedom of Information request made to the state's Department of Higher Education,…

In this chapter, we provide an overview of the characteristics, content, procedures, processes, and outcomes of effective educator preparation programs for teachers of students with behavioral disorders (BD). We emphasize the need for teachers of students with BD to be fluent with the identification and application of evidence-based practices and…

The purpose of this study was to examine the current practices and pre-service preparation of recent graduates of North Carolina Birth-Kindergarten (B-K) teacher licensure programs related to individualizing curriculum and instruction for children. Participants were 142 individuals who graduated from B-K licensure programs in four-year…

Reading difficulties and disabilities present serious and potentially lifelong challenges. Children who do not read well are more likely to be retained a grade in school, drop out of high school, become a teen parent, or enter the juvenile justice system. Building on the extant research and seminal studies, including the National Reading Panel and…

While the basic tenets of the RtI model are well-established in the literature, few studies have been conducted to describe its implementation in rural schools. We conducted a qualitative study in three rural schools that had been designated as pilot sites by our state department of education. A cross-case analysis of the data collected through…

The new IDEIA (2004) mandates regarding the implementation of Response-to-Intervention (RtI) present challenges for general education teachers. The law dictates the implementation of Response-to-Intervention, which requires the application of a pyramid of interventions for students failing to make adequate yearly progress in response to general…