This dissertation explores conceptual and methodological issues related to measuring implementation in quantitative educational research. Implementation, defined as the enactment of interventions in educational contexts, plays a pivotal role in understanding how programs operate and affect student outcomes. Despite its importance, there is…

Research indicates that Response to Intervention (RTI) increases student achievement and significantly improves student academic and behavioral outcomes. RTI has demonstrated significant student gains in the elementary setting and research tends to be more heavily centered at the elementary level; however, RTI is expanding to being applied in the…

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Public School System requested a systematic review of Tier 2 literacy interventions for students in grades K-3. This review defines a Tier 2 literacy intervention as a supplemental instructional program for students who require support in addition to the Tier 1 core reading program. Of the 267…

Recent legislation through the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015) has implications for school systems across the nation in creating and implementing a multi-tiered system of support. Pennsylvania has its own state legislation that also provides the language for schools to implement an MTSS framework that includes tiered support in academics through…

Response to Intervention (RTI) is a preventive approach which is broadly implemented in the West, particularly in the USA for early identification and intervention of students with learning difficulties (LD). However, in the East, especially in the developing countries, neither has this kind of program been used extensively, nor is it even a…

Because several studies have investigated student outcomes in schools implementing Response to Intervention (RtI), relatively little research has investigated the impact of implementation on students' long-term achievement outcomes (i.e., several years after exposure). The purpose of this study was to describe one elementary school's RtI…

Historically, Black males are disproportionately represented as the least likely to graduate at every level of education and the demographic most likely placed in Special Education courses, incarcerated, as victims of homicide and who live in poverty. The United States of America implemented a voluntary program, Multi-tiered Systems of Support for…

PBIS is has been consistently correlated with reductions in student exclusion including suspensions, expulsions, poor attendance, and high school dropout rates. However, school-wide strategies that do not specifically involve effective instruction in academic areas are unlikely to result in increased academic achievement. To address this reality,…

Evidence-based reform in education refers to policies that enable or encourage the use of programs and practices proven to be effective in rigorous research. This article discusses the increasing role of evidence in educational policy, rapid growth in availability of proven approaches, and development of reviews of research to summarize the…

Educational reform is at the forefront of legislatures and school districts across the United States (Hattie, 2011). To find and employ high school improvement initiatives that lead to improved educational experiences for students, educational leaders must examine in great detail what systems have been successful and then modify the initiatives to…

Data from a large-scale math intervention program were used to evaluate the degree to which implementation fidelity (IF) and interventionist content knowledge were associated with student outcomes. Data were available for 33 interventionists serving 658 students in Grades 4-6 across one school year. A series of multilevel models were fit to the…

Purpose: Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) offer a tool for identifying, generating, and implementing evidencebased strategies that improve practice, policies, and client outcomes. We offer a description of RPPs and elements that facilitate successful utilization. The origin of RPPs, various approaches, and anticipated barriers are discussed.…

In 2013, the Tennessee Board of Education adopted Response to Intervention and mandated that districts begin implementing the framework by the summer of 2014. With only a year to begin the model, no state funds to help with implementation, and limited research on implementing school-wide Response to Intervention in poor rural districts and…

Response to Intervention (RtI) is being implemented as a new initiative in PK-12 schools with increasing frequency. However, the model must be sustained at the school level, which is potentially difficult due to a number of challenges brought about by systems change. This article applied the Stokes and Baer (1977) framework for programming for…

This article describes the emergence and influence of evidence-based practice and data-based decision making in educational systems. Increasingly, educators and consumers want to know that resources allocated to educational efforts yield strong effects for all learners. This trend is reflected by the widespread influence of evidence-based practice…