Students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) represent a large proportion of those receiving special education services in U.S. schools, but the relationship between student-level variables and SLD identification is still not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which data collected as part of a…

Response to intervention (RTI) is increasingly being implemented in schools as a means to identify students with specific learning disabilities (SLD). Despite its wide use, there is limited research regarding school psychologists' graduate preparation in and familiarity with RTI for SLD identification. This study examined how school psychologists'…

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent two major specific learning disability (SLD) criteria, including a student's level of academic achievement and rate of improvement (ROI), predict multidisciplinary evaluation teams' decision-making regarding referral for special education evaluation and special education eligibility.…

The relation between items assessing knowledge about educating students with disabilities and the Tschannen-Moran and Hoy's Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES; 2001) was explored for 140 preservice, general education teachers using biserial correlation coefficients and a multiple regression equation. From the data collected, 8 correlations…

The purpose of the study was to determine if there are differences among building administrators, guidance counselors, and special education directors on a perceived level of implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) at the secondary level. The study also examined whether or not RTI serves as a predictor of students identified in special…

Response to Intervention (RTI) emerged as a new service delivery model designed to meet the learning needs of all students prior to diagnosis and placement in the special education setting. The problem was few research studies had been conducted between general education teachers with intensive professional development and those without…

This study investigated slope bias on student background variables for both Curriculum Based Measurement of Oral Reading (CBM-R) and Curriculum Based Measurement Maze Reading (Maze). Benchmark scores from 1,738 students in Grades 3 through 8 were used to examine potential slope bias in CBM-R and Maze. Latent growth modeling was used to both…

This study examined students' movement in and out of special education and predictors for later special education placement. The sample ( N = 556) came from a response to intervention (RTI) study, specifically, a cluster-randomized control field trial that undertook the development and study of a hybrid Tier 1 (classroom instruction) and Tier 2…

The purpose of this study was to document the relationship between two commonly-used indicators of reading proficiency (i.e., Oral Reading Fluency [ORF] and Retell Fluency [RTF]) and two reading outcome tests in the state of Montana. Third and fourth grade students were assessed over 1 school year (2005-2006). Each student was assessed at three…

Using a multiple-gating procedure, 5 research sites (3 elementary and 2 middle schools) were identified as implementing a Response to Intervention (RTI) framework. This study uses a multiple case study design to describe the RTI implementation in reading at these 5 sites. Findings suggest that the sites studied are utilizing a hybrid model (a…

The purpose of this study was to determine the implementation status of Response to Intervention (RtI) in the elementary schools (N = 35) in one urban school district in Virginia. The relationship between the implementation of the academic components of RtI, collective efficacy, parents' trust in schools, the number of referrals for special…