The 2004-05 school year didn't start off well for the Sanger Unified School District. The district, located east of Fresno, had entered its first year of "program improvement"--a gentler way of saying that Sanger was among the 98 lowest-performing districts in the state based on success criteria in the No Child Left Behind law. The…

What are teachers' perceptions of Response to Intervention (RTI)? To address this question, we conducted interviews about teacher perceptions of an RTI model during the second year of its implementation at an urban elementary school. Results of this qualitative study suggest that teachers' perceptions of the RTI model grew more positive during the…

A multiple baseline design across teachers was used to evaluate the effects of a systematic, response-to-intervention (RTI) approach on rates of desired teacher behavior. Specifically, teachers whose rates of specific, contingent praise were nonresponsive to typical schoolwide positive behavior support training (primary intervention tier) were…

Teachers play a vital role in the implementation of new programs. This article discusses how best to support teachers in the face of such change. Specifically, we describe the perspectives of teachers who participated in a pilot project of the responsiveness to intervention model. Through focus group data, the researchers explored the barriers…

Single case studies are helpful in analyzing the details of implementation of an individualized intervention program (reference). Their exploratory nature can result in more case studies, which can be compared to allow for better understanding of an intervention's usefulness. This case study investigated the effectiveness of using brief…

This article describes a novel implementation of a response to intervention (RTI) model at the elementary school level, with particular focus on the role of the school counselor. The RTI process was used with all K-2 students as a way of delivering research-based best practice to all students, and as a way of documenting the educational progress…

Teaching reading in the mainstream classroom is a challenge. This challenge is compounded when trying to meet the needs of English language learners. Recently, Response to Intervention (RTI) has been suggested as a framework for classroom teachers to use in order to meet the wide range of needs of their students. The purpose of this study was to…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' and administrators' perceptions of the implementation and effectiveness of Response to Intervention (RTI) strategies in their schools. The study used a mixed-methods research design. Data were collected through multiple-choice and open-ended surveys administered to elementary English language…

The ultimate goal of this concurrent embedded mixed-method study was to describe the implementation of Response to Intervention (RTI) and understand the role of Response to Intervention at the fourth-grade elementary school level on the academic performance. This study examined both qualitative and quantitative data. In the qualitative phase, a…

The purpose of this study is to investigate teachers' perceptions of the functionality and effectiveness of the response to intervention model. Using a response to intervention (RTI) framework has become a priority for school district as they move to meet federal legislative mandates. Through this study teachers in the southwestern part of the…

The implementation of response to intervention requires that interventions for struggling students be provided through general education prior to referral for special education. The authors surveyed elementary teachers (K-3) in one state to examine the characteristics of the supplemental reading interventions that their students receive through…

This study considered the efficacy of a differentiated approach to vocabulary instruction for learners with word-finding difficulties (WFD) in the speech and language pathologist's room. Using a pretest-posttest design to study treatment outcomes, 10 second graders with WFD received first semantic-based vocabulary instruction (S) and then…

In this article, the authors consider the power and limitations of responsiveness-to-intervention (RTI) for reducing the need for ongoing and intensive services for the segment of the school population traditionally identified as having a learning disability in mathematics. To assess the robustness of RTI, the authors describe four studies with…

The current study detailed the manner in which one school district monitored the effectiveness of the Wilson Reading System for students with disabilities who were experiencing difficulty with reading. Effectiveness was measured by growth in the reading skills that have been documented to be critical for successful readers. Twenty fourth- and…

Identifying which K-12 English Learners (ELs) should receive special education services has historically been challenging and fraught with error. Educators are commonly puzzled as to whether an EL student's academic difficulties are the result of insufficient academic English language, inappropriate instruction, or an intrinsic learning…