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…

School psychologists' training provides a variety of skills from which its practitioners may draw, including consultation, intervention, counseling, staff development, and assessment. Despite these broad skills, school psychologists' primary roles involve assessment and assessment-related tasks, generally as related to eligibility determination…

A key tool in multitiered systems of support is the use of curriculum-based measures to predict which students are at risk for academic failure. However, there are few studies that examine which measures are most suitable for students in middle school. The authors examine the reliability of predicting outcomes on state assessments for 3 commonly…

Research in special education has yielded beneficial outcomes for students with disabilities as well as typical achieving students. The authors provide examples of the valuable knowledge special education research has generated, including the elements of response to intervention (e.g., screening and progress monitoring), instructional practices…

Since 1997, revisions to the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) have shown promise for addressing special education equity concerns: For example, states have the option to use response to intervention (RTI) for determining and thus reducing inappropriate disability determination, and states and districts are required to assess and…

Response to Intervention (RTI) is defined by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE) as the practice of providing high-quality instruction and intervention matched to student needs and using learning rate over time and level of performance to make important educational decisions (2007). Both IDEA 2004 and the…

In the review, we examine what is known about disproportionality with the intention of informing the direction of policy and practice remedies. We outline the definition, contours, and characteristics of disproportionality and examine some of the prevailing explanations as to why the issue persists. We then pivot the review to consider how policy,…

Many schools around the country are getting positive responses implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework (e.g., Abbott, 2011; Ball & Trammell, 2011; Buysee & Peisner-Feinberg, 2009). RTI refers to an instructional model that is based on a student's response to instruction. RTI…

Despite the successful implementation of the Response to Intervention (RtI) framework in many elementary schools, there is little evidence of successful implementation in high school settings. Several themes emerged from the interviews of nine secondary principals, including a lack of knowledge and training for successful implementation, the…

A number of initiatives in special education have occurred in the United States over the years, some mandated by amendments to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Having a working knowledge of these initiatives allows music educators to have informed discussions with colleagues and parents and participate more fully in Individualized…

This mixed methods study used a survey by Frost and Kersten to answer the following questions: (a) Do principals of predominantly Hispanic schools perceive themselves as having adequate knowledge in special education? (b) Which areas are these principals most involved in with special education teachers? (c) What suggestions do these principals…

The Common Core State Standards and Response to Intervention are significant contemporary educational initiatives that have emerged largely in isolation from one another. We argue that an integration of these initiatives is beneficial. We trace the independent development of these two initiatives and offer suggestions for how they might fruitfully…

Modern attempts to explain why some assessment tools are readily adopted by school-based personnel whereas others are not have focused on the concept of usability. Usability encompasses not only the degree to which consumers find an assessment tool to be acceptable, but also the degree to which it is well-understood, believed to be feasible,…

Low reading skills constitute a serious achievement problem. Although there are remedial support in schools, between 2% and 6% of the student population continues to show persistent reading difficulties despite intensive intervention. The research problem in this study addressed the lack of effective reading interventions for students who were in…

The purpose of this casual-comparative study was to assess the effectiveness of Academy of READING® (AOR) on eighth grade Response to Intervention students using third nine-week benchmark scaled score and Criterion Reference Competency Test scaled score. The data collected from a public middle-school in rural Georgia revealed how student…