Examining the changing landscape of school psychology practice: A survey of school‐based practitioners regarding Response to Intervention

Abstract

As Response to Intervention (RtI) approaches become more common in educational systems throughout the country, it is increasingly important to identify how practitioners perceive these changes and how they obtain the skills necessary to face emergent roles and responsibilities. In this exploratory study, a national sample of 557 school psychologists were surveyed regarding their training, involvement, and perceptions of RtI. The results indicate that practitioners engage in multiple training experiences via a variety of modalities. Nearly half of respondents reported employment at sites implementing RtI. Practitioners at RtI-implementing sites reported a greater proportion of their time spent in academic intervention and conducted fewer psychoeducational assessments relative to their peers at non-RtI-implementing sites. Although many reported that RtI had positive effects on academic performance, a sizeable proportion of practitioners observed no effect on school culture and climate. Implications for school psychology training and practice are discussed. C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

School Psychologists’ Willingness to Implement RtI: The Role of Philosophical and Practical Readiness

“…The findings of this study expanded the current literature of treatment acceptability of RtI as well as philosophical factors contributing to its buy-in. Because school psychologists can function as leaders and facilitators to improve service delivery for all students and ensure positive learning outcomes for accountability purposes (NASP 2006;Sullivan and Long 2010), it is important to ensure their adequate buy-in and accurate philosophical beliefs about RtI. This would better allow practitioners to optimize their professional strengths in consultation and assessment to support its implementation as well as ongoing professional development in their schools.…”

“…The ethnic composition of the participants was not collected because cross-ethnicity comparison was not the purpose of the current study. Also, a review of a previous large-scale RtI survey study (Sullivan and Long 2010) indicated that the sample size of participants other than White is usually too small for a statistical analysis.…”

“…In addition, because adopting an RtI framework in the system may lead to changes in the roles and functions of school psychologists, it is important for in-service training providers to provide intensive, ongoing, and systemic professional development in all needed skills to support them to fulfill their responsibilities and re-conceptualize their professional identities associated with different instructional or service delivery roles (Kratochwill et al 2007;Sullivan and Long 2010). Also, to increase the proper understanding of Bwhy^to adopt RtI and to facilitate the philosophical buy-in process, training should introduce the potential benefits and advantages of implementing RtI.…”

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“…importance of RTI training (e.g., Danielson, Doolittle, & Bradley, 2007;Kratochwill, Volpiansky, Clements, & Ball, 2007), impact of experience in the field and educational level (e.g., Hargreaves, 2005;Sullivan & Long, 2010), research-based components of RTI implementation (e.g., Buffum et al, 2010;National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, 2005), and leadership competence in educational reform (e.g., Fullan, 2002;Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, & Hopkins, 2006;Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005). In revising the survey for school counselors, the authors added items to align with the ASCA National Model (2003, 2005 & 2012), including counselor interventions at each tier, data collection and management, and collaborative practices.…”

“…For example, observations and interviews with teachers of reading (including specialists, coaches, and classroom teachers) indicated professionals were more actively engaged in collaborative practices following the implementation of RTI (Bean & Lillenstein, 2012). Additionally, researchers found school psychologists spent up to 25% of their day providing intervention within an RTI framework, in comparison to 5% of the time for those who were not involved with RTI (Sullivan & Long, 2010). At this time, however, there has been limited exploration of school counselors' beliefs and attitudes toward RTI, as well as the effect on their professional practice.…”