From IDEA to Implementation: A Discussion of Foundational and Future Responsiveness‐to‐Intervention Research

Abstract

The IDEA reauthorization of 2004 highlights the application of responsiveness to intervention (RTI) to both early intervention (EI) service delivery and learning disabilities (LD) identification practices, creating the potential for wide-scale execution. Implementation of any educational reform necessitates more than simply changing practices: It is important to understand the foundation upon which the reform stands, as well as the questions yet unanswered by research. This review of literature, therefore, emphasizes what is known about RTI as well as what remains to be learned, beginning with foundational concepts-model iterationsand moving to applications-EI and LD identification. Ultimately, the complexities of the RTI construct, with its potential for systemic change, necessitate a partnership between researchers and practitioners to both implement and further investigate RTI on a wide scale.

Meeting the Needs of Struggling Readers: Using Reading Assessments in a Graduate-level Reading Course

“…By providing early intervention, RTI may help to rule out instruction, culture, or language as the primary problem. RTI also helps eliminate teacher bias in referring students for special education thereby reducing the overrepresentation of minority students and males in special education (Hollenbeck, 2007).…”

“…The RTI model holds the general education environment accountable with intervention provided within the classroom, eliminating lack of differentiated instruction as a possible cause of academic problems. RTI also reduces the reliance of intelligence testing thereby providing faster services (Hollenbeck, 2007).…”

“…Unfortunately, this model abounds with problems. It relies on intelligence scores, cannot support early intervention, cannot tell the difference between problems within the child and problems outside of the child, and causes too many minority students to be placed in special education (Hollenbeck, 2007).…”

Early identification of young struggling readers: Preliminary benchmarks for intervention for students in years one and two in schools in New South Wales

“…In addition, the passage of Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (2004) in the USA has also focused the attention of educators in that country on the early years of schooling. The Act includes the option of using a Response-to-Intervention (RTI) approach as a means of identifying students with learning disabilities and special education needs (Hollenbeck, 2007). As a result, there has been a recent focus on means of identification of students who need intervention and ways in which student progress can be monitored during interventions to determine whether a student is responsive to the intervention or not.…”

The Application of a Family-Based Multi-Tiered System of Support

“…Whereas PBS typically offers teaching and prevention as a central focus, RtI has traditionally been utilized as a model of academic support, with a heavy focus on tiers of support determined by data. In a discussion of RtI in schools, Hollenbeck (2007) stated, "Fundamental to any RTI model is a tiered construction in which struggling learners move through a series of interventions of progressing intensity" (p. 138). These approaches appear to create a potentially useful system for organizing parent support.…”