A CASE STUDY OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION
AND ITS IMPACT ON TEACHER EFFICACY TRACEY I. MACCIA
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INTRODUCTION An achievement gaps exists in our nations schools
Research suggests that early identification and intervention is the
most effective method for helping academically struggling students
Reauthorized IDEA of 2004 introduced Response to Intervention (RTI)
as a model requiring general educators to be more responsive to
academically struggling students
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Statement of Problem Nationally, an upward trends exists for
students who are being identified with a specific learning
disability RTI has been implemented as state wide/local educational
agency initiatives in several states yet it still remains unclear
to what extent it has had on the effect of teachers efficacy This
study takes place in an urban northern New Jersey school district
where over 20% of student population are identified as having a
disability in comparison to the state average of 14%
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Problem-cont. District Policy: (1) Wait and See toward
struggling readers (2) Refer struggling readers for special
education services School district was being monitored for special
education services due to a high percentage of students with
disabilities placed in separate public and private settings
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What is RTI?
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PURPOSE OF STUDY Understand both general and special education
teachers experiences and perception of RTI implementation Teacher
efficacy as it relates to implementation of RTI
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS 1. How do teachers perceive that RTI
enhanced their efficacy in understanding and meeting the needs of
their academically struggling students? 2. How do teachers perceive
that RTI had an impact on their efficacy in the collaboration
between general and special education teachers? 3. How do teachers
perceive that RTI had influenced the school climate in a way that
promoted or impeded teacher efficacy in meeting the needs of
academically struggling students?
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THEORIES IMPLEMENTERS AS LEARNERS Review of literature reveals
that well-planned professional development programs address
learning transfer. After professional development, it is imperative
to create opportunities for teachers to utilize an intervention and
test out the change in practices and share knowledge with their
colleagues SOCIAL INVENTION The concept that there are real
disabilities, and they are part of the nature of things, is
depicted as a discovery narrative. This narrative may be a social
invention narrative, where truth is only seen in terms of what
people find useful. The problem with categorization is that it
cements in place these unproductive qualities to our students
rather than responding to our students in authentic and respectful
ways CRITICAL CULTURAL CONSCIOUSNESS When implementing RTI in an
urban school district, it is imperative to become a culturally
responsive educator. When differences are no longer viewed as
deficits, teachers develop an affirming attitude toward students
from lower socio-economic status
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LITERATURE REVIEW RTI and Prevention-Wanzek and Vaughn (2009)
conducted a research study on a school based model to prevent
reading disabilities Six elementary schools were more than 80%
minority students and more than 80% received free and reduced lunch
A comparison of control and experimental groups indicated that the
three tier model improved reading outcomes of students
participating The value of brief intervention is of considerable
importance to teachers in determining success compared to special
education services
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LITERATURE REVIEW RTI and Problem Solving-Minneapolis Public
School (1992) study and the Heartland Area Education study (1990).
Conclusion: problem solving methods to improve assessment and
decision making regarding eligibility for special education Askew
et al (2002) found that provision of instructional interventions at
tier one level can change educational outcomes and reduce the
number of students requiring special education services
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LITERATURE REVIEW RTI AND Referral Rate-Tilly (2003) conducted
a study over a four year time-span on 120 schools in Iowa who were
using a tiered problem solving program. Tillys studied acknowledged
RTI as having the demonstrated ability to reduce the number of
special education referrals and placements for participating
students Tillys study recorded a decrease in the number of special
education referrals by: 39% for kindergartners, 32% for first
graders, 21% for second graders and 19% for third graders
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LITERATURE REVIEW RTI AND Efficacy-Greenfield, Rinaldi, Proctor
& Cardarelli examined teachers perceptions of RTI in their
school at an urban elementary school in the Northeast serving 310
students The overall findings suggest two general outcomes: student
data showed progress monitoring was present and teachers reported
that student data helped to increase student achievement Francis
(2009) conducted research on RTI and teacher efficacy and found
that as teachers gained more knowledge about RTI, they also began
to believe that the school was more adequately addressing the needs
of struggling students
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LITERATURE REVIEW RTI and Efficacy, cont.-Bandura (1993) &
Goddar, Hoy, Woolfolk-Hoy (2000) conducted a study on the beliefs
of teachers regarding their instructional efficacy Bandura found
that the single influence that was attributed to student
performance was the belief of the faculty about their collective
efficacy to both motivate and educate the students they served
Goodard et al (2000) found that collective efficacy was a
significant predictor of academic achievement
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LITERATURE REVIEW RTI, Supportive School Environment and
Teacher Efficacy Lose (2008) recognized that administrators have a
distinct and potent position in implementing a systemic change
required in implementing RTI RAND (1970s) studies found that not
only is administrative support critical to successful
implementation but that active support by district leaders is also
crucial to new initiatives
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REFERRAL RATES Research reveals that a tiered system of
delivery of instruction like RTI has been found to have a positive
effect on lowering the number of students referred for special
education services
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TEACHER EFFICACY (AS IT RELATES TO IMPLEMENTATION OF RTI) In
schools, educators share the responsibility for the academic
performance of students This interdependence is the difference
between individual (teacher) and group (collective) efficacy
Bandura, 2004, found that the single most influence attributing to
student performance was the belief of the faculty about their
collective efficacy to both motivate and educate the students they
serve
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RTI AND SUPPORT Researchers agree that there is a strong
relationship between teacher efficacy, a supportive school climate,
and student performance
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RESEARCH DESIGN Thirty of the 75 teachers from the three
participating schools were asked to participate in a
semi-structured interview process using the strategy of maximum
variation sampling The intent in this selection was not to analyze
which participants found RTI most successful but rather to select a
sample of teachers who teach across content areas Fifteen teachers
were interviewed Special education teachers General education
teachers Basic skills teachers
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Semi-structured interview protocol
Descriptive case study Empirical inquiry investigating RTI
implementation and its impact on teacher efficacy Employed a
inductive research strategy by building themes from the data
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CONTEXT Study Site: Three elementary schools K-3 in a lower
socio-economic status district in northern New Jersey The borough
is 2.58 miles and home to 21,000 residents of which 2,900 are
students attending the Pre-K-12 school district The district is
categorized a B district in the district factor grouping
category.
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DEMOGRAPHICS 75% OF STUDENTS ARE AFRICAN AMERICAN 25% OF
STUDENTS ARE HISPANIC 5% OF STUDENTS ARE CAUCASIAN 2% OF STUDENTS
ARE ASIAN
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DATA & ANALYSIS Data reduction was used to condense pages
of works to their importance level 1 st process-read transcript
several times to become familiar with its content 2 nd
process-coded the interview. Coding is reading the transcript until
themes begin to emerge 3 rd process-wrote a summary of the coded
data 4 th process-interpreted and tied together the themes to
translate what it all means
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ROLE OF RESEARCHER & BIAS All data was passed, interpreted
and reported through me My bias is that I have worked for 15 years
as a special education administrator and feel strongly about
providing early intensive reading intervention to struggling
readers instead of referring students for special education
services
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RTI & TEACHER EFFICACY Research Question #1: How do urban
teacher perceive that RTI enhanced their efficacy in understanding
& meeting the needs of their academically struggling students?
All interviewees responded in a positive and enthusiastic manner
about the effects of RTI enhancing their efficacy in understanding
and meeting the needs of their academically struggling readers
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PAST PRACTICES Both general and special education teachers
seemed to experience difficulties in understanding students needs
prior to implementation of RTI The majority of teachers stated they
would search online or conduct their own research because nothing
was in place for reading interventions
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EFFECTIVE PRACTICES AFTER RTI RTI implementation changed the
general education teaching practices The majority of teachers
stated that their practices of teaching struggling readers became
more effective after implementing RTI Teachers stated the data from
RTI helped identify students strengths and weaknesses
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COLLABORATION AND TEACHER EFFICACY Research Question #2: How do
urban teachers perceive RTI has impact on their efficacy in the
collaboration between general and special education teachers? The
majority of teachers reported that they felt more collaborative
after implementing RTI Teachers reported a positive change in
instructional practices through collaboration between general and
special education teachers
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SCHOOL CLIMATE AND TEACHER EFFICACY Research Question #3: How
do urban teachers perceive that RTI had influenced the school
climate in a way that promoted or impeded teacher efficacy in
meeting the needs of academically struggling students? Teachers
reported that RTI had a positive impact on school climate after
implementing RTI. Teachers reported that they took a more
problem-solving approach to assist struggling readers
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RTI & REFERRAL RATES Problem: High referral rate for
special education services in the district under study General
education teachers were referring struggling readers for special
education services instead of assisting them with reading
interventions Referral Data: 2009-2010-96 students were referred
for special education services Year of RTI Implementation
2010-2011-61 students were referred for special education services
This indicates a 36% decrease in referrals for special education
services
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CONCLUSIONS Teacher Efficacy & RTI: A teacher commented,
For myself, I think I have more patience with children that are
struggling, more tolerance and more willingness to use different
program and strategies and more open to different ideas and
suggestions(after implementing RTI) All teachers commented that
they were more effective in assisting their struggling readers
after implementation of RTI A major component of the success of RTI
implementation was the professional development component When
teachers receive quality training, they have the ability to create
an atmosphere where students are successful This conclusion is in
agreement with the theory of implementers as learners
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CONCLUSIONS Collaboration & RTI Results are compelling due
to the fact that general and special education teachers were
working in isolated settings prior to implementation of RTI The RTI
initiative weaved together the delivery of instruction in general
and special education like a tapestry of art Both general and
special education teachers worked collaboratively to problem solve
and assist all struggling readers The majority of teachers felt
that without collaboration between general and special education
teachers, RTI implementation would be impossible to implement
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CONCLUSIONS School Climate & RTI Overall, teachers reported
a positive impact on school climate while implementing RTI They
developed a sense of trust in their colleagues In general, teachers
were more prone to problem solve together while assisting
struggling readers
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LIMITATIONS OF STUDY The school district was developing a RTI
model during the project. The initiative was in its first year in
the district and not followed up. Therefore, the results cannot be
generalized to models that are fully developed Because of the small
number of teachers in the sample, one cannot assume that results
represent all possible perspectives I was a district administrator
in the district two years prior to this study. It is possible that
teacher responses were affected by the fact that I was a past
supervisor
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POLICY IMPLICATIONS A major message for policy makers and
school administrators is to provide high-quality professional
development in research based intervention strategies prior to
implementing RTI Follow-up is equally important for teachers to
feel more competent in utilizing an intervention strategy.
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SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH Examine the impact of RTI on
literacy achievement especially the achievement of urban students
Impact of RTI over time Long term results of RTI Features of
Professional Development or successful implementation of RTI