Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / School districts have been attempting to implement the response-to-intervention (RTI) framework in an effort both to comply with federal legislation (i.e., IDEA 2004) and to improve teaching for all students. Extant research on this framework has focused on exploring assessment practices across tiers and the efficacy of specific interventions, providing an overly simplistic view of RTI and overlooking the complexities involved in sustainable school-wide implementation. In September 2010, a large urban school district in the eastern United States began implementation of a reform effort premised on the RTI framework that was intended to provide a systematic, research-based, and collaborative framework for teaching all students. Drawing on a theoretical orientation that situates reform as a co-constructed process (Datnow, Hubbard, and Mehan, 1998), this qualitative single case study explored how educators at one urban K-8 school interpreted and implemented a district reform effort premised on the RTI framework. This research employed a qualitative case study approach, utilizing interviews, observations and document analysis, to: a) chronicle the sequence of events and process of decision-making in the school's development of RTI; b) explore factors supporting and hindering implementation; and c) understand how school staff responded to the implementation. Findings revealed that although the school adopted the model developed by the district, its implementation at the school, and particularly across grade levels, reflected a co-constructed and evolving approach shaped mainly by the school culture and community, individual teachers' beliefs and practices, and the variable availability and use of technical infrastructures. Results may be useful to school districts and educator preparation programs as they consider how to prepare and support educators in implementing an RTI framework. In particular, several implications emerged related to schools' implementation of RTI: a) self-assessment is critical to promoting quality, fidelity and sustainability; b) school leadership should share power and encourage co-construction; c) resources matter; d) elementary and middle school implementation must occur differently; e) culture and beliefs matter; and f) RTI implementation must seriously attend to issues of educational equity. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2014. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BOSTON/oai:dlib.bc.edu:bc-ir_101387 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Higgins Averill, Orla |
| Publisher | Boston College |
| Source Sets | Boston College |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, thesis |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf |
| Rights | Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. |
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