Call for Papers

Abstract

Karen Wixson, Guest Editor Response to Intervention (RTI) is an alternative to the discrepancy approach used for the identification of students with specific learning disabilities that was written into law in the 2004 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The RTI approach to identifying learning disabilities rests heavily on the ability of general educators to prevent serious learning difficulties by meeting the needs of the overwhelming majority of their students. Although RTI is commonly considered a general education initiative, the bulk of what has been written about it is both by and for school psychologists and special educators. As a result, there is a lack of information that is more directly relevant to the needs and concerns of general educators. This themed issue is designed to address this need by publishing papers written from a variety of perspectives on RTI-related theory and research. We are particularly interested in promoting professional dialogue about the value and challenges of using RTI approaches to address students’ needs in the areas of reading and mathematics in general education contexts. The special issue might include papers on a range of topics, such as comparisons among different approaches to RTI in different contexts, school-wide initiatives and collaborations, approaches to differentiated core instruction, instructionally meaningful assessment and progress monitoring, methods to address the needs of students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, educative professional development for in-service teachers, and the role of school and district administrators. We are particularly interested in evidence-