Response to Intervention as a Structuring Benchmark for Organizing Services for Students at Risk and With Learning Difficulties in Reading: A Multiple Case Study in Three Elementary Schools

Abstract

Although Response to Intervention (RTI) is viewed as a promising model for preventing learning difficulties in reading, several authors have highlighted the challenges associated with its implementation in educational settings (Barrio et al., 2015; Fuchs & Vaughn, 2012; Mitchell et al., 2012). After a decade of implementing this model in the United States, researchers insist on the need for more studies on the practical issues related to the implementation of this model (Barrio et al., 2015; Simonsen et al., 2010). The purpose of this article is to present the results of a multi-case study on the roles of teachers and remedial teachers in the context of the implementation of the RTI in reading in three elementary schools. It focuses more specifically on the organization of services based on the different evaluation and intervention procedures associated with the RTI. The results indicate the presence or emergence of a data culture in the three sites studied. It was possible to observe that RTI evaluation and intervention procedures are viewed as structuring benchmarks for organizing and planning services throughout the school year for first and second Grade students at-risk and those already struggling with reading difficulties.