Response to intervention implemented with English language learners

Abstract

In the past decade, Response to Intervention (RTI) has been adopted by many states and districts as a prereferral for special education. The purpose of RTI is to appropriately identify students who need special education services by intervening and providing extra support with the goal of students progressing back to grade level. There is little research on what benefits the use of RTI can have with English Language Learners (ELLs), but Vaughn, Mathes,Linan-Thompson, and Francis (2005) associate the lack of research to the fact that there has been no consideration that RTI programs "effectiveness" has only been studied with monolingual English speakers. The purpose of this study is to gain more information and understanding about Response to Intervention (RTI) and its use with ELLs. This study will expand on previous studies of RTI used with native English speakers and ELLs. Specifically, this study focuses on teacher perception of two RTI programs: Corrective Reading and Scientific Learning and if they provide any benefits or concerns to ELLs through semi-structured interviews. In addition, the study uses a checklist to analyze the linguistic complexity of both programs. Results indicated that almost all teachers believed one or both programs were beneficial to ELL learning. Research also found that the various levels of Corrective Reading and Scientific Learning programs could be used with ELLs throughout the levels of language acquisition. [from author's abstract]