The current national implementation of response-to-intervention frameworks has intensified the debate regarding underlying causes of student deficits and how to best assess and intervene for them. If cognitive measures are useful to intervention planning, then experimental research should be able to demonstrate that use of cognitively focused…

This article is the second of a series of articles appearing in "Communiqué" about how school psychologists can adopt and promote the evidence-based practices in math assessment and instruction. The focus of this article is on measuring math skills for screening, diagnostic decisions, and progress monitoring. [For the first article in…

Many school psychologists spend a large portion of their time conducting evaluations for special education, but school psychologists' confidence in learning disability (learning disability[ies] [LD]) identification has not been examined experimentally. This study examined differences in 376 school psychologists' confidence in their identification…

This study examined the extent to which cognitive ability index scores predicted multidisciplinary teams' (MDT) SLD identification within a response-to-intervention (RtI) method after accounting for RtI slope and norm-referenced achievement scores. Results showed that four achievement composite scores (i.e., basic reading, reading comprehension,…

Students with specific learning disabilities (SLDs) represent a large proportion of those receiving special education services in U.S. schools, but the relationship between student-level variables and SLD identification is still not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which data collected as part of a…

Learning disability (LD) identification has long been controversial and has undergone substantive reform. This study examined the consistency of school psychologists' LD identification decisions across three identification methods and across student evaluation data conclusiveness levels. Data were collected from 376 practicing school psychologists…

The purpose of this study was to examine: (1) the effect of a reading intervention based on reading need compared to a mismatched behavior intervention; and (2) the effect of an academic behavior intervention based on behavior need in comparison to a mismatched reading intervention. Six students took part in the multiple baseline study. Half of…

This indispensable course text and practitioner resource, now fully revised, has helped tens of thousands of readers implement evidence-based interventions to improve students' academic achievement and behavior in PreK-12. The volume presents best-practice guidelines and step-by-step procedures for 83 interventions that can easily be implemented…

Despite decades of research, much is still unknown regarding how specific learning disability (SLD) identification decisions are made, particularly how language related to sociodemographic and psychosocial factors may impact decision-making. This study employed the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) method to examine the language used in…

This study compared the reading growth of students with and without learning disabilities, and students with and without reading deficits in response to tier 2 reading interventions within a response-to-intervention framework. Participants were 499 second- and third-grade students in six urban schools. Students who scored at or below the 10th…

Teachers can potentially address reading comprehension deficits in a content area, such as science, by using the students in their classrooms as resources. We examined the effects of a class-wide partner reading intervention with science reading materials on a measure of content comprehension skills. A total of 65 fourth-grade students and 61…

This article is about a school-district-initiated partnership with university faculty and their effort to implement a mathematics multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). In addition to reporting research about MTSS implementation, we describe how this district translated research into practice. We also share the perceptions of key stakeholders…

The second edition of this essential handbook provides a comprehensive, updated overview of the science that informs best practices for the implementation of response to intervention (RTI) processes within Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to facilitate the academic success of all students. The volume includes insights from leading scholars…

Curriculum-based measurement is commonly used within a response-to-intervention framework to assess the effectiveness of intervention and to triage students into intervention tiers (e.g., the lowest 10% receive a Tier 3 intervention, and those in the 11th to 25th percentiles receive a Tier 2 intervention). We conducted a meta-analysis of 18…

Most reading interventions within a response-to-intervention model focus on remediating code-based deficits. This article describes a small-group comprehension intervention that was implemented with three fourth- and fifth-grade students who demonstrated difficulties with reading comprehension but acceptable reading fluency. The intervention…