When Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act in 2004 (IDEIA 2004), local educational agencies (LEA) were permitted to use a Response-to-Intervention (RtI) approach for identifying children with possible learning disabilities for special education. Furthermore, IDEIA 2004 no longer required LEAs to establish an IQ-achievement discrepancy for determining a Specific Learning Disability (SLD). Although federal law no longer mandates the need for a discrepancy for determining an SLD, some researchers suggest that intelligence tests should continue to be used for children at-risk for SLD who do not respond to interventions within the initial phases of an RtI approach. The current paper: (a) provides a brief review of the IQ-achievement discrepancy model, (b) reviews some of the major criticisms regarding the IQ-achievement discrepancy model, (c) reviews concerns of using intelligence tests within an RtI framework, and (d) provides a rationale for applying RtI in school districts in California.