ERIC Number: ED502697
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2008-Sep
Pages: 63
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
State Policies and Procedures and Selected Local Implementation Practices in Response to Intervention in the Six Southeast Region States. Issues & Answers. REL 2008-No. 063
Sawyer, Richard; Holland, Dana; Detgen, Amy
Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast
Response to Intervention has garnered recent interest from policymakers, researchers, and educators. Studies of its effectiveness have found it promising, and state education agencies are increasingly interested in the approach. This report supplies basic information about state planning and implementation of the approach in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The report focuses chiefly on states, but also illustrates implementation of Response to Intervention with examples from three local education agencies. The report identifies four main reasons why Southeast Region states adopted Response to Intervention: (1) To address disproportionality (overidentification or underidentification of students from minority subgroups for special education); (2) To promote overall student achievement; (3) To better integrate general and special education; and (4) To inform, or possibly determine, special education eligibility for students with learning disabilities. All six Southeast Region states were adopting Response to Intervention at the state level: from planning in Alabama and South Carolina, to pilot initiatives in Florida and North Carolina, to statewide rollouts in Georgia and Mississippi. Leadership for such efforts has been split, residing sometimes in special education departments and sometimes in general education departments. Southeast Region states have different strategies for scaling up Response to Intervention. Some are beginning with an exclusive focus on the elementary level; others are rolling out the approach to all grade levels. All six states have Response to Intervention initiatives that focus on reading, yet it is almost as common for the state initiatives to focus on mathematics and behavior. States encounter both facilitating factors and challenges as they plan and implement Response to Intervention. Collaboration among state education departments and external partners is an important consideration for state planning. Challenges arise for planners working across special and general education and include blending funding, developing staff training, and staging rollouts so as not to overwhelm schools with new and complex practices. More work is needed to share and empirically compare states' experiences with such concerns as funding options, state planning practices, fidelity in implementation, identification of effective mathematics and behavior interventions, and secondary school implementation. Five appendixes are included: (1) Study Methodology; (2) State Key Informant Interview Protocol; (3) Local Education Agency and School Key Informant Interview Protocol; (4) Discussions of Response to Intervention in the Literature; and (5) Summary of Southeast Region State Response to Intervention Activities. (Contains 6 notes, 3 boxes, and 13 tables.) [This report was prepared for the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences (IES) by Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast administered by Education Development Center, Inc.]
Descriptors: Disproportionate Representation, Statewide Planning, Intervention, Program Implementation, School Districts, Validity, Learning Disabilities, General Education, State Departments of Education, Special Education, Program Effectiveness
Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast at SERVE Center. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 915 Northridge Street, Greensboro, NC 27403. Tel: 800-755-3277; e-mail: RELSoutheast@serve.org; Web site: http://www.serve.org
Publication Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast (ED)
Identifiers - Location: Alabama; Florida; Georgia; Mississippi; North Carolina; South Carolina
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
IES Publication: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/projects/project.asp?ProjectID=166