| This qualitative study was designed to gain an in-depth understanding of the perceptions, attitudes, knowledge, and implementation of RTI based on interviews with 11 special education directors working in rural school districts in eastern Washington. Three questions guided this study. First, what level of general knowledge of the RTI process do special education directors possess? Second, how do special education directors, promote or implement RTI? Third, do the special education directors regard RTI as an effective approach to serve students in need of specialized services?;The interviews were in a semi-structured format, and were designed to allow the respondent to expound on their personal and professional opinions concerning the RTI model. In analyzing the themes it became evident that RTI is perceived to be an early intervention model that targets those students who may be at risk for academic failure. Some of the challenges that these special education directors faced was lack of staff training, lack of funds to implement RTI, and lack of agreement between general education and special education staff who viewed RTI as either a general education model or an exclusively special education model. Moreover, there appeared to be lack of implementation for those schools that had not benefitted from federal grants to implement the Reading First Initiative promoted by No Child Left Behind. Additionally, only one school district out of the 12 researched attempted to implement RTI at the middle school, or high school level. |
