RTI: A Practitioner?s Guide to Implementing Response to Intervention

"Mellard and Johnson not only help us understand what RTI is and why we need it, they go the next step and tell us how to make it happen."
―Joseph Jenkins, Professor of Special Education
University of Washington

"This is a richly informative book on a most important and timely topic to hundreds of thousands of practitioners, parents, and policy makers."
―Doug Fuchs, Nicholas Hobbs Chair in Special Education and Human Development
Vanderbilt University

The nuts-and-bolts handbook for implementing RTI schoolwide!

Written by leading special education researchers with the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities and the University of Kansas, this comprehensive yet accessible reference provides administrators with practical guidelines for launching RTI in their schools. Highlighting the powerful role that RTI can play in prevention, early intervention, and determining eligibility for special services, the authors cover the three tiers of RTI, schoolwide screening, progress monitoring, and changes in school structures and individual staff roles. The text includes:

• Site-based examples and student case studies
• A discussion of the challenges to successful implementation
• A section on frequently asked questions

RTI: A Practitioner′s Guide to Implementing Response to Intervention is an invaluable resource that helps administrators increase the likelihood of success for students at risk and meet the requirements of NCLB, Reading First, and the reauthorization of IDEA 2004.

Daryl F. Mellard is a research associate within the Center for Research on Learning and director of the Division of Adult Studies at the University of Kansas. His current projects address assessment and services to children and youth with learning disabilities, reading comprehension, and adult literacy. Mellard directed the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (NRCLD) in its review of Responsiveness to Intervention (RTI), was one of the principal investigators in NRCLD’s examination of learning disabilities identification that included the application of RTI, and directed research on education, social, and employment issues for adults with disabilities. He has served as a cochair to the Kansas Coalition on Adult Literacy and Learning Disabilities and as a board of directors’ officer for the local independent living center. Mellard received his doctorate from the University of Kansas.

Evelyn S. Johnson is an associate professor of special education at Boise State University and the coauthor of RTI: A Practitioner’s Guide to Implementing Response to Intervention. She began her career in Washington in 1994 as a special education teacher, and then at the University of Washington, Seattle, where her research focused on the inclusion of students with disabilities in accountability systems. Johnson’s work on assessment for students with disabilities has included research on accommodations and alternate assessments, as well as research on screening for reading problems. Prior to joining the faculty at BSU, she worked as a research associate for the National Research Center on Learning Disabilities (NRCLD), where she developed numerous technical assistance products to assist state and local educational agencies on RTI and learning disability identification–related issues. Currently, her research focuses on RTI implementation at the secondary levels.