Handbook of Response to Intervention

Promoting the educational success of students is the primary focus of educational professionals. Systemically identifying individual needs and providing appropriate interventions to address those needs is central to the task of enhancing student outcomes. For years, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provided guidelines for the identification of specific learning disabilities. This book is especially important at this time because the reauthorization of the Federal IDEA, referred to as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) was signed into law in December 2004. This reauthorization changes the sections of the statute addressing the assessment and identification of learning disabilities and the concept of a pre-identification strategy called response to intervention, or RTI.; Although the federal guidelines are scheduled to surface by the end of 2005, the topic of RTI has already emerged as an important topic among educational professionals. Educational practices are already being modified; however, there is a paucity of resources that synthesize essential knowledge regarding the conceptual and empirical underpinnings of RTI and actual implementation. This edited volume aims to specifically fill this gap by providing a collection of chapters that will address essential aspects of RTI. The proposed edited book is ideal because it will not simply provide a single perspective on RTI but, rather, incorporate multiple esteemed colleagues in addressing the series of topics.