Date of Award
4-1-2017
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate of Education, Ed.D.
College
College of Education
Department
Education
First Advisor
Donna Graham, Ph.D
Second Advisor
John Mendes, Ed.D.
Third Advisor
Edwards Kim, Ph.D.
Abstract
Understanding the implementation of the educational policy of the Response to Intervention (RTI) and the extent to which it provides support to students with learning gaps is imperative for student’s success. However, teachers with the broad adoption of the RTI system nationwide may need the additional insight of the intervention delivery challenges, and analysis of direction and intensity. Guided by Dewey’s theory of experiential learning, which holds that educators could utilize a student’s personal experience to engage the learner, this study examined the connection of the student’s experiences facilitated by the teachers’ adoption and construction of edifying experiences to facilitate the closing of the achievement gap that exists for minority students. The researcher examined teachers’ beliefs about the effectiveness of RTI on the academic achievement of students at tier 1 and 2 of RTI. Specifically, the researcher explored teachers’ beliefs about the effectiveness of three RTI components, namely the academic abilities and performance of Students with Disabilities (SWD), Data-Based Decision Making (DBDM), and Functions of Core and Supplemental Instruction (FCSI), on the academic achievement of struggling African American Females (AAF) students. The results revealed statistically significant relationships between teachers’ belief in RTI Data-Based Decision Making scores and AAF-RTI students’ math achievement scores and between teachers’ belief in RTI Function of Core and Supplemental Instruction scores and AAF-RTI students’ math achievement scores. There was also a relationship between SWD and DBDM. This research also observed a correlation with no significance between the teachers (n = 46) belief of academic achievements of SWD and their FCSI. These results are indicative of need to create a climate supportive of experiential based learning for RTI implementation training for secondary teachers.