Surveying Special Education Teachers about Pre-Service Training in Response to Intervention

Results

MethodA 20-item survey was developed for use in the present study. Questions on the survey were related to demographic information, pre-service training, reported levels of satisfaction with pre-service training, as well as actual time spent providing RTI services. Surveys were mailed to a stratified random sample of 942 members of the Council for Exceptional Children. Of the 942 surveys, 149 (88% female) were returned for a return rate of 16%. Participants held various degrees including: Master’s (76%), Bachelor’s (12%), Licensure (8%), and Doctoral (3%) degrees.

Introduction

Recent federal legislation has placed a greater emphasis on the quality of instruction provided to students, as well as the progress they make within a curriculum. A new method of service delivery, Response to Intervention (RTI), seeks to address these concerns by providing (1) providing high-quality instruction and intervention matched to student needs and (2) using learning rate over time and level of performance to make important educational decisions (NASDSE, 2005). This methodology can be implemented for all students within a school and provides necessary intervention for struggling students. IDEIA 2004 has also provided for the use of RTI as an alternative to the traditional discrepancy model of the identification of learning disabilities.

As a result of federal changes, national organizations like the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) have proposed guidelines for pre-service training in RTI for professionals who provide special education services (CEC, 2003). Despite the growing use of RTI in practice, little is known about current trends in training teachers to use this model. A recent review of the literature revealed no specific studies related to RTI pre-service training and outcomes (Hawkins, Kroeger, Musti-Rao, Barnett, & Ward, 2008). Given this gap in the literature, an examination of pre-service training and use of RTI in the practice of special education teachers is warranted. The purpose of this project was to gather detailed information regarding special education teachers’ pre-service training and in-service use of RTI.

Conclusions

The results of the study provide insight into training and use of RTI by today’s special education teacher. As indicated by participants’ responses, pre-service training in RTI has a lot of room for improvement as 72% of the sample felt the training they had received was inadequate or less than adequate. In addition, 63% of the sample reported they were not presented a RTI model during their pre-service training. However, a promising finding of the study was that 40% of the sample felt that pre-service training is very important to the overall functioning of the special education teacher and a total of 68% of the special education teachers felt that pre-service training was at least moderately important.

Sixty percent of the sample currently work in a school that utilizes the RTI model. Within these schools, the most popular RTI approach used is the Problem-solving model followed the standard protocol and no model at all. When asked about what barriers the practitioners encounter the most, the 3 most popular responses were Time (79%), Pre-Service Training (53%), and Material Resources (46%).

A limitation of the current study was the low return rate of 16%. However, the current sample is fairly representative of the special education teachers that belong to the Council for Exceptional Children.

Characteristics of Formal Pre-service Training

Carlos J. Panahon, Alexandra M. Panahon, Jessica M. Breuer, Liesa A. Klein, Aimee L. Kotten, Jessica A. Day, and Carissa A. Borchardt

AcknowledgementsThank you to the Council for Exceptional Children for donating their mailing list for our survey and to Marcia Sytsma for her help with the poster.

RTI Related ActivitiesAre you working in school districts with RTI? 64% (Yes) 36% (No)