Toward a Unified Response-to-Intervention Model

Abstract

Framing RTI in terms of the basic steps involved in problem solving also could serve to unify efforts to operationalize RTI and to test its efficacy in identifying students for service. Several generic problem-solving models exist in the literature, but perhaps the most specific details the steps as: (a) identify the problem, (b) define the problem, (c) explore alternative solutions to the problem, (d) apply a solution, and (e) look at the effects of the application (IDEAL; Bransford and Stein, 1984). When this model is applied to solving the problems addressed through RTI, the problem to be solved is how "to eliminate the difference between 'what is' and 'what should be' with respect to student development" (Deno, 2002, p. 38), and RTI is an attempt to identify resources necessary for sufficient student learning to occur. This chapter examines current practice and research using the steps in the IDEAL model and uses this as the basis for recommending RTI practices that would construct a unified model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)